Copy of Letter

From Daniel Abbott in London to [William] Seward. Abbott received Seward’s letter yesterday and read it with great pleasure. It excited his heart to praise the Lord and at 5 o’clock he went to the 'expounding' in this neighbourhood. Brother Charles Wesley expounded on Isaiah chapter 53 [Cf Charles Wesley’s journal (Jackson transcription of 1849): "Good-Friday, April 20th [1739]. Mrs. Acourt was this day justified, in answer to our prayer. I felt life under Mr. Stonehouse's sermon. From church I went to the house to pray. J. Bray gave me the Gospel for the day to expound. I besought them, in strong words, not to rend the scareless coat by their divisions. J. Bray himself, that pillar of our Church, begins to shake. At night I preached to the Society in Wapping."]and afterwards Abbott went with several brothers and sisters to Brother Parker’s house. They were 'sweetly entertained with new matter of joy and thankfulness ...' and they all joined together in praising the Lord. Abbott read out Seward’s letter which was the cause of great 'consolation' and they also read an account of Brother [John] Brown’s [see note below] success in his 'country' [Yorkshire] – many conversions are being made there and he is followed by great crowds from place to place. Also present at the meeting, was one of the brethren from Bedford whose name is [Francis] Okely [see note below]. He told them that he had lately visited Cambridge where he had been put in prison with Brother [Jacob] Rogers [see note below] and some others. They started to sing and shout the praises of the Lord at the prison grate and a crowd gathered in the street to hear them and Brother Rogers expounded to them with great power. Because they were up one flight of stairs, he believed that he might have been heard at a range of about a quarter of a mile. About ten conversions were made as a result and three prisoners were 'awakened'. Abbott has also heard that there is good work taking place in Lincoln.

'I am waiting and praying for a further liberty of soul in the high praises of my God and Saviour. Pray for me, dear brother, that this may be my happy privilege, and that I may not be slothful in any good work...'

He is pleased that everything is going well in Badsey – 'do you not feel now a heaven within, while you are joining in admiring and praising the Lord for his rich and unbounded grace and love in Christ Jesus towards you ?'

His greetings should be passed to the whole household. Spiritual matters are further discussed in detail. 'May the Lord of his free grace and love, convert the opposing minister and give him to feel the power and sweetness of that work which he now calls madness.' Reference is also made to Seward’s brother that he 'may be richly furnished with all the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit...'

Abbott’s love should also be passed to dear [George] Whitefield.

Notes

• John Brown (1712-1794) was born at Woodplumpton near Preston in Lancashire. He moved to London where he worked as a merchant’s clerk and then as a woollen draper. Brown was converted by George Whitefield’s preaching in 1737 and came into close contact with the Moravians. He accompanied John Wesley on his visit to Herrnhut in Germany in the summer of 1738. In 1739 Brown was preaching in association with Benjamin Ingham in Yorkshire, although the two men quarreled towards the end of the year. He was a founder member in May 1742 of the Yorkshire Moravian congregation and for a few years divided his time between the centres of Moravian work in London, Bedford, Derbyshire and Yorkshire. Brown broke his connection with the Moravians in the later 1740s, although he joined with them again from about 1750, at which time he moved to Northern Ireland. Brown served the Moravian cause in Northern Ireland for the rest of his life, although he did live in Herrnhut between 1756 and 1758 and was ordained there as a deacon. Source: Dictionary of Evangelical Biography, edited by Donald Lewis (1995)
• Francis Okely (1719-1794) was born in Bedford, the son of a barber and wig-maker. He was educated at Charterhouse and St John’s College Cambridge. Okely was converted in 1736 and founded a religious society in Bedford. He visited Bristol in September 1739 and witnessed the first stirrings of revival there. Okely was acquainted with the Wesleys but was particularly influenced by the Moravians. He travelled to Germany in 1744 and 1746-47 and at some point was ordained. He ministered in Bristol in 1748 and later preached for the Moravian cause in the North of England. Okely left the active Moravian ministry in 1757 after undergoing something of a crisis of faith. He toured Ireland with John Wesley in 1758 but would not join the itinerancy. He was refused Anglican ordination in 1763 because of his Moravian orders and in 1767 took pastoral charge of a Moravian congregation in Northampton. In his later years, Okely was increasingly inclined to mysticism. Source: Dictionary of Evangelical Biography 1739-1860, edited by Donald M. Lewis (1995)
• Jacob Rogers (1715-1779) was born at Gilderstone in Yorkshire. He was educated at Batley Grammar School and graduated from Trinity College Cambridge in 1737, in which year Rogers was also ordained a deacon in the Church of England. Rogers was converted to Methodism by the ministry of Benjamin Ingham and Francis Okely while living in Bedford. He started an open-air ministry in association with George Whitefield and Charles Wesley and in 1740 he founded with Okely what became a Moravian congregation the following year. Rogers served the Bedford Moravians for ten years, although he also regularly preached further afield. In 1752 he was sent to North America where he took charge of Moravian settlements in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. He returned to England in 1761 to lead a new Moravian congregation in Bath. Source: Dictionary of Evangelical Biography 1739-1860, edited by Donald M. Lewis (1995)