CHAPTER XI.

THE riots at St. Ives and Wednesbury were only a prelude to similar outrages in various parts of the kingdom; and to opposition the most systematic and determined, by which the Methodist Preachers and societies were harassed. The country was in a very unsettled state. It was at war with France and Spain; and was threatened with an invasion by the French, for the purpose of deposing the reigning Monarch, George the Second, and of placing upon the British throne the exiled representative of the house of Stuart; under whose government it was understood, should the project succeed, Popery and arbitrary power were to be restored. The people, of course, dreaded the loss of their liberty, civil and religious; and a feverish anxiety was generally prevalent.

The national danger was made a pretext for persecution the most bitter and undisguised. To rouse the popular vengeance against the Wesleys, and their fellow-labourers in the Gospel, it was only necessary to represent them as Papists, who were supported by the money of the Pretender, and were endeavouring to prepare the way for his assumption of the crown which his fathers had forfeited. This expedient was successfully adopted in various places. In several instances Magistrates and Constables interfered, not to protect an unoffending people, but to tear Methodist Preachers away from their families, and send them into the army. Mr. John and Charles Wesley were both of them subjected to unjust charges, and examined before the civil authorities: one in Cornwall, and the other in Yorkshire. Yet men of purer loyalty did not exist. There is no reason to believe that they received from their mother in early life any bias in favour of the Stuarts; and their attachment to the house of Brunswick, through the whole of their public life, was unimpeachable. In this emergency of the national affairs they used all their influence in support of the reigning family. They inculcated loyalty wherever they preached; and in the

principal societies under their care, they appointed weekly meetings of intercession with God for the maintenance of public tranquillity, and of the Protestant constitution. Both of them employed the press for the same purpose. Charles poured forth the feelings of his pious and loyal heart in sacred verse; and published a tract, which was very widely circulated, under the title of "Hymns for Times of Trouble." In these very spirited compositions the national sins are confessed and lamented; the mercy of God is earnestly implored in behalf of a guilty people; civil war is deprecated as a great and terrible calamity; the preservation of the Protestant religion, and a revival of its primitive spirit, are both solicited as the most important of all blessings; and the King is especially commended to the divine protection, not as the creature of the popular will, but as God's vicegerent, and his minister for good to the people.

It was upon this occasion that Mr. Charles Wesley wrote and published the two fine hymns, beginning,

and,

"Sovereign of all, whose will ordains
The powers on earth that be,

By whom our rightful Monarch reigns,
Subject to none but thee;"

"Lord, thou hast bid thy people pray
For all that bear the sovereign sway,

And thy vicegerents reign,

Rulers, and Governors, and Powers;
And, lo, in faith we pray for ours;
Nor can we pray in vain."

The hymn on the 424th page of the Wesleyan general Collection was also written at this time:

"Sinners, the call obey,

The latest call of grace;

The day is come, the vengeful day,

Of a devoted race."

As a specimen of the tract to which reference has just been made, the subjoined ingenious effusion is given. It represents the State as a ship in a storm; every individual sinner

as the Jonah, on whose account the tempest is raised, and the lives of all are placed in peril. The offender, convicted in his own conscience, acknowledges his guilt, and expresses a willingness to perish for the preservation of the rest. His prayer, however, is, that, while he is delivered up to temporal punishment, his soul may be saved by the mercy of the Lord.

Merciful God, to thee we cry;
O think upon us! or we die
The ever-living death:
Lo, by a mighty tempest tost,
Our ship without thine aid is lost,
Lost in the gulf beneath.

The mariners are struck with fear,
And shudder at destruction near,
So high the billows swell;

Ready to o'erwhelm our shatter'd State,
Thy judgments fall with all their weight,
To crush us into hell.

Ah, wherefore is this evil come?
Show us, omniscient God, for whom
Thy plagues our Church befall:
Give, while we ask, a righteous lot,
And let the guilty soul be caught,
Who brings thy curse on all.

With trembling awe we humbly pray,
Now, now the secret cause display

Of our calamity:

Whose sins have brought thy judgments down?

