The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-07-08
A Love Affair of John Wesley.

Sophia Hopkey, niece of the prin-
cipal magistrate Gin Georgia, 1736) was
! young, pretty, and intelligent. Wesley
was pleased with her and she with him.
She dressed IN white because he liked
it, and regulated her habits by his ad-
vice he fell sick, and che nursed him.
He made up his MUD to marry her.
Delamotte opposed the idea of a mar
riage Wesley submitted the question
to the MOravian elders, who advised
him TO proceed no further in the mat
ter. "The Lords will be DONE" re-
piled Wesley but he was IN a sore
strait. Sophia was naturally piqued
and hastily engaged herself to one Vii
liam Williamson, and the marriage took
place, March u, in four days, Wesley
in the meantime having vainly urged
her to break the engagement and marry
him. Wesley made this curious entry
in his journal
"Feb. 5-One of the most remark
able dispensatiOns of Providence to-
ward me began to show itself, this day.
For many days after I could not at all
judge which way the scale would turn /;
nor was it fully determined till March
4, on which day God commanded me to
pull ont my right eye and by his grace
1 determined to do so but being slack
in the execution, on Monday March II,
God being very merciful to me, my
friend performed what I could not"
And sgain: ''March 8. Miss Sophy
engaged herself to Mr.. Williamson, a
person not remarkable for handsome
ness, neither for greatness, neither for
wit, or knowledge, or sense, and least
of all for religion and on Saturday,
March II, they were married, this being
Il
my first speaking to her. What thou
dost, o God, know not now, but 1
shall know hereafter"
About this time, and doubtless in ref
erence to this transaction, Wesley
wrote the well-knOwn hymn beginning
Is there thing beneath the sun
That strives with Thee my heart to share;
Oh, tear it thence, and reign alone,
The Lord Of every motion there.
Forty-nine years later. Wesley, then
more than four-score, and having gone
through another similar experience,
wrote: "I remember when read
these words in the church of Savannah.
Son of man, 1 take from thee the
desire of thine eyes with a stroke. l
was pierced through as with a sword,
and could not utter word more"
Williamson grew jealous of Wesley,
and forbade his wife to speak to him or
attend his services she absented her
self from the church for a time, and
Wesley refused to admit her to the
sacrament, whereupon her husband
brought an action against him, laying
his damages at G1, 900. The general
conduct of Wesley was brought before
the grand jury, who found bill of in
dictment containing ten specifications.
Nine of these related to purely eccle-
siastical matters bat the tenth charged
Wesley with misconduct which occa-
stoned much uneasiness between Sophia
Williamson and her husband" He re
fused 10 plead to any except this speci
fication, upon which he demanded an
immediate trial This was put off for
more than three months, and Wesley
announced his determination to return
at once to England. He was summoned
to give bail to answer TO the suit of
Williamson; this he refused, and the
sentinels were ordered to prevent him
from leaving Savannah. One Decem-
Der evening, after public prayers, Wes-
ley slipped away in a boat rowed by
four fellows whom he had hired to as
sist him, and we're anxious to get away
from their creditors. Then they took
to the swamp, where they came near
perishing of hunger and cold, but after
ten days succeeded in reaching Charles -
ton whence Wesley set sail for Eng
! land.-A, II. Guernsey IN GALAXY.