Copy of Letter

From [John] Okely [see note below] at Furnival’s Inn, London to [William Seward]. Okely has waited in expectation of hearing from Seward but the same excuse that Seward gave to Okely’s uncle would be satisfactory and stop Okely’s complaints. He has now with God’s protection arrived in London in good health, where he hopes to be of service to the divine will. He is entirely resigned to obey God’s will, confident that whatever the Lord sees fit to inflict upon him will be to his spiritual advantage, although with his mortal short sight, Okely might not be able to divine the meaning of it all.

'In this great tryal of our patience, I shall gladly embrace and follow the blessed advice of my good tho unknown friend [William] De Lamotte [see note below]. O blessed youth, his advice seasonably interposes everywhere to do good. His mind is set heavenwards, he is labouring to fulfill all righteousness, to promote the glory of God, and to help his poor, weak Christian brethren...'

Okely has just now been informed that poor Miss Ann Battell has the smallpox - 'I believe she was prepared for them with patience and faith...may God sanctify her affliction to her, that it may be a means of bringing her nearer to him, that she may dye to the world, and be more alive to Christ Jesus...'

Okely is often inclined to shed a tear when he considers the fact that he is deprived of Seward’s 'good conversation in my evening retirements from the hurry of business. I then want some friend to unfold and lay open my breast to, some tender friend to admonish and reprove me, and to settle my as yet unsteady principles, to correct my little errors and slips and direct and council me in these grand affairs of my eternal salvation, provoke, encourage and help me forward...' Spiritual matters are further discussed in detail with specific regard to the kind of temptations that the Devil sends to draw people into a 'lukewarm state'. Okely has therefore great reason to cry out for help, but trusts that with divine help he will be able to frustrate all Satan’s designs. Okely is aware that the separation of Seward from himself is to the benefit of both. 'You go as some kind damm, to take in and collect together the juice and sincere milk of the Gospel, that you may return laden to pour into and fill my soul therewith...' Spiritual matters are further discussed in detail, with particular regard to Okely’s spiritual state and God’s kindness shown to him, even when he was a sinner. 'Amazing love to so vile a wretch ...He will raise me up some such friend in your absence to help me.'

'I now experience the effect and truth of your words, I had scarce been here three days but I became the scoff, mock and jest of those that knew me, and in short of the whole Inn. [Inns of Court is the collective name of the four legal societies in London that have the exclusive right of admission to the bar. They take their name from the buildings where originally schools of law were held, apprentice lawyers gathering to learn from masters of law. The Inns of Chancery, of which Furneval’s Inn was one, were lesser societies (preparatory colleges for law), dependent on the Inns of Court.] They are continually ridiculing, laughing and scoffing at me, making me a byword amongst them, persecuting me, using all reproachful language to me. I now see that they that are in Christ must forsake friends and acquaintances and all they have and I as plainly perceive that they that have but the bare appearance of the Spirit of Christ, will be persecuted and hated by the world. Because the world knoweth them not, they are enthusiasts and madmen to them, neither can they, for carnal men relish not the things of the Spirit...' Spiritual matters are further discussed in detail, with particular regard to Okley’s spiritual state.

Here in London, there is tremendous hostility towards the ‘enthusiastick Methodists, both from the pulpit and conversation. They indeed have the spirit of Christ. May God reward them for their sufferings, they are exceeding happy in them'.

Okely would be grateful the prayers of Seward and those of his dear friends, that among these persecuting people who he has to spend time with, 'that I may stand upon my guard, be watchful and vigilant, steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord...O that I could propogate and set forth the Glory of God ...O that I could pull men as firebrands out of the fire, and as I have been saved myself, be instrumental to the saving of others.'

Okely is in urgent need of prayer for 'I am but a babe in Christ, and but young in the knowledge of the Lord, I am in the midst of danger, seeing nothing here but wickedness and vice. Prophaness and immorality on every side of me in all shapes, even in the midst of glaring colours, as I am deprived of your person, deprive me not of your assistance.'

