SUMMARY:
By PAUL SHERBIRD ©1994whilst a Bible College student (1992-96)
MANY Christians today are talking about revival, and of course we all long to experience it. There can be no doubt that this is the most pressing need of our age.The 18th century revival of which John Wesley was at the forefront proved that true revival changes the face of a nation. Crime decreases; injustices are put right; immoral standards are reversed; misery gives way to laughter and sorrow is turned into joy. Any discerning Christian recognises in our day the signs of moral and ethical collapse. Crime, abuse and sexual immorality are rampant. We face a rise in racism and injustice and confusion in the economic system. In this climate those who hold to a biblical view fi nd themselves a despised minority, laughed at and ignored by the media and society in general.
No wonder then that we grasp at any hint of revival wherever it may come from. However, contemporary church history is proving that we can too easily misread the signs. Movements that were acclaimed as great works of the Spirit and the beginning of revival have soon faltered and in many cases disappeared into obscurity or fallen into doctrinal error.
Along with this there has been a belittling of our Christian heritage. Too often we have been told that God is doing a “new thing” and that we do not need the lessons of the past. On the contrary there is much we can learn from church history. If we take heed we will quickly recognise false doctrines and counterfeit movements that are claimed to be of the Holy Spirit.
So what can we learn from the 18th century and the Wesleyan revival?
My hope is that this brief historic report will help us to recognise true revival.
Two things stand out vividly in Wesley’s Journals:
1) How powerfully God was at work in moving thousands of people to go to listen to the preaching of the gospel; and
2) How real the subsequent conversions were. Often the preachers felt they were mere bystanders as the Holy Spirit convicted men and women of their need of the Saviour.
There was great opposition too. Mobs stirred up riots. Bricks and stones were hurled at the preachers. Many were imprisoned on trumped up charges. There was great commotion wherever the gospel was preached! Everybody was aware that something was “going on”. Then to read how the persecution faded as more and more souls came under the power of the gospel is a true wonder! Even secular historians took note of this great revival and admitted that it changed Britain for immeasurable good. It is my prayer that this short essay will stimulate desire for true revival in our lifetime, and that we will earnestly pray and then share the Gospel in these desperate times.
Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence, As fi re burns brushwood, As fi re causes water to boil, To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! (Isaiah 64:1,2).
FIRST CONTACT
In the 18th century, Cornwall was a wild, inhospitable place. There were few roads. People lived in small towns or hamlets often isolated from each other by many miles. The chief occupations were fi shing, farming and tin mining. Rev L. Tyerman wrote of those times:
Cornwall at this time was as imbruted as Staffordshire. Smuggling was considered an honourable traffi c, and the plunder of ship-wrecked mariners was accounted a lawful prize. Drunkenness was general; and cockfi ghting, bull-baiting, wrestling and hurling were the favourite amusements of the people.*1
“The Cornishmen,” says J.S.Simon “were devoted to king and church,” but that the church was not the guiding light it ought to have been, is clear from his remark on the clergy that “even an amiable apologist must admit that among them were men whose character and conduct it is useless to defend.”*2
These clergymen were well known for their participation in the smuggling trade, church cellars often being used to conceal the contraband.In the fi rst half of the 18th century Cornwall was spiritually dark, but there were distinct signs that change was on the way. In 1732 George Thomson, a clergyman at St Gennys, was converted.
After dreaming of his death and subsequent judgement, he shut himself away with his Bible and found peace and assurance in knowing the forgiveness of his sins. George Thomson later became a great friend of the Wesleys who made use of his home during their visits to Cornwall. Another clergyman, John Bennet, was converted through Thomson’s preaching.
He was overseeing three parishes in north Cornwall and with Thomson went on evangelistic tours preaching the message of “justification by faith”.
In 1743 a Methodist sea captain named Joseph Turner landed at St Ives and met up with a religious society of twelve godly members led by Catherine Quick. Upon taking news of them back to the Methodist society in Bristol, two lay preachers, Thomas Williams and William Shepherd were sent to Cornwall to preach. Charles Wesley determined to go there himself and set out from Bristol with a companion on 14th July 1743; on the 15th he set out alone from Exeter to St Ives.
The journey was a difficult one as the paths were often indistinct or non-existent but on 16th July Charles reached his destination. In his journal he recounts his experiences on entering St Ives and how first he was greeted in the name of the Lord by two tinners *3, then how some of the “devil’s children” shouted and pursued him “like men out of the tombs”. Finally he was met by the lay preachers, Williams and Shepherd, who took him to his lodgings. The following day, Sunday, Charles attended the local church only to hear a sermon directed against the Methodists who were denigrated as a new sect, and an enemy of the church. Charles listened to a similar sermon in the evening when the local curate preached on “Beware of false prophets”, making it clear that it was the Methodists he had in mind.
The next day Charles went out to preach and had his first taste of real opposition. A mob formed at St Ives market beating drums and shouting. Some of the mob charged at Charles and tried to pull him down, but Charles records, “They had no power to touch me. My soul was calm and fearless.”4
Charles was continually troubled by mobs during his stay in St Ives. One of the worst attacks came on Friday 22nd July. He had just announced his text when an “army of rebels” broke in and began to smash the building and beat those assembled, particularly targeting the women and children.
