Chapter I: 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.

It has long been confessed that a Life of Wesley, worthy of the man, is a desideratum. Hampson, Coke, Moore, and Whitehead used, with a sparing hand, the materials which were already accessible to all, and added a few original papers, for the preservation of which every one feels grateful. Southey acknowledges that he “had no private sources of information”; and, in the list of books from which his materials were chiefly taken, we find nothing but what is in the hands of most Methodist students. Watson says, he had “the advantage of consulting unpublished papers”; but it is not injustice to Watson, to say that very few of these “unpublished papers” were embodied in his book.

This is not ill natured depreciation of previous biographers, all of whom I revere, and wish to honour. But any ordinary reader, who will take the trouble, may easily perceive, that the Lives of Wesley that have been published, during the last seventy-six years, have contained no additional information worth naming.

In this interval, Wesley has yearly been growing in historic fame, until he is now, among all parties,—Churchmen, Methodists and Dissenters, papists, protestants and infidels, statesmen, philosophers and men of letters,—one of the greatest and most interesting studies of the age. The world wishes to know something more respecting the man, who, under God, was the means of bringing about the greatest reformation of modern times. Since the publications of Whitehead, Coke and Moore—his literary executors—innumerable letters and other manuscripts have come to light; but no subsequent biographer has used them. Besides, in the magazines, newspapers, broadsheets, pamphlets, tracts, and songs, published during Wesley’s lifetime, there is a mine of biographical material incalculably rich; but, hitherto, no one has taken the trouble to delve and to explore it.

Ought this apathy and negligence to continue longer? Is it right to keep the world, the church, and especially the Methodists, in ignorance of what exists concerning one of the most remarkable men that ever lived? I think not; and, hence, as no one else attempted it, I have done my best to collect these scattered facts, and to give them to the public in the following volumes.

For seventeen years, materials have been accumulating in my hands. My own mass of original manuscripts is large. Thousands of Methodist letters have been lent to me. Hundreds, almost thousands, of publications, issued in Wesley’s lifetime, and bearing on the great Methodist movement, have been consulted. Many of Wesley’s letters, hitherto published only in periodicals, or in scarce books, have been used; and not a few that, up to the present, have never yet appeared in print. To mention all who have rendered me generous assistance is almost impossible; but I cannot deny myself the pleasure of naming the late Rev. Joseph Entwisle, Mr. Joseph Miller, of Newcastle, Mr. George Stevenson, of Paternoster Row, and last, but not least, the Rev. Elijah Hoole, D.D., for the ready access he gave me to the collection of manuscripts in the Wesleyan Mission House.

My greatest difficulty has been, not the want of materials, but that of making selections, and of giving in a condensed form all that I thought important. Nothing, likely to be of general interest, has been withheld. Nothing, derogatory to the subject of these memoirs, has been kept back. Whatever else the work may be, it is _honest_.

I have tried to make Wesley his own biographer. I have not attempted what may be called the _philosophy_ of Wesley’s life. I leave that to others. As a rule, intelligent readers wish only to be possessed of facts. They can form their own conclusions; and care but little about the opinions of those by whom the facts are collected and narrated. The temptation to moralise has oft been great; but I have tried to practise self denial. Wesley was not a _designing_ man: cunning he had none: he was a man of one idea: his sole aim was to save souls. This was the philosophy of his life. All his actions had reference to this. He had no preconceived plans; and, hence, it is needless to speculate about his motives. The man is best known by what he _did_; not by what philosophers may suspect he _thought_. Holding these opinions, my one object has been to collect, collate, and register unvarnished facts; and I hope I have not altogether failed.

