No. IV.



LUNE-STREET WESLEYAN METHODIST CHAPEL.



Wesleyan Methodism first breathed and opened its eyes in or about
the year 1729. It was nursed in its infancy at Oxford by two rare
brothers and a few students; was christened at the same place by a
keenly-observing, slightly-satirical collegian; developed itself
gradually through the country; took charge of the neglected masses
and gave them a new life; and today it is one of the great religious
forces of the world. The first Wesleyan chapel in Preston was built
in the year 1787, and its situation was in that consecrated and
highly aromatic region of the town called Back-lane. There was
nothing very prepossessing or polished, nothing particularly
fashionable or attractive about the profession of Methodism in those
days. It was rather an indication of honest fanaticism than of
deliberate reasoning--rather a sign of being solemnly "on the
rampage" than of giving way to careful conviction--and more
symptomatic of a sharp virtuous rant, got up in a crack and to be
played out in five minutes, than of a judicious move in the
direction of permanent good. The orthodox looked down with a genteel
contempt upon the preachers whose religion had converted Kingswood
colliers, and turned Cornwall wreckers into honest men; and the
formally pious spoke of the worshippers at this new shrine of faith
with a serene sneer, and classed them as a parcel of fiercely