entering into the lists with him. The letter I wrote
Marcu 1767
A PERFECT CHRISTIAN
' O the happiness of eating beans well greased with fat bacon!
Nay, and cabbage too!"—Was Horace in his senses when he talked thus, or the servile herd of his imitators?
Our eyes and ears may convince us there is not a less happy body of men in all England than the country farmers.
In general their life is supremely dull ; and it is usually unhappy too.
For of all people in the kingdom they are most discontented; seldom satisfied either with God or man.
Wesley and the Character of a Methodist 1767.
Thur. March 5.—I at length obliged Dr. D. by entering into the lists with him.
The letter I wrote (though not published till two or three weeks after) was as follows:
" To the Editor of Lioyd's Evening Post.
S1r,—Many times the publisher of the ' Christian Magazine' has attacked me without fear or wit; and hereby he has convinced his impartial readers of one thing at least—that (as the vulgar say) his fingers itch to be at me; that he has a passionate desire to measure swords with me.
But I have other work upon my hands: I can employ the short remainder of my life to better purpose.
The occasion of his late attack is this: Five or six and thirty years ago, I much admired the character of a perfect Christian drawn by Clemens Alexandrinus.
Five or six and twenty years ago, a thought came into my mind, of drawing such a character myself, only in a more scriptural manner, and mostly in the very words of Scripture: this I entitled, ' The Character of a Methodist,' believing that curiosity would incite more persons to read it, and also that some prejudice might
WESLEY'S JOURNAL
Marcu 1767 thereby be removed from candid men.
But that none might imagine I intended a panegyric either on myself or my friends, I guarded against this in the very title-page, saying, both in the name of myself and them, ' Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.'
To the same effect I speak in the conclusion, 'These are the same principles and practices of our sect; these are the marks of a true Methodist'; that is, a true Christian, as I immediately after explain myself:
'by these alone do those who are in derision so called desire to be distinguished from other men.' (P. 11.)
'By these marks do we labour to distinguish ourselves from those whose minds or lives are not according to the Gospel of Christ.' (P. 12.) "Upon this Rusticulus, or Dr. Dodd, says, 'A Methodist, according to Mr. Wesley, is one who is perfect, and sinneth not in thought, word, or deed.'
"Sir, have me excused.
This is not 'according to Mr. Wesley.'
I have told all the world I am not perfect; and yet you allow me to be a Methodist.
I tell you flat, I have not attained the character I draw.
Will you pin it upon me in spite of my teeth?
But Mr. Wesley says, the other Methodists have.'
I say no such thing.
What I say, after having given a scriptural account of a perfect Christian, is this:
' By these marks the Methodists desire to be distinguished from other men; by these we labour to distinguish ourselves.'
And do not you yourself desire and labour after the very same thing ?
'"« But you insist, 'Mr. Wesley affirms the Methodists'
(that is, all Methodists) 'to be perfectly holy and righteous.'
Where do I affirm this?
Not in the tract before us.
In the front of this I affirm just the contrary ; and that I affirm it anywhere else is more
Sert.1767
WHAT THE SEXTON SAW
than I know.
Be pleased, sir, to point out the place: till this is done, all you add (bitterly enough) is mere brutum fulmen,; and the Methodists (so called) may still declare (without any impeachment of their sincerity), that they do not come to the holy table 'trusting in their own righteousness, but in God's manifold and great mercies.'
I am, Sir, "Yours, &c.,
" JoHN WESLEY."
The Sexton's Strange Apparition Sat.
Aug.
1.—Before I left Glasgow I heard so strange an account, that I desired to hear it from the person himself.
He was a sexton, and yet for many years had little troubled himself about religion.
I set down his words, and leave every man to form his own judgment upon them:
"Sixteen weeks ago, I was walking, an hour before sunset, behind the high-kirk ; and, looking on one side, I saw one close to me, who looked in my face,and asked me howI did.
Ianswered, 'Pretty well.'
He said, ' You have had many troubles ; but how have you improved them?'
He then told me all that ever I did; yea, and the thoughts that had been in my heart ; adding, ' Be ready for my second coming': and he was gone I knew not how. I trembled all over, and had no strength in me; but sunk down to the ground.
From that time I groaned continually under the load of sin, till at the Lord's supper it was all taken away."
Fri. Sep. 25.—I was desired to preach at Freshford ; but the people durst not come to the house, because of the small-pox, of which Joseph Allen, "an Israelite indeed," had died the day before.
So they placed a table near the church-yard.
But I had no sooner begun to
WESLEY'S JOURNAL
Dec. 1767 speak, than the bells began to ring, by the procurement of a neighbouring gentleman.
However, it was labour lost ; for my voice prevailed, and the people heard me distinctly : nay, a person extremely deaf, who had not been able to hear a sermon for several years, told his neighbours, with great joy, that he had heard and understood all, from the beginning to the end.
Queer Houses at Sheerness Mon. Nov. 23.—I went to Canterbury.
Here I met with the Life of Mahomet, wrote, I suppose, by the Count de Boulanvilliers.
Whoever the author is, he is a very pert, shallow, self-conceited coxcomb, remarkable for nothing but his immense assurance and thorough contempt of Christianity.
And the book is a dull, ill-digested romance, supported by no authorities at all; whereas Dean Prideaux (a writer of ten times his sense) cites his authorities for every thing he advances.
In the afternoon I rode to Dover; but the gentleman I was to lodge with was gone a long journey.
He went to bed well, but was dead in the morning: such a vapour is life!
At six I preached; but the house would by no means contain the congregation.
Most of the officers of the garrison were there.
I have not found so much life here for some years.
Sun. Dec. 13.—To-day I found a little soreness on the edge of my tongue, which the next day spread to my gums, then to my lips, which inflamed, swelled, and, the skin bursting, bled considerably.
Afterward, the roof of my mouth was extremely sore, so that I could chew nothing.
To this was added a continual spitting.
I knew a little rest would cure all.
But this was not to be had; for I had appointed to be at Sheerness on