Composition of the Conference—Preparatory Services—Rules of Procedure—Doctrinal Basis of Methodism— Method of Preaching—
Relation of the Societies to the Established Church—Internal Discipline — Rules of the Society — The Class-Meeting— Lay Preaching—Wesley's Authority over his Preachers—Close of the Conference—State of the Work—Numerical and Moral Results—
Opposition of the Populace—Antagonism of the Clergy and Civil Authorities—A New Era . : . F .. Pages 103—111 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WORK, (1 744—1] 770.) Cuarter I.—Conruicts anp Successes. 1744—1747.
Wesley Preaches before the University of Oxford—Labours, Dangers, and Sufferings—Wayside Usefulness—Cornwall—Wesley under Arrest—The Falmouth Mob—Wales: Pleasing Reception—
Methodism in the Army and on the Field of Battle—Battle of Fontenoy—Wesley's Patriotism—Landing of the Pretender—Wesley at Newcastle—His Use of the Press—False Doctrine—Progress in the SouthWest—Successes in the North—A Liberal Society—Wesley
Attacked by the Mob at Plymouth—His Courage—Change of Scene in Cornwall . : : : : , . . Pacus 112—125 Cuaptar II].—Mertnopism In Irenanp. 1747—1750.
Religious Condition of Ireland—Wesley Arrives at Dublin—First Impressions—Encouraging Results of his First Labours—Terrible
Persecution—Extraordinary Conversion of Two Irishmen—Wesley's Second Visit—Remarkable Success at Athlone and elsewhere— Contents. ix Wesley and the Priests—Persecution at Cork—Butler, the BalladSinger—Connivance of the Magistrates—The Chapel Pillaged—
Culpable Excesses—Clergyman Heading the Mob—Close of the Strife—Success of Methodism in Ireland—An Irish Martyr, Thomas Walsh A é : : : : : . Pacus 125—136 CuHaptreR III.—Rarip Progress. 1748—1760.
Clerical Coadjutors :Thompson, Perronet, Grimshaw, Fletcher— «* Address to the Clergy ""—Progress of Methodism in Cornwall—
Wesley in Scotland—Marvellous Progress throughout the Kingdom :
Birmingham, Wednesbury, Darlaston, Wakefield, Hull, Chester, Charlton, Hornby, Manchester, Liverpool, Keighley, York, Sheffield,
Wandsworth, Epworth, Newcastle—Opposition Vanquished almost universally—Exceptions—Wesley's Demeanour toward the Mob —Internal Affairs of the Societies— Wesley and Whitefield—Wesley's Acknowledgment of the Hand of God—His Incessant Activity—His
Serenity of Mind — His Frugality and Liberality — Wesley's Marriage— Domestic Troubles—Dangerous Jlness—Whitefield's Letter—Convalescence and Literary'Labours . Pacus 136—155 ' CHaprar TV.—INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PROSPERITY. AMERICA.
Wesley approaching Old Age—Christian Perfection—Great Revival among the Societies in England and Ireland—General Results—Dissensions in the London Societies—Expulsion of George Bell—Enthusiasm—A Division—General State of the Work—
Large Congregations at the Open-Air Preaching—Success in Ireland and Scotland—Disturbances Checked—Wesley's Authority over the Multitude—Friendly Feeling of the Magistrates— Ill-will and Opposition of the Clergy—Bishops Lavington and Warburton—
Hervey's Letters—Expulsion of Six Students from Oxford— Fletcher—Foundation of American Methodism—Its Providential Character—Death of Whitefield : ; . Pacus 156—170 CHAPTER V.—ORGANIZATION AND DISCIPLINE.
Doctrinal Questions Discussed at the Early Conferences—Relation of the Societies to the Established Church—Modification of Wesley's x Contents.
Views—Endeavours after Re-union—The Societies Demand the Sacraments—Decision of the Conference of 1755—Second Effort after Unity—Its Failure—Wesley's Purity of Motive — Rules respecting the Admission of Preachers—Wesley's Care for their
Intellectual Development—Their Itinerancy—Their Self-Renunciation—Finances—Usefulness of Wesley's Helpers—Preparation for the Future—State of the Societies—Successive Stages of their
Organization—Wesley's Power—Close of this Period.
Paces 171—-184 BOOK IV.
(1770—1791.) CHaptTeR J.—WESLEY''S Vigorous OLtp AcE. 1770—1780.
Astonishing Physical Vigour, Activity, and Cheerfulness — Universal Affection and Respect—Interesting Conversions—Social and Religious Progress Throughout England—Wesley in Scotland—
Wesley in Ireland—lIncidents of Travel—State of the Work—Opposition Vanquished—Attitude of the Upper Classes and of the Clergy—
Wesley's Relation to the Societies—Wesley and the Cure of Souls— Wesley and the Poor—Dr, Dodd—City-Road Chapel, London— Numerous Publications—Great Calvinistic Controversy—Fletcher as a Controversialist—Results of this Decade—New Preachers—
Wesley's Confidence in the Future. . . Paces 185—200 CuarTer I1].—Last YEARS. 1780—1790.
Wesley's Protracted Vigour—His Luminous Intellect—His Serenity of Mind—Portrait of Wesley in his Old Age—Universal Respect and Affection—Undiminished Success of his Preaching— Cornwall—Reception in Ireland—Extraordinary Popularity—Touching Scenes—Wesley in the Administration of Discipline—Wesley's
Love for Children—Success of his Labours among them—Establishment of Sunday Schools—Correspondence—Last Missionary Journeys
—Two Visits to Holland—Visit to the Channel Isles—Origin and Contents. xi Progress of the Work in the Islands—Jane Bisson—The Channel
Isles and French Methodism—Declension of Wesley's Physical Vigour—Deaths of his chief Fellow-Labourers; Fletcher ; Charles
Wesley—Fresh Accessions—The End Near . Paces 201—217 Caaprer IIT.—OrcanizaTIoN oF THE AMERICAN MeETHopIST CHurncH. Drep or Decnaration. 1784.
Progress of Methodism in America—Relation of the Preachers to the Anglican Church—Methodism and the American Revolution—
The Revolution and the Anglican Church—Demands of the American Societies—A Difficult Problem—Wesley's Efforts to Solve it—Progress of Wesley's Ecclesiastical Views—Organization of the American Methodist Episcopal Church—Its Success—LHcclesiastical Position of English Methodism—Legal Obstacles—Deed of Declaration: its Advantages and Disadvantages. Paces 217—227
CuapteR 1V.—Westey's Last Laspours: His Drats.
Physical Enfeeblement—Labours in London and the Neighbourhood—Last Journey to the North—Deep Interest Hxcited—State of the Societies—Touching Scene at Halifax—Wesley in Scotland—
Newcastle—Remarkable Deliverance—Wesley's Reflections on his Highty-Seventh Birthday—Last Conference—Preaching in and about London—Last Entry in his Journal—Last Entry in his Cash-Book—
Last Lettér to America—Last Sermon—Rapid Failure of Strength— Letter to Wilberforce, Written by Wesley Four Days before his
Death—Last Sabbath—Languor and Weakness—Last Words—The Closing Scene—Death of John Wesley—His Funeral.
Pacus 228—246 CHaptER V.—WESLEY'S CHARACT R.
