BRISTOL BRANCH OF THE

HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

THE UNIVERSITY, BRISTOL

Price £1.75 1990

ISBN O 901388 58 0

JOHN WESLEY

IN BRISTOL

KENNETH MORGAN

BRISTOL BRANCH OF THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

LOCAL HISTORY PAMPHLETS

Hon. General Editor: PATRICK McGRATH

Assistant General Editor: PETER HARRIS

John Wesley and Bristol by Dr Kenneth Morgan is the seventy­fifth pamphlet to be published by the Bristol Branch of the Historical Association. Dr Morgan is a lecturer in History at the West London Institute of Higher Education. He has written a number of· articles on Colonial American History, eighteenth­century British History, and various aspects of Bristol's past. He is editing An American Quaker in the British Isles: The Travel Journals of Jabez Maud Fisher, 1775-1779 which will be published by the Oxford University Press in 1991.

The Bristol Branch of the Historical Association wishes to express its gratitude to the Rev. A. Raymond George, Warden of Wesley's New Room in Bristol, for a number of very helpful comments and suggestions and to Dr Jonathan Barry who kindly read a draft of the pamphlet.

The author acknowledges with gratitude permission to cite docu­ments held in the following repositories: Dr Williams' Library, John Rylands University. Library in Manchester, Duke University Library and the Methodist Archives Center, Drew University.

The Branch is grateful for help received from the Rev. A. Raymond George with regard to the illustrations. The equestrian statue of John Wesley made by A.S. Walker in 1932 stands in the courtyard of the New Rooms, and the University Faculty of Arts Photographic Unit was given permission by Mr George to take a new photograph of this as well as of the Chapel and the Common Room. The letter showing John Wesley's handwriting is among a collection of letters in the New Room. The portrait of John Wesley in Wesley College, Bristol, is reproduced by kind permis­sion of the Rev. Dr Henry McKeating, Principal of Wesley College. The portrait was made by John Williams and the photograph was taken by the University of Bristol Arts Faculty Photographic Unit.

A list of earlier pamphlets still in print is given on the inside back cover.

Publication of a pamphlet by the Bristol Branch of the Histori­cal Association does not necessarily imply the Branch's approval of the opinions expressed in it.

The Historical Association is a national body which seeks to encourage interest in all forms of history. Further details about its work may be obtained from the Secretary, The Historical Association, 59A Kennington Park Road, London SEl 1 4JH.

ISBN O 901388 58 0 © Kenneth Morgan

JOHN WESLEY AND BRISTOL

KENNETH MORGAN

JOHN WESLEY AND BRISTOL*

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, arrived in Bristol on 31 March 1739 at the suggestion of George Whitefield, who was

about to embark on a mission to America. 1 Whitefield had been preaching in the city for the previous six weeks, with great success, and wanted his friend and fellow minister to continue the good work there. 2 Wesley immediately plunged into a hectic round of

preaching several times a day. On 2 April 1739, at the brickyard in St. Philip's Marsh, he 'submitted to be more vile, and proclaimed

in the highways the glad tidings of salvation. '3 On this occasion he preached on the following passage from St. Luke's Gospel: 'The

Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to

preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted; to preach deliverance to the captives, and recov­ery of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised, to

proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. '4 This was an apt choice of text, for Wesley's open-air ministry in the Bristol area became

very much concerned with the spiritual welfare of the poor. Before coming to Bristol, Wesley had spent most of his career as

a donnish Anglican clergyman. Born in 1703 at Epworth, Lin­

colnshire, where his father was rector, Wesley was educated at Charterhouse and at Christ Church, Oxford. He was elected Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford in 1726. While at the univer­

sity, he helped to found the 'Holy Club,' a group of devout young

* This pamphlet has benefitted from perceptive comments made by Dr. Jonathan

Barry and the Rev. A. Raymond George. Responsibility for the interpretation is,

of course, mine alone.

3

men who became known as 'methodists' because of the exact regularity of their lives and studies. 5 In 1735 he travelled with his brother Charles to Georgia, where he carried out missionary work among white settlers, native Americans and black slaves, and where he became deeply influenced by the religious practices and missionary zeal of the Moravians, a small Protestant sect based in Germany. On his return to England he received assurance of the forgiveness of his sins in a famous conversion experience at Aldersgate Street, London on 24 May 1738. 6 With the beginning of his preaching at Bristol, less than a year later, he became an outstanding figure in the religious awakening that occurred in the British Isles, the North American colonies and continental Europe in the period 1735-1750.

Bristol, when Wesley first arrived there, was the second largest city in England, a bustling port, a centre of trade and industry, and a 'metropolis of the west' for the marketing and distribution of goods. 7 Though a strong parochial structure existed in the city,nonconformity was also significant for one-fifth of the 20,000 or more inhabitants were Dissenters. 8 They included Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists and Quakers, some of whom, like some Anglicans, had developed a religious enthusiasm that Wesley and his fellow Methodists could adapt for their own purposes. 9 Wesley spent a good deal of time in Bristol and in surrounding villages such as Kingswood, then about three miles from the city. He lived in Bristol for most of the period between April and December 1739 and returned every year until just a few months before his death, at the age of eighty-seven, on 2 March 1791. 10 Thispamphlet considers his contribution to the birth of Methodism in the Bristol area between 1739 and 1742 and the impact of his social, religious and educational work in the same locality there­after. It shows that the survival of Methodism, though never in doubt, depended crucially on the presence and willpower of Wesley himself in binding together a relatively small, potentially fragile group.

Between 1739 and 1742, Wesley regularly preached in Bristol in several parish churches, at the Lawford's Gate poor house, and at Newgate, the city gaol. 11 His early ministry in the city, however,mainly focussed on indoor religious societies and on open-air preaching. Several religious societies existed in Bristol before Wesley arrived there. They met in private rooms in places such as Baldwin Street, Nicholas Street, Castle Street, Gloucester Lane, Back Lane and the Weavers' Hall near Temple Church. 12 Little is

4

known of the principles and practices of these societies except that they were confined to sacrament-taking Anglicans and served as devotional cells for people in search of personal holiness. 13 Wesley regarded such groups as an important source of recruitment for Methodism. 14 He soon organised them into married bands plusseparate male and female bands for single people. This arrange­ment followed Moravian practice and perhaps reflected a belief in celibacy as the Christian ideal for unmarried people. 15 Wesley alsoarranged for leaders of the bands to meet every Wednesday. 16

The venues soon became too cramped, however, to accommodate the members and the larger group of hearers (that is, regular attenders who lacked full commitment). 17 Wesley therefore took possession of a piece of land in central Bristol, near St. James' churchyard in the Horsefair, as a site for a larger society room. 18 The structure erected, known as the New Room, still stands as the oldest Methodist building in the world. 19 TheBaldwin and Nicholas Street groups combined to form the United Society, which was based at the New Room from 3 June 1739. 20

Wesley insisted that members should only hold meetings outside of normal church hours, for he wanted Methodism to complement rather than compete with Anglican worship.21 He envisaged thathis followers would carry out liturgical public worship in their local parish church and strongly rebuffed any suggestion that Methodists should separate from the Church of England. 22 When the New Room was enlarged in 1748, however, Wesley reluctantly allowed it to comply with the provisions of the Toleration Act of 1689 for the registration of Dissenting meeting houses. 23

Wesley's open-air preaching covered many sites in and around Bristol, including the brickyard in St. Philip's Marsh, Lawrence Hill, Baptist Mills, Rose Green, Redcliffe Hill, Fishponds, Hanham Mount and Kingswood.24 Dissenters, notably Quakers,had practised outdoor preaching in the locality at various times between the 1650s and the 1680s, but similar gatherings had probably not occurred in Bristol for many years before the Methodists arrived on the scene. 25 William Morgan, a Cotswold clergyman, and George Whitefield began open-air preaching in the Bristol area in 1738 and 1739 respectively. 26 Wesley followedtheir lead, though with some reluctance. 'I could scarce reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields,' he confided in his journal, 'having been all my life (till very lately) so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order,. that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not

