Survey Results

Thursday, May 13.--We went on, through a most dreary country, to Galway; where, at the late survey, there were twenty thousand Papists and five hundred Protestants. But which of them are Christians, have the mind that was in Christ, and walk as He walked? And without this, how little does it avail, whether they are called Protestants or Papists! At six I preached in the court- house, to a large congregation, who all behaved well.

The Journal of John Wesley 

Preaching in the midst of Rioters

Sunday, 25.--Word being brought me that the Mayor was willing I should preach in the bowling green, I went thither in the evening. A huge multitude was quickly gathered together. I preached on, "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God." Some attempted to disturb, but without success; the bulk of the congregation were deeply attentive. But as I was drawing to a conclusion, some of the Papists set on their work in earnest. They knocked down John Christian, with two or three more who had endeavored to quiet them; and then began to roar like the waves of the sea; but hitherto could they come and no farther. Some gentlemen, who stood near me, rushed into the midst of them; and, after bestowing some heavy blows, seized the ringleader and delivered him to the constable; and one of them undertook to conduct me home. So few received any hurt but the rioters themselves; which, I trust, will make them more peaceable for the time to come. 

The Journal of John Wesley

Fishing for Chaise!

A troop of sailors ran down to the shore to see the chaise put into the boat. I was walking at a small distance when I beard them cry out, "Avast! Avast! The coach is overset into the river." I thought, "However, it is well my bags are on shore; so my papers are not spoiled." In less than an hour they fished up the chaise and got it safe into the boat. As it would not hold us all, I got in myself, leaving the horses to come after. At half-hour after three I came to Passage. Finding no postchaise could be had, and having no time to spare, I walked on (six or seven miles) to Waterford, and began preaching without delay, on, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

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Put out of the Quaker house in Ireland

Wednesday, 21.--Some applied to the Quakers at Enniscorthy, for the use of their meeting-house. They refused: so I stood at Hugh McLaughlin's door, and both those within and without could hear. I was in doubt which way to take from hence, one of my chaise-horses being much tired, till a gentleman of Ballyrane, near Wexford, told me, if I would preach at his house the next evening, he would meet me on the road with a fresh horse. So I complied, though it was some miles out of the way. Accordingly, he met us on Thursday, 22, six or seven miles from Enniscorthy. But we found his mare would not draw at all; so we were forced to go on as we could. I preached in the evening at Ballyrane, to a deeply serious congregation. Early in the morning we set out and at two in the afternoon came to Ballibac Ferry. 

The Journal of John Wesley

Irish Revival

Monday, April 5.--Having hired such a chaise as I could, I drove to Edinderry.

Monday, 12.--I preached at Ballinasloe and Aghrim. Tuesday, 13.--As I went into Eyre Court, the street was full of people, who gave us a loud huzza when we passed through the market place. I preached in the open air, to a multitude of people, all civil and most of them serious. A great awakening has been in this town lately; and many of the most notorious and profligate sinners are entirely changed and are happy witnesses of the gospel salvation. 

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Early Homeland Security Snafus

Friday, 26.--We landed at Dunleary, and hired a coach to Dublin.

On Monday and Tuesday I examined the society, a little lessened, but now well united together. I was a little surprised to find the Commissioners of the Customs would not permit my chaise to be landed because, they said, the captain of a packet-boat had no right to bring over goods. Poor pretense! However, I was more obliged to them than I then knew; for had it come on shore, it would have been utterly spoiled. 

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Journeying on a Rolling Sea

Tuesday, 23.--We embarked again on board the Freemason, with six other cabin passengers, four gentlemen, and two gentlewomen, one of whom was daily afraid of falling in labor. This gave me several opportunities of talking closely and of praying with her and her companion. We did not come abreast of Holyhead till Thursday morning. We had then a strong gale and a rolling sea. Most of the passengers were sick enough, but it did not affect me at all. In the evening the gentlemen desired I would pray with them, so we concluded the day in a solemn and comfortable manner. 

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Every age has its frustrations

Monday, 27.--The captain was in haste to get my chaise on board. About eleven we went on board ourselves, and before one, we ran on a sand bank. So, the ship being fast, we went ashore again.

The Journal of John Wesley 

The "So" of John Wesley

If this account is true, one would hope not only the King of Denmark will avail himself of so important a discovery.

I came to Liverpool on Saturday, March 20. 

