Arriving early I took the opportunity to visit Exeter Cathedral and walk around the city.
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| Exeter Cathedral |
John and Charles Wesley first came to Exeter in September 1739 when John preached at the morning service in St. Mary Major Church (rebuilt in 1800's). He was not allowed to preach again in the afternoon. In the foyer of “The Mint” Church Exeter there is a portrait of John Wesley and an oak drop leaf table on which he stood, while preaching in Southernhay.
In 1749 Bishop Lavington of Exeter, compared Methodists to Papists, Wesley described his task to refute this with a sigh. “Heavy work, such as I should never choose; but sometimes it must be done.” and as was his custom sent a private letter to the writer, pointing out the error of his ways. The controversy with Dr. Lavington, Bishop of Exeter, was one of the most painful Wesley ever had and lasted until 175.
The historian Veronica Wedgwood said of Lavington: that he “deserves to be coupled with the men who flung dead cats and rotten eggs at the Methodists, not with those who assailed their tenets with arguments, or even serious rebuke.” Wesley clearly pointed this out to Lavington: “Any scribbler with a middling share of low wit, not encumbered with good-nature or modesty, may raise a laugh on those whom he cannot confute, and run them down whom he dares not look in the face. By this means, even a comparer of Methodists and Papists may blaspheme the great work of God, not only without blame, but with applause, at least from readers of his own stamp. But it is high time, sir, you should leave your skulking place. Come out, and let us look each other in the face.”
Complicating matter further, Wesley declines a discussion of the whole matter of Christian perfection with the Bishop, “till you have learned a little heaven honesty”
To be fair to Bishop Lavington’s concern over the “Enthusiasm” that Wesley and the early Methodist had was the memory that in Europe such “Enthusiasm” had led to civil war and regicide.
Although the controversy continued for two years, in August, 1762, a fortnight before the Bishop’s death, Wesley was at Exeter Cathedral. “I was well pleased,” he wrote in his journal, “to partake of the Lord’s Supper with my old opponent, Bishop Lavington. Oh, may we sit down together in the kingdom of our Father!”
His journal also records, “At the cathedral we had a useful sermon, and the whole service was performed with great seriousness and decency. Such an organ I never saw or heard before, so large, beautiful, and so finely toned; and the music of “Glory be to God iin the highest,” I think exceeded the Messiah itself”. – In fact there are only three places recorded in his journal in which he expresses appreciation for the organ in worship, albeit grudgingly!
Again on 18th August 1782, Wesley attended worship at the cathedral, and was invited afterwards by the Bishop to have dinner at the Bishops palace – He describes the meal as ‘sufficent but not redundant; plain and good, but not delicate’.
