Orangeburg times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1872-1875, 1874-12-03
q oRANGEBURG, soUTH cARoLNA, alrHURsDAY IDEcEn1BER

[ lORAlNG GEBUR(
:.
OF the youthful ascetic. Things grew
to such state that his friends inter.
posed; Wesley showed sstubbornness.
but consented to an investigation bv n
conference composed of his Morayian
friendsfand Advisers, who decided That
he should abandon the; ;won,an. Without
even censurfngs him for bis condnot.
= few months after, Mise Hopkey was
married to al Mr.. Williamson. Being a
devout member of the church, she pre-.
sented herself at the Lords table. when
wesley publicly refused to administer
to her the sacrament. The grounds of
DIS refusal have never been involved in
much doubt, though the consequences
OF his behavior drsW upon him such
0olgm ana sPerse ecution that he was
finally compelled to shake the dust of
field. : = ~ !
Not long after this occurrence. his
trlendg heard that he was engaged to a
Mrs. Grace Murray,sa youngaawidow
who had nursed him in a short illness,
an and who Has actually accompanying
hIm IN his nninisterial travels through
the country. This young woman had
peen Drought up as maid servant, and
was person of small education, though
OF great attraction, a1dNa feryent con-
vert to Methodism. From the accounts
OF this, affair, iI would seem that she
completely entangled Wesley in her
ne', and held him in her coils with great
adroltness. Grace, though fair to look
9oon, was internally a great fraud.
HAD she lived in this age of the world,
trained amid the gushing influences of
modern fashionable society, she would
no doubt have proved brilliant repre-
sentative girl of the period. For a
long time she kept Wesley under her
influence, and the, scandal assuming
larger proportions, Charles Wesley,
brother to the apostle, strove to crush
1t. This he succeeded in doing, after
e1erting himself for months, and susing
considerable diplomacy. John yielded,
ana met the lady TO say farewell. He
took her by the hand, drew her to him,
kissed her, and said: "Grace Murray,
you have broken my heart" Then and
there they changed tho relation they.
had SO long borne to each other. The
preacher again took up the cross of self
sacrifice, and went to his work with q,
sad heart, chewing the bitter cud of
until he gave signs of
greatly broken health. A week. or two
after, Grace was married to an inferior
suitor. She and Wesley did not meet
again for thirty-nine years. She long
outliyed her husband !; and when in
london she came to heaf hersoa breach
in Moorfields, she met her venerable
!over..lover still, apparently, for the
interview is described as affecting.
Henceforth they saw each other no
more, and Wesley never again mention
ed her name. Through long years (says
the account), Grace continued course
OF Christian usefulness, and lived and
died eminently respected. She lies in
Chlnly chnrchyard, in Derbyshire.
Her last days were her best days"
We lean that undeterred by his
former experiences, in 1751 Wesley
again ventured on an engag ement.
which actually resulted in marriage.
Now. too, the lady was q widow, q Mrs.
Vazeille; her first husband having been
q merchant, who had left her small
independence. There was little in her
to deserve the attachment of such a
man, either in charater or intellect.
Sine, too, like Grace Murray was of
humble birth, and, like her, had been
maid-servant. Having during her
widowhood Joined herself to the Meth
odists, she was naturally pleased and
fattered with the attentions of their re-
nowned head. Charles Wesley again
interposed, but this time in vain, It
soon appeared how iil.advised union
had been contracted, and after few
years of wretched married life, marked
on her part by outrageous ill-temper,
jealousy, violence, and even treachery,
which her husband on his side bore
with the patience of Socrates, the
lady one day took herself off, and lived
in state of separation from him until
her death. Wesley expressed consider
able Joy at her departure, for it is syid
of this woman that she takes her place
in the foremosts.rank of the bad wives
OF eminent men, worthy to be classed
with the welded companions of Soc.
rates, of Albert Durer, of George
Herbert, or Richard Hooker; she was
the most vicious vixen 5of them all.
There were other affairs with women
in which Wesley became involved. A
Miss Jane Ogilvie, OF Georgia, to whom
he had paid court, avowed that he had
solemmnly promised to wed her previ-
GUS to his return to England. History
does not state whether she was a maid
servant or not, but she is represented
ms having been handsome and unedu-
Gated. Wesley's friends, however, de-
MED the truth of her story, and she
was compelled to assuage the pangs
OF her disappointment by marrying a
native rustic, and the, pair doubtless