Charles tells how several times men rose up to beat him with clubs but were restrained by the hand of the Lord. The attack lasted about an hour and then the mob began to fight amongst themselves and finally dispersed. Charles saw in this event a great victory for the saints, who, by their meekness in the face of suffering won over some of their most bitter foes. He later learnt that these attacks were stirred up by the local ministers who claimed the Methodists were Popish emissaries who had come to prepare the way for the arrival of the Pretender from France.
Despite such violent opposition Charles saw many victories during his first visit to Cornwall. The mayor of St Ives was an honest Presbyterian who befriended him and did all he could to restrain the mobs. Charles also preached in other parts of Cornwall where he was heard with much approval, often by very large crowds. Some instances are recorded in his journal:
- Carnegy Downs, Monday July 18th — “a crowd of a thousand tinners, who received the seed into honest and good hearts.”
- Zunnor, Wednesday July 20th — “some hun-dreds of the people, with sincerity in their faces received my saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent and believe the gospel.’”
- Gwennap, July 23rd — he invited the “whole nation of tinners to Christ” and took the names of several who wanted to form a society.
- St Just, Saturday July 30th — he wrote, “the hearts of thousands seemed moved as the trees of the forest.” It was in St Just that Charles expected to see the biggest harvest.
These preaching points established by Charles later became the “Cornish circuit”. Charles preached to thousands during this first visit. Many seem to have been convicted. Outside St Ives he was frequently warmly received and intently listened to. During the first week of August Charles received a summons from his brother John to return to London for a meeting with the Moravians and Predestinarians. He said his farewells and records how reluctant the people were to see him go. He was urged time and again to return. Before he left he preached at Gwennap to a huge assembly and was able to say, “God has set before us an open door, and who shall be able to shut it.” *5
He left Cornwall on Sunday 7th August leaving behind the beginnings of a great work and a testimony to the power of the Lord and the gospel. As a man of God, Charles left his own mark on the Cornish. His fearlessness and absolute faith in the Lord in the midst of persecution together with his integrity and obvious concern for the lost souls of Cornwall touched the lives of many. All this showed the seal of the Lord’s approval and opened Cornish hearts to the gospel.
It did not take John long to follow in his brother’s footsteps—Charles records the event on 21st August 1743, “My brother set out for Cornwall.” *6
John Wesley made 32 visits to Cornwall. On this first visit he got lost on Bodmin Moor. William Shepherd was travelling with him. They only managed to find their way upon hearing the ringing of Bodmin bell. John got lost again on his second visit, this time on the moor in dreadful conditions of snow and cold. He was providentially led to the home of Digory Isbell, who had been visited earlier by two of Wesley’s companions and had determined to make his home a resting and preaching place for the travelling Methodists.
This became a favourite place for John Wesley. Digory later added two rooms to the side of the house, inspired by the story of the Shunammite woman who built a prophet’s chamber for Elisha. Downstairs Digory made a preaching room and upstairs was the bedroom. This house still stands at Trewint on Bodmin Moor and is open to visitors
John was initially disappointed with his first visit to Cornwall. He saw meagre results to his ministry.
Even the weather seemed to be against him as he suffered days of Cornish rain and fog. Though he found the St Ives society in good shape, numbering about 120, his first attempts at preaching met with very little response. He preached in the same places as Charles to crowds of several hundreds but saw no effect.
However on the weekend of September 10th and 11th things changed dramatically.
At 4 o’clock that Saturday afternoon John preached to a crowd of about 1,000 at St Just, who all behaved in a “quiet and serious manner”. At 6pm he preached to a small congregation at Sennen who woke him between 3 and 4am the following morning in their eagerness to hear more of the Word of God. Between 8 and 9am he preached at St Just to the biggest congregation ever seen in those parts. Later in the day he preached at St Ives when the “dread of God fell upon us while I was speaking, so that I could hardly utter a word”. *7
Like his brother, John faced mob violence in St Ives. Often stones and mud were thrown at him. On one fearful occasion (Friday 16th September) the mob broke into the meeting room “roaring and striking those who stood in their way, as though legion himself possessed them”. *8
John managed to quieten the leader, who in turn quietened the mob.
Like his brother, John finished his visit on a triumphal note. At Trezuthan Downs he preached to between two and three thousand. On Tuesday 20th September he preached to an immense crowd of 10,000 at Gwennap Pit. He preached until dark to people gripped with the “deepest attention”. Wesley departed Cornwall on Thursday 22nd September 1743 having left a deep impression and having built further upon the foundations laid by the pioneering work of his brother and the lay preachers.
Refer Part Two
Footnotes:
1 The Life and Times of J.Wesley, Vol.1; p.4152
2 J.Wesley and the Methodist Societies; p.316
3 Tin Miners
4 Journal of C.Wesley, Vol.1; p.322
5 Journal; p.332.
6 Journal; p.334.
7 J. Wesley; Works, Vol.1; p.431
8 ibid
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Appeared in Issue CETF NR 38 December 2006
"...contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" -- Jude v3
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Monday, October 09, 2006