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Still the age of discovery

Wednesday, February 24.--A very remarkable paragraph was published in one of the Edinburgh papers:

"We learn from the Rosses, in the county of Donegal, in Ireland, that a Danish man-of-war, called the North Crown, commanded by the Baron D'Ulfeld, arrived off those islands, from a voyage of discovery toward the Pole. They sailed from Bornholme, in Norway the first of June, 1769, with stores for eighteen months, and some able astronomers, landscape painters, and every apparatus suitable to the design; and steering N by E half E, for thirty-seven days, with a fair wind and open sea, discovered a large rocky island, which having doubled, they proceeded WNW, till the seventeenth of September, when they found themselves in a strong current, between two high lands, seemingly about ten leagues distant, which carried them at a prodigious rate for three days when, to their great joy, they saw the mainland of America that lies between the most westerly part of the settlements on Hudson's River and California. Here they anchored in a fine cove and found abundance of wild deer and buffaloes, with which they victualed; and sailing southward, in three months got into the Pacific Ocean, and returned by the Straits of Le Maine and the West India Islands. They have brought many curiosities, particularly a prodigious bird, called a contor [condor], or contose, about six feet in height, of the eagle kind, whose wings, expanded, measure twenty-two feet four inches. After bartering some skins with the country people, for meal, rum, and other necessaries, they sailed for Bremen, to wait the thaw, previous to their return to Copenhagen.

"February 24, 1773." 

The Journal of John Wesley

The Rear-View Mirror

We observed Friday, 8, as a day of fasting and prayer, on account of the general want of trade and scarcity of provisions. The next week I made an end of revising my letters; and from those I had both written and received, I could not but make one remark--that for above these forty years, of all the friends who were once the most closely united and afterwards separated from me, every one had separated himself! He left me, not I him. And from both mine and their own letters, the steps whereby they did this are clear and undeniable.

The Journal of John Wesley 

Only life and death

Thursday, 7.--l called where a child was dying of the smallpox and rescued her from death and the doctors; they were giving her saffron, etc., to drive them out! Can anyone be so ignorant still?

The Journal of John Wesley 

Orderly Disciplined Life

1773. Friday, January 1.--We (as usual) solemnly renewed our covenant with God.

Monday, 4.--I began revising my letters and papers. One of them was written above a hundred and fifty years ago (in 1619), I suppose, by my grandfather's father, to her he was to marry in a few days. Several were written by my brothers and me when at school, many while we were at the University, abundantly testifying (if it be worth knowing) what was our aim from our youth up. 

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Dream and Reality

"Meantime, her father's servant coming back to the school, and hearing she was gone without him, walked back. Coming to the style, he heard several groans and, looking about, saw many drops of blood. He traced them to the ditch, whence the groans came. He lifted her up, not knowing her at all, as her face was covered with blood, carried her to a neighboring house; running to the village, he quickly brought a surgeon. She was just alive; but her throat was much hurt, so that she could not speak at all.

"Just then a young man of the village was missing. Search being made, he was apprehended in an alehouse two miles off. He had all her clothes with him in a bag, which, he said, he found. It was three months before she was able to go abroad. He was arraigned at the Assizes. She knew him perfectly and swore to the man. He was condemned, and soon after executed." 

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Assault and Dream

A gentlewoman present added an account equally surprising which she received from
the person's own mouth:

"Mrs. B--, when about fourteen years of age, being at a boarding school a mile or two from her father's, dreamed she was on the top of the church steeple, when a man came up and threw her down to the roof of the church. Yet she seemed not much hurt, till he came to her again and threw her to the bottom. She thought she looked hard at him, and said, 'Now you have hurt me sadly, but I shall hurt you worse'; and waked. A week after, she was to go to her father's. She set out early in the morning. At the entrance of a little wood, she stopped and doubted whether she should not go round, instead of through it. But, knowing no reason, she went straight through till she came to the other side. Just as she was going over the style, a man pulled her back by the hair. She immediately knew it was the same man whom she had seen in her dream. She fell on her knees, and begged him, 'For God's sake, do not hurt me any more.' He put his hands round her neck and squeezed her so that she instantly lost her senses. He then stripped her, carried her a little way, and threw her into a ditch. 

The Journal of John Wesley

Foresight of a Dream

Tuesday, November 17.--One was relating a remarkable story, which I thought worthy to be remembered. Two years ago, a gentleman of large fortune in Kent dreamed that he was walking through the churchyard and saw a new monument with the following inscription:

Here lieth the Body

OF

SAMUEL SAVAGE, ESQ.,

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON SEPTEMBER -- 1772, AGED --.

He told his friends in the morning and was much affected; but the impression soon
wore off. But on that day he did depart, and a stone was erected with that very inscription. 

The Journal of John Wesley

Treasure Part 2

Soon after, they went; but, being afraid, took a third man with them. They began digging at eight, and after they had dug six feet, saw the top of a coffer, or chest. But presently it sank down into the earth; and there appeared over the place a large globe of bright fire, which, after some time, rose higher and higher, till it was quite out of sight. Not long after, the man and woman appeared again, and said, 'You spoiled all, by bringing that man with you.’ From this time, both they and Sarah and Mary J--, who live in the same house with them, have heard, several times in a week delightful music, for a quarter of an hour at a time. They often hear it before those persons appear; often when they do not appear.” They asked me whether they were good or bad spirits; but I could not resolve them.