5

6

been done in church. '27 Later in life, Wesley confessed that field preaching was still 'a cross to me. '28 As an ordained minister he realised that open-air services were irregular, relatively novel, and liable to legal penalties since Methodists might be branded as Dissenters, who were forbidden from field preaching by the Conventicle Act of 1664. 29 He continued his outdoor sermons, however, because they spread the Gospel to the widest possible audience and facilitated his mission to save souls by converting sinners into faithful Christians. 30

Early Methodist preaching captivated audiences in the Bristol area. The indoor religious societies attracted a substantial number of Dissenters, especially Presbyterians and Quakers, as well as pious Anglicans. All these people found an outlet for their religious expression at the society meetings. 31 The spiritual re­newal associated with such gatherings highlights the skill with which Wesley and other Methodists reached across denomi­national boundaries to secure the support of many pietists. 32

Open-air preaching was also highly successful, for large crowds flocked to Methodist field services. Wesley's first outdoor discourse apparently attracted some 3,000 people to St. Philip's Marsh.33 A few weeks later, Wesley referred to an assembly of between two and two-and-a-half thousand at Baptist Mills as 'our usual congregation there. '34 Though the size of crowds was sometimes exaggerated, there are plenty of other examples of the 'pull' exerted by Methodist preachers. 35

Wesley's outdoor meetings tapped potential converts on the fringes of the city where the lack of parish churches had left a religious vacuum.36 The largest group to attend were the Kings­wood colliers, who always turned out en masse provided that they had advance notice of the time and location of meetings. 37 During the eighteenth century, these rough-and-ready workers partici­pated in various turnpike and grain riots. They were characterised by a mayor of Bristol as a 'set of ungovernable people' living on the edge of a former royal forest, Kings wood Chase, where social discipline was loose and established authority limited. Wesley and other Methodists did not share this attitude. They regarded the colliers as a 'neglected people,' withdrawn from civilising influ­ences and thus suitable for religious awakening. 38 The colliers, in turn, responded to Methodism with alacrity- more, it seems, from spiritual need than from material want. 39

People who attended Methodist meetings were impressed by the charisma of John Wesley as a preacher. Though small in stature,

7

sober in dress, restrained in manner, and less flamboyant than Whitefield, Wesley was able to hold an audience in the palm of his hand. Wesley's book steward noted, in fact, that people ca�e 'from all parts to hear Mr John' preach at Bristol. 'Nor do I wonder,' he added, 'at those of the World preferring him before any of the other Methodist's Preachers, as his Talents are far superior to any in connexion with him. The depth of his Matter recommends him to Believers, as his graceful Pronunciation and regular Action gain him the esteem of the unconverted. Upon the whole, I believe, he is universally allowed to be ye most finished Divine in England in this our Day.'40 Wesley's sermons, deliveredin a more popular manner than their printed texts suggest, were models of logical construction, clear presentation, practical rele­vance and ethical advice. They were expressed in a direct style that everyone could understand and were capped with pithy summa­ries. They also seemed to carry a message for each person who listened to them, as if Wesley were directing his attention to every individual in the audience.41

Reactions to this style of preaching were immediate and drama­tic. Expectations of emotional release prevailed at early Methodist meetings in the Bristol area and scenes of religious excitement became the norm rather than the exception.42 Paroxysms andgroanings occasionally occurred when Whitefield or Charles Wesley preached.43 These and other emotional outpourings, suchas tears, convulsions and visions of God, took place more frequen­tly, however, when John Wesley preached.44 Examples include ayoung woman sinking down as if dead at a society in Castle Street, a young man breaking down with violent trembling at the Weavers' Hall, a number of seizures among prisoners in Newgate, and fits of conviction among attenders at various religious soci­eties.45 Such incidents tended to happen when Wesley expoundedthe idea of Christian perfection - the notion that a true believer's heart might eventually be filled with humble love and constant communion with God.46

The testimony of Joanna Mussell encapsulates the emotions stirred by the evangelical message. Mussell became convinced of her 'lost estate' and need for a Saviour after hearing Charles Wesley preach in Bristol in 1742. Her sorrows increased when she listened to John Wesley exhort soon afterwards at Temple Back. She walked home, threw herself on a bed, and poured out her complaints to the Lord 'when on a sudden a profound silence seazed her spirit, and she saw as it were a bright cloud presented

8

before her, and in the midst of the Cloud the form of a Man with his hands and Eyes lifted to Heaven, and it was revealed to her that it was Jesus making Intercession for her.' About three days later, while walking in Bristol, praying and crying, she heard a voice saying, 'Daughter be of good chear thy sins are forgiven thee. '47

Divisions soon arose among the Methodists over the nature and desirability of these emotional scenes. Wesley himself believed that such dramatic changes in behaviour reflected God's ·power to transform anguish and despair into a cleansing of sins and a sense of peace and joy. 48 He cited Scriptural authority for thisviewpoint. 49 Some of his family and close colleagues neverthelesscriticised the religious tension engendered at Methodist meetings. They thought that the fits and groans smacked of the charlatanism they associated with the French Prophets, a radical sect of Protestants who encouraged emotional behaviour at their meet­ings in Bristol in the first four decades of the eighteenth century. 50

They also considered that Wesley's endorsement of convulsions and visions would discredit Methodism and induce naive people to suppose that they could be justified in an instant. 51 In defence ofWesley, it should be emphasised that he cautioned against relig­ious fervour and the excesses of the French Prophets. 52 Hisacceptance of cries and swoons as a natural human response to divine intervention and to fears of death and judgement certainly led to controversy, but also stimulated the evangelical mission by bridging the gap between polite culture and popular religiosity. 53

A more damaging rift in early Methodism stemmed from the theological differences of the two main leaders of the movement. Wesley and Whitefield both agreed that justification by faith was the true Christian response to mankind's fallen nature, but they had different doctrinal emphases. Whitefield was a staunch Calvi­nist who insisted on absolute predestination, the conviction that God has decreed for all eternity that only certain persons will be saved. He also believed that elect Christians had final per­severance; in other words, they could not fall from grace. Wesley, by contrast, was a committed Arminian who believed in condi­tional predestination, whereby all persons could be saved if they had faith and so long as they retained their faith. 54 These divergentviews were published initially in Wesley's sermon Free Grace, first delivered in Bristol in 1740, and in Whitefield's reply, A Letter to the Reverend Mr John Wesley: In Answer to his Sermon entituled Free-Grace (1741 ). A battle of wills ensued. Whitefield empha-

9

sised that he could not preach without mentioning predesti­nation. 55 But Wesley considered absolute predestination 'a

horrible decree' since it destroyed the zeal for good works,

provided no comfort for the reprobated, and represented a cruel and unjust God. 56 Beyond the ranks of Methodists, Whitefield'sCalvinism was endorsed by Baptists and Anglican Evangelicals

while Wesley's Arminianism was more attuned to the theology of

the high church party in the Established Church. 57

The doctrinal controversy spread throughout Bristol, with last­ing results. Among the Calvinists who attacked the Arminian Methodists were William Seward, the friend and travelling com­

panion of Whitefield, and John Cennick, who regularly expounded

at Kingswood in 1739 and 1740. 58 Seward referred to John and

Charles Wesley as 'Judas's False Prophets, Woolves in Sheeps

Clothing,' whose propagation of Christian perfection was 'Popish,

Damnable & Heretical. '59 · Cennick's outburst against Armi­

nianism at the Kingswood Society caused a· crisis among

Methodists there. As a result, Cennick departed to form a parallel society at Kings wood based on rigid predestinarian principles. 60

The Arminian Methodists soon gained the upper hand in the debate. They secured the New Room to themselves and inspired people against predestination by regular preaching and comforting hymns. Whitefield's prolonged absence from England aided their

cause.61 But the doctrinal divisions were never fully healed. From

1742, the Arminian and Calvinist Methodists held different ser­vices in Bristol. 62 Heated exchanges sometimes occurred betweenthe groups, notably in August 1771 when the Countess of

Huntingdon set up a rival conference in Bristol as a challenge to the one that met under Wesley's tutelage. The Countess asked that a deputation led by her cousin.the Reverend Walter Shirley should

be received by John Wesley. This resulted in a two-hour discussion that only increased the division between the Calvinists and Wesley's followers. 63 By the 1770s, five or six separate Methodistsocieties in Bristol accommodated these different doctrinal emphases. They included two Calvinist groups, one linked with

Whitefield and the other with Lady Huntingdon, which met in

chapels at opposite ends of the city. 64

Early Methodism in Bristol was beset by external opposition as

well as by internal divisions. The Established Church and the

Bristol Corporation both took alarm at the spirit of 'enthusiasm' that gripped the city. 65 During the spring of 1739, the authorities

banned Whitefield and Wesley from preaching in Newgate.66

10

Portrait of Wesley in Wesley College, Bristol, by John Williams. Repro­duced by kind permission of the Rev. Dr Henry McKeating, Principal of

Wesley College, Bristol.

