The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-01-29


IA the nation, not only failed TO reform
the people, but was itself sadly in need
or reform. Yet as hcentiOus as the times
were socially, freedom of speech and free
dom Of the press were not encouraged.
Defoe was pilloried for expressing him.
self too freely in print, and whipping
posts, stocks, prisons, and the gallows
on Tyburn Hill had each chapter OF
prosecutions to record against those who
dared express religious thought in any
but the prescribed form. Yet there were
brilliant minds and fearless thinkers in
those days. The eloquent BoIingbroke
inhdel and rake; Walpole, who was
busy keeping the English crown on
Hanoverian heads" that talented safes
man, the Earl OF Granville; Chesterfield
the Wit among lords and the lord among
Wits" Alexander Pope, and Dean iona
than Swift were among the leaders OF
the first three decades Of the eighteenth
century
Into this condition Of society, and into
the company Of such brilliant men was
born John Wesley, son of Samuel Wesley
the rector of the Epworth parish There
m
family and the little rectory was rather
crowded Yet somehow they were al
carefully reared and educated. II has
always been said that man is sur
proof of his mothers training. and in
John Wesley and the church he founded
can be traced the love of methodical Hv-
ing and the austerity and democracy that
SJsanaah Wesley inculcated i'm her teach
ings 10 her sons and daughters The nth
birthday of each child was "a great event
IN the EpwOrth rectory for il was then
that the education Of each was begun.
ON the preceding day the house was all
ways set in order. and the giving of the
HrSt lesson to the new pulpit was regarded
AIS an suspicious event on the firSt dav
the baby of five was started on the alpha
bet, 10 be followed soon by reading ana
spelling in the Holy Scriptures. The prin-
ciple was always held before the family
mat to commence child's education was
better than to give a banquet
At the age Of six John Wesley was
miracuiously saved from death when the
rectory was burned. At ten he was one
of the forty-four pupils enrolled in the
famous Charter House school of London.
where he appeared on his entrance day in
"broadcloth gown lined with baize.
breeches of dark blue stuff, shirt and
stockings and stout shoes known as
'gowseEs.' In 1920 he entered Christ's
Church College at Oxford. and was there
for five years Later he was an instructor
there, and prepared for holy orders in the
Church OF England He. with his
brother Charles. and some of their more
lax morals and fast living OF the age. ana
soon turned their own lives into examples
of regular, abstemious, methodicaI living
Their rigid habits Of conduct soon caused
them to be referred 10 by a scoffing public
as the oxford Methodists"
one great dream that Samuel Wesley.
the head OF the family. had borne in his
heart for many weary, discouraging years
was that of evangelizing the East-India.
China and Abyssinia. He lacked funds.
and could find no one willing to finance
the enterprise. When his two sons. John
and Charles. were invited by Oglethorpe.
founder OF the Savannah colony to go
with him as "missioners" to the New
World the old rector gave his hearty con-
sent and the two young divinity stu
John Wesley preached his first sermon in
America in 1875. This may not be counted
as the first Methodist sermon. however.
ON account of the fact that he was then
"a priest in the Church of England. He
remained in America until 1877, and be-
came very unpopular before ne left be-
cause his views were deemed too rigid
for the average church-goer.
When he returned TO London he called
"a meeting of all persons interested in the
reform of the existing mode of Christian
living. and about a score of people met
with him i'm an old building known as
Foundry Hall. The hal had To serve as
meeting house, school, and library. and
Wesley lived in the rooms above H. An
old rat-trap Of a building. one lone leader.
and a score Of earnest foIIowers-that was
the Methodist church IN 1919. II was. in
deed. a modest start for the great organ
ization that now has thousands OF
churches, chapels, and missions. and mil
lions OF members IN almost every country
on the globe u was Wesley vino frs,
offered free pews in London. and who
had the men and women sit on opposite
sides OF the church.
The first meeting of the MethOdsts in
America was held in New York CITY at
the home Of Philip Embury. an Irish car
penter and itinerant preacher. who had
received his appointment from Wesley in
England. Embury is also claimed by
both the Lutherans and TIE Church Of
England. Although he did the preaching.
the meeting was planned and called by
Barbara Heck. ana for this reason she has
rightly been called the Mother of Meth
odism" At this first Methodist meeting
i'm America there was bat i've persons
present the two Hecks Mrs Embury.
John Lawrence, and a negro woman.
named Betty. who was a servant OF the
Hecks. The second Methodist meeting in
this country was held in an old sail loft.
by John Webb, "a British naval captain,
who conducted the service clad in all the
crimson and gold of his rank The first
Methodist church dedicated IN the United
States was on Johns street in New York,
and il was finished in l76S Shortly after
the establishment Of the New York church
another one was opened in Maryland but
the exact date is not known.
At the close of the eighteenth century
the Protestant denominations in America
recognized the need OF revival of some
sort. and. as the people were widely seat
tered on farms and border settlements,