Travellers' Tales of Scotland

The following is from Travellers' Tales of Scotland by R. H. Coats:

IX - John Wesley

(1751-1790)

ONE of the most remarkable men who ever crossed the Scottish border was the eminent saint, statesman, and evangelist, who revolutionized the religious life of England in the eighteenth century. John Wesley made more than twenty journeys into Scotland between his first visit in the year 1751 and his death in 1791. He travelled east and west and north and south, from Berwick to Stranraer, and from Annan to Inverness. As the Apostle of Methodism he found himself in journeyings oft, in weariness and painfulness, in perils by the sea and in perils among false brethren. Three times he lost his way between Dumfries and Moffat. Once his horse floundered in the Solway Firth, so that he was covered with soft mud from head to foot. Once he was all but imprisoned in the Edinburgh Tolbooth. Once he was snowed-up among the mountains near Dalwhinnie. Once he came near to being drowned at Broughty Ferry. But none of these things daunted the great preacher. His iron frame, his inflexible will, his ardent missionary spirit surmounted every obstacle. Weariness and ailments of every kind fled from him the moment he stood up to proclaim the Gospel. Wesley attributed his phenomenally good health to the fact that for fifty years he rose every morning at four o'clock; preached generally at five, "one of the most healthy exercises in the world;" and never travelled less, by sea or land, than four thousand five hundred miles in a year. He was the sort of man who could write in his journal, "We met at five in the morning, at nine, at one, and at half-hour past eight. I expected to be a little tired, but was more lively after twelve at night than I was at six in the morning." Indeed, so indefatigable were his exertions in getting from place to place that in some instances we read that it was the horse that became exhausted before the rider, so that Wesley had perforce to hurry on by means of a stage-coach.

The Journal of such a man is of inestimable value to us, for he wrote down very fully his impressions of what he saw. In contrast with the experiences of other travellers, Wesley found the wayside accommodation of Scotland wholly to his liking. "What miserable accounts pass current in England of the inns in Scotland! ... We were most surprised at the entertainment we met with in every place, so far different from common report. We had all things good, cheap, in great abundance, and remarkably well dressed." At Stranraer he met with "as good entertainment of every kind AS if he had been in the heart of England." Wesley had an eye for the beautiful in natural scenery, and often stopped to praise a noble prospect. The surroundings of Dunkeld especially pleased him; and he thought the Lowther Hills "the finest mountains in Europe, higher than most, if not any, in England, and clothed with grass to the very top." The towns, however, seemed to him, as to the Wordsworths and Keats later, queer and outlandish-looking. "They are like none which I ever saw, either in England, Wales, or Ireland. There is such an air of antiquity in them all, and such a peculiar oddness in their manner of building." Greenock reminded Wesley of Plymouth Dock, and he noted that "the trade, and inhabitants, and consequently the houses, were increasing rapidly. So was cursing, swearing, drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking, and all manner of wickedness." Inverness seemed to him "not very bad and not very good;" but it certainly had all things needful for life and godliness, and the people, he observed, spoke with an uncommonly fine accent. Perth he thought "the sweetest place in all North Britain, unless perhaps Dundee." As for Glasgow, its cathedral was equal to most of those in England, except that it was miserably defaced within. Wesley could not reconcile himself, however, to the appearance of the college students.

"They wear scarlet gowns, reaching only to their knees. Most I saw were very dirty, some very ragged, and all of very coarse cloath." Aberdeen he considered a city to be envied. The professors were friendly, the clergy were open-hearted and wished him good-luck in the name of the Lord. "Indeed I have scarce seen such a set of ministers in any town of Great Britain or Ireland."