11

Several Bristol clergymen either criticised the Methodists as a threat to the religious order or refused them the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 67 A notable rebuff came from Dr Joseph Butler, the Bishop of Bristol, who interviewed Wesley three times in 1739 and ordered him to leave the city because he was not commis­sioned to preach in the diocese. But Wesley disobeyed this order and stayed. He replied that he could advance the glory of God and the salvation of souls better in Bristol than in any other place, and added that he was unaware of any law forbidding him from preaching in the city. 68

These attacks were bolstered by many anti-methodist publica­tions and by a division in the Bristol press between Felix Parley's Bristol Journal, which defended Methodism, and Andrew Hooke's Bristol Oracle, which opposed it. 69 One of the most savage critiques was the pamphlet entitled The Progress of Methodism in Bristol; or the Methodist Unmask'd (1743), which accused Wesley and Whitefield of preaching for financial gain and which charged Wesley with pretending to work miracles. 70 Beyond the realm ofprint, hostility against the Methodists occasionally fomented vio­lence. 71 While one of Wesley's assistants was addressing an audience at Hanham Mount, a publican.and his wife steered their horses into the crowd and beat the worshippers with whips. 72 In April 1740 an anti-methodist mob in Bristol dispersed only after one of the crowd's leaders had been arrested. A severe reprimand in the Quarter Sessions court and a firm stand by the mayor against rioting meant, however, that the Methodists never encountered mob activity in the Bristol area again. 73

Despite these difficulties, Methodism maintained its foothold in Bristol and Kingswood between 1742 and the end of Wesley's lifetime. The distribution of Methodists by parish, sex and occupa­tion acquired distinctive characteristics during this period. In 1766 many Methodists were clustered in Temple parish, an industrial area south of the River Avon, but there were none in All Saints and very few in St. Augustine's, in the heart of the city. By 1784 St. James, with over 1,000 Methodists, had emerged as a notable parish for this type of worship; so, too, had St. Philip and St. Jacob. In both 1766 and 1784 there were many Methodists in areas beyond the city boundaries such as Clifton, Stapleton, Kingswood and Mangotsfield. 74 Apart from the Kingswood colliers, most Methodists were artisans and tradespeople among whom women were at least as prominent as men. A surviving list of the Kingswood Society in 1757 includes colliers, victuallers, spinners,

12

plasterers, hatters, shoemakers and bakers, and an even balance of the sexes. 75 The Wesleyan membership roll of the New Room in 1783 records servants, shoemakers and shopkeepers as its largest occupational groups, and reveals that women comprised two­thirds of the class members. 76

There were marked fluctuations over time in the membership of the Bristol and Kingswood Methodist societies.77 A fragmentary list of the United Bristol Society in 1741 names at least sixty-three people.78 Membership exceeded 900 by the mid-1750s, fell to less than half that number shortly afterwards, and settled down to around 750 between 1770 and 1786. 79 By the latter period there was little turnover in personnel, which points to a steady and loyal membership.80 The Kingswood Society had at least 172 members in 1757 and nearly 300 in 1761. 81 The numbers then dwindled for several years but increased within a few months in 1770 from 118 to over 300.82 Such fluctuations sometimes happened after Wesley purged the Methodist societies.83 But it seems that they were more common when preachers failed to insist on Christian perfection for, according to Wesley, 'wherever this is not done, be the preachers ever so eloquent, there is little increase, either in the number or grace of the hearers. '84 This explanation probably accounts for instances where even able and diligent preachers failed to stem declining religious fervour.85 It is not entirely clear why Christian perfection was such a key factor, but it may be that when the Methodist societies played down this they lost distinctiveness and hence members.

Wesley promoted the growth of Methodism, notwithstanding fluctuations in membership and commitment, by expending much energy on the organisation and discipline of his followers. He regulated the Methodist societies in a speedy and innovative way, enlisting the assistance of lay helpers partly because there were insufficient clergymen available and partly because Methodism had a strong voluntaristic ethos. 86 At the suggestion of Captain Foy, a member of a Bristol merchant family, it was decided in 1742 that classes of twelve people, with one person as leader, should give a penny a week to defray the accumulating debt on the New Room. 87 Subsequently, classes met weekly to foster regular fel­lowship and class leaders reported to Wesley and other Methodist ministers on the spiritual condition of the fellowship. 88 Class members identified themselves with printed tickets that included their names written in Wesley's own hand. These tickets, issued quarterly, served as commendatory letters and as the necessary

13

�ntree to society meetings. 89 Classes soon began to assume greater importance than the bands, which were maintained only in the larger societies by the end of Wesley's lifetime. 90

Wesley also introduced love-feasts and watchnight services into the Methodist societies at Bristol and Kingswood. He adopted these practices from the Moravians, who had revived them from the institutions of the early Church. Love-feasts, usually held monthly or quarterly on Sunday evenings, were simple meals of cake and water communally shared by class members. They were occasions when Methodists passed a porcelain cup from mouth to mouth, sang hymns, collected alms for the poor, and encouraged conversation that testified to the glory of God. Watchnight ser­vic�s consisted of Methodists gathering to preach, sing, pray and praise God. To begin with, Wesley held these midnight assemblies on the Friday in the month nearest the full moon, so that congregations could attend and return in safety, but later they were held only on New Year's Eve.91 At both the love-feasts and the watchnight services, the hymns sung were often written by Charles Wesley. He lived permanently in Bristol from 1748 to 1771, composed many of his finest hymns there, and administered the sacraments at the New Room when his brother was away from the area.92 Both John and Charles Wesley recognised the impor­tance of hymn singing in Methodist worship for, as John Walsh has put it, hymns reached 'the unlettered in ways which had emotional resonance and also mnemonic durability' since they 'were custom­arily "lined out" (read out line by line) for the illiterate. '93

There were further innovations in early Methodism. In 1743, John and Charles Wesley drew up a set of 'Rules for the United Societies.' These specified one requirement for membership: the desire to flee the wrath to come by seeking salvation. They also exhorted Methodists to carry out all sorts of good works. 94 In 1744, Wesley established an annual Methodist Conference as a focal point for his followers. Eighteen of these gatherings were held in the New Room between 1745 and 1790. The items discussed at the conferences included the definition of doctrine the appointment or dismissal of preachers, and the administratio� of finance.95 At the Bristol Conference of 1746 Wesley inaugu­rated the circuit system, whereby at least a dozen itinerant preachers were assigned to seven circuits covering the whole of England.96 ltinerancy was vital for the growth of Methodism. The frequent change of preachers allowed men of varied talents to impart the work of grace to a whole congregation, and prevented

14

audiences from being bored by the style of one particular preacher. 97 These innovations fostered vitality and unity among the Methodists and developed a system independent of the rural parochial framework and its natural rulers, the clergy and the landowners. 98

Wesley gave added impetus to Methodism in B;istol by organis­ing an extensive publication programme to promote the evange­lical message and consolidate the commitment of newly awakened converts.99 To this end, he sold many of his own works in a bookstore at the New Room and kept spare copies upstairs for the use of his preachers. 100 Jonathan Barry's reconstruction of works. of more than three pages that were printed in Bristol between 1695 and 1775 shows that Methodists wrote over half the output, including two-thirds of the longer items - a remarkable proportion given that printing was well established in Bristol and that Methodism did not get under way until the late 1730s. Wesley relied on the support of local printers such as Felix Farley and William Pine, both of whom became Methodists, to ensure a steady flow of cheap tracts, pamphlets, hymns and notices in local newspapers. 101 For instance, Farley published Wesley's A PlainAccount of the People called Methodists (1749) and his Advice tothe People call' d Methodists (1746), while Pine printed no less than thirty volumes of Wesley's works between 1771 and 1774. A drop in Methodist publications occurred in Bristol, however, after Wesley quarrelled with Pine in the 1770s over doctrinal issues and the American War of Independence. 102