Much that is false, or erroneous, concerning Wesley, has been published; and it would have been an easy task to have refuted not a few of the statements which even Methodists as well as others have been accustomed to receive without gainsaying; but I had no room for this. Besides, I had no wish to assume the part of a controversialist. Comparison will show, that, in several instances, I differ from previous biographers; but I would rather that the reader should discover this for himself, than that I should state it. It may savour of unpardonable temerity to disagree with the distinguished men who have gone before me; but, if attacked, I am prepared to defend the ground that I have taken. To avoid encumbering the margin, I have omitted thousands of references; but I have them, and can give them, if required.

The work has been arduous; but it has been a work of love. I have not done what I wished, but what I could. A more literary and philosophic writer might have been employed; but no labour has been spared in pursuit of facts, and there has been no tampering with honour and honesty in stating them.

The Portrait inserted in Vol. I. is taken from an exceedingly scarce engraving, published in 1743, and made from a painting by J. Williams. It is more than probable that this was the first likeness of Wesley ever taken.

I only add, that I hope the reader will find the general Index at the end of Vol. III. to be accurate and useful.

L. TYERMAN.

CLAPHAM PARK,
_July 5th, 1870_.

GENERAL CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

Methodism, its Greatness—Christianity during the first two centuries—Lutheran Reformation—Statistics of “_Wesleyan_” Methodism—Welsh Calvinistic Methodists—Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion—Methodist New Connexion—Band Room Methodists—Primitive Methodists—Bible Christians—Primitive Methodists in Ireland—United Methodist Free Churches—Wesleyan Reform Union—Other Methodist Bodies—Methodists in America—Other Churches benefited by Methodism—Sunday Schools—Bible Society—London and Church Missionary Societies—Tract Societies—Dispensaries—Strangers’ Friend Society—Chapels—Newspapers—An immense Organisation, and its Results 1-13

CHAPTER I.

WESLEY AT HOME, AT SCHOOL, AND AT COLLEGE.

1703-1725.

Wesley’s Birth—The Wesley Family—Fire at Epworth—Teaching of Wesley’s Mother—Wesley’s Seriousness—Wesley at the Charterhouse—Ambition—Backsliding—Ghosts—Original Letter—Wesley at Oxford—A thankful Janitor—Wesley Ill and in Debt—Original Letters—Dr. Cheyne—Original Letters—Wesley wishes to become a Minister—Letters respecting this—Wesley finds his _first religious_ Friend—Thomas à Kempis and Jeremy Taylor—Wesley begins his Journal—Turning point in Wesley’s history—Original Letter—Other Letters 15-41

CHAPTER II.

WESLEY’S ORDINATION, ETC.

1725-1729.

State of England—Dr. Potter—Wesley and Voltaire—Wesley’s First Sermon—A Funeral Sermon—Elected Fellow of Lincoln College—Letter from his Father—Letters to his Brother Samuel—At Epworth and Wroote—Writing Poetry and Hymns—Elected Greek Lecturer—His _first_ Convert—Robert Kirkham—Courtship—William Law—Methodist Doctrines—The Mystics—Wesley becomes M.A.—Gets rid of unprofitable Friends—Plan of Studies—Becomes his father’s Curate—Ordained a Priest—Wroote—Wesley recalled to Oxford 42-59

CHAPTER III.

OXFORD METHODISM, ETC.

1729-1735.

Distinguished Men—National Immorality—Methodism needed—Infidelity at Oxford—First Methodists at Oxford—Their Daily Life—Nicknames—Gambold on Wesley—A Starving Girl—Early Rising—Earnest Piety—Wesley has the offer of a Curacy—His Correspondence with Mary Granville—A Query—Wesley’s Walk to Epworth—Methodist Sacramentarian Theory—Letter from Mr. Clayton—Methodism attacked in _Fogg’s Weekly Journal_—First printed Defence of Methodism—Wesley’s Sermon before the University—First Publication—Female Methodists at Oxford—High Churchism—Wesley urged to become his father’s Successor—Correspondence respecting this—Wesley’s last Letter from his Father—Application for Epworth Rectory—Whitefield—Wesley’s Publications 60-107