Wesley as a Man and as a Christian—His perfect Sincerity—His Alleged Credulity—His Alleged Ambition—His Trust in Providence
—His Piety—His Catholic Spirit—His Natural Temperament— His Amiableness—Wesley as a Preacher—His Moral Authority— His Puissant Logic—His Appeals to Conscience—His Applications— Xil Contents.
His Astonishing Success—Index to the Character of the Nation— Wesley asan Author—Great Variety of his Publications—Principal
Works—His Qualities as a Writer—Wesley as an Administrator— Testimonies of Buckle and Macaulay—Completeness of Character.
Paces 246—259 CHapterR VI.—WESLEY'S WORK AND ITS RESULTS.
Direct Results of Wesley's Work—Theology: that of the Reformation— Universality of the Atonement — Repentance, Faith, Justification, Regeneration—Entire Sanctification, or Christian Perfection—W itness of the Spirit—Final Perseverance Conditional—
Character and Effects of such a Theology—Organization—The Society—The Class-Meeting—The Ticket of Membership—Various Means of Grace—Officers of the Society—Preachers—Circuits—The Itinerancy—The Conference—Numerical Strength of the Societies atthe Death of Wesley and in the Present Day—Indirect Results—
Regeneration of England—Upper and Lower Classes—Testimonies of Priestley and Macaulay, and of Messieurs Scherer, De Witt, and Saint-Mare Girardin—The' Anglican Church and the Dissenting
Bodies—England in Modern Times—Conclusion. Paces 260—274 LIFE OF WESLEY.
(1703—1738.) CHAPTERI.
THE EPWORTH PARSONAGE.
Towarp the north-western boundary of Lincolnshire there lies a small tract of land, called the Isle of Axholme.
Its area is about one hundred and twenty square miles, and its denomination is derived from the fact that it is encompassed as with a girdle by the waters of the Trent, the Don, the Idle, and a canal which connects the two lastnamed rivers. This district, redeemed from the waters and enriched by husbandry, has become one of the most fertile parts of the country. Its chief town, Epworth, has a population of two thousand souls: it is irregularly built, but pleasantly situated on the brow of a hill.
This town, quiet enough except on market days, when the country people flock into it from the neighbouring ; B 2 The Epworth Parsonage. villages, would have acquired but little notoriety, had it not been the birth-place of the Founder of Methodism, whose life we are about to narrate. There, on the 17th of June, 1703, Joun WezsLey was born: there he spent his early years, and began to prepare all unconsciously for that work to which God had called him. His home-training exerted so powerful an influence upon his character, that it demands a detailed investigation.
Wesley was of sacerdotal descent: his father and both his grandfathers were pious and eminent clergymen, who had displayed noble qualities amid the struggles through which the nation had passed during the seventeenth century. From his infancy, Wesley's spirit was nurtured by the noble traditions of a family with whom piety and strength of character appear to have been
' hereditary. 'The recollection of the Christian virtues of his ancestry must have exercised a beneficial influence.
Besides, those virtues flourished anew under his very eyes in the lives of his father and mother, both of whom sprang from the genuine Puritan stock.
His father, Samuel Wesley, had been made rector of the parish of Epworth in one of the last years of the seventeenth century, through the patronage of Queen Mary.
Though of Nonconformist birth, he early diverged from the ecclesiastical views of his parents, and, with no other resources than those supplied by his precocious talents and marvellous literary activity, he maintained himself at Oxford, where he prepared for the ministry of the Established Church. The energy of will of which he gave such proof in these struggles was not lacking in the sequel of his career. He made his way in spite of the political and religious strifes of the age, forming views of his own with the utmost independence, and defending them with uncommon vigour. Pamphleteer, journalist, and orator by turns, he threw himself into all the controversies
Birth and Ancestry. 3 of the day, offering the aid of his pen and tongue to whatever cause attracted his ardent and generous soul.
His self-consuming activity was equal to anything. From his obscure parsonage were scattered throughout England the most diverse productions, including political and religious pamphlets, newspaper articles, poems, commentaries, and treatises on theology. Possessed of sympathies rather broad than deep, Samuel Wesley must at least have imparted to his sons a taste for great things.
Besides his ardent disposition and habit of self-assertion, he displayed other very valuable qualities, not the least important of which was a sincere desire to do good. He devoted himself energetically to the discharge of his pastoral duties. His faithfulness, amounting at times to severity, entailed some serious inconveniences. On one occasion, some of his parishioners revenged themselves by sending him to gaol for a trifling debt which he could not just then pay. Others, as we shall see, carried their malice so far as to set fire to the parsonage.
True, the rector's theology was very defective. His age was that of the morning twilight, and he belonged to his age. Notwithstanding, he had a kind of prophetic presentiment of the important religious revolution which was about to break forth, and of which his sons were to be the chief apostles. On his death-bed, he hailed with ardour the dawn of. the rising revival, and, laying his hand on the head of his son Charles, exclaimed, "Be steady: the Christian faith will surely revive in this kingdom; you will see it, though I shall not." He was one of those few
Christians who, even at this early period of the eighteenth century, coveted for their country the honour of large missionary enterprises. He even offered himself as a pioneer-missionary to the Hast. But the age was not ripe for such a movement: the idea seemed as strange as it was novel, and it had no results, B2 4 The Epworth Parsonage.
The rector of Epworth was fitted, both by natural disposition and by his many virtues, to guide the first steps of John Wesley ; and it would not be difficult to point out in the life of the latter many traces of the paternal influence.
Striking, however, as these traces are, we may easily affirm that the moral and religious development of Wesley was still more largely owing to the influence of his mother.
Susanna Wesley presents a specimen of a remarkably lofty mind: she is an antique model set in the midst of the eighteenth century. A daughter of Dr. Annesley, one of the most distinguished theologians of the previous age, she practised in the school of Puritanism a sturdy piety which shrank from no sacrifice, and acquired a character of masculine robustness. LRivalling in learning and devotion the ladies of the Reformation, she could not remain indifferent to the intellectual progress of her children in any department. She combined in equal measure the desire for advancement which marks an enlightened mind, and the strong, practical sagacity which proceeds from an upright heart. Contrary to the common course of things among the gentler sex, the unwonted development of the mental powers had in no degree arrested that of the moral qualities.
Extraordinary as she was from an intellectual point of view, it was more especially as a wife and a mother that Susanna Wesley excelled. If her loving heart throbbed in sympathy with her husband's trials, she was also able to support by her influence the manly resolutions which she encouraged him to form. Herself the mother of nineteen children, she had all the virtues, as well as all the burdens, belonging to such a position. Her affection for her children was not a mere egotistical admiration: she regarded them as seed-plots which it was her duty to cultivate with jealous watchfulness. And when death came to reap down before her eyes the field which she had tended with so much affection, she bowed to the will of God; and the outhne of her
Susanna Wesley. 5 character shows firmer and clearer perhaps in her deep but truly Christian sorrow than in her palmiest days.