Wesley wielded ruthless discipline to maintain spiritual purity among his followers. He examined the Bristol and Kingswood societies each year, usually for a week in the autumn. He tried to visit everyone from house to house and always enquired about the character and behaviour of both leaders and class members. 103

Frequently there were disputes to settle, especially misunderstand­ings arising from the Calvinist/Arminian divide. 10 4 He criticised those members who sought salvation by good works and those who believed in antinomianism, the conviction that the moral law was abolished for the elect of the Lord. 105 He upbraided drunkards, tale-bearers and evil-speakers, and singled out indolence, lack of self denial and neglect of private prayer as slack behaviour that required discipline, without which 'little good can be done among the Methodists. ' 106 It is not surprising, therefore, that Wesley gave short shrift to class members who stood in need of correction. On 9 December 1741, he excluded thirty members from the Bristol

15

Society 'as no longer adorning the Gospel of Christ.' He declared their names openly and explained why they were cast out. 10 7 A greater purge took place in October 1748 when he examined the Bristol Society for a whole week and reduced the numbers from 900 to 730 by 'leaving out every careless person and every-one who wilfully and obstinately refused to meet his brethren weekly.' 108

To heal these divisions, Wesley spent time on his visits carrying out pastoral work and preaching, for he recognised the importance of his own presence in knitting together the Methodist societies. 109

Sometimes he left written instructions, by way of exhortation, when he was about to restart his itinerant mission. 110 He tried, wherever possible, to leave the societjes in a flourishing state and was dismayed when he fell short of this goal. 111

Wesley's desire for discipline within Methodist ranks can also be detected in his directions for the operation of Kingswood School, which he founded in 1748 as a boarding institution for _boys. In A Plain Account of Kingswood School, near Bristol, Wesley explained that the school site was chosen so that it was far enough from the distractions of the city but not situated in rural isolation. Disillusioned with the religious laxity of the schools of his day, Wesley aimed to provide at Kingswood a rigorous Christian and academic training that would enable boys to begin and end their education in the same institution. Kingswood School was built next to a chapel and day school for the colliers and their children, and originally consisted of six masters for fifty boys. By the 1760s, about a quarter of the boys were the sons of itinerant Methodist preachers. Wesley appointed learned and God-fearing masters and compiled a syllabus, for which he chose the textbooks, based on religious instruction, the three R's, and classical studies. The school rules were very strict. Children followed an orderly regimen of private work, prayer, singing and reading between the hours of 4 a.m. and 8 p.m. They had little leisure time, for Wesley believed in the proverb that 'he that plays when he is a boy will play when he is a man.' The school operated every day of the year except the Sabbath. Masters were supposed to be present with pupils at all times; they slept in the children's dormitories with a lamp burning throughout the night. Parents had to agree to the rules, especially to the stipulation that they should keep their children at the school until they wished to withdraw them permanently. 112

Wesley was determined that his scheme would succeed at Kingswood. 'I will kill or cure,' he wrote in his journal, for 'I will have one or the other - a Christian school, or none at all. '113 The

16

1

)

,..w ., .. ·----...... ,.... -- .......... --- .. . ,--

Letter written by John Wesley from a collection in the New Room. Reproduced by kind permission of the Rev. A. Raymond George,

Warden, Wesley's New Room.

17

tone of this remark suggests that his aims were difficult to achieve. There were, indeed, many problems at the school. Early on, Wesley found his rigid plan upset by several examples of misbe­haviour .. 114 He responded by expelling children who habitually neglected the rules. 115 At a later period, he found the management wanting. He discovered that several rules were not being observed, especially the command to rise early in the morning. 'Surely Satan has a peculiar spite at this school,' he observed in 1781. 'What trouble has it cost me for above these thirty years. I can plan, but who will execute? I know not; God help me!'116

Wesley tried to resolve the problems by drafting a resolution at the Conference of 1783 that insisted on obedience to his rules. 117 He himself made frequent visits to Kingswood during the last decade of his life to ensure better order among pupils and staff. 118 But overall the school was only a qualified success in his lifetime even though it experienced periods of religious zeal and was usually full after the first three years. 119 Wesley bears some responsibility for this relative failure, since he applied the rules too strictly and chose masters more for their piety than for their pedagogic ability. 120

Wesley's impact on eighteenth-century Bristol and Kingswood was not just confined to the discipline of his followers; it also embraced a genuine and compassionate concern for the poor. There were various reasons why he pursued this calling. He hoped to communicate to the needy the faith he had found through the experience of new birth and the redemption of Jesus Christ. He believed that the poor were spiritually equal to the rich, that all great religious revivals began among the common people, and that the evangelical creed required the godly to provide charity for people less fortunate than themselves. 121 At the beginning of his Bristol ministry, as already noted, he preached in the open air on a New Testament passage that emphasised the necessity for ministering to the poor and healing the broken-hearted.122 The warm response he received on this occasion encouraged him to give priority to his mission to the poor.

Wesley practised what he preached with considerable success in the Bristol area. During the severe winter of 1740, he collected money from his congregations to aid the poor who lived outside Lawford's Gate and who received no parish relief. 123 In 1759 and 1760, appalled at finding French prisoners in copfinement at Knowle, he raised money for clothes and persuaded the Bristol Corporation to provide a large quantity of mattresses and

18

blankets. Letters of appeal to two London newspapers secured additional donations for the prisoners. 124 Much later Wesley realised that many Methodists themselves lived in straitened circumstances, so he requested financial assistance from the better-off to remedy the problem. 125 In a similar vein, he reminded the Mayor and Corporation of Bristol of the obligation of the rich to the poor when he preached on the parable of Dives and Lazarus at St. Mark's Chapel, College Green, in March 1788. 126 On one of his last trips to Bristol he visited the ·recently­established Bristol Strangers' Society, an institution for the relief of poor, sick, friendless strangers. He was pleased with the charitable work done by this society and claimed that it was 'one of the fruits of Methodism.' 127 The only scheme where his concern for the poor failed in Bristol was the short-lived attempt to run a dispensary providing free medicine and remedies for illness. That this enterprise soon collapsed, however, stemmed more from practical difficulties in securing drugs and competing with a rival dispensary operated by the Bristol Infirmary than from a failure of vision by Wesley.128

The Newgate prisoners and the Kingswood colliers were the two main groups among the outcasts and lower orders in the Bristol area that benefitted from Methodism. When Wesley began prea­ching in Newgate, he found a place that left much to be desired. 'Of all the seats of woe on this side hell few, I suppose, exceed or even equal Newgate,' he later wrote. 'If any region of horror could exceed it a few years ago, Newgate in Bristol did; so great was the filth, the stench, the misery, and wickedness which shocked all who had a spark of humanity left.' 129 But changes occurred after the Methodists preached there. Abel Dagge, the keeper of the gaol, soon warmed to the evangelical message when, after some initial hostility, he witnessed the transformation that divine grace wrought in prisoners. 130 By 1761 Wesley himself was delighted, and somewhat surprised, at the alterations in the prison. He found that cleanliness was now the norm; that fighting, drunkenness, whoredom and idleness had been abandoned; and that religious services were now held on the Sabbath.131 Much of the credit for inculcating these changes is due to Wesley himself and to one of his assistants, the Reverend James Rouquet, who officiated as Ordinary at the Bristol Newgate for nearly twenty years. 132

The Kingswood colliers displayed the same orderly conduct as a result of Methodist preaching. 'Kingswood does not now, as a year ago, resound with cursing and blasphemy,' Wesley noted as early

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as December 1739. 'It is no longer the seat of drunkenness, uncleanness, and all idle diversions that lead thereto. It is no longer filled with wars, fightings, with clamour and bitterness, with strife and envying. Peace and love are now there; the people (in general) are become mild, gentle, and easy to be entreated; they do not cry, neither starve, and hardly is their voice heard in the streets; or indeed in their own wood, unless when at their usual evening diversions - singing Psalms unto God their Saviour.' 133

