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An Early Weardale Methodist »
In memory of Anthony Race, by his grandson George Race, Senr.
(1883)
That Methodism, (especially in its earliest
days) was owned of God, is proved by the vast number of persons gathered from
amongst the outcasts of society, and made living members of Christ's body,
by its instrumentality. And the wonderful providence displayed in raising
up men of power and adaptation to carry on and guide the great work is equally
apparent. It is an established axiom with those who believe in a Divine Providence,
that God has always in great crises produced a man or men fitted for the occasion.
This was true in relation to the introduction of Methodism into Weardale,
a valley forming the western portion of the county of Durham, and the source
of the River Wear, from which it takes its name. The present writer can recollect
a number of old local preachers who had been members of the Methodist Society
from nearly the time when Wesley first visited Weardale, and two in particular,
Aaron Ritson, and Phoebe Featherstone, who were converted on the occasion
of Wesley's first visit, and are named in his Journal, and he also knows that
amongst these were men distinguished for their high moral character and eminent
probity, intelligence, and strong common sense. One of these was Anthony Race,
the subject of this sketch. At what age Anthony joined the old Methodist Society
we cannot say, but when a boy he heard Wesley preach. The first record of
his connection with Methodism existing, is his licence to preach, granted
at the Durham Quarter Sessions, October 30, 1779, at which date he was twenty-eight
years of age, having been born in 1751; and of this document we give a copy,
or a translation, for it is written in Old English Text, and is difficult
to decipher. The original copy we had put in a frame and hung in our room
as a curiosity, and as a historical document it is valuable in relation to
the position and liberties of Protestant dissenters at that period.
COPY OF LICENCE.
'Durham
to wit. These are to certify that Anthony Race, at
the general Quarter Sessions of the Peace, holden at the City of Durham,
in and for the County of Durham, by adjournment, on the thirtieth day
of October, in the twentieth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord,
King George the Third, and in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and seventy-nine, in public and open court, between the hours
of nine and twelve in the forenoon of the same day, did take, repeat,
and subscribe the oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy, and Abjuration, appointed
to be taken, repeated, and subscribed in and by an Act of Parliament,
made in the first year of the reign of his late Majesty, King George
the First, intitled an Act for the further security of his Majesty's
person and government, and the succession of the Crown in the heirs
of the late Princess Sophia, being Protestants, and for extinguishing
the hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales and his open and secret abettors;
and the said Anthony Race did then and there make and subscribe the
declaration against Popery, mentioned in an Act of Parliament made in
the thirtieth year of the reign of King Charles the Second, intitled
an Act for the more effectual preserving the King's person and government,
and disabling Papists from sitting in either House of Parliament, and
did likewise make and subscribe the Declaration mentioned in an Act
of Parliament made in the nineteenth year of the reign of his present
Majesty, King George the Third, intitled an Act for the further relief
of Protestants, Dissenting Ministers, and Schoolmasters.
'GEO. PEARSON, Deputy Clerk of the Peace.'
|
When the ideas of our fathers on civil and
religious liberty, as indicated in the above document, are compared with those
of the present day, the progress made since 1779 is really marvellous. In making
such a comparison we seem as those that dream, and can hardly realise the amount
of progress made. For though our fathers were orthodox in their Protestantism,
and stern in their opposition to Popery, yet how little they had realised of
the true spirit of Protestantism, or of faith in truth and liberty, is evident
from the fact that the poor schoolmaster and nonconformist preacher, lay or
cleric, were not allowed to preach Christ to their neighbours until they had
taken the Oath of Allegiance.
