Wesley Corpus

I preached at seven, in a much larger house, which was. just taken, near St. Martin's church; as eminent a part of the town as Drury-lane is in London, or as the Horse Fair was in Bristol. At church Mr. L preached a strong, plain, useful sermon, upon the faith of Abraham. At one I began preaching again, on, " We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord." But the house not containing half the congregation, I was obliged to stand at the door, on one side of a kind of square, large enough to contain ten or twelve thousand people. I had a few hours before spoken to the captain of a vessel, with whom I proposed to sail for Dublin; and the wind being fair, I knew not whether I should stay to preach another sermon in Chester. I find it useful to be in such a state of suspense, wherein I know not what will be the next hour, but lean absolutely on His disposal, who knoweth and ruleth all things well. At four I preached in the Square, to a much larger congregation, among whom were abundance of gentry. One man screamed and hallooed as loud as he could; but none seconded or regarded him. The rest of the congregation were steadily serious, from the beginning to the end. We walked round the walls of the city, which are something more than a mile and three quarters in circumference. But there are many vacant spaces within the walls, many gardens, and a good deal of pasture ground: so that I believe Newcastle-upon-Tyne, within the walls, contains at least a third more houses than Chester. The greatest convenience here is what they call " the Rows ;" that is, covered galleries, which run through the main streets on each side, from east to west, and from north to south; by which means one may walk both clean and dry in any weather, from one end of the city to the other. I preached at six in the evening, in the Square, to a vast multitude, rich and poor. The far greater part, the gentry in particular, Were seriously and deeply attentive; though a few of the rabble, most of them drunk, laboured. much to make a disturbance. One might July, 1752. REV. J. WESLEY'S JOURNAL. 539