The Journal of John Wesley

By John Wesley

Table of Contents

  Title Page
  Editor's Note
  Introduction
  An Appreciation of John Wesley's Journal
  Biographical Sketch
Chapter 1 Wesley as a Missionary to Georgia

Wesley Begins his Work - Origin of the Holy Club - Wesley Sails for America - Life on Board - Memorable Atlantic Storms - Wesley Arrives in Georgia - Begins His Ministry at Savannah - 'I Waked Under Water' - Talks to the Indians - Fearless of Rains and Dews - Desires to Go Among the Indians

Chapter 2 Troubles in Georgia; Return to England; Peter Bohler; 'I Felt my Heart Strangely Warmed'

Begins to Learn Spanish - Warrant for Wesley's Arrest - The Jury's Charge against Wesley - Why Wesley left Georgia - Lost in the Woods - Farewell to America - The Voyage to England - Lands at Deal - In London Again - Wesley Meets Peter Bohler - Wesley's Four Resolutions - Incidents on the Manchester Road - Companions on Horseback - Preaches in Oxford Castle - Talks with Bohler - 'I Felt My Heart Strangely Warmed' - Wesley Preaches in Newgate Gaol

Chapter 3 Field-Preaching; 'All the World my Parish'; Whitefield; Wales; Experience with Demons

Wesley Begins Field-preaching - The First Methodist Building - Wesley's Living Arguments - Beau Nash Argues with Wesley - 'All the World My Parish' - Susanna Wesley and her Son - Talks with Whitefield - Press-gang Disturbs the Sermon - The New Name of Methodism - An Accident and a Long Sermon - Wesley in Wales - 'A Terrible Sight' - 'Yonder Comes Wesley, Galloping' - The Colliers of Kingswood

Chapter 4 Preaching Incidents; Wesley's Labor Colony; Dispute with Whitefield; Curious Interruptions; The Mother of the Wesleys

Wesley's Correspondents - A Sermon and a Riot - Preaching Incidents - Wesley's Labor Colony - Dispute with Whitefield - Wesley at Northampton and Nottingham - An Ox in the Congregation - Wesley at Cardiff - A Curious Interruption - Wesley's Congregation Stoned - A Bull in the Congregation - Wesley Was 'the Better Mounted' - A Big Crowd at Newcastle - Wesley on His Father's Tombstone - 'Let Them Convert the Scolds' - Death of Wesley's Mother - Mrs. Wesley as Preacher - She Speaks to Two Hundred - How the Wesleys Were Brought up - 'Conquer the Child's Will' - They Had Nothing They Cried For - Keeping the Wesley Children in Order - Susanna Wesley's 'By-laws' - Mr. Stephenson and Wesley - Newcastle's First Methodist Room

Chapter 5 Wesley Refused Sacraments at Epworth; Cornwall and the Scilly Isles; Natural Amphitheater at Gwennap; Wesley in Danger

Wesley Refused the Sacrament at Epworth - Wesley and the Cock-fighter - Wesley in Seven Dials - Wesley's Horses Give Trouble - Wesley Goes to Cornwall - The Cornish Tinners - In the Scilly Isles - Remarkable Service at Gwennap - A Mob at Wednesbury - Wesley in Danger - His Presence of Mind - 'What Soft Hair He Has' - Wesley's Defenders - The Sleepy Magistrates' Proclamation - Wesley Nearly Drowned - Methodism on the Stage

Chapter 6 First Methodist Conference; Pressgangs and Mobs; Wesley's Protest against Ungodliness

The First Conference - Wesley's Chancery Bill - Wesley's Effective Letter - Press Gang and Methodists - Reading the Riot Act - Wesley Seized for a Soldier - Dramatic Scenes at Falmouth - 'I am John Wesley' - Wesley Pushed from a High Wall - Riot Act and a Sermon - Pelted by the Mob at Leeds - Great Excitement at Newcastle - Wesley's Letter to the Mayor - Preaching under Difficulties - The Blasphemous Troops - Bonfires Everywhere

Chapter 7 Severe Weather; Ireland; Wesley's Protest against Lawlessness

Wesley and Faith-healing - Wesley Encounters Severe Weather - Preaching to the Lead Miners - How Wesley Dealt with a Mob - The Bargemen and their Clubs - Remarkable Accident to Wesley - A Shower of Stones - A Horrible Proposition - Incidents in Ireland - Wesley Lives on Apple-tea - A Determined Preacher - Zealous Protestants - Wesley Protests Against Lawlessness - Beaten by the Mob - Defending Field Preaching - Three Remarkable Shots with Stones

Chapter 8 Wesley and the Soldiers; In Ireland and Wales Again; Wesley Burned in Effigy; Wesley as an Editor

