Wesley's Journey
On route to Cornwall John Wesley rode from Bristol preaching at Shepton Mallet, Wincanton and Shaftesbury before coming to preach at Stalbridge, where in his journal he says that he ‘preached near the main street without the least disturbance, to a large and attentive congregation’.
It was not unusual for his open air his preaching to be met with opposition however in this particular case it appears that his previous dealings with the town caused the townsfolk to be on their best behaviour.
This an entry from his journal from that day:
Sat., Aug. 30, 1766.
"We rode to Stalbridge, long the seat of war by a senseless, insolent mob, encouraged by their betters, so called, to outrage their quiet neighbours. For what? Why, they were mad, they were Methodists. So to bring them to their senses they would beat their brains out. They broke their windows, leaving not one whole pane of glass, spoiled their goods, and assaulted their persons with dirt, and rotten eggs, and stones, whenever they appeared in the street ; but no magistrate, though they applied to several, would show them either mercy or justice. At length they wrote to me. I ordered a lawyer to write to the rioters; he did so, but they set him at nought. We then moved the Court of King's Bench. By various artifices they got the trial put off from one assizes to another, for eighteen months; but it fell so much the heavier on themselves, when they were found guilty. And from that time, finding there is a law for Methodist, they have suffered them to be at peace. I preached near the main street without the least disturbance, to a large and attentive congregation."
So it appears that John Wesley came to the rescue of the persecuted Methodist followers in Stalbridge by taking the case to the Court of The King’s Bench, the most senior criminal court in England and at which the King himself had liberty to be present . So it was no wonder the Townsfolk of Stalbridge felt chastised and behaved so well during his preaching that day.
So begins the story of John Wesley's life that lead him to Stalbridge on that day.
John was born in 17th June 1703 in the remote Lincolnshire market town of Epworth. Fifteenth of nineteen children to Samuel and Susanna, (three sons and seven daughters survived). He was brought up in a strong Anglican home and the Wesleys were to become one of the most remarkable families of 18th-century England, producing the two brothers, John and Charles, who founded the Methodist movement.
John was sent to Charterhouse School in London aged 11 where he displayed academic promise and in June 1720, nominated by his schoolmaster he went up to Christ Church Oxford as a commoner. After completing his BA, he followed the family tradition by taking Holy Orders and was made a deacon in Christ Church Cathedral in September 1725 and three years later he was ordained.
John was elected to a fellowship at Lincoln College on March 25th in 1726 and during this time began to think deeply about religion and spent hours in the Bodlien library, considering and discovering new strands of Christian thought. In 1729 Wesley took a leading role in a group nick named the 'Holy Club', founded by his brother Charles. This was a group of students who met for prayer, religious conversation and prison visiting. The Club attracted considerable attention at a time when the university was not known for its religious devotion and the members were mockingly referred to as 'Methodists' because of their methodical ways. A name John Wesley later used himself to mean the methodical pursuit of biblical holiness.
In due course the Dons of Lincoln College began to talk about this 'sect' called the Methodists and this was followed by some unfavourable criticism which caused some members to leave the society. In addition to this John began to lose his reputation as a tutor as students and parents were afraid of indoctrination.
In December 1735 disillusioned with life in Oxford and troubled by his spiritual wellbeing he sailed with his brother Charles to the Americas, having accepted an appointment as a missionary in the newly founded colony of Georgia.
Unfortunately the next two years he spent in the new world were deeply troubled. The colonists considered him to be eccentric and rejected the disciplines of the "holy club". Adding to his woes his confused courtship of the niece of a prominent official led to his fleeing the colony in the face of court action for defamation.
Returning to England in February 1738 bitter and disappointed and in spiritual crisis he became re-aquainted with the Moravians who were members of a German religious community. He was impressed by the depth of their faith and emphasis on salvation by faith alone and on 24th May 1738 John experienced conversion at Aldersgate in London and went on to embark on a ministry that was to change the course of church history.
This is what he described in his journal:
"In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
At Bristol In the spring of 1739 joining another former member of the "holy club," George Whitefield, John and his brother Charles began to preach in the open air to hundreds of poor working-class people, oppressed by industrializing England and neglected by the church, they were inspired by his fiery method of preaching.
