PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 16 (of 32)
Wesley, John, 1703-1791 · 87,621 words · 110 reading sections
Part 61
Was all this _an effectual proof of the truth of their pretences_, to the _Israelites_ themselves? It was not. _They were_ still _disobedient, at the sea; even at the red sea_! Was the giving them day by day _bread from heaven, an effectual proof_ to those _two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the c…
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* 5. Yet I do not know, that God hath any way precluded himself from thus exerting his sovereign power, from working miracles in any kind or degree, in any age to the end of the world. I do not recollect any scripture, wherein we are taught, that miracles were to be confined within the limits either of the _apostolic_ …
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“Not so. The proper way to prove this fact, is, by the testimony of competent witnesses. And these witnesses are ready, whenever required, to give full evidence of them. “Or would you have us prove by miracles, “4. That this was not done by our own power or holiness? That God only is able to raise the dead, to quicke…
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From the year 1725 to 1729, I preached much, but saw no fruit of my labour. Indeed it could not be that I should; for I neither laid the foundation of _repentance_, nor of _believing the gospel_: taking it for granted, that all to whom I preached, were _believers_; and that many of them _needed no repentance_. 2. From …
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3. But you may say, “Why do you talk of the _success_ of the gospel in _England_, which was a Christian country before you was born?” Was it indeed? Is it so at this day? I would explain myself a little on this head also. And 1. None can deny, that the people of _England_, in general are _called_ Christians. They are …
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“When men _feel_ in themselves the heavy burthen of sin, see damnation to be the reward of it, behold with the eye of their mind, the horror of hell: they tremble, they quake, and are inwardly touched with sorrowfulness of heart, and cannot but accuse themselves, and open their grief unto Almighty God, and call unto hi…
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6. Religion itself (I chuse to use the very words, wherein I described it long ago) we define, “The loving God with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourselves, and in that love abstaining from all evil, and doing all possible good to all men.” The same meaning we have sometimes expressed a little more at large, thus…
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8. Not that all the _Methodists_ (so called) _were very wicked people before they followed us_. There are those among them, and not a few, who are able to stop the boasting of those that despise them, and to say, _Wherein soever any of you is bold, I am bold also_: only they _count all these things but loss, for the ex…
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* _Allow Mr._ Wesley, _you say, but these few points, and he will defend his conduct――――beyond exception_――――That is most true. If I _have_ indeed _been advancing nothing but the true knowledge and love of God_: if God has made me an _instrument_ in _reforming_ many sinners, and bringing them to _inward and pure religi…
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* 11. But I must explain myself a little on that practice, which you so often term _abusing the clergy_. I have many times great sorrow and heaviness in my heart, on account of these my brethren. And this sometimes constrains me to speak to them, in the only way which is now in my power: and sometimes (though rarely) t…
656 wordsSECTION 71MY LORD,
1. WHEN abundance of persons have for several years laid to my charge things that I knew not, I have generally thought it my duty to pass it over in silence, to be _as one that heard not_. But the case is different, when a person of your lordship’s character calls me forth to answer for myself. Silence now might be int…
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6. Before I proceed, suffer me to observe, here are three grievous errors, charged on the _Moravians_, Mr. _Whitefield_ and me conjointly, in none of which I am any more concerned, than in the doctrine of the Metempsychosis! But it was _not needful to charge particular tenets on particular persons_. Just as needful, my…
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9. I conjure you, my lord, by the mercies of God, if these are not the words of truth and soberness, point me out wherein I have erred from the truth: shew me clearly, wherein I have spoken either beyond or contrary to the word of God. But might I not humbly intreat, that your lordship, in doing this, would abstain fro…
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Actual preparation was here intirely out of the question. It might be _absolutely_ and _indispensably_ necessary, for any thing I had either said or _meant_ to the contrary. For it was not at all in my thoughts. And the habitual preparation which I had in terms declared to be _indispensably_ necessary, was “a willingne…
