CHAPTER XVII
The Methodist Revival
1
84.
Field-Preaching
2
March 31, 1739. In the evening I reached Bristol, and met
Mr. Whitefield3 there. I could scarce reconcile myself at first
to this strange way of preaching in the fields, of which he set me
an example on Sunday; having been all my life (till very lately)
so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that
I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin, if it
had not been done in a church.
April 1, 1739. In the evening (Mr. Whitefield being gone)
I begun expounding our Lord’s sermon on the mount (one
pretty remarkable precedent of field-preaching, though I suppose
there were churches at that time also), to a little society
which was accustomed to meet once or twice a week in Nicholas
Street.
April 2, 1739. At four in the afternoon, I submitted to be
more vile, and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of
salvation, speaking from a little eminence in a ground adjoining
to the city, to about three thousand people. The Scripture on
which I spoke was this (is it possible any one should be ignorant,
that it is fulfilled in every true minister of Christ)? "The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to
preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the
broken-hearted; to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovery of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
April 8, 1739. At seven in the morning I preached to about
a thousand persons at Bristol, and afterward to about fifteen
hundred on the top of Hannam-mount in Kingswood. I called
to them, in the words of the evangelical prophet, "Ho! every
one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; come and buy wine
and milk without money and without price." About five thousand
were in the afternoon at Rose-green (on the other side of
Kingswood); among whom I stood and cried, in the name of the
Lord, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. . . ."
April 17, 1739. At five in the afternoon I was at a little
society in the Back Lane. The room in which we were was
propped beneath, but the weight of people made the floor give
way; so that in the beginning of the expounding, the post which
propped it fell down with a great noise. But the floor sunk no
farther; so that, after a little surprise at first, they quietly
attended to the things that were spoken.
May 7, 1739. I was preparing to set out for Pensford, having
now had leave to preach in the church, when I received the following
note:
"Sir, — Our minister, having been informed you are beside
yourself, does not care you should preach in any of his churches." — I
went, however; and on Priestdown, about half a mile from
Pensford, preached Christ our "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption."
May 8, 1739. I went to Bath, but was not suffered to be in
the meadow where I was before, which occasioned the offer of a
much more convenient place, where I preached Christ to about
a thousand souls.
1 , edited by P. L. Parker. New York and
London, 1903. Fleming H. Revell Company.
2 Wesley, , pp. 47–48.
3 George Whitefield (1714–1770), a celebrated preacher and for several years
Wesley’s associate in evangelical work.