Wesley's approval of these changes reflects his pleasure at the impact of his evangelical work. Later, more subdued accounts similarly testify to the calmness and religious devotion that Methodist preaching instilled in the colliers. 134 Two further resultsof Wesley's work at Kingswood were the transformation of the colliers' language into a rational, scriptural discourse and the decision of several former colliers, such as Victory Purdy, James Rogers and Thomas Beswicks, to take up the vocation of itinerant Methodist preaching. 135 Small wonder that a contemporaryQuaker tribute praised Wesley as 'the instrument of civilizing, almost from a savage state, the colliers at Kingswood.' 136

From the early 1770s onwards, Wesley paid much attention to another group of poor people indirectly connected with Bristol: the black slaves on the plantations in the 'British Empire. In his pamphlet Thoughts on Slavery (1774) he put forward an eloquent case for the liberty and humanitarian treatment of slaves, and warned slave owners and traders of the retribution that would follow for their iniquity. Bristol was one of the three major slave-trading ports in England and so it was appropriate for Wesley to speak there on the evils of the traffic. Wesley may have had the slave trade in mind when he preached in Bristol in 1786 on 'the chief besetting sins' of that city - love of money and love of ease. 137 But he approached the subject directly on 6 March 1788, just at the time when the abolitionist campaign had reached parliament. On that occasion, he expounded on slavery at the New Room to an audience full of people 'high and low, rich and poor.' A mysterious happening occurred. 'About the middle of the discourse, while there was on every side attention stili as night,' Wesley noted in his journal, 'a vehement noise arose, none could tell why, and shot like lightning through the whole congregation. The terror and confusion were inexpressible. You might have imagined it was a city taken by storm. The people rushed upon each other with the utmost violence; the benches were broken in pieces, and nine-tenths of the congregation appeared to be struck

20 21

with the same panic. In about six minutes the storm ceased, almost as suddenly as it rose, and, all being calm, I went on without the least interruption.' 138 Wesley believed that only 'some preternatu­ral influence' could account for 'the strangest incident of the kind I ever remember' - a reminder of his acceptance of supernatural forces at work in the world. 139

Some two-and-a-half years after his sermon on slavery, Wesley paid his final visit to Bristol. On 26 September 1790 he preached twice at the New Room and afterwards met the Society. He left Bristol the next day and never returned again. 140 His ministry in Bristol and its neighbourhood left a legacy that included significant social work for the Newgate prisoners and Kingswood colliers, innovative organisation of rank-and-file Methodists, an evange­lical zeal among the middle and lower orders of society, and notable educational work at Kingswood. These achievements only emerged, however, after struggle with internal divisions and external qpposition. Moreover, the presence of Wesley himself was crucial in fostering vitality and cohesion among his followers. His annual visits to the area helped to avoid the fragmentation among Methodists that occurred soon after his death. 141 But a foretaste of things to come happened in 1784 when Wesley carried out the first Methodist ordinations while visiting Bristol. :t{is_ � _ appointment of Thomas Coke and two others as, respectively, -­joint superintendent and elders of the Methodists in America was highly irregular, for ordination in the Church of England was the work of a bishop rather than of a priest. 142

Throughout his Bristol ministry, nevertheless, Wesley kept the 'People called Methodists' within the Church of England and organised them so that their meetings became an important new feature of religious life in Bristol and its neighbourhood. That Wesley devoted so much time to Bristol is remarkable given that he covered nearly 250,000 miles and delivered 40,000 sermons in his lifetime. 143 But he always regarded Bristol and Kingswood as focal points of Methodist activity and the New Room as the centre of his itinerancy. The equestrian statue of John Wesley in the forecourt of the New Room is a fitting reminder of his peripatetic mission and the chapel, rooms and memorabilia inside the building enable a modern visitor to sense the atmosphere of a religious movement that now comprises 54 million Methodists throughout the world.

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NOTES

L George Whitefield to John Wesley, 22 Mar. 1739, in Frank Baker. ed .. The

Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I 1721-1739 (Oxford, 1980), p. 612. 2. For Whitefield's initial preachino in the Bristol area see William Wale, ed ..

Whitefield's Journals (London� 1905), pp. 206-218, 220-221. 225-226,227-237, and The Life and Times of Selina Countess of Huntingdon (2 vols.,.London, 1844), IL pp. 354-363.

3. Nehemiah Curnock, ed., The Journal of John Wesley (8 vols .. London,1909-1916), IL 2 Apr. 1739, pp. 172-173. For illuminating commentary on the Journals in the context of literary history see W.R. Ward's discussion in W. Reginald Ward and Richard P. Heitzenrater, eds., The Works of John

Wesley, vol. /8: Journals and Diaries I 1735-1738 (Nashville, Tennessee, 1988), pp. 1-119. This and the second volume of a new edition of Wesley's Journals and Diaries, covering the years 1735-1743, arrived too late for use here.

4. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, II, 2 Apr. 1739, pp. 172-173.5. John Wesley to Dr. Warburton, 26 Nov. 1762, in John Telford, ed., The

Letters of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M. (8 vols., London, 1931), IV, pp.350-351.

6. For a clear summary of Wesley's career before his Bristol ministry seeV.H.H. Green, John Wesley (London, 1964), pp. 1-66. The best detailedtreatment of Wesley's ministry in its social context is Henry D. Rack,Reasonable Enthusiast: John Wesley and the Rise of Methodism (London,1989).

7. W.E. Minchinton, 'Bristol: Metropolis of the West in the EighteenthCentury,' Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th Series, IV (1954),pp. 69-89.

8. Jonathan Barry, 'The Parish in Civic Life: Bristol and its Churches 1640-1750' in Susan Wright, ed., Parish, Church and People: Local Studies in Lay

Religion, /350-1750 (London, 1988), pp. 152-178; Dr. Williams's Library,London, John Evans List of Dissenting Congregations, 1715-1729, Ms. 34.4, f. 147.

9. John W. Raimo, 'Spiritual Harvest: The Anglo-American Revival in Boston, Massachusetts, and Bristol, England, 1739-1742' (University of Wisconsin Ph.D. dissertation, 1974), pp. 147-169.

10. A useful table setting out the days per month that Wesley spent in Bristol isincluded in W.A. Goss, 'Early Methodism in Bristol, with special reference to John Wesley's Visits to the City, 1739-1790, and their Impression on the People,' Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society, XX (1935), Part IX,pp. 26-28, hereafter cited as Proc. W.H.S.

11. E.g. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, II, 14 Apr., 9 May 1739, pp. 178,194; John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane Society, 2 Apr., 7, 28May 1739, in Baker, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I, pp. 620,641-642, 650-653.

12. E.g. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, II, 1 Apr., 28 May 1739, pp, 168,205; John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane Society, 9, 16, 21-26Apr. 1739, in Baker, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I, pp.625-628, 631-633, 635-637; 'John Cennick - Account of the Awakenings at Bdstol and Kingswood, 1738, 1739,' Proc. W.H.S., VI (1908), p. 101.

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13. John S. Simon, John Wesley and the Religious Societies (London, 1921):Henry D. Rack, ·Religious Societies and the Origins of Methodism.' Journal

of Ecclesiastical History, XXXVIII (1987), pp. 582-595; and John Walsh, "Religious Societies: Methodist and Evangelical 1738-1800' in W.J. Sheils and Diana Wood, ed., Voluntary Religion: Studies in Church History, XXIII

(Oxford, 1986), pp. 279-302. 14. J.D. Walsh, 'Origins of the Evangelical Revival,' in G.V. Bennett and J.D.

Walsh, eds., Essays in Modern Church History in Memory of Norman Sykes

(London, 1966), pp. 144-148.15. John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane Society, 21-26 Apr. 1739,

in Baker, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I, p. 636; HenryAbelove, "The Sexual Politics of Early Methodism,' in Jim Obelkevich et al., eds., Disciplines of Faith: Studies in Religion, Politics and Patriarchy

(London, 1987), pp. 86-99. Abelove is not entirely clear about whether married bands were also divided by sex. The Rev. A. Raymond George has suggested to me that they were probably divided, with separate bands for husbands and wives.