Under the humble roof of the Epworth rectory, the family life wore an aspect of charming austerity. The education and training of the children devolved on the intelligent and pious mother of whom we have just spoken. Constantly governed by a sense of her responsibility, it was hers to watch the moral and physical development of the twelve or thirteen children who survived the perils of infancy; it was hers to hold with steady hand the reins of this little government, keeping her eye on everything and stamping everything with the impress of her own methodical spirit. Mrs. Wesley guarded carefully against leaving the direction of her children to chance: having pondered in her own mind the best methods of instruction, she laid down fixed rules which she followed with the utmost exactness. Thus the mind of John Wesley was cast in the mould of a strictly
Christian education: it was at this period that he received his most effective training. It will not be, therefore, an idle task to describe his mother's plan in a few words.
In this model family the children were subjected to discipline from their most tender years. Their hours of sleeping and eating were determined by rule, to which the very infants had to submit like the rest. At an early period they acquired habits of quietness rarely to be met with in large families: all loud crying was strictly forbidden. As the will of each child began to manifest itself, it became the object of special attention. "If you wish to train your children aright," said Susanna Wesley, "the first thing to be done is to conquer their will." Few mothers have succeeded so well in this difficult task. Her ordinary methods were kindness and persuasion, but if necessary, she had recourse to chastisement. On the other hand, perceiving that "the fear of punishment often tempts
6 The Epworth Parsonage. children to falsehood," it was her custom always to forgive a fault that had been confessed. Influenced by such principles, Mrs. Wesley rightly required unconditional submission to an authority regulated by the deepest instincts of maternal love.
Tn the education of her children, she had the same fixed principles. Under no pretext, for instance, was a child permitted to learn to read before attaining its fifth year,— an excellent rule, designed not to overtax the immature intellect. But the day after its fifth anniversary was a memorable one in the family history: lessons were commenced in earnest, and the new pupil spent six hours in the school-room, at the close of which it was expected to have mastered the alphabet. This brief period, in nearly every instance, sufficed for the accomplishment of the task.
At the second lesson, the Bible was opened, and the child was taught to spell a portion of the first chapter of Genesis. Mrs. Wesley declares that, after three months' practice in this manner, the children could read as well as many who pass for good readers. In order to the attainment of these results, she spared no pains. "I admire your patience," said her husband to her one day, " you have told this child the same thing at least twenty times."
"T should have lost my labour," she replied, "if I had only told it him nineteen times, since it was only at the twentieth time that I succeeded." By her own incessant activity she taught her children the value of time, and they never forgot the lesson.
Susanna Wesley was an earnest Christian: the spiritual prosperity of her children was dearer to her heart than their intellectual progress. In their childhood she strove to acquaint them with the Holy Scriptures: she taught them simple prayers, as soon as their lips could pronounce the words. She was anxious personally to impart their earliest religious instruction; and there is still extant a The Family-School. ( sort of manual which she composed for their use. She regularly devoted one or two hours every week to special conversation with each of them by turn: this little conference was remarkable for intimacy of fellowship, and fostered an openness of spirit which enabled the mother to follow closely the workings of her children's minds. These conversations exercised the most salutary influence on her son John: twenty years later, in a letter to his mother, he gratefully refers to them, asking her to set apart Thursday evening for him as formerly.
In the rapid sketch which we have drawn of the family education, our readers will not fail to have noticed the Jove of order which so strongly characterized Wesley at a later period, and which he inherited from his mother. It may also be said that in this family-school he acquired most of those great qualities which he ultimately displayed in the work to which God called him. While yet young he had imbibed lofty ideas concerning life and its duties.
Wesley's childhood was not exempt, however, from those trials which in the order of Divine providence play so important a part in the formation of all characters. More than once he saw stark poverty seated at the family board; and notwithstanding the prodigies of economy performed by his mother, his father died in debt. Death frequently visited their home, and dealt some ruthless blows. On two several occasions also, the parsonage was burnt: the first fire was owing to accident, and was only partial; but the second time the whole house was consumed by the flames.
This fire was owing to the malice of some. incorrigible parishioners, who took pleasure in revenging themselves for their pastor's faithfulness by burning his house over his head, and exposing his family to the risk of a frightful death.
It was on the 9th of February, 1709, towards midnight, that the fire broke out. A little girl of twelve, awakened by the blazing fragments which fell at her feet, gave
8 The Epworth Parsonage. the alarm. Cries from without at the same moment roused every one in the house. It was time: the devouring element had already made considerable progress, and rendered nearly all the means of egress unavailable. The rector flew to the bed-room where his children slept, and with the aid of a servant enabled them to make their escape by the windows, and by the door that led to the garden. His wife, staying behind to secure the safety of the younger children, had to force her way through the flames. Thrice she was beaten back by their fierceness, but at last, gathering up her remaining strength and putting her trust in God, she rushed through the fire and escaped, with no further injury than some burns on her face and hands.
One child, however, was still missing. Little John was fast asleep in his bed, having been forgotten in the midst of the general alarm. His father, discovering his absence, made several attempts to pass the flames, but was compelled to retreat before their fury. Then, falling on his knees, he commended his child's soul into the hands of God. Meanwhile the boy, waking from his sleep, flew to the window, where he was soon observed by those below.
There being no time to fetch a ladder, one man mounted the shoulders of another, and rescued the child at the very moment that the roof fell in and dashed the chamber to the ground. 'Come, neighbours," exclaimed the father, as he received his son, "let us kneel down; let us give thanks unto God: He has given me all my eight children; let the rest go, I am rich enough."
John Wesley preserved the memory of this providential deliverance to the end of his life. Under one of his portraits he had engraved the picture of a house in flames, with the inscription, "Is not this a brand plucked from the burning ?"
From that moment his pious mother, so she tells us, "A Brand Plucked from the Burning." 9 formed the resolution "to watch with particular care over a child whom God had spared in so much mercy." She strove to inspire the conviction that he belonged, body and soul, to that God whose Fatherly hand had been so visibly
' stretched forth in his defence. Her efforts were rewarded by the early piety of the child, who gave proof of being under strong religious impressions at an age when others think of little but the amusements of childhood. Hence his father believed it his duty to admit him to the holy
Sacrament when he was only eight years old.
But the hour was come when the child was to leave his _ quiet home in order to enter more fully on his studies, and on the sober realities of life.
THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
In 1714, at the early age of eleven, John Wesley bade adieu to the parsonage, where his first years had rolled so peacefully away. At the Charter-House School where he was now placed, he became remarkable for intelligence and studious habits; and his character was strengthened by intercourse with his school-fellows. He always retained agreeable recollections of this period, and loved in later life to visit the spot that reminded him of his youthful days.
No striking feature of his religious character was developed, however, during this season of preparatory study.
In order to reach the decisive crisis of Wesley's spiritual life, we must follow him to the University of Oxford, where he arrived in 1720, and matriculated at Christ Church
College. His application and intelligence soon marked 10 The University of Oxford. him out as one of the most distinguished students. Following his natural bent to classical studies, he devoted himself especially to the ancient authors; and his constant familiarity with the great. masters resulted in the formation of a taste remarkable for its purity, as well as of a comprehensive intellect and a neat and vigorous style. Gifted with a fine imagination, he composed verses with rare facility and elegance, and strove to reproduce in his mother-tongue the graces of Latin poetry, or the severer strains of Hebrew psalmody. At the same time, he employed his original talents in the composition of sacred hymns for the edification of the Church.
