WESLEY SHRINE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 80, 1 October 1931, Page 13

WESLEY SHRINE

PLACE OF LAST SERMON

FACED WITH DESTRUCTION

PRESERVATION APPEAL

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON,1 13 th August. Captain B. P.' Gzston', F.R.G.S., has issued a'-letter calling attention to the danger threatening 'Kingston House, Leathorhead, the scone of Hie last sermon preached by John Wesley, the founder of Met>^--, in 1701. H" picuciit idea <s that -h ill In demolished to wake ioi Hu new coancil oftmcs. Captain Gaston — "A long connection lut" Methodism in England, Amenca, and othcicountues constrains me to voico'u, friendly protest on behalf oi the millions oi iriy fellow chuichmen'm many lands over what manj would teim little Jess than an act of vandalism. Wesley spent the night of 22nd Februaiy, 1791, with "the family of Mr Belson,, a friendly Leathcrhead Magistiate, and on the following day he P"whod to a small company in the M*f "£*£ » spacious dining room. \Uen leaving foi London he paused beneath the old cedar tree (still standing in the:f io it garden) and briefly addressed tho -villagers gathered to greet, the ±amous preacher, who died a few days later a* th^« The "entirely friendly suggestion which I put forth is simply ;that the Leathern end civic officials now revert to their original plan of reconstructing Kingston House, which- should present no .insurmountable, difficulties, and permit visitors access to the old diningroom where'the, last sornion .was delivered. .; . . "ANCIENT MONUMENT." "Kingston House might even bo scheduled as an ancient monument and thus officially be protected in perpetuity. Such action was taken successfully several years ago by an appeal which I'made direct to the King, when Bobert Burns'* <Auld Haunted Kirk' at Alloway (the scene of his moat popular poem, 'Tarn o' Shanter') wag_ in. . a neglected.state; and I also officially interested President Oosgrave, of Ireland in rescuing Oliver, Goldsmith's old ' homo at, Lissoy, (the scene of hismost famous poem, 'The Deserted Village') from the debased; use as a cattle-shea and pigsty in which I had found it. Representations havo been made to the Society of Antiquaries, the president of the Wesleyan Conference,' and in other influential quarters, in the present effort to save Kingston House, a portion of which dates from (keen Anne. If demolished, the beautiful 17th-century carved oak staircase (which has been pronounced one of the, finest specimens in the country) will presumably be sent across the sea and sold, porhaps to the proverbial Chicago pork magnate. . "If the old ivy mantled house is saved for posterity, Leatherhead would rank with the Wesleyan trilogy of/Epworth, Lincolnshire (the birthplace of the "- preacher-statesman), Wesley's Chapel and Museum in' City road, London (where he: rests), and the /Memorial in Westminster Abbey bearing Wesley's uplifting words, 'God buries His workmen, but carries on His work.' Many thousands Nof Methodists and others from many lands have ! visited the widely-famed Kingston House in the past, but generally have' been unable to view the interior by reason' of ita having been in private occupation. Tho house could now become a public shrine, to which many thousands more would reverently repair. It is less than twenty miles from London. OIIEAT PREACHER-STATESMAN. "Funds for an appropriate : monument, or other Wesley memorial on < this spot, should easily be obtainable, thus increasing, the attractions of beautiful Leatherhead. A proposal .was made several years, ago that the entire property of several acres should be acqniredby American Methodists as a guest house, but as' I believe it was not for sale, nothing.was: consummated. Wesley assisted General James Oglethorpe in conducting the American colony of Georgia era. Temperance. and anti-slavery lines, in 1735.' In his preaching and scholarly writings Wesley showed a prophetic vision of ; an emancipated V world. Among' other things, he was th^e first notable British exponent of the prohibition' of the; drink traffic as a movement which todayis sweeping around the world with constantly increasing power; and in many other directions no was ahead of Ms time. '•The service: which he.rendered is even to-day, imperftttly recognised. He < travelled.' in.' England,' Wales, and t Ireland more tiah 250,000 miles (mostly oxL horseback'), • ipreachecY above 40,00 ft serr^cms to cotigtegaVuhvi, wambering up to 30,000 persons in tho open, and founded the Methodist Church, now embracing'more; than 8,500,000 adherents throughout the world. Historians have tardily acknowledged that the ' great ißth'-cenfcury spiritual ' revival, which Wesley largely inaugurated, was an important facto;- in saving Britain. •Jroin. "bloody, revolution, then rapidly overtaking France. ~'■'„". ,'. ' AMAZING, HUMAN RECORD. , "Both his classical and popular liter- j ary works' were in such demand that ~ i they- brought their 'author the then ': great; total of'£3o,ooo. Wesley gave * away this and his other considerable 1 income, and died a poor man, as he had; wished.. His -experiences, as set forth in his 'Journal,' h^ve been pronounced by the Eight Hon. Augustine Bin-ell to ' be 'the most amazing record of human 3 exertion, ever penned by man.' After ! suffering fierce persecution from both :. and people for many years,' ] Wesley (who came from a distinguished family, which- included the Duke of ' Wellington) had honours heaped.upon 'him iuhis later years, and his Mum- '' phal visits to various parts of the country were "oftentimes observed as ' public, holidays. ~ ■,-■■' '"The figure of John Wesley, the ! Preacher-Statesman, looms larger and larger on the sky lino of history with the passing oi time, and the preservation of the scene of his last masterful pronouncement at Leatherhead, ' 140 '^*»ars ago, should prove a deep inspiration for present and future generations." '. '.' " ; - ;