Alas! my God, the cause I own;

The lot is fallen on me!

I am the man, the Jonas I;
For me the working waves run high,
For me the curse takes place;
I have increased the nation's load,
I have call'd down the wrath of God
On all our helpless race.

With guilty, unbelieving dread,
Long have I from his presence fled,

And shunn'd the sight of heaven :
In vain the pard'ning God pursued ;
I would not be by grace subdued ;
I would not be forgiven.

I know the tempest roars for me;
Till I am cast into the sea,

Its rage can never cease:
Here then I to my doom submit,
Do with me as thy will sees fit,
But give thy people peace.

Save, Jesu, save the sinking ship,
And, lo, I plunge into the deep
Of all thy judgments here:
I fall beneath thy threat'nings, Lord;
But let my soul, at last restored,
Before thy face appear.

Beneath thine anger's present weight
I sink, and only deprecate
Thy sorer wrath to come:

Give me at last in thee a part,
And now, in mercy, now avert
The guilty nation's doom.

O bid the angry waves subside!
Into a calm the tempest chide,
By thy supreme command:
Thou in our broken ship remain,
Till every soul the harbour gain,
And reach the heavenly land.

With the purest sentiments of Christian loyalty and patriotism, and a heart yearning with affection for the souls of men, Mr. Charles Wesley left London on the 30th of January, 1744, and commenced his journey to Newcastle, preaching at Birmingham, Dudley, Wednesbury, Nottingham, Sheffield, Epworth, Leeds, and other places on his way. This was one of the most eventful journeys he ever took. The country was unsettled; fear was everywhere excited; daring wickedness abounded; persecution lowered in all directions; Dissenters, as well as Churchmen, were prepared to engage in acts of riot: yet his spirit was undaunted, and he was even ready to die for the Lord Jesus, should such be the divine will.

The following selections from his private journal will present the most correct view of his circumstances, spirit, and labours :

"Sunday, Jan. 29th. I assisted my brother and Mr. Gordon in administering the sacrament to almost our whole society of above two thousand.

"Jan. 30th. I set out, with our brother Webb, for Newcastle, commended to the grace of God by all the brethren. Wednesday afternoon we found our brother Jones at Birmingham. A great door is opened in this country; but there are many adversaries. At Dudley our Preacher was cruelly abused by a mob of Papists and Dissenters: the latter stirred up by Mr. Whitting, their Minister. Probably he would have been murdered, but for an honest Quaker, who helped him to escape disguised with his broad hat, and coat. Staffordshire at present seems the seat of war.

"Feb. 2d. I set out, with brother Webb, for Wednesbury, the field of battle. I met with a variety of greetings on the road. I cried in the street, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world!' Several of our persecutors stood at a distance; but none offered to make the least disturbance. I walked through the blessings and curses of the people to see Mr. Egginton's widow. Never have I observed such bitterness as in these opposers: yet they had no power to touch us.

“Feb. 3d. I preached and prayed with the society, and beat down the fiery self-avenging spirit of resistance, which was rising in some, to disgrace, if not destroy, the work of God. I preached unmolested within sight of Dudley. Many Shimeis called after me; and that was all. I waited on the friendly Captain Dudley, who has stood in the gap at Tipton-green, and kept off persecution, while it raged all around; and returned in peace through the enemy's country.

"On Tuesday next, they have given it out, that they will come with all the rabble of the country, and pull down the houses and destroy all the goods of our poor brethren. One would think there was 'no King in Israel.' There is certainly no Magistrate who will put them to shame in any thing. Mr. Constable offered to make oath of their lives being in danger; but the Justice refused it; saying, he could do nothing. Others of our complaining brethren met with the same redress, being driven away with revilings. The Magistrates do not themselves tear off their clothes, and beat them. They only stand by, and see others do it. One of them told Mr. Jones, it was the best thing the mob ever did, so to treat the Methodists; and he would himself give £5 to drive them out of the country. Another, when our brother