But in addition to mere intellectual gifts, Wesley possessed a remarkably tender and deeply serious spirit.
From the quiet retreat in which his youth was passed, he brought a character already formed, and imbued with a sacred regard for duty. Oxford was to be for him the scene of a sad revelation. There he saw the future pastors of the Church giving utterance to infidel and even blasphemous sentiments, and many of them openly leading irregular lives We may easily imagine how utterly desolate he must have felt in the midst of this crowd of young scapegraces, whose pursuits were pleasure and vice: his rigid training had not prepared him for such spectacles as those which he now beheld. First sheer amazement, then deep anguish, filled his breast as he encountered these scenes of corruption. Happily, he had learned from his parents never to make concessions to evil. His education had been, it is true, in a religious point of view, limited to the formation of good desires and aspirations, but it had also developed within him extraordinary powers of resistance.
To stand alone amid such opposition would have daunted a less determined spirit: Wesley could not shrink from accepting such a responsibility, when conscience declared it a duty.
Introduction to College-Life. 11
Not yet, however, had he discovered the true foundations on which the spiritual edifice was to be reared: long years were to be spent in the search for them. Justification by faith, the central doctrine of the Reformation, was hidden from him by the web of scholastic subtlety in which it was involved: the horizon of his theology was that of the age in which he lived. But in Wesley there was combined with the disciple of tradition the Israelite without guile, already purposed to keep all the commandments of God.
The study of theology was not in his case the parching process which it so frequently becomes :—the farther he advanced in the knowledge of the Bible, the more deeply he sounded the depths of his own heart. What distressed him was that he found there a secret alienation from God. How should the harmony be re-established between his soul and God, that God for whom it was made, and - without whom it could not be happy? Was not this reconciliation an object to be unremittingly pursued, and could it be fully attained? Grave questions these, in confronting which the young theologian was troubled, but which he could not escape, since on their solution hinged his internal peace.
While the letters that Wesley at this period addressed to his father only dealt with questions of abstract theology, with his mother he felt himself more free; and he continued to keep her acquainted with the various phases of his interior life. Hyer on the watch, she hailed with joy a religious crisis whose importance she fully understood.
" And now," said she, "in good earnest, resolve to make religion the business of your life, for, after all, that is the one thing that, strictly speaking, is necessary; all things besides are comparatively little to the purposes of life. I heartily wish you would now enter upon a strict examination of yourself, that you may know whether you have a reasonable hope of salvation by Jesus Christ. If you have,
12 The University of Oxford. the satisfaction of knowing it will abundantly reward your pains; if you have not, you will find a more reasonable occasion for tears than can be met with in any tragedy."
At this critical epoch of his life, Wesley contracted a strong liking for a work which has always furnished food to' meditative minds, the "Imitation of Jesus Christ."
Notwithstanding the spirituality which breathes throughout this book, it is certain that an odour of the cloister pervades its pages, written as they were within the recesses of the cloister: moreover, though fitted to nourish a piety already robust, they might easily mislead a piety of immature growth. At first, Wesley did not take kindly to ' the "Imitation :" his first impressions of it were unfavourable. He complained to his mother of the extreme views of the author upon certain subjects, as for instance on mirth and pleasure. Her lofty and strong understanding appears in the answer she gave him. '" Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself."
Jeremy Taylor's "Rules for Holy Living and Dying," which he read about the same time, more easily gained his confidence: from it he received a powerful bias toward mysticism. This book reconciled him also to the " Imitation of Jesus;" and the latter work became for many years his most favourite devotional manual. The works of William: Law strengthened yet more his bent in this direction. Still, Wesley had too much independence of spirit to give himself up to a blind admiration of his spiritual guides, and in his correspondence he vigorously contests some of the opinions of his favourite authors,
Strange to say, he seems to be already laying some of the foundation-stones of that system of doctrine which ~ The Mystics. Wesley elected a Fellon. 13
afterwards to bear his name. In speaking of final perseverance, of predestination, of the assurance of salvation, he already defends the views of which he was to become the champion for more than half a century. His ideas on assurance, for instance, are the more striking as they were far in advance of the theological creed of the day: these sprang from the attentive study of the Bible, whose influence already neutralized in part the injurious effects produced by the mystic authors.
In September, 1725, Wesley was ordained deacon, and in the following year elected a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. Thus placed in an independent position, he was enabled to observe a more regular method in his daily life; and, being thrown among strangers, he chose his new companions with care, actuated solely by the desire to preserve and improve his piety. He also resolved to keep a daily journal, in order that he might maintain a strict watch over his religious state. He partook of the Lord's Supper once a week, gave abundance of alms, and strove to attain sanctity by means of strict regularity of conduct.
Captivated thus with the contemplative life of the medizyval saints, and courting solitude amid the crowd of his fellow-students, his talents and success had meanwhile won universal respect. He was acknowledged by all parties to be a man of talents, and an excellent critic in the learned languages; in philosophical discussions he excelled; none wielded the syllogism with superior skill ; none displayed greater readiness at repartee. The high opinion entertained of him in these respects by the authorities was soon publicly expressed by his being chosen
Greek lecturer and " Moderator of the Classes." He was then only twenty-three years of age. In February, 1727, he took his degree of Master of Arts.
In the month of August of the same year, the Epworth 14 The University of Oxford. rector, weighed down by the infirmities of age, desired his son John to return home and assist him as his curate. In the following year, the latter visited Oxford for the purpose of taking priest's orders.
Meanwhile, Charles Wesley, who was five years John's junior, was pursuing his studies at the University, and, after a season of indifference and levity, was led to serious concern for his soul. He communicated his sentiments to some of his fellow-students, who in conjunction with him formed a little society, half religious, half literary. This association of students, bound by ties of friendship and a common sense of spiritual necessities, sprang up quite spontaneously, and was not long in becoming a focus of spiritual life. Nor was it long before it drew down upon itself contempt and persecution : it was called in derision
"the Holy Club," and its members received the nickname of "Methodists." This word had been previously employed as a religious designation, and now became the generic name, first of the immediate disciples of Wesley, then of earnest Christians of every denomination, whom the world branded with a common stigma as it heaped upon them a common opprobrium. — While his brother was thus employed at Oxford, John
Wesley was in retirement at Epworth, where he cultivated the society of his mystic authors, even more than that of his father's parishioners. Under this influence, which was continually gaining on him, he was led to seek complete seclusion, and he even took some steps to establish himself in a wild and remote Yorkshire valley, where he might devote his life to the instruction of youth. His mother, whose strong common sense detected the danger of such a course, dissuaded him from the project, saying, "Such a life would not suit your temperament, and I hope God has a greater work for you to do." During this sojourn in the North, he made the acquaintance of "a serious man," as he
Establishment of *' the Holy Club." 15 calls him, who prevailed on him to abandon these extreme resolutions. ' Sir," said he, "you wish to serve God and go to heaven; remember you cannot serve Him alone: you must, therefore, find companions or make them: the Bible knows nothing of solitary religion."