The next existing record of A. Race's connection with
Methodism, and his position in the Methodist Society, is an old plan of the
Hexham Circuit for 1805 [click image to enlarge]. On this plan are
the names of three itinerant and twenty local preachers. Amongst the locals
T. Dodd stands first, and A. Race second. At that time he would have been a
preacher about twenty-seven years. In order to understand the physical and spiritual
toil, devotion, enthusiasm, and heroism necessary for the work of an early Methodist
preacher, we must glance at the physical, mental, and moral difficulties to
be overcome. The Hexham Circuit, as the above-named plan shows, then included
not only Tynedale from Corbridge, upwards to Haltwhistle, Allendale and Alston
Moors, but Derwent Valley from above Shotley Bridge, and Weardale from Crook
upwards, including also all the intervening area, and the water-sheds of the
rivers Tyne, Derwent, and Wear, which rivers have their sources on the north-eastern
slopes of the Pennine Range and its 'spurs,' some of the mountains attaining
3,000 feet in height. Across the Kilhope spur of this range, 2,400 feet high,
old Anthony often had to pass. In the particular plan referred to he had within
sixteen weeks to cross this range twice, once to Alston, thirty miles to and
from his home; the next time to Galligill and Nenthead, twenty-six miles to
and from. At this date he was fifty-four years of age. In sixteen weeks, according
to plan, he had ten appointments, to and from which he had to walk 158 miles,
and, mark, to walk – not ride on horse or rail, nor on the macadamised
roads of the present day, for when most of his journeys were accomplished no
wheeled carriage had ever entered these valleys, the only public road being
the 'track of the pack-horse.' In addition to the appointments on his
own plan he frequently travelled into Teesdale, and to Appleby, in the Eden
Valley, crossing the Pennine Range by the celebrated Passes of 'Holmwath,' and
'High-Cup-Nick.' In the course of his labours he also preached at Barnard Castle,
Sunderland, Durham, and Newcastle, and during this period he had to carry his
'wallet,' as it is termed in Weardale. Each Monday morning, with a week's food
slung over his shoulder in his wallet, he had to walk eleven miles to his work,
and eleven miles back again at the week's end, and this in addition to his Sabbath
labours. Add also to this his deep poverty. In those days the lead miners had
only 30s. per month, 'lent cash or subsist money,' having to wait twelve months,
or to the yearly pay, for the balance when there was any; but often the balance
was found to be against the miner, and so poor was old Anthony that sometimes
when going over the hills to Teesdale and the Eden Valley, "after he got
on to the moors away from the cottages, he took off his shoes and stockings,
slinging them over his shoulders, and walking barefooted and barelegged (there
were no trousers in those days) over the hills, and putting them on again when
he came to where the country was inhabited – and when we add that the
price of flour was sometimes 7s. 6d. per stone, it follows that the home fare
of such a man as Anthony would be poor and scanty.
The present writer was eight years old
when he died, and the recollection that he entertains of him is that of an
old patriarch of fourscore years. About four years ago he came in contact
with Anthony's family Bible, and found that he died at sixty-seven years of
age and to this comparatively early death no doubt poverty, as well as toil
and the persecution he had to encounter, contributed its quota. Methodism
in those days could not show its fine chapels and large congregations, where
the aspirant for popularity can spout the productions either of his own fevered
brain or those of other people. Methodism was then hated by 'the powers that
be,' and by the 'common people' as well. For at the time old Anthony lived
and laboured the people were gross and low – drinking, hunting, shooting,
wrestling, badger-baiting, pugilism, &c., were the order of the day. A
young man of twenty years who was not a boxer was considered an effeminate
good-for-nothing. Parents, instead of leading their children to God's house,
led them, in many cases, to the cock-pit, which was then a place of rendezvous.
For a man to preach the Gospel amongst such a population as this, and carry
a message which many of them despised, was no easy matter, even if direct
persecution was not encountered. We only know of one direct instance of persecution
in relation to the subject of this sketch, which came to our knowledge on
this wise. Between thirty and forty years ago the Rev. W. Eckersall, on proceeding
from Westgate up the valley, passed 'Charley Maddison' breaking stones by
the road side. 'Wey,' says Charley, 'Mr. E., where are ye gannin tue ?' '"Well,
I am going to attend a missionary meeting in Harwood,' said Mr. E. 'Wey,'
said Charley, 'ye mun mind yersel'; they er a queer lot in Harwood. They yance
pelted auld Anty Race wi' peets.' The minister walked on to the place of meeting,
which meeting was held in the open air. Mr. E. was not the first speaker,
but the first speaker he observed did not hit his mark, viz., the congregation,
so Mr. E. tried to take better aim. He opened his address by telling them
what Charley told him on the road, 'that yance they pelted auld Anty Race
wi' peets,' and he certainly hit the right mark, for there were four old men
sitting on a wall close by, and their chins began to 'dodder,' and the tears
to roll down their cheeks, and they cried, 'Eh, eh, it was sae, we were there.'