Gifted and tireless organisers the brothers quickly went on to establish a network of evangelical groups on a national scale. The first 'preaching houses' or chapels were erected within twelve months of the beginning of the open-air ministry and by 1750, Wesleyan Methodism was a vibrant and well-established part of the religious scene.
The evangelicals enjoyed support from people who considered them as a force for renewal at a time when British religious life appeared stagnant. However preaching radical ideas took great courage in those days and it sometimes it gave offence to other priests as he preached in their parishes.
Hence this new revival movement was opposed by many within the parent Church of England. The Wesleys were regarded as extremists, inciting impressionable people to hysterical outbursts, while the crowds that gathered to hear the preachers were seen as a threat to public order. Wesley and his followers were denounced in print and from pulpits, his meetings were disrupted and he was even physically attacked and threatened with death. It appears that the Methodist followers of Stalbridge suffered such discrimination and this leads us to consider to whom John Wesley was referring in his description of and ‘insolent mob being encouraged by their betters, so called’ .
Aside from preaching the gospel Wesley's talents extended to music and medicine, writing hymns, and setting up free clinics, which were some of the first in England to use electricity for medical purposes. He also wrote 'Primitive Physick: An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases' published in 1747. The aim of this was to aid the education of the common people so that they had something practical to use to help themselves.
In 1751 Wesley formally left the University of Oxford and married Molly Vazeille, a forty-year old widow in February of that year. By marrying he relinquished his right to continue as a Fellow of Lincoln as married men at that time not accepted as Fellows. Unfortunately the marriage was more of convenience than love, Wesley was often away and both husband and wife were unhappy.
During the next few decades Wesley worked to grow the Methodist movement ensuring that it would survive in his legacy and continued to travel annually by horse or carriage thoughout England and Ireland visiting the societies and preaching. He coined the famous phrase: 'I look upon all the world as my Parish'. It was on one of those such journeys he came to Stalbridge.
When In 1781 his wife Molly passed away, Wesley did not attend her funeral as relations between them were so bad. Three years later, at the age of 81 he made real progress for the future of Methodism. He signed a declaratory deed poll that meant ' The Conference of the People called Methodists' now had 100 legally named preachers. Towards the end of the 1780s, his health began to deteriorate but he continued to give sermons until 1791. On March 2nd of that year, he died aged 88. His tomb can be found in the graveyard behind his chapel in Shoreditch, London.
It was not unusual for his open air his preaching to be met with opposition however in this particular case it appears that his previous dealings with the town caused the townsfolk to be on their best behaviour.
This an entry from his journal from that day:
Sat., Aug. 30, 1766.
"We rode to Stalbridge, long the seat of war by a senseless, insolent mob, encouraged by their betters, so called, to outrage their quiet neighbours. For what? Why, they were mad, they were Methodists. So to bring them to their senses they would beat their brains out. They broke their windows, leaving not one whole pane of glass, spoiled their goods, and assaulted their persons with dirt, and rotten eggs, and stones, whenever they appeared in the street ; but no magistrate, though they applied to several, would show them either mercy or justice. At length they wrote to me. I ordered a lawyer to write to the rioters; he did so, but they set him at nought. We then moved the Court of King's Bench. By various artifices they got the trial put off from one assizes to another, for eighteen months; but it fell so much the heavier on themselves, when they were found guilty. And from that time, finding there is a law for Methodist, they have suffered them to be at peace. I preached near the main street without the least disturbance, to a large and attentive congregation."
So it appears that John Wesley came to the rescue of the persecuted Methodist followers in Stalbridge by taking the case to the Court of The King’s Bench, the most senior criminal court in England and at which the King himself had liberty to be present . So it was no wonder the Townsfolk of Stalbridge felt chastised and behaved so well during his preaching that day.
So begins the story of John Wesley's life that lead him to Stalbridge on that day.
John was born in 17th June 1703 in the remote Lincolnshire market town of Epworth. Fifteenth of nineteen children to Samuel and Susanna, (three sons and seven daughters survived). He was brought up in a strong Anglican home and the Wesleys were to become one of the most remarkable families of 18th-century England, producing the two brothers, John and Charles, who founded the Methodist movement.
John was sent to Charterhouse School in London aged 11 where he displayed academic promise and in June 1720, nominated by his schoolmaster he went up to Christ Church Oxford as a commoner. After completing his BA, he followed the family tradition by taking Holy Orders and was made a deacon in Christ Church Cathedral in September 1725 and three years later he was ordained.
