ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



there the same night. Next morning at five he preached to a crowd, some 

 of whom had sat up all night for fear of losing a second sermon. The 

 same evening at eight he was preaching at Sykehouse, on the border of 

 Lincolnshire." This was in the days of his prime ; but forty-three years later, 

 he was able to preach at Stokesley, Guisborough, and Whitby in the same day ; 

 and, five days after, to ride from Bridlington to Malton, preach there at noon, 

 and preach at Beverley the same evening."' His last sermons in Yorkshire 

 were preached at Beverley and Hull, and the day after his last birthday he 

 left Yorkshire for the last time."' 



From the beginning of his travels Wesley had friends among the clergy 

 of the county. The vicars of Halifax and Dewsburv met him on friendly 

 terms ; "* and in April 1752 he was invited to preach in Wakefield Church."* 

 Opposition never ceased altogether. In June 1755 he was asked to preach in 

 one of the York churches ; but one of the residentiaries threatened the incum- 

 bent with the words, ' Sir, I abhor persecution : but if you let Mr. Wesley 

 preach it will be the worse for you.'"' In 1757 there were signs of opposi- 

 tion at York to open-air preaching ; and the churchwarden at Pocklington 

 had the bells rung to encourage the mob."' The same thing happened at 

 Bridlington in 1772."' In April 1780 Wesley was excluded from the church 

 at Haworth by a new vicar ; "" and in June 1784 he heard the vicar of Scar- 

 borough preach against his opinions. ' All who preach thus,' he exclaims 

 in sorrow, ' will drive the Methodists from the Church, in spite of all that 

 I can do.' "" Although important churches like Leeds, Halifax, Huddersfield, 

 Hull, and Bingley opened their doors to him,^ his own independence of action 

 and the growth of meeting-houses alienated many Churchmen.'* Archdeacon 

 Blackburne entertained him at Richmond in 1786, but feared to cause 

 offence by asking him to preach ; ' the vicar of Selby invited him to the 

 abbey church in 1788, but changed his mind.* The austerity of Methodism 

 and its sacramental teaching were dreaded by the sound Protestants of that 

 age, who objected even to the figure of an angel blowing a trumpet 

 which had been placed on the sounding-board of the pulpit at Halifax.* 

 Revivals were stumbling-blocks to evenly-balanced minds. One of these, 

 early in 1760, took place at Otley, with the usual manifestations of personal 

 testimony and 'loud and ardent cries' for salvation, in a meeting of 'poor 

 and illiterate persons.' ' The Church made no effort to keep excitable 



" Wesley, Journal (ed. F. W. Macdonald), i, 494. 



^ Ibid, iv, 436 seq. (13, 19 May 1788). " Ibid, iv, 506 (25-29 June I 790). 



" Ibid, i, 376 (2 June 1742) ; ii, 17 (28 Apr. 1747) ; cf. ii, 220 (10 Apr. 1752). 



« Ibid, ii, 221 (12 Apr. 1752). '^ Ibid, ii, 299 (7 June 1755). 



" Ibid, ii, 384, 385 (14, IS July 1757). '' Ibid, ii, 482 (22 June 1772). 



»' Ibid, iv, 181 (23 Apr. 1780). '"^ Ibid, iv, 288 (20 June 1784). 



' For Leeds, see ibid, iv, 154, 217 (2 May 1779 ; 5 Aug. 1 781) : on both occasions there was a large 

 number of communicants, 700 or 800 in 1779, 1 100 in 1781 ; Halifax and Huddersfield, iv, 10 (17 Apr. 

 1772) ; Hull, iv, 344 (18 May 1786) ; Bingley, iv, 151 (19 Apr. 1776), and on several other occasions. 



' Wesley's interest in the growth of meeting-houses may be seen ibid, ii, 463, Hutton Rudby (7 July 

 1758) ; iii, 177, Yarm (24 Apr. 1764) ; iii, 263, Bradford (27 July 1766) ; iii, 413, Doncaster (11 July 

 1770), &c., &c. 



' Ibid, iv, 341 (9 May 1786). Wesley notes, Journ. iii, 355 (20 Dec. 1768), an implication of Papist 

 leanings brought against him in Blackburne's pamphlet on the penal laws against Romanists. 



* Ibid, iv, 439 (26 June 1788). 



' Ibid, iv, 151 (15 Apr. 1779). For suspicions about Wesley himself, see notes 87 and 3, above. 



' Letter to Wesley from Otley, ibid, iii, 494, 495 (13 Feb. 1760). Cf Wesley's extraordinary account 

 of the revival at Kingswood School, iii, 420 seq. (18-30 Sept. 1770). Such events may well have awakened 

 mistrust in otherwise well-disposed persons. 



75 