Mr. E. had now got the attention of his audience, and expatiated on the origin
of the Bible Society and other grand movements which had originated in the
hill countries, 'and out-of-the-way places, and who Knew what God might raise
up in Harwood ?' Thus old Anthony's persecution became the text and theme
of a telling speech.
| Whether Anthony had to endure
any other physical opposition we cannot say, but an instance of violent
abuse and the casting of his religious profession in his teeth was historical
in Weardale amongst the members of the last generation. One year old Anthony
had been unfortunate in his earnings as a miner, and at the year's end had
no balance of wages to receive, but the balance against him at the miller's
had augmented notwithstanding. This miller was of a hard unfeeling nature,
tinctured with infidelity as well, so when Anthony went to state his case
the miller abused him in a shameful manner, heaping all sorts of abuse upon
his head, not forgetting hypocrisy and his Methodism. The next year, we
believe it was, old Anthony was fortunate in his earnings as a miner, and,
of course, went direct to the miller to pay his debt. The miller was subdued,
and begged pardon for what he had said the year before. This was granted,
but clenched with this remark, 'Mind, I am not an honester man to-day than
I was when I could not pay.' The incident, painful as it was in the beginning,
redounded to his honour; the miller all his life testifying to the genuineness
of Anthony's character, and when a very old man he complimented the present
writer in having such a fine old grandfather. If he had been an ordinary
man his death at sixty-seven would not have been abnormal, or in any way
extraordinary, but he was a strongly built and finely developed man –
six feet high, broad and deep-chested, straight as a pine tree. His muscular
development was perfect, as tested by the three pennies test then in vogue
in Weardale, for the man who in undress could hold one penny piece between
his knees, another between the calf of his legs, and a third between his
toes, was considered the ideal of physical symmetry. This test old Anthony
stood, so his death at sixty-seven as a worn-out old man renders it probable
that poverty, exposure, and excessive labours on behalf of his family and
the Church, had prematurely undermined his splendid constitution, though
I am happy to add that after his family were reared to manhood and womanhood
he lived in their midst in peace and plenty, and died encircled by the sweet
influence of their affection. |
That Anthony Race was a man of extraordinary
ability is evident from his popularity as a preacher in the largest towns in
the north of England. His last surviving daughter told the writer that he was
so popular in Durham, that when he went to preach, the city (viz., the Methodist
portion of it) was all on a move, and with one of its most respectable families
he formed a friendship which lasted until death, and I believe it was the head
of this family who got him licensed as a preacher. In fact, his influence descended
to the third generation, for the writer, in a good many instances, has had extra
kindness and respect shown him just because he was the grandson of old Anthony.
As to his mental calibre, we have to depend chiefly on tradition, as we were
too young to form a judgment of our own. The decision handed down by tradition
is that he was possessed of great perceptive power as to men and things, a sound
judgment, great self-possession, and strength of will, strong common-sense,
not unmixed with wit and dry humour. We have a manuscript book containing some
of his sermons, but they are the veriest outlines, containing only from six
to thirty lines each of a small pocket-book size, so as a preacher he must have
been almost solely an extempore one; but no doubt in the filling up of these
outlines in the pulpit there must have been power and pertinence in the expositions,
illustrations, and applications, as well as great natural eloquence, otherwise
he could not have gained the influence which he attained.
Our first recollection of him was as a 'magician.' When he came from market
we were wont to expect he would bring us some 'sweeties,' and when soliciting
our expected treasures the outward expression of his countenance seemed to say
he had none, and as proof we were permitted to search his pockets. Then the
old man's tobacco box was brought out, but, alas ! it seemed empty, and so was
replaced back again in the pocket; but after our expectations had been excited
and prolonged to a painful extent, then the old box was brought out once more,
and after a tap on the lid and pronouncing of the 'magic formula,' which to
us was in an unknown tongue, the lid was raised and the contents exhibited in
all their luscious splendour and fascination. These are the first recollected
relations between grandfather and the writer; but, thank God, not the last.
Afterwards came nursery rhymes, then stories of 'Jack the Giant-Killer, 'Aladdin
and his Wonderful Lamp,' and of all the local residences of the fairies in Weardale,
of their flitting from one cave to another, their love and hatred to friends
and enemies. Then came 'Esop's Fables,' 'The Wooden Horse of Troy,' Bunyan's
'Pilgrim's Progress' which I read in a copy illustrated by the most grotesque
pictures, supplemented by grandfather's exposition of the text. I have but seen
one other copy of the same edition, and it strikes me that it must have been
the same as those known to Wordsworth and Hugh Miller, for in reading Hugh Miller's
'Schools and Schoolmasters,' I was struck by the stanza he quotes from Wordsworth
:–
'Profuse in garniture of wooden cuts,
Strange and uncouth; dire faces, figures dire,
Sharp-knee'd, sharp-elbow'd, and lean too;
With long and ghastly shanks,– forms which once seen
Could never be forgotten.'
This description is perfect in relation
to the edition known to the writer.
The natural and inevitable results of such
tuition and companionship was that my boyish imagination was aroused and excited.