Wesley in Wales - Marries his Brother - Methodists Lease an Abbey - Wesley and the Soldiers' Class - A Ridiculous Question - A Rough Voyage - Remarkable Scenes at Bolton - Wesley at Dudley and Birmingham - Wesley in Wales - Waiting for the Irish Boat - 'Where Is the Parson?' - Wesley Interviews Mrs. Pilkington - Wesley Burned in Effigy - Visits to Kinsale and Cork - At an Irish Funeral - Wesley Rides Ninety Miles - He Left One Shilling and Fourpence - Wesley as Editor - In Canterbury Cathedral

Chapter 9 Wesley's Marriage; Dealings with Cornwall Smugglers; His Illness and Recovery

Wesley Decides to Marry - Marriage and Preaching - Wesley and His Barber - Wesley's Impressions of Scotland - Wesley's Remarkable Vitality - A Crowded Coach - Wesley Sleeps in a Cellar - Round Chester Walls - A Boiling Sea - Wesley's Forgiveness - The Pay of Preaching - Wesley in Glasgow - Apprenticeship Customs - Cornish Smugglers - Wesley Writes His Epitaph - Wesley His Own Doctor

Chapter 10 Retirement in Paddington; Wesley Slandered; Premonitions; A Dream

Wesley Retires to Paddington - Persecuting the Methodists - Wesley's Prescriptions - Wesley and the Sunshine - The Room Was Like and Oven - 'This Is No Mazed Man' - Slandering Wesley in the Pulpit - Extraordinary Coincidence - Macbeth and Thunder at Drury Lane - At Dover Castle - Preaching to a Press-gang - Waiting for the Ferry - Irish Honesty - A Remarkable Premonition Fulfilled - Preaching in a Loft - A Terrible Dream - The Delights of North Wales - Wesley's Debt of f 1236 - Wesley on Electricity as a Cure

Chapter 11 'I do Indeed Live by Preaching'; Wesley's Advice to Travelers; Wesley and the French Prisoners

In Glasgow Cathedral - Wesley Sings a Scotch Psalm - 'I Do Indeed Live by Preaching!' - Wesley at Charterhouse - Wesley Opposed by Mayor and Minister - Fire at Kingswood School - In Norfolk and Suffolk - Another Ninety-mile Journey - Wesley's Advice to Travelers - Wesley at Norwich and Colchester - The Sands of Ravenglass - Useless Doctors - Fire in a Coalpit - Newcastle as a Summer Resort - Wesley Likes a Soft Cushion - Defeating the Press-gang - Extraordinary Trances - Wesley Rides Twenty-four Hundred Miles in Seven Months - Field-preaching Expedient - Wesley Clothes French Prisoners - The Truth about Trances

Chapter 12 Wesley's Letter to an Editor; Impositions and Declarations; the Speaking Statue; Wesley's Pentecost

Wesley and the Irish Question - Attack on Wesley's Hat - 'A Kind of Waterspout' - A Tinner's Story - Wesley Writes to the London Chronicle - Preaching in the Inn Yard - Wesley Preaches at Aberdeen - Wesley's Criticism of Edinburgh - A Busy Week - Wesley and Impositions - A Monster Called a Declaration - Some Impudent Women - Seen in a Looking Glass - Wesley at Matlock Bath and Boston - Preaching by Moonlight - Some Rough Journeys - Remarkable Speaking Statue - Wesley and the Oatmeal Sellers - The Irish Whiteboys - Whitewashing Kilkenny Marble - Wesley in Cornwall - Wesley's Day of Pentecost

Chapter 13 Wesley in Scotland Again; Methodist's Wealth; 'No Law for Methodists'; Exhausting Days; Whitefield

Wesley in Aberdeen Again - Plain Dealing in Scotland - The Drunkard's Magnificat - Methodists and Their Wealth - A Difficult Crossing - Wesley at Birmingham, Walsal, and Derby - 'No Law for Methodists' - Wesley Unhorsed - Wesley on Holy Island - Wesley at the General Assembly - At Inverness - A Sermon and Congregation to Order - Wesley and a Scotch Communion - Wesley's Likes and Dislikes - She Thought, 'I Laugh Prettily' - An Exhausting Day - Seven Hours on Horseback - The Ride from Pembroke to Swansea - Wesley's Experiments with Lions

Chapter 14 Justice for Methodists; Methodist Character; Instructions to Parents; Wesley's Opinion of Mary Queen of Scots

Breakfast with Mr. Whitefield - Two Deeds - Wesley Covered with Mud - Wesley Secures Justice for Methodists - Gwennap's Famous Amphitheater - Wesley on a Country Life - Wesley and the Character of a Methodist - The Sexton's Strange Apparition - Queer Houses at Sheerness - Wesley in the Marshalsea Prison - Wesley Travels North - Preaching in a North Wind - Wesley Instructs Parents - Wesley and Mary Queen of Scots - Wesley at Scoon and Holyrood - Wesley's Old Schoolfellow - Wesley's Wife Ill - Wesley and Seaport Towns