But chiefly were Wesley's encomiums and anathemas reserved for Edinburgh. "The situation of the city," he wrote, "on a hill shelving down on both sides, as well as to the east, with the stately castle on a craggy rock on the west, is inexpressibly fine. And the main street, so broad and finely paved, with the lofty houses on either hand (many of them seven or eight stories high), is far beyond any in Great Britain. But how can it be suffered, that all manner of filth should still be thrown even into this street continually? Where are the Magistracy, the Gentry, the Nobility of the land? Have they no concern for the honour of their nation? How long shall the capital city of Scotland, yea, and the chief street of it, stink worse than a common sewer? Will no lover of his country, or of decency and common sense, find a remedy for this? ... Edinburgh is one of the dirtiest cities I have ever seen, not excepting Colen in Germany."

Wesley was much interested in Holyrood Palace, and warmly took up the cudgels on behalf of "that poor injured woman," Mary Queen of Scots, on coming upon her portrait in the picture-gallery. "It is scarce possible for anyone who looks at this to think her such a monster as some have painted her, nor indeed for any who considers the circumstances of her death, equal to that of an ancient martyr." The bed-cover and hangings which Queen Mary wrought when a prisoner in Lochleven Castle, and which Wesley saw in Scone Palace, deeply moved him. "It is some of the finest needlework I ever saw, and plainly shows both her skill and her unwearied industry." The dilapidated condition of Holyrood itself Wesley attributed to the evil after-effects of the Jacobite rebellion. "The tapestry, is dirty and quite faded; the fine ceilings dropping down; and many of the pictures in the gallery torn or cut through. This was the work of good General Hawley's soldiers (like General, like men!), who, after running away from the Scots at Falkirk, revenged themselves on the harmless canvas!"

The tedium of travelling Wesley relieved by reading. To his surprise, he thoroughly enjoyed Home's Douglas, the work of a Presbyterian minister which was then taking the literary world by storm. "I was astonished to find it is one of the finest tragedies I have ever read. What a pity that a few lines were not left out, and that it was ever acted at Edinburgh!" Dr. Beattie's Inquiry after Truth Wesley enjoyed immensely, for it gave a good trouncing to the infidel David Hume; but Dr. Robertson's History of Charles V he was like to throw away in his impatience. "Here is a quarto volume of eight or ten shillings price, containing dry, verbose dissertations on feudal government, the substance of all which might be compressed in half a sheet of paper." But none of these books so much displeased him as one which came into his hands when he was staying at Thornhill. "Here I met with Mr. Knox's History of the Church of Scotland; and could any man wonder if the members of it were more fierce, sour, and bitter of spirit than some of them are? For what a pattern have they before them! I know it is commonly said, 'The work to be done needed such a spirit.' Not so. The work of God does not, cannot need the work of the devil to forward it. And a calm, even spirit goes through rough work far better than a furious one. Although, therefore, God did use, at the time of the Reformation, some sour, overbearing, passionate men, yet he did not use them because they were such, but notwithstanding they were so. And there is no doubt He would have used them much more, had they been of an humbler and milder spirit."

The spell of reading over, Wesley would put his books away into his saddle-bag, and indulge himself in moralizing on the scenes around him. Was that the Duke of Queensborough's seat he had just passed, an ancient and noble pile situated on a pleasant and fruitful hill? "Alas! how little did the late Duke imagine his son would plough up his park and let his house run to ruin! But let it go! In a little while the earth itself, and all the works of it, shall be burned up." Did he come upon the estate of the Earl of Haddington, beautifully situated between two woods? "The house is exceeding large and pleasant, commanding a wide prospect both ways; and the Earl is cutting walks through the woods, smoothing the ground, and much enlarging and beautifying his garden. Yet he is to die!" Strolling one day through Dumfries churchyard, Wesley noticed the following inscription on a much-decayed tombstone

QUANDOQUIDEM REMANENT IPSIS QUOQUE FATA SEPULCHRIS.

The words could not but set the preacher on a train of doleful meditation. "What, do sepulchres themselves die? Strange that men should be so careful about them! So poor Mr. Prior, speaking of his own tomb, has those melancholy words, 'For this last piece of human vanity I bequeathe five hundred pounds.'"