The world was filled with heroes, and the heavens with spirits of all kinds,
conditions, and forms; my childish conceptions and confidences included the
real and the unreal, trust and doubt, but my mind was awakened and 'the dreams
of my childhood' passed into those of my youth and manhood, and now, even my
old age is complexioned by the stories, tales, and sermons of grandfather, which
first evolved my mental and spiritual-instincts. In childhood I thought him
the grandest old man living, and the experience and retrospect of after years
have to a considerable extent confirmed the estimate.
| Judging by the influence wielded
by grandfather upon his own family, I do not wonder that he influenced mightily
those became in contact with in society, and amongst whom he lived; anyhow,
his influence on his own family was great, as evidenced by the superior
position some of them attained. As before indicated, the mental and moral
condition of Weardale was low at the time he lived, but not so his own family,
considered as working miners. In addition to Methodist literature, Homer,
Virgil, Shakspeare, Milton, Pope, Johnson, Addison, Defoe, Smollett, &c.,
&c., were household companions, and read to profit and intellectual
development, as proved by the position attained by his youngest son Anthony.
He was a miner until verging on manhood – but he succeeded as schoolmaster
an old Scotchman of the name of Irving, who taught him in a night school.
This youngest son attained eminence as an ornamental penman, and also a
fair knowledge of mathematics, including arithmetic, mensuration, and algebra,
also grammar and logic (we yet possess his 'Logic' and 'Hebrew Grammar').
All these were attained in a great measure by self-effort at home, aided,
of course, by the old schoolmaster. But he aspired to departments of culture
which his teacher never attempted. As an artist his performances in crayon
and water colours were highly successful, and even in a few portraits in
oil he gained credit. Physical science was not ignored, for we recollect
better than sixty years ago his attempt to light his father's cottage by
gas. He got made a square iron box, so formed as to fit into the fire-grate;
into this an iron tube was inserted, which reached outside the mantelpiece,
at the end of which was ignited the gas produced by the consumption of the
coals in the box in the grate. The magic lantern was also used in his studies
in optics. Not only did the above prove his mental ability, but circumstances
proved that he inherited the stern manhood of his father, for when the school,
on the earnings of which he depended for his livelihood, was superseded
by one built by the late Bishop Barrington, he competed as teacher for the
new school, and was approved with honour on the condition that he gave up
his connection with the Methodists, and became an Episcopalian. This he
refused to do, so he left his home and commenced with success a school at
North Shields, where he met with the Primitive Methodists, whom he joined,
and became one of their ministers and missionaries. He was the first Primitive
Methodist missionary that visited Nenthead and Alston, both of which places
he missioned from Weardale. After labouring in many circuits with credit
and success, he fell ill when on the Yarmouth Station, and was compelled
to leave for home, there intending to die; but he never reached his native
valley. He died at Malton in Yorkshire, and was interred in the parish churchyard
of that town. When at Yarmouth he lodged with the late Rev. Robert Key,
who was then a local preacher, and who was afterwards called out as a regular
minister to supply the place of Mr. Race. Mr. Key's house was the last settled
home he had; and the home of Mr. Race's nephew, the present writer, was
the first home that Mr. Key entered in Weardale, to which home he was an
annual visitor for the fourteen years immediately preceding his death, beloved
and esteemed by all its inmates, as well as by all the inhabitants of the
valley. This is a digression, but it seems to show how mental and spiritual
influences spread from father to son, friend to friend, place to place,
God working all in all. |
Whatever the exact form in which the influence
of old Anthony was developed, one fact is certain, he possessed great power,
and wielded it for good. He was a man of prayer, and one of the closets he entered
into, the door of which was closed by its overhanging branches, was at the foot
of an 'old thorn tree' in Spring Bank Wood, near Westgate. Under the shadow
of this 'old thorn tree' he had many precious seasons, and wonderful answers
to his petitions. One in particular has lived in the traditions of the family
ever since. In one of the periods of his deep poverty, his clothes were so threadbare
that it became a source of trouble to him when he had to appear in the pulpit.
So he entered into his closet at the foot of the 'old thorn tree,' and spread
his wants before God, and such was his confidence that God had heard and would
grant his request, that he went home and told his family that God in His providence
would send him a suit of new clothes in a few days; God had told him so, and
he believed the promise of his Father, and it was done according to his faith.
Within the time specified, he received a note from a well-to-do gentleman, saying
that he was to go to a draper named, get a new suit of clothes, and that he
would pay for it. Thus he had a direct proof that his Heavenly Father heard
and cared for him.