He was very sorry to read that Mr [William] Delamotte has returned to Cambridge as he had hoped to have a personal acquaintance with him and gain his spiritual advice. Okely feels very isolated here. However, God is always ready to relieve suffering creatures and he has sent comfort, for when Okely went to Mr [James] Hutton’s [see note below] house at Temple Bar to enquire if Delamotte had left for Cambridge, 'I was incorporated and engrafted amongst, and a constant attendant and companion of those happy members of Christ, in their spiritual and blessed societies where they meet to adore and praise and set forth the Glory of God...and to communicate strength to each other...' Spiritual matters are further discussed.

The Wesley brothers have now grown as popular as Mr Whitefield. 'They happy men are indeed, labouring to discharge their duty as true and faithful ministers of the Gospel, they are labouring to fill every soul that hears them with true comfort, joy and delight...May their labours succeed to conversion of many souls, may the Lord protect them amidst the calumny, envy and reproach of the world...'

Okely has exceeded the normal length of letters and must therefore soon come to a close. He is heartily sorry for Seward’s loss – 'but don’t be too much concerned by it, I can assure you by my uncle’s indefatigable labour and Mr Hodskie’s kindness, you will have your present needs supplied, and a continuance of it for the future ...'

Okely entreats an interest in Seward’s prayers for he is a 'poor, sinful, weak and unworthy brother'. Spiritual matters are further discussed in detail.

His regards should be passed on to Seward’s good friends. Okely would be very pleased to receive a letter from Delamotte.

In a postscript, Okely asks that Seward also write to him. 'Just now my Master has (Lord pardon him) forbid and deprived me of everything, especially going near any of the Methodists and hearing the Mr Westlys . Send me your advice...'

Notes

• John Okely (1721-1792) was the son of a barber and wig-maker from Bedford and was the brother of the well-known Moravian minister Francis Okely (1719-1794). John received legal training, although his name does not appear in the lists of Oxford and Cambridge alumni, and at the end of the 1730s he was resident at Furneval’s Inn, attached to London’s Chancery Court. In the early 1740s he emigrated to Pennsylvania and took up residence at the Moravian community in Bethleham where in 1745 he was recorded in the marriage register as being a 'scrivener, conveyancer and Justice of the Peace.' He also laboured as an itinerant preacher in eastern Pennsylvania. Okely was married three times, namely to Johanna Robins in 1743, Elizabeth Hume in 1745 and Margaret Moore in 1780. He outlived all his wives and died in May 1792 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
• William Delamotte (c.1718-1743) was the son of a wealthy sugar merchant of London, resident at Blendon Hall near Bexley, Kent. William went up to St Catherine’s College Cambridge in 1736 and after suffering from a serious illness, began to seek actively for conversion. He was strengthened in his resolve by attending the preaching in London of Charles Wesley and Benjamin Ingham and he subsequently founded a fellowship group upon his return to college. In 1738 Delamotte’s group merged with another one founded by Francis Okely who later became a Moravian minister. Delamotte accompanied Ingham on a preaching tour to Bedford and came increasingly under Moravian influence. In 1739 he travelled to Yorkshire with Ingham and engaged on a highly successful lay preaching ministry. He returned to Cambridge after a year-long absence but soon left the college and moved to London where he hoped to work in association with the Fetter Lane Group. Delamotte’s health deteriated and he died in London in January 1743, shortly after returning from Yorkshire where he had spent some time with the Moravian community at Smith House.
• James Hutton (1715-1795) was born in London, the son of an Anglican minister who had at one time been a neighbour of Samuel Wesley junior. Hutton was converted by John Wesley in 1735, and was only prevented by the terms of an apprenticeship from accompanying the Wesleys to Georgia. In 1736-37, he established his own book-selling and printing business based at a shop in Westminster known as the Bible and Sun. He published many of the Wesleys' early works and his premises became an early meeting place of the group which later became the Fetter Lane Society. Hutton joined the Moravian Church in 1739 following a visit to Germany and parted with the Wesleys on bad terms. They were eventually reconciled in the 1770s. Hutton remained prominent in Moravian affairs and in 1741 helped to found the Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel. He married the daughter of a German Moravian minister and visited Switzerland on several occasions to help promote the work of the Church.