History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

places. Stevens says the third Conference was held on the 12th of May, 1745, but does not give the
place, while by Moore and Whitehead it is not mentioned, probably because it was so lacking in
importance that Wesley himself makes no reference to it in his Journal. The fourth Conference was
held, according to Whitehead, from June 15th to 20th, 1747, and the place is given as the Foundry
by Stevens. It was numerically the largest held. At the session of 1745 Marmaduke Gwynne, a
layman, attended by invitation, and at that of 1746, the question was propounded: Who are proper
persons to attend any Conference? And the answer was, besides the preachers conveniently at hand,
the most prudent and devoted of the Band leaders of the town where the session was held, and any
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pious and judicious stranger who might be in the town should be invited. It will be seen from the
dates, that an annual feature had not been adopted; the Conferences met when and where Wesley
thought it expedient to call one.
On the 2d of June, 1748, the fifth was held at Tower-Hill chapel, London, and it was not
reconvened until November 16, 1749, in London. On the 8th of March, 1750, the seventh was held;
but there are no traces of its minutes, and from this time to 1765 there are records of but two. A little
more than a decade had elapsed since the first as an epoch of Methodism. Meantime, Wesley's views
from reflection and reading had undergone considerable change as to Episcopacy, and doctrinal
points were more clearly settled. Quarterly meetings were held for the circuits, books were
distributed by the preachers as colporteurs, and Wesley concluded his "Christian Library " in fifty
volumes, It was little more than a careful compilation of other books, and occasion will occur in the
future for larger reference to a prevailing practice of plagiarizing by leading men of literary
reputation. A lay ministry had accomplished a wonderful work throughout the British Islands. In
fine, Wesleyan Methodism had taken on an organic form, though adhering to the National Church.
The Kingswood school was opened in 1748. Wesley's marriage with Miss Grace Murray had
miscarried through the interference of his brother Charles. It is alleged she was engaged to one of
the helpers, Bennet, and to whom she was married, much to Wesley's disappointment, soon after.
Wesley remembered this interference of his brother and it marked the interruption of the harmony
which for twenty years had existed between them. It may be in place here for the simple mention of
his entanglement with Miss Hopkey of Savannah while he was yet in Georgia. It was broken off for
reasons touching which his biographers greatly differ, but it was among the causes that hastened his
return to England. Some years before his marriage he had written a tract favoring celibacy as more
conducive to spiritual life, but he had evidently made no resolution not to marry. He formed the
acquaintance of Mrs. Vizelle, a young widow of independent fortune with accomplishments, and a
professor of religion withal. He took care that her fortune should be settled upon herself, and that it
should be agreed that he was not to surcease in his labors and travels as superintendent of the United
Societies. But it proved an ill-starred marriage. She soon tired of itinerating with him, and in her
efforts to overrule him for a location in the ministry she became abusive and violent in her treatment,
and finally left him with word that she never expected to return. Wesley makes the characteristic
record "I have not left her; I have not put her away; I will not call her back." In 1781, some thirty
years afterward, she died, leaving her fortune to an only son by a former marriage and a ring to
Wesley. Grace Bennet long survived her husband, who became a dissenting minister; and late in life
an interview at her request took place between her and Wesley in the presence of a mutual friend.
It was a tender interview; they parted, and Wesley was never afterward heard to allude to her.