This was not the only fact in which the solicitude of God was manifested for
the well-being of His servant. Another and more striking display of God's mercy
was vouchsafed to old Anthony when he and his second son (the writer's father,
who was then a good way into his teens) were working together in the mine. They
were working in the morning until the time had come for them to have their 'bait,'
or lunch, which was almost always preceded by the firing of a shot, or blast
of powder to rend the rock, the smoke from which then having time to clear away
while they were eating, – such a shot had been fired, and they then went
to sit down where they had left their victuals in the morning, but judge of
their surprise when no meat could be found. There were no other workmen near
them, and if there had been there was no reason to suppose they had stolen them.
There might be rats in the mine who might have eaten or carried off the food,
but they had never seen or heard of any, and there was no refuse left. Thus
they were thrown into circumstances which the old man could not unravel, but
on which he pondered. After much thought he came to the conclusion that there
must be danger in the place where they were working, though not apparent. The
disappearance of the dinners might be a call from God to desist working in that
place. He decided it was so, and told my father to bring out the tools at once,
and quick, which, being done, they departed a short distance to where they thought
they were safe. Old Anthony sat down, took out his pipe and tobacco box, and
was knocking the ashes out of his pipe on the box lid, when the roof and sides
of that part of the mine where they had been working came in with a crash, and
if they had been there they would have been crushed to death at once. This fact
was also chronicled in the memories of the family, and the above particulars
I have heard my father, who was an eye and ear witness of all that transpired,
tell again and again. There was never anything heard of the lost 'bait,' or
dinners. As to the above facts we make no remarks, except these: If ever any
fact was established on the evidence or testimony of two witnesses, then the
above ought to be accepted as amongst the most sure, for two more credible witnesses
never attested to the confirmation of any fact than those above named. As to
our own convictions in relation to it, they are simply these – that it
was a direct and supernatural interference of God. The reason that God does
not oftener interpose on our behalf, and is not oftener seen in His character
of Defender, Sustainer, and Deliverer, is not to be found in God, but in us,
who, by unbelief and ingratitude, raise up barriers and darkness between Him
and us, and block up the pathway that leads to the Holy of Holies, where the
Divine countenance and voice of God can alone be heard or seen.
| Anthony Race, though only a humble
and obscure miner, was yet known of God, and, by His grace, lived a life
of purity, love, and goodness in relation to God and man, and testified
for many years in the midst of an unholy generation, and died in peace and
confidence in his living Saviour. In the diary of his son Anthony is found
this entry : '"Westgate, September 24, 1818. Departed this life, in
the sixty-seventh or sixty-eighth year of his age, my dear father Anthony
Race, after having preached the gospel for about forty years. Last year
he went to preach as usual at High House, in Weardale, but only preached
once, and had to bid his friends farewell, and make the best of his way
home, which he could scarcely reach. Fell ill, and his life was despaired
of. This was in the winter. He continued until the midsummer, and then began
to recover, but in the spring following he grew worse again, and continued
so for about a week. He broke down again and was confined to his bed, and
now he has departed this Thursday morning at two o'clock, in peace and in
the Lord, for he was strong in faith. He said, "he was just on the
threshold of bliss," two nights before he expired; and the night before,
he said, "As soon as it pleased the Lord to release him, he would be
safe." Thus lived and died a true and noble Christian man, from whose
life, experience, and character we may learn important lessons to benefit
and encourage.' |
What an example and experience to imitate
and cheer the humble and all but unknown worker in God's cause under difficulties.
He had difficulties, but he fought manfully with them, and, by God's help, overcame
them. He was unknown to the great and mighty, but was known to God, who spoke
to him at the 'old thorn tree,' and who gave His angels charge concerning his
life that he was not to fall until his work was done. And the work,
what of it? Well, he was a coadjutor in helping to establish Christ's kingdom,
or the cause of Methodism in Weardale, by which hundreds of families have been
blessed, and thousands of individuals saved to everlasting life. What a grand
path is the path of the Christian life, and how grand its consummation when
pursued to the final goal. May both the reader and scribe of the present paper
take encouragement from the hero of this sketch in his struggles to imitate
Christ in the great work of love and self-sacrifice. If there be dignity in
pedigree and progeniture, it is in being the descendants of those who have spent
their life and their all in the cause of God and humanity. The writer would
rather be the grandson of old Anthony Race than the grandson of any crowned
head in Europe. In one unbroken line of relationship and name in the fourth
generation, the son of the present writer is a lay preacher, and that the Race
family may never lack a man to stand before God's altar is the daily prayer
of the present scribe, GEORGE RACE, Sen.
Source:
The Primitive Methodist Magazine, Vol. VI / LXIV, 1883
Wearhead bridge: illustration taken from "Weardale Men and Manners",
Jacob Ralph Featherston, Durham, 1840
Circuit Plan: photographed by courtesy of The Weardale Museum