But, as a rule, all Wesley's energies and reflections were directed to one urgent and supremely practical end, the evangelization of the country he had come to visit. His method was to secure the largest building that was available, or, still better, to take his stand in the open air, and go on preaching till a number of people came. "I stood on one side of the main street, near the middle of the town. And I might stand, for no creature came near me till I had sung part of a psalm. Then a row of children stood before me, and in some time about a hundred men and women." Presently the crowd would swell in its proportions till its limits were determined only by the range of his far-reaching voice. At one place it was calculated that as many as two thousand had to turn away. Wesley was not particular as to where or when he preached, whether to many or to few. He was glad when the Principal of Aberdeen University placed the College Close at his disposal, or when he could address a vast multitude on the Calton Hill in Edinburgh. But he was just as pleased when called upon to preach the good tidings of salvation to wretched creatures in poorhouses, prisons, hospitals, and asylums. On one occasion, when he was walking through the square of King's College, Aberdeen, admiring the architecture, he encountered a company of ladies and gentlemen similarly engaged. "They looked and spoke to one another, after which one of the gentlemen took courage and came to me. He said, 'We came last night to College Close, but could not hear, and should be extremely obliged if you would give us a short discourse here.' "Nothing loth, Wesley opened there and then on "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself," and he had every reason to believe that the Word fell as dew on the tender grass. It was the custom, when Wesley arrived in any sympathetic village, for the bell of the parish church to be loudly rung, and a sufficient congregation gathered in ten minutes. When at last, weary and worn out, the preacher retired in the evening to his inn or lodging, he would gather the company together for family prayer, not forgetting to give the backslider, if he found one, some plain yet kindly counsel concerning the state of his soul before God.

Wesley was the more fervent about these matters because he considered that religion in Scotland was in a very backward condition. The moment the border was crossed he felt the change. "what a difference," he exclaimed at Alnwick, in Northumberland, "between these living stones and the dead, unfeeling multitudes in Scotland!" Driven by the rain into a house near Glasgow, he questioned his host's daughter, a girl of eighteen or nineteen years, as to her spiritual condition. "To my surprise, I found her as ignorant of the nature off religion as a Hottentot. And many such have I found in Scotland, able to read, nay, and to repeat the Catechism, but wholly unacquainted with true religion, yea, and all genuine morality." Wesley attributed much of this spiritual apathy to the morose and chilling preaching which prevailed. 41 The people have been told frequently and strongly of their coldness, deadness, heaviness, and littleness of faith, but very little of anything that would move thankfulness. Hereby many are driven away, and those that remained were cold and dead." The typical Scottish sermon to which he listened "contained much truth, but was no more likely to awaken one soul than an Italian opera."

Wesley was much disappointed with the Church of Scotland Assembly, whose meetings he had once or twice the opportunity of attending. "I was extremely shocked at the behaviour of many of the members. Had any preacher behaved so at our Conference, he would have had no more place among us. ... I was surprised to find that a single question took up the whole time, which, when I went away, seemed to be as far from a conclusion as ever, namely, 'Should Mr. Lindsay be removed to Kilmarnock parish or not?' The argument for it was, 'He has a large family, and this living is twice as good as his own.' The argument against it was, 'The people are resolved not to hear him, and will leave the Kirk if he comes.' If then the real point in view had been, as their law directs, majus bonum ecclesiae, instead of taking up five hours, the debate might have been determined in five minutes." In Wesley's opinion, the root of the whole mischief lay in the mode of appointing elders. "Lodging with a sensible man, I enquired particularly into the present discipline of the Scotch parishes. In one parish, it seems, there are twelve ruling elders, in another there are fourteen. And what are these? Men of great sense and deep experience? Neither one nor the other. But they are the richest men in the parish. And are the richest, of course, the best and the wisest men? Does the Bible teach this? I fear not. What manner of governors then will these be? Why, they are generally just as capable of governing a parish as of commanding an army."