Urged by the rector of Lincoln College, who required his assistance, and impelled by his own natural tastes, Wesley returned to Oxford in November, 1729, and resumed his duties. Charles and his friends immediately rallied around him, glad to consign to stronger hands than theirs the management of their little society. It consisted at that time of four members, John Wesley, Charles
Wesley, Morgan, and Kirkham. These friends were closely bound together, not only in their religious sympathies but in their studies. 'They agreed to spend three or four evenings in the week together in reading the Greek Testament, with the Greek and Latin classics. On Sunday evenings they read divinity." Under John Wesley's auspices, the society drew up a rigid system of rules: its members were to fast two days in the week, to observe regularly a strict self-examination, and once a week to partake of the Lord's Supper. The ascetic tendencies of these young men, laudable as was the motive that inspired them, were not without danger; and they might have proved fatal at the outset to the religious movement of the eighteenth century, had they not been counterbalanced by a most remarkable development of Christian activity.
There belonged to this little Oxford band one young man who appears to have early communicated to it a most beneficial impulse in this direction. The profound piety of Morgan was allied, it is true, to a somewhat extravagant austerity: his self-imposed privations contributed indeed to shorten his life. Still, he was the first to employ himself actively in evangelical labours; his heart and his purse were always open to the poor; he collected around him
16 The University of Oxford. poor children, to whom he gave instruction and distributed good books: he prayed by the bedside of the dying, and ministered consolation to the afflicted. Morgan's example incited his companions to imitate him; and they adopted a plan for the regular visitation of the sick and the prisoners, and each one of them engaged to devote several hours a week to this work. But this course of action was so novel, and had such an appearance of irregularity, that, before fully committing himself to it, Wesley determined to ask his father's advice. The venerable old man accorded his highest approbation to his plans. Thus encouraged, the young theologian gave himself up to the work with selfconsuming zeal, hoping by this means to find the peace which as yet he did not possess.
Meanwhile, the faithful Oxford band began to increase in numbers. In 1735, it was reinforced by the addition of a member whose name was to occupy a most prominent place in the future revival. George Whitefield was a poor student who maintained himself at the University by waiting on his fellows. The reading of the " Imitation" had already taken great effect on his mind, and had led him into habits of asceticism of the severest kind.
Consequently, he was fully prepared to sympathize with Wesley and his companions; in him they realized the powerful auxiliary of an ardent and profoundly serious spirit. He was willing to lie at their feet, and adopted all their rules, sometimes exceeding them in the rigidity of his self-discipline.
A storm of persecution soon burst upon the infant society. Indifference and infidelity were rife at the University, and were not slow to take offence at the progress of this valiant band of youth, valiant because devoted to the pursuit of truth. Often had they to endure the ridicule of the bystanders as they repaired to St. Mary's
Church to receive the Hucharist. None took their part :
Self-renunciation and Persecution. 17 the professors blamed them for extravagance. The authorities even entertained the idea of prohibiting the assemblies of "the Holy Club." It was not surprising therefore that, repulsed on all sides, its members in some instances fell away, and that its number, which at one time exceeded five-and-twenty, was reduced to five. This was a painful disappointment for Wesley, who was beginning to believe that to labour for the revival of pure religion among the future pastors of the Church might be his special vocation.
Under this conviction he had indeed already refused the charge of a parish. But he was not discouraged, and, with the assistance of his /brother, he persevered in his work.
The strength of his convictions raised him above fear: he braved ridicule with perfect composure, especially when religious interests rendered it his duty. Actuated by the same spirit, he lived far more frugally than was customary for a man in his position, in order that he might avoid all needless expense and have wherewith to relieve the necessitous. Hence also, to save the expense of coaching, he was accustomed to perform his journeys on foot, walking sometimes hundreds of miles, and thus unconsciously preparing himself for his future labours.
While this self-renouncing spirit is worthy of all praise, the same cannot be affirmed of the bodily privations to which Wesley continued to subject himself. These, added to his vigorous physical and mental activity, seriously injured his health. He fell into a state of great weakness, and began to expectorate blood. One night he broke a blood-vessel, and thought his hour was come. " Lord," said he, " prepare me for Thy coming, and then come when Thou wilt! #
But the vigour of his constitution enabled him to rally, and he recovered his health, thanks to the care of an able physician. He immediately resumed his work with a deepened conviction of the shortness of life.
Wesley had not yet found the light. His correspondence C 18 Mission to America. shows him swayed alternately by hope and fear, and knowing not where to cast anchor. At this stage of his progress, he unfortunately confounded justification with sanctification, and sought to obtain by the works of the law that which is the fruit of faith alone. He laboured to be holy, humble, devoted; and yet he failed, because he had not been regenerated by the Holy Ghost. His ideas on this great subject were confused and self-contradictory. More than fifteen years had been spent at Oxford in meditation and study, and yet he had not obtained possession of the chief good.
This inward peace, which he had failed to find at the University, he was now about to seek in the activities of the mission-field.
MISSION TO AMERICA. ' op kno WESLEY was by no means wishful to sever himself from his Oxford life; its very austerity charmed him; he felt himself drawn as by a special vocation to the work in. which he was engaged of reviving pure religion among the' students. That was, indeed, a parish worthy of his toil.
So deeply was he impressed with its importance, that, when his father proposed that he should become his curate, he felt bound to decline his offer; and, on his death, which happened in April, 1735, he refused to become his successor, although urged to do so by the whole family.* The care of a parish of less than two thousand inhabitants at that time daunted the man who a few years later exclaimed,
"The world is my parish." This was no proof, however, * With the exception of his mother.—Tr.
Call to Georgia. 19 of pusillanimity: it arose from sincere distrust of himself and of his own powers. This is manifest enough from the fact that, a few weeks after having rejected these offers, he felt himself called to undertake work vastly different from that of a small country parish. The moment he believed himself directed by Providence to do so, he broke all the ties that bound him to the spot he loved, in simple obedience to the voice of God.
About three years before this, a new colony had been planted in North America, on the borders of the river Savannah. Private enterprise had been seconded by Government aid, and the colony, surnamed Georgia, was rapidly progressing. The Company that had the management of it in the first instance, desired to place this enterprise upon a Christian footing, and were now in quest of a few pious and zealous young clergymen who might be willing to devote themselves to the evangelization both of colonists and Indians. The young Methodist students at Oxford appeared to be exactly adapted to such an undertaking. The first overtures on this subject Wesley, however, declined, objecting to leave his widowed mother, of whom he was now the principal support. On being pressed still further, he gave his consent, on condition that his mother gave hers. The latter, always ready for the loftiest self-sacrifice, exclaimed, "If I had twenty sons, I should rejoice that they were all so employed, though I should never see them more."
On the 14th of October, 1735, the two Wesleys accompanied by their two friends, Charles Delamotte and Benjamin Ingham, left London for Gravesend to embark for Georgia. They found on board the vessel a hundred and twenty-four emigrants; and among these were twenty-six
' Moravians, accompanied by their bishop, David Nitschman.
From the first, Wesley felt himself strongly attracted toward these excellent Christians, who were to exert so c a2 20 Mission to America. powerful an influence on his religious character. With characteristic ardour, he immediately set himself to learn
German, that he might be able to converse with them in their own tongue.
A voyage to America in those days occupied many months, Scarcely were they settled in their floating habitation, when Wesley and his three companions resolved to practise their principles of self-mortification on an extended scale. ' Believing," writes he in his Journal, "the denying ourselves, even in the smallest instances, might, by the blessing of God, be helpful to us, we wholly left off the use of flesh and wine, and confined ourselves to vegetable food,
—chiefly rice and biscuit." A few days later, he adds, "Finding nature did not require so frequent supplies as we had been accustomed to, we agreed to leave off suppers."
