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repeated upon evidence that appeared, upon inquiry, not worthy of the credit he had given to it. But Wesley's resentments were never lasting of this a passage in his Journal, written a few years af terwards, affords a pleasing proof. Having attended service at Exeter cathedral, he says, "I was well pleased to partake of the Lord's supper with my old opponent, Bishop Lavington. Oh, may we sit down together in the kingdom of our Father!" He understood the happiness of his temper in this respect, and says of it, “I cannot but stand amazed at the goodness of God, Others are most assaulted on the weak side of their soul but with me it is quite otherwise. have any strength at all, (and I have none but what I received,) it is: in forgiving injuries; and on this very side am I assaulted more frequently than on any other. Yet leave me not here one hour to myself, or I shall betray myself and Thee!"

Warburton, though a more powerful opponent, assailed him with less effect. Wesley replied to him in a respectful tone, and met the attack fairly. He entered upon the question of Grace, maintained his own view of that subject, and repeated, in the most explicit terms, his full belief, that the course which he and his coadjutors had taken, was approved by miracles. "I have seen with my eyes," said he," and heard with my ears, several things which, to the best of my judgment, cannot be accounted for by the ordinary course of natural causes, and which, I therefore believe, ought to be ascribed to the extraordinary interposition of God. If any man choose to call these miracles, I reclaim not. I have weighed the preceding and following circumstances; I have strove to account for them in a natural way; but could not, without doing violence to my reason. He instanced the case of John Haydon, and the manner in which he himself, by an effort of faith, had thrown off a fever. The truth of these facts, he said, was supported by the testimony of competent witnesses, in as high a degree as any reasonable man could desire the witnesses were many in number, and could not be deceived themselves; for they saw with their own eyes, and heard with their own ears. He disclaimed for himself any part in these and the other cases, which might appear to redound to his praise his will, or choice, or desire, he said, had no place in them; and this, he argued, had always been the case with true miracles ; for God interposed his miraculous powers always according to his own sovereign will; not according to the will of man, neither of him by whom he wrought, nor of any other man whatsoever. So many such interpositions, he affirmed, had taken place, as would soon leave no excuse either for denying or despising them. "We desire no favour," said he, "but the justice, that diligent inquiry may be made concerning them. We are ready to name the persons on whom the power was shown, which belongeth to none but God, (not one, or two, or ten or twelve only,)-to point out their places of abode; and we engage they shall answer every pertinent question fairly and directly; and, if required, shall give all their answers upon oath, before any who are empowered to receive them. It is our particular request, that the circumstances which went before, which accompanied, and which followed after the facts under consideration, may be thoroughly examined, and punctually noted down.

Let but this be done, (and is it not highly needful it should, at least by those who would form an exact judgment?) and we have no fear reasonable man should scruple to say, "this hath God

that any wrought."

It had never entered into Wesley's thoughts, when he thus appealed to what were called the outward signs, as certainly miraculous, that they were the manifestations of a, violent and specific disease, produced by excessive excitement of the mind, communicable by sympathy, and highly contagious. We are yet far from understanding the whole power of the mind over the body; nor, perhaps, will it ever be fully understood. It was very little regarded in Wesley's time: these phenomena therefore were considered by the Methodists, and by those who beheld them, as wholly miraculous; by all other persons, as mere exhibitions of imposture. Even Charles Wesley, when he discovered that much was voluntary, had no suspicion that the rest might be natural; and John, in all cases where any thing supernatural was pretended, was, of all men, the most credulous. In the excesses at Everton, he had, however, reluctantly, perceived something which savoured of fraud; and, a few years afterward, circumstances of much greater notoriety occurred, when, from the weakness of his mind, he encouraged at first a dangerous enthusiasm, which soon broke out into open madness.

Among his lay preachers, there was a certain George Bell, who had formerly been a life-guards-man. Mr. Wesley published, as plainly miraculous, an account of an instantaneous cure wrought by this man it was a surgical* case, and must, therefore, either have been miracle or fraud. A judicious inquiry would have shown that Bell, who was not in a sane mind, had been a dupe in this business; but Wesley contented himself with the patient's own relation, accredited it without scruple, and recorded it in a tone of exultation. Bell was at that time crazy, and any doubt which he might have entertained of his own supernatural gifts, was removed by this apparent miracle, the truth of which was thus attested. Others who listened to him became as crazy as himself; and Wesley was persuaded that, " being full of love," they were actually "favoured with extraordinary revelations and manifestations from God. But by this very thing," says he, "Satan beguiled them from the simplicity that is in Christ. By insensible degrees, they were led to value these extraordinary gifts, more than the ordinary grace of God; and I could not convince them, that a grain of humble love was better than all these gifts put together."

