JOHN WESLEY'S CHAPEL AND GRAVE.

Kumara Times, Issue 1095, 3 April 1880, Page 4

JOHN WESLEY'S CHAPEL AND GRAVE.

The cable recently announced the par- j tial burning on Sunday night of the famous chapel of John Wesley in London, The cable accurately speaks of the " Wesleyan Chapel in City road." American visitors to London who look up the antiquities of Methodism are often shown another "Wesleyan chapel in Kentish town, to;the north of the Midland station ; another Lincoln's Inn Fields ; another in Islington, near the extreme East End of London, in East India road. These chapels are all more pretentious in architecture and decorations than the little modest building on|the City road, opposite the entrance of the Bunhill Field? Burying-ground, and between Finsbury square and the Grecian Theatre. It stands about a hundred feet back from the street, and is of a simple and utterly unambitious appearance. It is fronted by a churchyard of about 70 feet square, through which runs a broad walk. In the yard are several old trees, and portions of it are laid out with flower-beds. The chapel also has a churchyard of no mean proportions in the rear. The chapel was finished in 1778. The corner-stone was laid the year before by John Wesley himBelf, and in it was a brass plate inscribed with hi* name. Upon that occasion 9«athey tells ua that.' Welsley said, " Probably this plate will be seen no more by human eye but will remain there till the earth and the works thereof are burnt up." In this chapel, except when travelling, John Wesley preached during 12 successive years. The Bible which he used is still there. The great apostle of Methodism himself was buried March 2nd, 1721, in a vault in the churchyard, within a few feet of the street frontage. Over the vault is seen by every passer-by a .plain square white marhle monument, surmounted by a shaft which rises to a point, and altogether only about 12 feet high. It bears his name and all the neeessary dates, and also Inscriptions in memory of his mother and his brother Charles, the "aweeet singer," whose remains, however, rest in the Bunhill Fields Burying-gronnd immediately opposite. Into this chapel, according to Wesley's last reqnest, his body was carried in a plain coffin after being shrouded iu plain woollen cloth. Over the shroud were put Mb gown, cassock, and band. On his head rested the familiar clerical cap. In one hand a Bible was clasped, and in the other a white handkerchief—such as he had always carried in the pulpit. Within the chapel the remains reposed one whole day, and were visited by such immense crowds that it was deemed best, in expectation of the greater crowds which might come the next day, to have the remains interred at daybreak on the ensuing morning. This was done in strict accordance with |the dying directions of John Wesley—" Let me be borne, without hearse, coach, or escutcheon, by six poor men, who shall each receive a burial fee of a guinea. In place of pomp I wish the tears of them that love me and who are following me to Abraham's bosom." But notwithstanding the change of the hour of interment, many hundred persons heard of it. and filled the churchyard during the brief but impressive services. Many other historical reminiscences are associated with this old Dissenters' burial-ground of Bunhill Fields. Within its confines repose Dr Thomas Goodwin, the preacher who attended Oliver Cromwell's deathbed ; Dr John Owen who preached the first sermon before Parliament after the execution of King Charles; Lord Deputy Fleetwood, Cromwell's son-in-law, who married the widow of General Ireton ; John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe, Dr Isaac Watts, "William the painter>nd poet; Thomas Stothard, Thonuw Hardy, the Radical, and many other distinguished " Nonconformists." It was originally called Bonehill Fields, because thither during the reign of Queen Elizabeth were conveyed "nigh upon a thousand cartloads of bonea removed from the charnel of old St. Paul's." Several years ago the burying-ground was laid out in walks, planted with shrubbery and flowers, and furnished with seats, and it is always thronged, while it stands open, throughout every day.