Yet Wesley saw much in Presbyterianism of which he could cordially approve. It is true he disliked the plainness of its worship, and the curtseying and bustling to-and-fro which preceded the sermon. A four hours' ordination service at Arbroath bored him very much, and he could not be reconciled to men sitting at prayer or standing with covered heads while they were praising God. He felt, too, that the Scottish mode of celebrating the Lord's Supper was wearisome and uninspiring. "How much more simple, as well as more solemn, is the service of the Church of England ! I attended the Church of England service in the morning, and that of the Kirk in the afternoon. How dull and dry did the latter appear to me, who had been accustomed to the former! Truly no man, having drunk the old wine, straightway desireth the new." But Wesley, although he was a good Churchman as well as a strict Methodist, loved the saintly members of every Church, and cared more for the souls of men than for any forms or ceremonies whatever. Accordingly, he freely availed himself of the opportunity to preach in Scottish churches, though conscious all the time of a certain strangeness and irregularity in so doing. "Surely with God nothing is impossible! Who would have believed, five and twenty years ago, either that the minister would have desired it, or that I should have consented, to preach in a Scotch Kirk?"

And his words, when he did open his mouth, whether in a kirk or out of it, were as the hammer of the Lord. Wesley believed in hard hitting and in speaking home. His aim was to "shake the hearts of outside Christians;" to deal "strongly, yea, roughly" with all hypocrites; and to leave his hearers not a loophole of escape. There must be an immediate verdict, there and then, 'for heaven or for hell, a choice between two alternatives, as they trembled fatefully in the balance, either the fiery judgment or the pardoning grace of God. To the credit of Scotland let it be said that his hearers liked it. The common people everywhere listened to him gladly. They were even "swift to hear," albeit "slow to speak," and seemed to like him better the more denunciatory he became. The rains descended often, when he preached, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon those crowds. But still they listened on; for some had come on foot a dozen miles, remaining "like stone statues" for an hour and a half, while the impassioned preacher delivered his whole soul. Sometimes a band of strollers would pass by, but these only "stole away the gay part of his hearers." Wesley's most serious rival was the incomparable Mrs. Siddons, who easily succeeded in drawing off the bulk of his congregation, and that, too, during the sittings of the General Assembly! Once some rotten potatoes were hurled at Wesley by the mob; but the preacher turned on his assailants, and they were abashed. "Shame, concern, and a mixture of various passions were painted on most faces, and I perceived the Scots, if you touch but the right key, receive as lively impressions as the English."

With these results Wesley was fairly satisfied. He was too wise, of course, to suppose that, when people trampled on one another to hear the Word, such scenes necessarily issued in a change of life. Here indeed was the chief source of his anxiety. "There is seldom fear of wanting a congregation in Scotland. But the misfortune is they know everything, so they learn nothing! ... I am amazed at this people. Use the most cutting words, apply them in the most pointed manner, still they hear, but feel no more than the seats they sit upon! "Wesley, therefore, was most desirous that little Methodist societies should be formed in every place; and these he visited again and again with apostolic solicitude and love, exhorting them "not to talk loosely in general (as their manner had heen) on some head of religion, but to examine each other's hearts and lives." We may safely conclude that Wesley took more pride in these little societies than in the charter which conveyed to him the freedom of the city of Perth, even although the latter was, in his opinion, couched in better and more pompous Latin than could reasonably have been expected from the city of London itself. Some of his little flock remained staunch and true. Others fell away when persecution came, for there were those who held tenaciously to the view that "the doctrine of perfection was not calculated for the meridian of Edinburgh." But at least it was something that a few here and there had been got together, and that the Scottish people generally were so willing to give ear to the message of the Gospel. "It is scarce possible to speak too plain in England, but scarce possible to speak plain enough in Scotland; as, if you do not, you lose all your labour, and plough upon the sand. ... I never knew any in Scotland offended at plain dealing. In this respect the North Britains are a pattern to all mankind."

X - Oliver Goldsmith (1753)