* "December 26, 1760. I made a particular inquiry into the case of Mary Special, a young woman then in Tottenham-court Road. She said, Four years since, I found much pain in my breasts, and afterwards hard lumps. Four months ago my left breast broke, and kept running continually. Growing worse and worse, after some time I was recommended to St. George's Hospital. I was let blood many times, and took hemlock thrice a day; but I was no better, the pain and the lumps were the same, and both my breasts were quite hard, and black as soot; when, yesterday se'ennight, I went to Mr. Owen's, where there was a meeting for prayer. Mr. Bell saw me, and asked, Have you faith to be healed? I said, yes. He prayed for me, and, in a moment, all my pain was gone. But the next day I felt a little pain again: I clapped my hands on my breasts, and cried out, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole! It was gone; and, from that hour, I have had no pain, no soreness, no lumps or swelling, but both my breasts were perfectly well, and I have been so ever since.' Now," says Mr. Wesley, "here are plain facts: 1. she was ill; 2. she is well; 3. she became so in a moment. Which of these can, with any modesty, be denied?" It is not a little remarkable, that, after Bell had become decidedly crazy, recovered his wits, forsaken the Methodists, and professed himself a thorough unbeliever, Mr. Wesley should still have believed this story, and have persisted in asking the same question, without suspecting any deceit in either party. The fraud lay in the woman, Bell being a thorough enthusiast at that time. 20

VOL. II.

D

In the height of George Bell's extravagance, he attempted to restore a blind man to sight, touched his eyes with spittle, and pronounced the word Ephphatha. The ecclesiastical authorities ought to have a power of sending such persons to Bedlam, for the sake of religion and of decency, and for the general good; but such madmen in England are suffered to go abroad, and bite whom they please with impunity. The failure of the blasphemous experiment neither undeceived him nor his believers; and they accounted for it by saying, that the patient had not faith to be healed. Wesley had begun to suspect the sanity of these enthusiasts, because they had taken up a notion, from a text in the Revelations, that they should live for ever. As, however, one of the most enthusiastic happened to go raving mad, and die, he thought the delusion would be checked; as if a disease of the reason could be cured by the right exercise of the diseased faculty itself! Moreover, with their enthusiasm personal feelings were mixed up, of dislike towards him and his brother, arising from an impatience of their superiority; and this feeling induced Maxfield to stand forward as the leader of the innovators, though he was not the dupe of their delusions. Mr. Wesley desired the parties to meet him, that all misunderstandings might be removed. Maxfield alone refused to come. "Is this," said Wesley, "the first step towards a separation! Alas for the man, alas for the people !" It is said that no other event ever grieved him so deeply as the conduct of Maxfield; for it at once impeached his judgment, and wounded him as an act of ingratitude. Maxfield was the first person whom he had consented to hear as a lay preacher, and the first whom he authorized to co-operate with him in that character: and so highly did he value him, that he had obtained ordination for him from the Bishop of Londonderry. This prelate was of the clergy who encouraged Mr. Wesley in Ireland; and when he performed the ceremony, he said to Maxfield, "Sir, I ordain you to assist that good man, that he may not work himself to death!" But of all the lessons which he learnt from Wesley, it now appeared that that of insubordination was the one in which he was most perfect.

The breach, however, was not immediate : some concessions were made by Maxfield, and Wesley, after a while, addressed a letter to him and his associates, especially George Bell, telling them what he disliked in their doctrines, spirit, and outward behaviour. He objected to their teaching that man might be as perfect as an angel ; that he can be absolutely perfect; that he can be infallible, or above being tempted; or, that the moment he is pure in heart, he cannot fall from it. To this, however, his own language had given occasion; for the doctrine which he taught of "a free, full, and present salvation from all the guilt, all the power, and all the in-being of sin," differs but a hair's breadth from the tenet which he now justly condemned. He objected to their saying, "that one saved from sin needs nothing more than looking to Jesus,-needs not to hear or think of any thing else; believe, believe, is enough: that he needs no self-examination, no times of private prayer; needs not mind little or outward things; and that he cannot be taught by any person who is not in the same state." He disliked, he said, "something that had the appearance of enthusiasm, over-valuing feelings and inward

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impressions; mistaking the mere work of imagination for the voice of the Spirit; expecting the end without the means, and undervaluing reason, knowledge, and wisdom in general." He disliked something that had the appearance of Antinomianism; not magnifying the law and making it honourable; not enough valuing tenderness of conscience, and exact watchfulness in order thereto, and using faith rather as contradistinguished from holiness, than as productive of it." He blamed them for slighting any, the very least, rules of the Bands, or Society; for the disorder and extravagancies which they introduced in their public meetings; and, above all, for the bitter and uncharitable spirit which they manifested toward all who differed from them. And he bade them read this letter of mild reproof, calmly and impartially, before the Lord, in prayer; so, he said, should the evil cease, and the good remain, and they would then be more than ever united to him.