One night, having been obliged to sleep on the floor, in consequence of the storm having drenched his bed, Wesley found that there was nothing in this which a man in health could not easily support, and concluded that in future he should " not find it needful to go to bed (as it is called) any more." 'These were errors truly to be pitied, yet not to be wondered at, in men smitten with genuine desires for holiness, but seeking it in the gloomy pathway of their own righteousness.
Bent on buying up every moment of time, Wesley and his friends regulated all their movements with the rigour of military discipline. Rising before four in the morning, they devoted an hour to private prayer. From five to seven they studied the Bible together, carefully comparing it with the writings of the Christian Fathers. At eight, after a frugal breakfast, they conducted public worship, to which all the passengers were invited. From nine to twelve, Wesley learned German, his brother wrote sermons,
Delamotte studied Greek, and Ingham instructed the children. At twelve, they conversed freely on their plans.
The afternoon was spent in humble efforts to do good among the passengers, with whom the young missionaries conversed or read devotional works. Prayers were read again at four o'clock. The evening was occupied also in reading and conversation; and when, after a day so well filled, they retired to their hard-earned repose, " neither the roaring of the sea, nor the motion of the ship, could take away the refreshing sleep which God gave them."
In their self-imposed privations, these young men appear rather as the disciples of 4 Kempis and St. Bernard than of Jesus Christ. We see the same struggle to mortify the flesh by discipline and self-denial, and to inure the mind to habits of meditation, as we have already noticed in the society at Oxford. But we discern also a nobler desire awakening within them, that of devoting a large portion of their time to the work of evangelization. It is here we discover a most precious corrective to their temporary failings.
The voyage was long and painful: on several occasions, storms threatened to engulf the vessel that bore them. In these hours of danger, the panic was general: Wesley himself was not free from fear; he trembled at the approach of death, and was ashamed to find his faith insufficient to support him in the hour of need. The calm and tranquil attitude of the Moravians contrasted remarkably with that of the other passengers, and excited his astonishment.
From the moment of their embarcation he had marked their deep piety: he had always seen them humble, willing to perform the most humiliating services for the other passengers, and ready to endure patiently all kinds of insult. But their attitude in the prospect of immediate death was what surprised him most. One day a sudden storm arose, just as the Germans had commenced their service: the waves broke over the vessel with great violence, sweeping clean over the decks and tearing the maina9 Mission to America. sail in pieces. Many shrieked with fright. The Moravians alone appeared unmoved, and continued their singing.
Wesley afterwards asked one of them, "Were you not afraid?" He replied, "I thank God, no.' "But were not your women and children?" "No; our women and children are not afraid to die." Wesley felt that this was a point he had not yet attained.
On the 6th of February, 1736, about eight in the morning, they first set foot on American ground. Like Christopher Columbus, on his first landing on the shores of the New World, Wesley fell on his knees; and it may well be said that, little as the great explorer of the fifteenth century was aware of the magnitude of his discovery, still less was the great missionary of the eighteenth aware of the magnitude of the work his followers: were to accomplish on the continent which now lay before him.
The day after his arrival, he made the acquaintance of a Moravian pastor. Full of confidence in all that bore the sanction of a community he had already learned to reverence, he asked directions respecting the work in which he was about to be engaged. "My brother," said the Moravian, "I must first ask you one or two questions.
Have you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit, that you are a child of God?" More accustomed to teach than to be taught,
Wesley was surprised at these plain questions, and "knew not what to answer." Perceiving his embarrassment, his new friend continued, "Do you know Jesus Christ2?"
Wesley replied, "I know He is the Saviour of the world." "True," said he, " but do you know He has saved you?" "T hope He has died to save me." Spangenberg added one more question, "Do you know yourself?"
Wesley answered, "I do;" but he adds, "I fear they were yain words." The Moravian pastor then related his personal experience and conversion: the recital made
Intercourse with the Moravians. 20 a deep impression on the young missionary, and convineed him still more clearly that there was something wanting. \ These impressions were deepened yet more by his continuous intercourse with these good Germans. Lodging with Delamotte under their roof, he could not but admire their purity of life. "They were," says he, "always employed, always cheerful themselves, and in good humour with one another; they had put away all anger, and strife, and wrath, and bitterness, and clamour, and evil speaking; they walked worthy of the vocation wherewith they were called, and adorned the Gospel of our Lord in all things."
His deep-rooted ecclesiastical prejudices insensibly wore away in communion with these Christians. He was present one day at one of their church-meetings when, after several hours spent in conference and prayer, they proceeded to the election and ordination of a bishop. The quondam Oxford student was struck with the solemnity and simplicity of this service, contrasting so strongly with the ceremonial adopted on such an occasion by the Anglican
Church. 'The great simplicity, as well as solemnity, of the whole," he says, "almost made me forget the seventeen hundred years between, and imagine myself in one of those assemblies where form and state were not; but Paul the tent-maker, or Peter the fisherman, presided ; yet with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power."
Wesley had promised to devote special attention to the evangelization of the Indians. He was anxious, therefore, to gain access to them immediately ; but numerous obstacles lay in the way of his designs. He learned by experience that the neighbourhood of a civilized community was in itself a formidable hindrance to the conversion of the Pagans. On the other hand, he was not his own master, and the governor of the colony did not wish him to absent himself from the European settlement in order to follow the 24 Mission to America.
Indians to their rude encampments. He strove, however, to benefit them as far as it was in his power to do so, hoping that circumstances would one day permit him to devote his whole strength to such work. For the present, the settlers demanded assiduous pastoral attention, and the missionaries therefore felt bound to begin with them.
Wesley's journal shows with what ardour he threw himself into this work. At Savannah as at Oxford, it was the little ones who claimed his most earnest efforts: the poor, the sick, and the young were the objects of his special care.
He was also deeply interested in the slaves, who were even at that time numerous in America ; and he strove to improve their condition. The remarkable gift for languages which he possessed was useful to him amid the crowd of emigrants brought hither from all quarters of the globe. His recent studies in German enabled him to address a few familiar discourses to some poor emigrants, who would otherwise have been cut off from all the means of grace.
At the urgent request of some French settlers at Savannah, he conducted religious services in their language. Several Vaudois from Piedmont asked him to give them an Italian service, which he also consented to try. Lastly, as a further proof of his abilities as a linguist and zeal as a missionary, he began to study Spanish, in order that he might converse with his "Jewish parishioners, some of whom," said he, "seem nearer the mind that was in Christ than many of those who call Him Lord."
As at Oxford, Wesley endeavoured to gather the few pious persons he met with into little societies, which assembled once or twice a week, in order that the members might examine themselves, and mutually instruct and exhort one another. It is observable that these small gatherings, which afterwards played so important a part in the organization of which he was the founder, were a spiritual necessity to himself before they became
Labours at Savannah. 25 so important an element in the vast ecclesiastical organization that bears his name.
