CHAPTER VI. WESLEY IN LONDON.-WHITEFIELD RETURNS TO ENGLAND. -WHITEFIELD AT BRISTOL. "for CHARLES WESLEY had not known his brother's intention of visiting Herrnhut till he had set out for Germany. He was not sufficiently recovered to have accompanied him, but he kept up, during his absence, the impression which had been produced, and John found, upon his return, that the society which now met together consisted of thirty-two persons. His presence, however, was required; though," says he, "a great door had been opened, the adversaries had laid so many stumbling blocks before it, that the weak were daily turned out of the way. Numberless misunderstandings had arisen, by means of which the way of truth was much blasphemed; and thence had sprung anger, clamour, bitterness, evil-speaking, envyings, strifes, railings, evil surmises, whereby the enemy had gained such an advantage over the little flock, that of the rest durst no man join himself to them." Nor was this all,-a dispute arose concerning predestination, the most mischievous question by which human presumption has ever been led astray. This matter was laid to rest for the present, and a few weeks after his return, Wesley had eight bands of men and two of women under his spiritual direction. He informed his German friends of the state of things in an epistle with the superscription, “To the Church of God which is in Herrnhut, John Wesley, an unworthy Presbyter of the Church of God which is in England, wisheth all grace and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ." The style of this epistle corresponded to the introduction. It began thus: "Glory be to God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for his unspeakable gift! for 66 I giving me to be an eye witness of your faith and love, and holy conversation in Christ Jesus. have borne testimony thereof, with all plainness of speech, in many parts, of Germany, and thanks have been given to God, by many, on your behalf. We are endeavouring here also, by the grace which is given us, to be followers of you, as ye are of Christ." He wrote also to Count Zinzendorf. May our gracious Lord, who counteth whatsoever is done to the least of his brethren as done to himself, return seven-fold to you and the Countess, and to all the brethren, the kindness you did to us. It would have been great satisfaction to me, if I could have spent more time with the Christians who love one another. But that could not be now, my Master having called me to work in another part of his vineyard. I hope," he added, "if God permit, to see them at least once more, were it only to give them the fruit of my love, the speaking freely on a few things which I did not approve, perhaps because I did not understand them.' Count Zinzendorf would not have been very well pleased if he had known that one of the things which Wesley disapproved, was the supremacy which he exercised over the Moravians. For Wesley, immediately upon his return, had begun a letter to the Moravian Church, in a very different strain from the epistle which he afterwards substituted for it. Instead of a grave and solemn superscription, it began with, "My dear Brethren;" and after saying that he greatly approved of their conferences and bands, their method of instructing children, and their great care of the souls committed to their charge, he proceeded to propose," in love and meekness," doubts concerning certain parts of their conduct, which he wished them to answer plainly, and to consider well. "Do you not," he pursued, "wholly neglect joint fasting? Is not the Count all in all? Are not the rest mere shadows, calling him Rabbi; almost implicitly both believing and obeying him? Is there not something of levity in your behaviour? Are you in general serious enough? Are you zealous and watchful to redeem time? Do you not sometimes fall into trifling conversation? Do you not magnify your own church too much? Do you believe any who are not of it to be in gospel liberty? Are you not straitened in your love? Do you love your enemies and wicked men as yourselves? Do you not mix human wisdom with divine, joining worldly prudence with heavenly? Do you not use cunning, guile, or dissimulation in many cases? Are you not of a close, dark, reserved temper and behaviour? Is not the spirit of secrecy the spirit of your communion? Have you that child-like openness, frankness, and plainness of speech, so manifest to all in the Apostles and first Christians?" Some of these queries savour of supererogatory righteousness, and as they contain no allusion either to the wild heretical fancies which are deducible from Count Zinzendorf's writings, nor to his execrable language, it is evident that Wesley must have been ignorant of both. He saw much to disapprove in the Moravians, but he says, that being fearful of trusting his own judgment, he determined to wait yet a little longer. Indeed he thought that whatever might be the errors of