Wesley was not then aware of Maxfield's intention to set up for himself, and hardly yet suspected the insanity of Bell, his colleague. Upon hearing the latter hold forth, he believed that part of what he said was from God, (so willing was Wesley to be deceived in such things!) and part from a heated imagination; and seeing, he says, nothing dangerously wrong, he did not think it necessary to hinder him. The next trial, however, convinced him that Bell must not be suffered to pray at the Foundry: "the reproach of Christ," said he, "I am willing to bear, but not the reproach of enthusiasm, if I can help it." That nothing might be done hastily, he suffered him to speak twice more; "but," says he, "it was worse and worse. He now spoke, as from God, what I knew God had not spoken; I therefore desired that he would come thither no more.' The excommunication, indeed, could no longer be * delayed, for George Bell had commenced prophet, and proclaimed every where that the world was to be at an end on the 28th of February following. This, however, was the signal for separation: several hundreds of the Society in London threw up their tickets, and withdrew from their connexion with Wesley, saying, "Blind John is not capable of teaching us. -we will keep to Mr. Maxfield!" for Maxfield was the leader of the separatists, and Bell, notwithstanding his prophetic pretensions, appeared only as one of his followers. He, indeed, was at this time a downright honest madman. The part which Maxfield acted was more suspicious; he neither declared a belief or disbelief in the prediction, but he took advantage of the prophet's popularity, to collect a flock among his believers, and form an establishment for himself.

Often as the end of the world has been prophesied by madmen, such a prediction has never failed to excite considerable agitation.

*Wesley was evidently conscious that he had delayed it too long, and that he had lost credit, by being, or appearing to be, for a time deceived by this madman. The apology which he makes is any thing but ingenuous. "Perhaps," he says, "reason (unenlightened) makes me simple. If I knew less of human nature, I should be more apt to stumble at the weakness of it; and if I had not too, by nature or by grace, some clearness of apprehension. It is owing to this (under God) that I never staggered at all at the reveries of George Bell. I saw instantly from the beginning, and at the beginning, what was right, and what was wrong; but I saw, withal, I have many things to speak, but ye cannot bear them now.' Hence many imagine I was imposed upon and applauded themselves on their own greater perspicuity, as they do at this day. But if you knew it, said his friend to Gregorio Lopez, why did you not tell nie? I answer with him, I do not speak all I know, but what I judge needful.'"

Wesley exerted himself to counteract the panic which had been raised; and, on the day appointed, he exposed, in a sermon, the utter absurdity of the supposition that the world would be at an end that night. But he says that, notwithstanding all he could say, many were afraid to go to bed, and some wandered about the fields, being persuaded that, if the world did not end, at least London would be swallowed up by an earthquake. He had the prudence, before the day arrived, to insert an advertisement in the provincial newspapers, disclaiming all connexion with the prophet or the prophecy; a precaution which was of great service to poor George Story; for, in the course of itinerating, he arrived at Darlington on the day appointed. The people in that neighbourhood had been sorely frightened; but fear had given place to indignation, and, in their wrath, they threatened to pull down the Methodist preaching house, and burn the first preacher who should dare to show his face among them. Little as Story was of an enthusiast, he told the mistress of the house, if she would venture the house, he would venture himself; and, upon producing the advertisement in the Newcastle paper, and reading it to the people, they were satisfied, and made no further disturbance. George Bell recovered his senses, to make a deplorable use of them; passing from one extreme to another, the ignorant enthusiast became an ignorant infidel; turned fanatic in politics as he had done in religion; and having gone through all the degrees of disaffection and disloyalty, died, at a great age, a radical reformer.

This affair, if it made Wesley more cautious for a while, did not lessen his habitual credulity. His disposition to believe whatever he was told, however improbable the fact, or insufficient the evidence, was not confined to preternatural tales. He listened to every old woman's nostrum for a disease, and collected so many of them, that he thought himself qualified at last to commence practitioner in medicine. Accordingly he announced in London his intention of giving physic to the poor, and they came for many years in great numbers, till the expense of distributing medicines to them was greater than the Society could support. At the same time, for the purpose of enabling people to cure themselves, he published his collection of receipts, under the title of Primitive Physic; or, an easy and natural Method of curing most Diseases. In his preface he showed, that the art of healing was originally founded on experiments, and so became traditional inquiring men, in process of time, began to reason upon the facts which they knew, and formed theories of physic which, when thus made theoretical, was soon converted into a mystery and a craft. Some lovers of mankind, however, had still, from time to time, endeavoured to bring it back to its ancient footing, and make it, as it was at the beginning, a plain intelligible thing; professing to know nothing more, than that certain maladies might be removed by certain medicines; and his mean hand, he said, had made a like attempt, in which he had only consulted experience, common sense, and the common interest of mankind.

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The previous directions which he gave for preventing disease, were in general judicious. He advised early hours, regular exercise, plain diet, and temperance; and he pointed out, not without effect, the physical benefits which resulted from a moral and religious