Besides the influence the missionary exerted on the little circle which he thus gathered round him, he wielded a wider though less deep influence on a large portion of the population of the colony. The purity of his character did more than even his talents to gain for him their confidence and respect. Multitudes flocked to his preaching, which had a powerful effect.
One day he complained from the pulpit of the inconsistency of coming to church in a costume more becoming some worldly festival: from that day his hearers gave him no occasion to find fault with them, but appeared at public worship in more modest attire. One evening, one of the principal families in the town had determined to give a ball at the same hour as Wesley was holding his service: the result was awaited with some anxiety, but the reputation of the pastor carried it over the attractions of the ball: the latter was deserted, while the church was full.
This popularity, however, was not to last long. Influenced by his extreme ecclesiastical views, Wesley irritated his parishioners by certain disciplinary regulations. Wishful to revive the ancient customs of the Church, he refused, for instance, to baptize otherwise than by immersion. He refused also to recognise the validity of baptism performed by any minister who had not received episcopal ordination, and even went so far as to repel from the Lord's table persons truly pious, because "their baptism was invalid."
Besides this excessive ritualism, the continued asceticism of Wesley and his friends gave umbrage to the people.
Although it be true that Wesley thus inflicted on his parishioners some real grievances, it must be said that the principal cause of the violent opposition he experienced was, that enmity to the Gospel which finds congenial soil in 26 Conversion. the heart of man, and especially in a community composed of such heterogeneous elements as a colony of emigrants and adventurers of every class. After a few months, the enthusiasm of the crowd gave place to indifference, and that was soon succeeded by open hostility. Wesley believed it his duty to refuse to admit to the Lord's table a young lady connected with the family of the chief magistrate at Savannah ; whereupon the opposition assumed so formidable a character, that he saw it to be impossible to continue his ministry in the colony, and was compelled to return to England. This was in December, 1737. Fifteen months before this, his brother Charles had also found it necessary to leave.
Thus ended in humiliating defeat this missionary campaign, undertaken with such enthusiasm and under such favourable auspices. This trial was necessary, however, to the development of Wesley's character. It showed him the weak foundation on which his piety rested. It overturned the structure which had been so laboriously reared thereupon; but from these ruins there was to rise another and more durable edifice, capable of outlasting every storm.
Tu weeks Wesley spent on board the vessel that brought him back to England, were to him of the highest value.
While occupied, as in his former voyage, in promoting the spiritual interests of his fellow-passengers, his own condition was the subject of deepest anxiety. His journal is full of sad confessions, which bear no trace of the peace which Return to England. , 27 springs from simple faith. "I went to America," he says,
"to convert the Indians; but 0! who shall convert me ?
Who, what is he that will deliver me from this evil heart of unbelief? I have a fair summer religion: I can talk well; nay, and believe myself, while no danger is near 5 but let death look me in the face, and my spirit is troubled.
Nor can I say, 'To die is gain.' . . . O! who will deliver me from this fear of death? What shallI do? Where shall I fly from it?"
Five days later he writes, "It is now two years and almost four months since I left my native country, in order to teach the Georgian Indians the nature of Christianity ; but what have I learned myself in the mean time 2
Why, (what I the least of all suspected,) that I who went to America to convert others, was never myself converted to Godiereveus This, then, have I learned in the ends of the earth—That I 'am fallen short of the glory of God:' that my whole heart is 'altogether corrupt and abominable;' and, consequently, my whole life ; (seeing it cannot be, that an 'evil tree' should 'bring forth good fruit:') that,
'alienated ' as I am from the life of God, I am 'a child of wrath,' an heir of hell: that my own works, my own sufferings, my own righteousness, are so far from reconciling me to an offended God, so far from making any atonement for the least of those sins which 'are more in number than the hairs of my head,' that the most specious of them need an atonement themselves, or they cannot abide
His righteous judgment : that, 'having the sentence of death' in my heart, and having nothing in or of myself to plead, I have no hope, but that of being justified freely 'through the redemption that is in Jesus:' I have no hope, but that if I seek I shall find Christ, and 'be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.'"
From these quotations, which it would be easy to mul28 Conversion. tiply, we see that Wesley returned from America discouraged and depressed: he had at last learned to know himself, and with a bitter eloquence he describes in his journal this phase of his spiritual life. From these few melancholy lines we may well understand the intense agony of his inward conflicts. So true is it that while oftentimes the truth flashes suddenly upon the ignorant and simple, in the case of a learned and scientific man it has first to penetrate a thick veil of prejudice.
It was impossible, however, that God should long leave in darkness a soul that so diligently sought Him. The Moravians were again the instruments employed in bringing about the decisive change which made him a new man in Christ Jesus. It was very shortly after his return from America that Wesley was thrown into the company of several of these excellent Christians, who were humbly labouring at the work of gathering small societies from among the seriously-disposed persons with whom they came in contact. These societies were real centres of religious life, and were especially adapted to Wesley's spiritual state. He immediately connected himself with them, and it was thus that he became acquainted with a Moravian brother, who was destined to lead him into the way of salvation. Peter Bohler had just arrived from Germany: his simple and practical piety, combined with his knowledge of the Scriptures, well qualified him for the important service which God designed he should render to Wesley at this crisis. Their acquaintance commenced on the 7th of February, 1738, "a day much to be remembered," as Wesley truly says. From this day forward, his interviews with this distinguished Christian became frequent ; and in them he sat at his feet with the humility of a little child,
The Oxford theologian laid all his difficulties before hisnew — friend, who replied to him in Latin,—the language in which they conversed,— Wifrater, mi frater, excoquenda est
Peter Bohler. 29 asta twa philosophia. " My brother, my brother, that philosophy of yours must be purged away." He did purge it away, and so completely, that he soon arrived at the conviction that he had been hitherto mistaken respecting the nature of true faith, supposing it to be a merely intellectual assent to revealed truth. His friend taught him that, wherever this living faith exists, it produces happiness and holiness, and that this faith itself is nothing else but "a sure trust and confidence that a man hath in God, that through the merits of Christ his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favour of God." These ideas were new to Wesley, and raised certain objections in his mind; but Bohler, who did not wish him to trust to statements of his own, referred him to the Scriptures. Wesley began the Greek Testament again, resolving to abide by the law and the testimony: here he found strong corroboration of his friend's teachings; his objections vanished one by one before such declarations as, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God ;"
" He that believeth hath the witness in himself ;" ' Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin." But he "could not understand how this faith should be given in a moment," and how conversion could be instantaneous.
These doubts, however, were dispelled by a conscientious study of the Scriptures, and by conversation with the Moravians, who testified how, in their own individual souls, the sense of condemnation had been exchanged in a moment for peace and joy through believing.
Hitherto, Wesley had only possessed the faith of a servant: he had not yet the faith of a son. Oppressed by a sense of this defect, he wished to leave off preaching.
Bohler strongly dissuaded him from such a course, and _ said, "' Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith." This he did henceforward with the greatest fidelity, not merely from the pulpit but 30 Conversion. in every-day life, in his travels, at the inns at which he stayed, and in fact wherever opportunity offered. In proportion as the sense of his necessities deepened, he was led to disuse the forms of prayer which he had generally employed in his private devotions, and to pray more at large. At the same time, perceiving the many advantages of Christian fellowship, he fully identified himself with the little society that met in Fetter Lane, and which by the advice of Bohler was organised on May Ist, 1738, according to the rules of the Moravian brotherhood. The members were to meet once a week, '' to confess their faults one to another, and to pray one for another, in obedience to the command of God given by St. James."