The Journal of John Wesley 

Treasure Part 1

Saturday, 31.--A young man of good sense and an unblamable character gave me a strange account of what (he said) had happened to himself and three other persons in the same house. As they all feared God, I thought the matter deserved a further examination. So in the afternoon I talked largely with them all. The sum of their account was this: "Nearly two years ago, Martin S-- and William J-- saw, in dream, two or three times repeated to each of them, a person who told them there was a large treasure hid in such a spot, three miles from Norwich, consisting of money and plate, buried in a chest, between six and eight feet deep. They did not much regard this, till each of them, when they were broad awake, saw an elderly man and woman standing by their bedside, who told them the same thing, and bade them go and dig it up, between eight and twelve at night. Soon after, they went; but, being afraid, took a third man with them.

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Literary Sentiments

Wednesday, October 14.--A book was given me to write on, The Works of Mr. Thomson, of whose poetical abilities I had always had a low opinion; but looking into one of his tragedies, “Edward and Eleonora," I was agreeably surprised. The sentiments are just and noble; the diction strong, smooth, and elegant; and the plot conducted with the utmost art and wrought off in a most surprising manner. It is quite his masterpiece, and I really think might vie with any modern performance of the kind. 

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Quay or field-preaching

Sunday, September 6.--I preached on the quay, at Kingswood, and near King's Square. To this day field-preaching is a cross to me. But I know my commission and see no other way of "preaching the gospel to every creature."

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A stone seat

Friday, August 21.--I preached again about eight, and then rode back to Harford. After dinner we hastened to the Passage; but the watermen were not in haste to fetch us over; so I sat down on a convenient stone, and finished the little tract I had in hand. However, I got to Pembroke in time and preached in the town hall, where we had a solemn and comfortable opportunity.

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The heaven within that shone outward...

Thursday, 4.--At five I took my leave of this blessed peopIe. I was a little surprised, in looking attentively upon them, to observe so beautiful faces as I never saw before in one congregation; many of the children in particular, twelve or fourteen of whom (chiefly boys) sat full in my view. But I allow, much more might be owing to grace than nature, to the heaven within, that shone outward.

The Journal of John Wesley 

Dale Days

Tuesday, 2.--We rode to New Orygan in Teesdale. The people were deeply attentive; but, I think, not deeply affected. From the top of the next enormous mountain, we had a view of Weardale. It is a lovely prospect. The green gently rising meadows and fields on both sides of the little river, clear as crystal, were sprinkled over with innumerable little houses; three in four of which (if not nine in ten) are sprung up since the Methodists came hither. Since that time, the beasts are turned into men, and the wilderness in a fruitful field.

The Journal of John Wesley 

The Little Tour

Monday, June 1.--I began a little tour through the Dales. About nine, I preached at Kiphill; at one, at Wolsingham. Here we began to trace the revival of the work of God; and here began the horrid mountains we had to climb over. However, before six, we reached Barnard Castle. I preached at the end of the preaching-house to a large congregation of established Christians. At five in the morning, the house was nearly full of persons ripe for the height and depth of the gospel. 

The Journal of John Wesley

I'm confused-- are the Scotch or English more welcoming?

Saturday, 23.--l went on to Alnwick and preached in the town hall. What a difference between an English and a Scotch congregation! These judge themselves rather than the preacher; and their aim is not only to know but to love and obey. 

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Going to the old fort

Friday, 22.--We took a view of the famous Roman camp, lying on a mountain two or three miles from the town. It is encompassed with two broad and deep ditches and is not easy of approach on any side. Here lay General Lesley with his army, while Cromwell was starving below. He had no way to escape; but the enthusiastic fury of the Scots delivered him. When they marched into the valley to swallow him up, he mowed them down like
grass.


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The wrecks of time

At our return, we walked over the ruins of Tantallon Castle, once the seat of the great Earls of Douglas. The front walls (it was foursquare) are still standing, and by their vast height and huge thickness give us a little idea of what it once was. Such is human greatness!

The Journal of John Wesley 

The Bass Rock Meditations

How many prayers did the holy men confined here offer up, in that evil day! And how many thanksgivings should we return, for all the liberty, civil and religious, which we enjoy!

The Journal of John Wesley 

Mad Dogs

Thus it was that two young men without a name, without friends, without either power or fortune, set out from College with principles totally different from those of the common people, to oppose all the world, learned and unlearned, to combat popular prejudices of every kind. Our first principle directly attacked all the wickedness, our second all the bigotry, in the world. Thus they attempted a reformation, not of opinions (feathers, trifles, not worth the naming), but of men's tempers and lives; of vice in every kind; of everything contrary to justice, mercy or truth. And for this it was that they carried their lives in their hands, that both the great vulgar and the small looked upon them as mad dogs and treated them as such.

The Rev. John Wesley AM to Samuel Sparrow, 1773