16. John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane Society, 14 May 1739, inBaker, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I, p. 648.

17. John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane Society, 9, 21-26 Apr. 1739, in ibid., pp. 628, 635.

18. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, II, 9 May 1739, pp. 194, 197.19. For a description of the building and its Methodist associations see Maldwyn

Edwards, New Room (Leeds, 1972). 20. Ibid., p. 3. 21. See p. 22 and John Wesley, Reasons against a Separation from the Church of

England (London, 1760).22. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, IV, 26-28 Aug. 1756, pp. 185-186;

John Whitehead, The Life of the Rev. John Wesley . . . (2 vols., London, 1793), II, p. 333.

23. Edwards, New Room, p. 4.24. E.g. John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane Society, 16, 21-26

Apr. 1739, in Baker, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I, pp.631-633, 635-636; Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, II, 2, 8 Apr., 13, 26 May 1739, pp. 172, 174-175, 198, 205; and Frederick C. Gill, In The Steps

of John Wesley (London, 1962), pp. 70-78.25. J. G. Fuller, The Rise and Progress of Dissent in Bristol; chiefly in relation to

the Broadmead Church . . . (London, 1840), pp. 149-151; Barry, 'The Parishin Civic Life,' p. 163.

26. 'John Cennick - Account of the Awakenings at Bristol and Kingswood,' pp.102-103; John S. Simon, 'John Wesley and Field Preaching,' Proc. W.H.S.,

XI (1917), p. 58.27. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, II, 31 Mar. 1739, p. 167.28. Ibid., V, 6 Sept. 1772, p. 484.29. Simon, 'John Wesley and Field Preaching,' pp. 54-63; John S. Simon, 'The

Conventicle Act and its Relation to the Early Methodists,' Proc. W.H.S., XI(1917), pp. 82-93; David Hempton, 'Methodism and the Law, 1740-1820,' Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, LXX ( 1988), pp. 93-107.

30. John Wesley to John Smith, 10 July 1747, in Frank Baker, ed., The Works of

John Wesley, vol. 26: Letters II /740-/755 (Oxford, 1982), p. 246.

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31. Raimo, ·Spiritual Harvest.' pp. 190-193.32. The importance of denominational pluralism in 18th-century Bristol is

brought out in Barry, ·The Parish in Civic Life.' pp. 160-161, and Jonathan Barry, ·Piety and the Patient: Medicine and Religion in Eighteenth CenturyBristol.' in Roy Porter, ed., Patients and Practitioners (Cambridge, I 985), pp. 145-175.

33. Curnock, ed .. Journal of John Wesley, IL 2 Apr. 1739, p. 172.34. John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane Society, 14 May 1739, in

Baker, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Lellers I, p. 648.35. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, II, 4, 8 Apr., 26 May 1739. pp.

174-175, 205; John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane Society, 2,9, 16 Apr. 1739, in Baker, ed .. Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Letter.1· I, pp.620. 625-628, 631-633; Thomas Jackson, ed .. The Journal of the Rev. Charles Wesley, M.A. (2 vols .. London, 1849), L 23 Sept. 1739, 22 Sept. 1740, pp. 179, 249-250; Chetham's Library, Manchester, William Seward Diary, Mun. A.2.116, 23, 28 Sept. 1740, ff. 148, 175.

36. John Latimer, The Annals of Bristol in the Eighteenth Century (Bristol,1893), pp, 201-202.

37. John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane Society, 2 July 1739, in Baker ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Lellers I, p. 666.

38. Robert W. Malcolmson, """A Set of Ungovernable People": The Kingswood Colliers in the Eighteenth Century' in John Brewer and John Styles, eds., An Ungovernable People: The English and their Law in the Seventeenth and

Eighteenth Centuries (London, 1980), pp. 85-127; Rupert E. Davies, "JohnWesley, Kingswood and Kingsw6od School,' Wesley Historical Society, Bristol Branch, Bulletin no. 5 I ( 1988).

39. The arguments for and against economic distress creating an environment favourable to Methodist preaching are outlined in Bernard Semmel, ed., Elie Halevy, The Birth of Methodism in England (Chicago, 1971), pp. 67-68, 77, and J.D. Walsh, "Elie Halevy and the Birth of Methodism.' Trans. Royal

Hist. Soc., 5th series, XXV (1975), pp. 10-I I.40. William R. Perkins Library, Manuscript Department, Duke University,

Journal of John Wesley's Book Steward (1752-1754), 22 Oct. 1752, Frank Baker Collection of Wesleyana and British Methodism. This quotation iscited with the permission of Dr. Baker, who informs me that the authorship of the journal, previously attributed to Thomas Butts, is now conjectural.

41. For commentary on Wesley's sermons see Horton Davies, Worship and

Theology in England: From Walls and Wesley to Maurice, /690-1850 (Princeton, 1961), pp. 156, 160, 166-167, 171-172, 174.

42. E.g. Methodist Church Archives, John Rylands University Library of Manchester (hereafter cited as M.C.A., J.R.U.L.M.), Testimonial of Mary Thomas, collected by Charles Wesley in 1742, Early Methodist Volume (Black Folio).

43. Jackson, ed., Journal of Charles Wesley, I, 8 Sept. 1739, p. 170; Raimo,'Spiritual Harvest,' pp. 214-216.

44. Life and Times of Selina Countess of Huntingdon, II, p. 363.45. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, II, 26 Apr., 1 July 1739, pp. 184, 232;

John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane Society, 9, 21-26, 30Apr., 7 May 1739, in Baker, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I,

pp. 627, 637, 640-643; M.C.A., J.R.U.L.M., Testimonials of Elizabeth

25

Sayce and Elizabeth Halfpenny, collected by Charles Wesley in 1742, Early Methodist Volume (Black Folio).

46. 'John Cennick - Account of the Awakenings at Bristol and Kingswood,' 14June 1739, p. 108; Robert Southey, The Life of Wesley and the Rise andProgress of Methodism (2 vols., New York, 1820), II, p. 134; John Wesley, Sermon on 'Christian Perfection,' in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M. (14 vols., 3rd edn., London, 1872), VI, pp. 2-22.

47. M.C.A., J.R.U.L.M., 'Account of the Conversion and Death of Joanna Mussell,' dated 1762, Early Methodist Volume (Black Folio).

48. John Wesley to Samuel Wesley jun., 10 May 1739, in Baker, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I, p. 646.

49. Whitehead, Life of the Rev. John Wesley, II, p. 101. 50. Raimo, 'Spiritual Harvest,' pp. 166-167, and Hillel Schwartz, The French

Prophets: The History of a Millenarian Group in Eighteenth-Century England(Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1980), pp. 146, 148, 154, 157, 202-203, 222.

51. Raimo, 'Spiritual Harvest,' pp. 197-199; Mr. Whitefield to a Friend of his at London, 25 Apr. 1740, in The Weekly History: or, An Account of the most Remarkable Particulars relating to the Present Progress of the Gospel, no. 4, p. l; Whitehead, Life of the Rev. John Wesley, II, pp. 104-116; Samuel Wesley jun. to John Wesley, 3 Sept. 1739, in Baker, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I, pp. 681-682. For similarly critical views by an early historian of Methodism see Southey, Life of Wesley, I, pp. 220-221.

52. John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane Society, 2 July 1739, in Baker, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I, p. 664.

53. Jonathan Barry, 'The Cultural Life of Bristol, 1640--1775' (Oxford Univer­sity D.Phil. thesis, 1985), pp. 283-285; Henry D. Rack, 'Doctors, Demons and Early Methodist Healing,' in W .J. Sheils, ed., The Church and Healing: Studies in Church History, XIX (Oxford, 1982), pp. 145, 147, 151-152; Walsh, 'Halevy and the Birth of Methodism,' p. 5; Michael Watts, The Dissenters: From the Reformation to the French Revolution (Oxford, 1978), pp. 409-421; E.P. Thompson, 'Review Article: Anthropology and the Discipline of Historical Context,' Midland History, I (1972), p. 54.

54. The opposing positions are outlined in The Question, What is an Arminian? Answered by a Lover of Free Grace (Bristol, 1770).