Wesley sought with great ardour that internal deliverance from sin, the importance of which he now fully understood. The following entry occurs in a letter to a friend about this time. " Yet I hear a voice (and is it not the voice of God ?) saying, ' Believe, and thou shalt be saved.
He that believeth, is passed from death unto life.' .
O thou Saviour of men, save us from trusting in anything but Thee! Draw us after Thee! Let us be emptied of ourselves, and then fill us with all peace and joy in believing ; and let nothing separate us from Thy love, in time or in eternity."
"This gift," he continues, "I resolved to seek unto the end, 1.—By absolutely renouncing all dependence, in whole or in part, upon my own works or righteousness ; on which Thad really grounded my hope of salvation, though I knew it not, from my youth up. 2.—By adding to the constant use of all the other means of grace, continual prayer for this very thing, justifying, saving faith, a full reliance on the blood of Christ shed for me; a trust in Him as my Christ, as my sole justification, sanctification, and redemption."
The day of deliverance dawned at last: Wesley thus The Great Deliverance. alt describes it in his own words: "TI continued thus to seek it, (though with strange indifference, dulness, and coldness, and unusually frequent relapses into sin,) till Wednesday,
May 24. I think it was about five this morning, that I opened my Testament on these words, 'There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should be partakers of the Divine nature.' (2 Peter i. 4.)
Just as I went out, I opened it again on these words, 'Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.' In the afternoon, I was asked to go to St. Paul's. The anthem was, 'Out of the deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord:
Lord, hear my voice. O let Thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint. If Thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may abide it? For there is mercy with Thee ; therefore shalt Thou be feared.
O Israel, trust in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his sins." In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate-Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me, that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and - death.
"JT began to pray with all my might for those who had in a more especial manner despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all there, what I now first felt in my heart. But it was not long before the enemy suggested, 'This cannot be faith; for where is thy joy?' Then was I taught, that peace and victory over sin are essential to faith in the Captain of our salvation : but that, as to the transports of joy that usually attend the 32 Conversion. beginning of it, especially in those who have mourned deeply, God sometimes giveth, sometimes withholdeth them, according to the counsels of His own will." :
From this time Wesley, though still called to endure many inward conflicts, held fast the blessed witness vouchsafed to him. Possessed at length of the pearl of great price which it had cost him so many struggles to obtain, he employed his whole life in proclaiming and recommending it to all around.
"Let us glance at Wesley's internal development at the epoch he had now reached. He began by following a course of outward righteousness; but he soon found that the seat of religion is in the heart, and he diligently pursued inward holiness. Then it was that he saw the boundlessness of the requirements of the Divine law, and perceived that nothing could satisfy them but that perfect holiness which consists in a complete conformity, inward and outward, to the 'mind of Christ. But his efforts after its attainment brought neither assurance of salvation nor real happiness. What he lacked was a starting point from which to proceed, and an immovable foundation on which to rest.
Next he learned that this solid foundation is not within but without; that it consists in the grace of God in Christ, and that faith is the only means by which we can be established upon it. In Wesley we see the same internal conflict, the same transition from the worksof the law to faith, as we see in Luther. And this emancipation from the bondage of the law, this deliverance of the soul striving after the assurance of salvation and the joy of faith, is neither a delusion nor a fanatical enthusiasm, as it has-often been called by those who have wished to hold up Wesley to contempt. It is the forth-putting of the long-concealed shoot, when at length it bursts its sheath. The soul, at last delivered from the yoke of the law and the bondage of sin, receives the assurance of salvation and the joy of faith;
Visit to Germany. 33 for, as Luther says, where the pardon of sin takes place, there follow life and peace."* Charles Wesley had already reached the same goal as his brother, and by a similar route. Three days earlier, he had found the assurance of pardon at the foot of the Cross.
George Whitefield, their old Oxford friend, had preceded them in the same path: while they were in Georgia seeking salvation by their own works, he had already become a new man. Thus were providentially prepared for their sacred
-work the three principal labourers in the great awakening which was about to overspread England.
Wesley was deeply indebted to the Moravians for having introduced him to a Christianity vastly superior in living energy to that he had hitherto known. This Church appeared to him to have understood, better than any other, the vital and practical character of Christian truth ; and he loved it with filial affection. At the decisive epoch in his spiritual life which he had now reached, he thought the time was come for him to realize a project that he had formed in Georgia, of visiting the home of that Christian community, in order that he might become better acquainted with it. This journey, which partook of the character of a religious pilgrimage and an act of filial devotion, he now accordingly undertook in company with several friends.
At Ysselstein, near Rotterdam, he found a small colony of Moravians, established on the territory of the Dowager Princess of Orange, and spent some agreeable hours under the roof of the pious Baron de Watteville. At Marienborn, near Frankfort, he met Count Zinzendorf, whom he had long wished to see. His conversations with this eminent
Christian were useful and agreeable. ' And here," says he, "T continually met with what I sought for, viz., living proofs
* C,H. Schill, article '' Methodism," in the Real-Encyklopedie of Dr. Herzog, vol. ix.
: D 34 Conversion. of the power of faith: persons saved from inward as well as outward sin, by 'the love of God shed abroad in their hearts,' and from all doubt and fear by the abiding witness of 'the Holy Ghost given unto them.'"
After spending twelve days in the little colony at Marienborn, Wesley resumed his journey to Herrnhuth, the seat of the principal Moravian community. He traversed a considerable part of Germany on foot, and at length, on the lst of August, 1738, arrived at this celebrated village, situated on the borders of Bohemia, which occupies a loftier place in Church history than many cities of renown. Here he saw in full activity a form of Christianity strongly contrasting with the Anglican, which alone he had hitherto known. Already connected by spiritual ties with the Moravian Church, he studied it closely and with deep sympathy, a sympathy indeed that may have hindered him for the time from forming an independent judgment on some of the less commendable aspects of this secluded community. Writing to his brother Samuel, he says,
"God has given me at length the desire of my heart. I am with a Church whose conversation is in heaven, in whom is the mind of Christ, and who walk as He walked.
As they have all one Lord and one faith, so they are all partakers of one spirit, the spirit of meekness and love, which uniformly and continually animates all their conversation, O how high and holy a thing Christianity is, and how widely distant from that which is so called, though it neither purifies the heart nor renews the life after the image of our blessed Redeemer ! "
By his intercourse with the Moravians, Wesley was confirmed in the doctrine of justification by faith which he had learned from Boéhler. The spectacle of a Church living according to this doctrine, so much neglected in his own country, convinced him of its practical efficacy. Few men were more useful to him than the pious Christian David, at The Church at Herrnhuth. 35 once both artisan and pastor, who had with his own hands built the first houses in the colony, and whose preaching and example had largely contributed to its spiritual edification. His conversation and discourses brought fresh light to Wesley's mind. Intercourse with such Christians, at the very commencement of his new life, could not but exert the happiest influence on his religious character and ministerial usefulness. From them he learned the power of living faith, and how it produces in the soul ardent love to the Saviour and to all Christians, and a total renunciation of the world and self.