John was elected to a fellowship at Lincoln College on March 25th in 1726 and during this time began to think deeply about religion and spent hours in the Bodlien library, considering and discovering new strands of Christian thought. In 1729 Wesley took a leading role in a group nick named the 'Holy Club', founded by his brother Charles. This was a group of students who met for prayer, religious conversation and prison visiting. The Club attracted considerable attention at a time when the university was not known for its religious devotion and the members were mockingly referred to as 'Methodists' because of their methodical ways. A name John Wesley later used himself to mean the methodical pursuit of biblical holiness.
In due course the Dons of Lincoln College began to talk about this 'sect' called the Methodists and this was followed by some unfavourable criticism which caused some members to leave the society. In addition to this John began to lose his reputation as a tutor as students and parents were afraid of indoctrination.
In December 1735 disillusioned with life in Oxford and troubled by his spiritual wellbeing he sailed with his brother Charles to the Americas, having accepted an appointment as a missionary in the newly founded colony of Georgia.
Unfortunately the next two years he spent in the new world were deeply troubled. The colonists considered him to be eccentric and rejected the disciplines of the "holy club". Adding to his woes his confused courtship of the niece of a prominent official led to his fleeing the colony in the face of court action for defamation.
Returning to England in February 1738 bitter and disappointed and in spiritual crisis he became re-aquainted with the Moravians who were members of a German religious community. He was impressed by the depth of their faith and emphasis on salvation by faith alone and on 24th May 1738 John experienced conversion at Aldersgate in London and went on to embark on a ministry that was to change the course of church history.
This is what he described in his journal:
"In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
At Bristol In the spring of 1739 joining another former member of the "holy club," George Whitefield, John and his brother Charles began to preach in the open air to hundreds of poor working-class people, oppressed by industrializing England and neglected by the church, they were inspired by his fiery method of preaching.
Gifted and tireless organisers the brothers quickly went on to establish a network of evangelical groups on a national scale. The first 'preaching houses' or chapels were erected within twelve months of the beginning of the open-air ministry and by 1750, Wesleyan Methodism was a vibrant and well-established part of the religious scene.
The evangelicals enjoyed support from people who considered them as a force for renewal at a time when British religious life appeared stagnant. However preaching radical ideas took great courage in those days and it sometimes it gave offence to other priests as he preached in their parishes.
Hence this new revival movement was opposed by many within the parent Church of England. The Wesleys were regarded as extremists, inciting impressionable people to hysterical outbursts, while the crowds that gathered to hear the preachers were seen as a threat to public order. Wesley and his followers were denounced in print and from pulpits, his meetings were disrupted and he was even physically attacked and threatened with death. It appears that the Methodist followers of Stalbridge suffered such discrimination and this leads us to consider to whom John Wesley was referring in his description of and ‘insolent mob being encouraged by their betters, so called’ .
Aside from preaching the gospel Wesley's talents extended to music and medicine, writing hymns, and setting up free clinics, which were some of the first in England to use electricity for medical purposes. He also wrote 'Primitive Physick: An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases' published in 1747. The aim of this was to aid the education of the common people so that they had something practical to use to help themselves.
In 1751 Wesley formally left the University of Oxford and married Molly Vazeille, a forty-year old widow in February of that year. By marrying he relinquished his right to continue as a Fellow of Lincoln as married men at that time not accepted as Fellows. Unfortunately the marriage was more of convenience than love, Wesley was often away and both husband and wife were unhappy.
During the next few decades Wesley worked to grow the Methodist movement ensuring that it would survive in his legacy and continued to travel annually by horse or carriage thoughout England and Ireland visiting the societies and preaching. He coined the famous phrase: 'I look upon all the world as my Parish'. It was on one of those such journeys he came to Stalbridge.
When In 1781 his wife Molly passed away, Wesley did not attend her funeral as relations between them were so bad. Three years later, at the age of 81 he made real progress for the future of Methodism. He signed a declaratory deed poll that meant ' The Conference of the People called Methodists' now had 100 legally named preachers. Towards the end of the 1780s, his health began to deteriorate but he continued to give sermons until 1791. On March 2nd of that year, he died aged 88. His tomb can be found in the graveyard behind his chapel in Shoreditch, London.