55. George Whitefield to John and Charles Wesley, 1 Feb. 174 I, in Letters of George Whitefield for the Period 1734-1742 (Edinburgh, 1976), p. 509.

56. John Wesley, Free Grace: A Sermon Preach'd at Bristol (London, 1740), pp. 8, 10--12, 17.

57. For more detailed commentary on the Calvinist/Arminian divide see Southey, Life of Wesley, I, pp. 307-327, II, pp. 225-226: Watts. The Dissenters, pp. 428-434; Raimo, ·Spiritual Harvest,' pp. 182-185.

58. For brief accounts of these figures see Hilda Lofthouse, 'The Journal of William Seward 6th Sept. to 15th Oct. 1740,' Proc. W.H.S., XXXIV (1963-1964), pp. 17-20, and William Leary, 'John Cennick, 1718-1755: ABicentenary Appreciation,' ibid., XXX (1955-1956), pp. 30-37. My discuss­ion here and below uses the terms 'Arminian Methodists' and ·Calvinist Methodists' to distinguish the opposing groups in Bristol: neither. of course. were separate denominations at that time.

59. Chetham's Library, William Seward Diary. 25 Sept. 1740, ff. 155, 157-158.Possibly a group of Baptists stirred up Seward to make these charges (Jackson, ed., Journal of Charles Wesley, I, 24 Sept. 1740, p. 250).

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60. The Life of Mr John Cennick . . . (4th edn., London, 1789), pp. 24-27. Thesevere disruption that Cennick caused at Kingswood is emphasised inCurnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, III, 9 May 1743, p. 77; IV, 12 Oct.1760, p. 415.

61. Josiah Tucker, A Brief History of the Principles of Methodism (Oxford, 1742), pp. 41-43.

62. Edwin Welch, ed., Two Calvinistic Methodist Chapels 1743-1811: The London Tabernacle and the Spa Fields Chapel (London Record Society, XI, 1975), pp. xi-xii, 5, 19-22, 24, 27, 31-32, 35.

63. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, V, 6 Aug. 1771, p. 425; Edwards, New Room, p. 5.

64. Life and Times of Selina Countess of Huntingdon, II, pp. 380. 393; Rev. L. Tyerman, Wesley's Designated Successor: The Life, Letters, and Literary Labours of the Rev. John William Fletcher (London, 1882), p. 242; C.Walton, Notes and Materials for an adequate biography of !he celebra1eddivine and 1heosopher, William Law . . . (London, 1854). p. 596. There were four different branches of Methodism in St. Stephen's parish alone in 1784 (Elizabeth Ralph. ed., 'Bishop Seeker's Diocese Book,' in Patrick McGrath. ed., A Brislol Miscellany [Bristol Record Society's Publications, XXXVII,1985], p. 47).

65. 'Enthusiasm' was generally used pejoratively in the 18th century, like'fanaticism' today. See John Wesley's sermon on 'The Nature of Enthusi­asm,' in Works of !he Rev. John Wesley, V, pp. 467-478.

66. Curnock, ed., Journals of John Wesley, II, 3 July 1739, p. 237, and John Wesley to James Hutton, 4 June 1739, p. 211; Wale, ed., Whi1efield's Journals, 14 Mar. 1739, p. 227.

67. Raimo, 'Spiritual Harvest,' pp. 197-199; Jackson, ed., Journal of Charles Wesley, I, 20. 27 July 1740. pp. 245-246.

68. Works of the Rev. John Wesley. XIII, pp. 499-501; Frank Baker. ·John Wesley and Bishop Joseph Butler: A Fragment of John Wesley's Manuscript Journal 16th to 24th Aug. 1739,' Proc. W.H.S., XLII (1980), pp. 93-100.

69. Raimo, 'Spiritual Harvest,' p. 200: Brian Greaves, 'Eighteenth-Century Opposition to Methodism,' Proc. W.H.S .. XXXI (1957-1958), pp. 105-109;Rev. Richard Green, A111i-Me1hodi.11 P11blicc11ions issued during 1he Eigh1eenth Cenlury (London, 1902).

70. L. Tyerman. The Life and Times of 1he Rev. John Weslev, M.A. (3 vols., New York. 1872), L pp. 429-430.

71. For a good general discussion of this topic see John Walsh, ·Methodism and the Mob in the Eighteenth Century,' in G .J. Cuming and Derek Baker, eds., Popular Belief' and Proctice: Studies in Church Hislorv. VIII (Cambridge.1972), pp. 213-227.

72. Raimo, ·Spiritual Harvest,' p. 200.73. Ibid.; Works of the Rei'. John Wesley, XIII, pp. 308-309: Southey. Life of

Wesley, II, pp. 23-24. 74. Ralph, ed., 'Bishop Seeker's Diocese Book,' pp. 32. 34. 65-69. 1766 and

1784 are the only two years covered by this source for Methodists. 75. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City. List of i1ames in the Kingswood

Society. 26 Oct. 1757, Wesley Collection. 76. John Kent, ed., 'Wesleyan Membership in Bristol 1783,' in An Ecclesiaslical

Miscellan); (Publications of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, Records Section. XL 1976). pp. 105-132.

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77. For Wesley 's frequent comments on the state of membership in the Bristol and Kingswood societies see Curnock, ed .. Journal of John Wesley, IV. 28 Oct. 1757, p. 243; V, 30 Sept. 1765, p. 149; VI. 24 Sept. 1781. 23--25 Sept. 1782. pp. 336, 373; VIL 20--22 Sept. 1784. 18 Sept. 1785. 17 Sept. 1786. pp. 21. 115--116, 209--210.

78. Henry J. Foster, ·Bristol Methodist Notes: The United Bristol Society in 1741.' Proc. W.H.S., IV (1903--1904). p. 92. The exact number is not quite clear because the bottom of the page is torn on the original document.

79. Curnock, ed .. Journal of John Wesley. IV, 28 Oct. 1757. p. 243; Rose Withers, 'John Wesley's Bristol Membership Rolls. 1770 to 1786,' Proc.

W.H.S .. XXVI (1947--1948). p. 141. 80. Withers, 'John Wesley's Bristol Membership Rolls,' p. 146.81. Pierpont Morgan Library, List of names in the Kingswood Society, 26 Oct.

1757, Wesley Collection; Curnock. ed., Journal ofJohn Wesley, IV, 11 Oct. 1761. p. 477.

82. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, V, 26 Sept. 1770, p. 392. 83. See pp. 15--6.84. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, V, 30 Sept. 1765, p. 149.85. Ibid., VIL 18 Sept. 1785, pp. 115--116.86. Baker, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 26: Lel/ers II, p. 93; Walsh,

'Religious Societies: Methodist and Evangelical,' pp. 283,287,294. A usefuldiscussion of the organisation of early Methodism appears in Rupert E.Davies, ed., The Works of John Wesley, vol. 9: The Methodist Societies:

History, Nature, Design (Nashville, Tennessee, 1989), pp. 8--29.87. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, II, 15 Feb. 1742, p. 528.88. Goss, 'Early Methodism in Bristol' (1933), Part II, pp. 64-65.89. Tyerman, Life and Times of Wesley, L pp. 352--354. 90. Davies, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 9: The Methodist Societies, p. 13.91. The Weekly History, no. 49, 13 Mar. 1741/2, p. 4; 'John Cennick -- Account

of the Awakenings at Bristol and Kingswood,' 28 Apr. 1739, p. 105; Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, V, 11 Oct. 1767, p. 235; Frank Baker, Methodism and the Love-Feast (London, 1957); Davies, Worship and

Theology in England, pp. 191--192, 199--200; and A. Raymond George, 'The People Called Methodists -- 4. The Means of Grace,' in Rupert Davies, A. Raymond George and Gordon Rupp, eds., A History of the Methodist

Church in Great Britain (4 vols., London, 1965--1988), I, pp. 272--273. 92. Maldwyn Edwards, The Wesleys in Bristol (Leeds, 1974), pp. 19--20. 93. Walsh, 'Religious Societies: Methodist and Evangelical,' p. 289. For an

assessment of Charles Wesley's poems and hymns see W.F. Lofthouse, 'Charles Wesley,' in Davies et al., eds., History of the Methodist Church in

Gre.._at Britain, I, pp. 127-- 144.94. Works of the Rev. John Wesley, VIII, pp. 269--271. 95. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, IV, 26--28 Aug. 1756, pp. 185--186;

VI, 29 July 1783, pp. 437--438; Edwards, New Room, pp. 4-7. 96. Goss, 'Early Methodism in Bristol' (1933), Part III, p. 81.97. Archives and History Center of the United Methodist Church, Drew

University, John Wesley to Samuel Walker, 3 Sept. 1756, Maser Collection. 98. Cf. Rack, 'Religious Societies and the Origins of Methodism,' p. 590. 99. John Wesley to Francis Asbury, 30 Sept. 1785, in Telford, ed.; Letters of

John Wesley, VII, p. 294.100. Edwards, The Wesleys in Bristol, pp. 5--6.