the United Brethren, the good greatly preponderated; and therein he judged of them more truly, as well as more charitably, that when he afterwards separated from them. How he judged of himself at this time appears by the result of a curious self-examination, in which he tried himself by the test of St. Paul: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are past away. Behold all things are become new.' "First," says Wesley, "his judgments are new; his judgment of himself, of hap; iness, of holiness. He judges himself to be altogether fallen short of the glorious image of God; to have no good thing abiding in him, but all that is corrupt and abominable; in a word, to be wholly earthly, sensual, and devilish, a motley mixture of beast and devil. Thus, by the grace of God in Christ, I judge of myself. Therefore I am in this respect a new creature. 66 Again, his judgment concerning happiness is new. He would as soon expect to dig it out of the earth, as to find it in riches, honour, pleasure, (so called,) or indeed in the enjoyment of any creature. He knows there can be no happiness on earth, but in the enjoyment of God, and in the foretaste of those rivers of pleasure which flow at his right hand for evermore. Thus by the grace of God in Christ I judge of happiTherefore I am in this respect a new crea ness. ture. "Yet again, his judgment concerning holiness is new. He no longer judges it to be an outward thing; to consist either in doing no harm, in doing good, or in using the ordinances of God. He sees it is the life of God in the soul; the image of God fresh stamped on the heart; an entire renewal of the mind in every temper and thought, after the likeness of Him that created it. Thus, by the grace of God in Christ, I judge of holiness. Therefore I am in this respect a new creature. "Secondly, his designs are new. It is the design of his life, not to heap up treasures upon earth, not to gain the praise of men, not to indulge the desires of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life: but to regain the image of God, to have the life of God again planted in his soul, and to be renewed after his likeness in righteousness and all true holiness. This, by the grace of God in Christ, is the design of my life. Therefore I am in this respect a new creature. 66 Thirdly, his desires are new, and indeed the whole train of his passions and inclinations; they are no longer fixed on earthly things; they are now set on the things of Heaven. His love and joy and hope, his sorrow and fear, have all respect to things above: they all point heavenward. Where his treasure is, there is his heart also.-I dare not say I am a new creature in this respect, for other desires often arise in my heart: but they do not reign, I put them all under my feet through Christ which strengtheneth me; therefore, I believe that He is creating me anew in this also, and that He has begun, though not finished his work. "Fourthly, his conversation is new. It is always seasoned with salt, and fit to minister grace to the hearers. So is mine, by the grace of God in Christ; therefore, I am in this respect a new creature. "Fifthly, his actions are new. The tenor of his life singly points at the glory of God; all his substance and time are devoted thereto : whether he eats or drinks, or whatever he does, it either springs from, or leads to the love of God and man. Such, by the grace of God in Christ, is the tenor of my life; therefore, in this respect, I am a new creature. "But St. Paul tells us elsewhere, that the fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, joy, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance. Now although, by the grace of God in Christ, I find a measure of some of these in myself, viz. of peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance; yet others I find not: I cannot find in myself the love of God or of Christ; hence, my deadness and wanderings in public prayer; hence it is that even in the holy communion, I have rarely any more than a cold attention; hence, when I hear of the highest instance of God's love, my heart is still senseless and unaffected; yea, at this moment I feel no more love to Him than to one I had never heard of. Again, I have not that joy in the Holy Ghost, no settled, lasting joy; nor have I such a peace as excludes the possibility either of fear or doubt. When holy men have told me I had no faith, I have often doubted whether I had or no; and those doubts have made me very uneasy, till I was relieved by prayer and the Holy Scriptures. Yet upon the whole, although I have not yet that joy in the Holy Ghost, nor that love of God shed abroad in my heart, nor the full assurance of faith, nor the (proper) witness of the Spirit with my spirit that I am a child of God, much less am I, in the full and proper sense of the words, in Christ a new creature; I nevertheless trust that I have a measure of faith, and am accepted in the Be |