Chapter 15 Wesley Opens a New Church; Comments on Rousseau; Geology; Swedenborg, and Riding Horseback; Gwennap and 20,000 People; Death of Whitefield

Wesley's Land-shark - Wesley Opens a New Church - A Forsaken Beauty - Wesley at the Countess of Huntingdon's - The Gentleman with Rotten Eggs - Wesley on Geology and Rousseau - Swedenborg an Entertaining Madman - Wesley and His Horses - Wesley at Nairn, Elgin, and Aberdeen - Where Are the Highlands? - Wesley and the Turnpikes - Wesley in St. Albans Abbey - Wesley and the Druid Monuments - Congregation of 20,000 - Fire at Portsmouth Dock - Wesley Preaches Whitefield's Funeral Sermon

Chapter 16 Windsor Park; Wesley as Art Critic; Glasgow and Perth; At 70, Wesley Preaches to 30,000 People

The Earl of Desmond's Castle - Wesley in Winchester Cathedral - Wesley at Windsor Park - Wesley as Art Critic - Wesley on A Sentimental Journey - Wesley and the Boarding School - Wesley at Greenock and Glasgow - Wesley Receives the Freedom of Perth - Wesley Visits the Bass Rock - Through the Dales - Field-preaching as Wesley's Cross - Good or Bad Spirits? - A Remarkable Dream - Wesley's Letters and Friends - Wesley and His Chaise - Incidents in Ireland - A Neglected School - Mobbed by Masons - Wesley at Derry and Armagh - The Speaking Statue Again - The Earthquake at Madeley - A Man of Seventy Preaches to 30,000 People - A Monster Elm

Chapter 17 Wesley Arrested; A Terrible Ride; A Methodist Isaac Newton; Wesley and the American War - Wesley Arrested in Edinburgh

Wesley's Terrible Ride - A Collier's Remarkable Escape - Wesley at Corfe Castle - A Methodist Isaac Newton - Wesley in the Fens - Wesley's Coach Upset - Wesley and the American War - Preaching from the Stocks - 'A Very Extraordinary Genius' - Neat and Elegant Banff - A Town of Beggars - Wesley Criticizes the Scotch Universities - Smuggling in Cornwall

Chapter 18 On the Isle of Man; City Road Chapel; Wesley Visits Lorg George Gordon

In Bethnal Green Hamlet - City Road Chapel Begun - Wesley in the Isle of Man - The Manx Men - 'Taught by a Chaise Boy' - Are the Methodists a Fallen People? - Wesley Starts a Magazine - Wesley Discusses Old Sermons - Among the Ruins - City Road Chapel Opened - Wesley Goes North - Wesley Attended by Felons - 'Make Your Will before You Sleep' - Wesley at the German Settlement - The Bishop of Durham's Tapestry - Wesley on 'Boston Stump' - Wesley at Sevenoaks - Wesley Visits Lord George in the Tower

Chapter 19 An Ideal Circuit; Wesley in his Eighties; Wesley Visits Holland; Incidents in Scotland

A Rough Voyage - In the Isle of Man - Preaching at Peel - An Ideal Circuit - 'A Low, Soft, Solemn Sound' - Wesley Enters His Eightieth Year - No Repose for Wesley - A Christian Bishop's Furniture - 'The Tide Is Now Turned' - Wesley Visits Holland - The Reverent Dutch - The Beautiful Hague - At Leyden and Amsterdam - The Warmly Affectionate Dutch - Wesley at Utrecht - Two Hours with Dr. Johnson - Wesley and Early Rising - Remarkable Escape from Prison - The Banks of the Spey - Twelve and a Half Miles in Heavy Rain - Incidents in Scotland - Wesley at 81 - Burglary at Wesley's House

Chapter 20 Wesley Collects Money for the Poor; Visits the House of Lords; His Reasons for his Long Life; 'How is the Tide Turned;' Last Entries

Wesley at Eighty-one Begs f 200 - Fifty Years Growth of Methodism - Wesley Visits the House of Lords - Wesley Visits Hatfield House - Wesley's Threat to Deptford - Wesley Visits the Irish Parliament House - A Visit to the Channel Islands - 'A Little Circumstance' - At the Governor's House - 'Because I Have Lived so Many Years' - Detained by Contrary Winds - Sails for Penzance - Wesley on His Old Age - Wesley's Reasons for His Long Life - An Important Conference - 'The Gentle Steps of Age' - Wesley Sits to Romney - Wesley Explains Methodism - Wesley Describes Himself at Eighty-five - 'How Is the Tide Turned!' - Wesley's Eighty-sixth Christmas - The Last Year of the Journal - A Backsliding Innkeeper - 'I Am Become an Honorable Man' - Wesley's Last Entries -

  Wesley's Last Hours