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101. Barry. ·Cultural Life of Bristol,' pp. 77. 87. 120--121 and Table V. p. 353. 102. Ibid., p. 121. 103. Curnock, ed .. Journal of John Wesley, III. 11 Oct. 1742. 9 May 1743. pp.

48--49, 77: IV. 16 Oct. 1757. p. 241; V. 24--26 Sept. 1764. 30 Sept. 1765. pp. 98,149,289; VI. 9 Sept. 1776. pp. 126--127; Archives and History Center of the United Methodist Church, Drew University. John· Wesley to ·Dear Sister: 18 Sept. 1773.

104. Curnock. ed .. Journal of John Wesley. II. 4 Jan. 1741. p. 413: III. 28 June1742. 14 Mar. 1744. 9 June 1745. pp. 28. 124. 180--181; IV, 12 Oct. 1760, p.415.

105. Ibid., III. 9 June 1745. pp. 180--181; IV. 3 Jan: 1758. p. 247.106. Ibid .. III. 9 Oct. 1748. p. 380: V. 4 Sept. 1772. p. 484; VIL 20--22 Sept. 1784

(from which the quotation is taken), 11 Mar. 1787. pp. 21. 248: VIII. 13Mar. 1790. p. 49.

107. Ibid., II. 9 Dec. 1741. p. 517.108. Ibid .. Ill. I Oct. 1748. p. 380. 109. Ibid., II. 11 June 1739. p. 216; III. 2 Mar. 1750, pp. 455--456. 110. John Wesley to the Societies at Bristol [Oct. 1764]. in Telford, ed .. Letters of

John Wesley. IV, pp. 271--274.111. Curnock, ed .. Journal of John Wesley, IV, 25 Oct. 1761. p. 478; Vl, 24 Sept.

1781. 23--25 Sept., 7 Oct. 1782, pp. 336, 373--374.112. 'A Plain Account of Kingswood School, near Bristol,' The Arminian

Magazine, IV (1781), pp. 432--435, 486--493; A.G. Ives, Kingswood School

in Wesley's Day and Since (London, 1970), pp. 6--106, 227--233. Ives· book includes a facsimile of Wesley's 'A Short Account of the School in Kingswood,' containing the rules settled at the Conference of 1748, plus afine reproduction of James Heath's engraving of Kingswood School in 1790 (ibid., pp. 11--18, 96--97). Kingswood School transferred to its present site in Bath in 1851; none of the old school buildings at Kingswocid now survive.

113. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, V, 12 Mar. 1766, p. 159. 114. Ives, Kingswood School, pp. 35--38. 115. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, III, 25 July 1749, p. 422.116. Ibid., VL 7 Sept. 1781, p. 334.117. Ibid., VI, 29 July 1783, pp. 437--438.118. Ibid., VI, 29 July 1783, 5 Mar. 1784, pp. 437--438, 482; VII, 17 Sept. 1786,

pp. 209--210; VIII, 11 Sept. 1789, p. 10; Ives, Kingswood School, pp. 98--99. 119. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, V, 27 Apr. 1768, pp. 259--260; Ives,

Kingswood School, pp. 88, 104--105.120. Ives, Kingswood School, pp. 104-105.121. Walsh, 'Halevy and the Birth of Methodism,' pp. 14-15; John Walsh,

'Methodism and the Common People,' in Raphael Samuel, ed., People's

History and Socialist Theory (London, I 981). pp. 354-362; Robert F.Wearmouth, Methodism and the Common People of the Eighteenth Century

(London, 1945), pp. 189--263.122. See above p. 1 and John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane

Society, 9 Apr. 1739, in Baker, ed., Works ofJohn Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I,

p. 625.123. Goss, 'Early Methodism in Bristol,' (1935), Part VIII, p. 5.124. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, IV, 15 Oct. 1759, 24 Oct. 1760, pp.

355--356, 419; John Wesley to the editor of Lloyd's Evening Post, 20 Oct.

29

1759, and to the editor of the Morning Chronicle, 4 Nov. 1759, in Telford,

ed., Letters of John Wesley, IV, pp. 73-74, 78. 125. Curnock, ed., Journal of John Wesley, VI, 26 Sept. 1783, p. 450.

126. Ibid., VII, 16 Mar. 1788, pp. 362-363.127. Ibid., VIII, 14 Mar. 1790, p. 49.

128. A. Wesley Hill, John Wesley among the Physicians (London, 1958), p. 47.

129. John Wesley to the editor of the London Chronicle, 2 Jan. 1761, in Telford,

ed., Letters of John Wesley, IV, p. 127.

130. John Wesley to James Hutton and the Fetter Lane Society. 7 May 1739, in

Baker, ed., Works of John Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I, p. 641.

131. John Wesley to the editor of the London Chronicle, 2 Jan. 1761. in Telford,

ed., Letters of John Wesley. IV, p. 128.132. A. Barrett Sackett, James Rouquet and his Part in Early Methodism (Wesley

Historical Society Publications. VIII, Chester. 1972).

133. John Wesley to Thomas Price, 6 Dec. 1739, in Baker. ed .. Works of John

Wesley, vol. 25: Letters I, pp. 701-702.

134. Malcolmson, "'A Set of Ungovernable People,"' pp. 125-126; Emanuel

Collins. Miscellanies in Prose and Verse (Bristol, 1762). pp. 93-98. For an

instance of the Kingswood colliers refraining from violence under Methodist

influence see Jackson, ed .. Journal of Charles Wesley. I, 22 Sept. 1740. pp.

249-250.

135. Curnock. ed .. Journal of John Wesley. VI, 15 Mar. 1782, p. 344; Victory

Purdy. Poetical Miscellanies (Bristol, 1825). pp. i-xxix: Raimo, 'Spiritual Harvest,' p. 195: Tyerman. Life of Wesley. I. p. 333.

136. Woodbrooke College. Birmingham. Bevan-Naish Collection. Sarah Fox

[Champion) Journal (1745-1802). Mar. 1791. p. 255.

137. Curnock. ed .. Journal of John Wesley. VIL 15 Sept. 1786. p. 209.138. Ibid .. VIL 6 Mar. 1788. pp. 359-360.

138. Ibid. Just over a week later. Wesley was involved in another incident in

Bristol that concerned supernatural forces, a case of supposed exorcism of

George Lukins in Temple Church (ibid., VII. 15 Mar. 1788. p. 362; Barry.

'Piety and the Patient.· pp. 158-159).

140. Edwards. New Room. p. 9.

141. On the bitter divisions among Bristol Methodists between 1792 and 1794

over the administration of the sacraments and the relationship of Methodism

to the Church of England see ibid .. p. 13: W.R. Ward. Religion and Society

in England 1790-1850 (New York. 1973). pp. 31. 297 n.16: John Walsh.

'Methodism at the End of the Eighteenth Century.' in Davies et al.. eds ..

History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain. I. pp. 283-284: and M.C.A .. J. R. U.L.M .. Samuel Bradburn Memoranda Book. vol. I. entries

for Sept.-Nov. 1792. and Letters from William Pinc to Joseph Benson. 12

Aug. 1794-24 Oct. 1796. MAM PLP 84.7.

142. Curnock. ed .. Journal of John Wesley. VII. I and 2 Sept. 1784. pp. 1)-17.

143. A. Skevington Wood. The Burning Heart: John Wesley, E1 1c111gelist (Exeter.

1967), p. 116.

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