This morning we left our hotel in Oxford and drove to Bristol. Bristol is a port city and at the time of John Wesley the second largest city in England after London. It was George Whitfield who invited John Wesley to come and preach outdoors to the miners outside of Bristol. Wesley preached a message to them that helped them to see that they mattered to God. In 1739 the New Room was built. It is the oldest Methodist building in the world. It was incredible to be there this morning.
The chapel has two pulpits, one higher than the other. The lower pulpit is where the scripture was read and the songs were led. The upper pulpit is where the preaching would occur.
We sang several hymns that were written by Charles Wesley, the brother of John. The New Room recently completed a new museum about the Wesleys and the beginnings of Methodism – it was fascinating.
We were also able to visit the home of Charles Wesley which was just a few blocks away from the New Room.
We left Bristol and traveled to Bath. When Rome invaded England they found natural hot springs in the area of Bath and established a temple with hot and cold baths. It was cold and raining while we were there so a hot bath would have felt nice! After our visit to Bath, we made the 2 1/2 hour trip to London to our hotel.
Tomorrow we visit City Road Chapel and St. Paul’s Cathedral!