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♦ “Thy” replaced with “They” By “extraordinary strictnesses and severities,” I presume your lordship means, the abstaining from wine and animal food; which, it is sure, Christianity does not require. But if you do, I fear your lordship is not throughly informed of the matter of fact. I began to do this, about twelve y…
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* How awful a thing is this! the very occasion carries in it a solemnity not to be expressed. Here is an angel of the church of Christ, one of the stars in God’s right-hand, calling together all the subordinate pastors, for whom he is to give an account to God; and directing them (in the name and by the authority of _t…
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* Give me leave, my lord, to say, you have mistook and misrepresented this whole affair from the top to the bottom. And I am the more concerned to take notice of this, because so many have fallen into the same mistake. It is indeed, and has been from the beginning, the πρῶτον ψεῦδος, the capital blunder of our bitteres…
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* 22. But I must draw to a conclusion. Your lordship has without doubt had some success in _opposing_ this doctrine. Very many have, by your lordship’s unwearied _endeavours_, been deterred from hearing at all: and have thereby probably escaped the being _seduced_ into holiness, have lived and died in their sins. My lo…
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4. And that those whose souls they save, ought mean time to provide them what is needful for the body. 5. But suppose a gentleman bred at the university in _Dublin_, with all the advantages of education: after he has undergone the usual trials, and been regularly authorized to save souls from death. 6. Suppose, I say…
649 wordsSECTION 80SIR,
1. IN your late pamphlets you have undertaken to prove, that Mr. _Whitefield_ and _I_, are gross enthusiasts; and that our _¹whole conduct is but a counter-part of the most wild fanaticisms of the most abominable communion in its most corrupt ages_. ¹ Preface, page 3. You endeavour to support this charge against us, …
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Sir, You miss the mark again. If this _sanctified appearance_ was _put on_ to _draw followers_, if it was for _this reason_, (as you flatly affirm it was) that _Mr._ Wesley _made and renewed that noble resolution_: (it was made eleven or twelve years before, about the time of my removal to _Lincoln-College_) then it ca…
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I must beg you, Sir, in your third part to inform your reader, that whenever any solecism or mangled sentences, appear in the quotations from my writings, they are not chargeable upon _me_: that if the sense be mine (which is not always; sometimes you do me too much honour, even in this:) yet I lay no claim to the mann…
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Indeed you lamely add, _The solid and just comforts which a true martyr receives from above, are groundlesly applied to the counterfeit_. But this is not enough even to save appearances. 18. You subjoin a truly surprizing thought. ¹_It may moreover be observed, that both antient and modern enthusiasts always take care…
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23. With your two following pages, I have nothing to do. But in the 52d, I read as follows. _A Methodist, says Mr._ Wesley, _went to receive the sacrament――――when_ God _was pleased to let him see a crucified Saviour_. Very well; and what is this brought to prove? Why, 1. That I am an enthusiast: 2. That _I encourage th…
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28. But to proceed. I was not _offended with the_ Moravians, for warning men, ¹_against mixing nature with grace_; but for their doing it in such a manner as tended to destroy all the work of grace in their souls. I did not blame the thing itself, but their _manner_ of doing it. And this you know perfectly well. But wi…
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What could the god of this world do in such a case, to prevent the spreading of this _serious, sober religion_? The same that he has done from the beginning of the world. To hinder the light of those whom God hath thus changed, from shining before men, he gave them all in general a nick-name: he called them _Methodists…
263 wordsSECTION 87POSTSCRIPT.
WHEN you come to relate those _horrid and shocking things_, there may be a danger you are not aware of. Even you yourself may fall (as little as you intend or suspect it) into seriousness. And I am afraid, if once you put off your fool’s coat, if you stand naked before cool and sober reason, you yourself may appear as …
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To the AUTHOR of the _Enthusiasm_ of _Methodists_ and _Papists_ compared. _Ecce iterum Chrispinus!_ JUVENAL. To the Right Reverend the LORD BISHOP of EXETER. _My Lord_, 1. I WAS grieved when I read the following words, in the third part of the enthusiasm of _Methodists_ and _Papists_ compared. “A sensible, honest w…
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6. Your lordship cannot but discern, how the whole tenor of his book tends to destroy the holy scriptures, to render them vile in the eyes of the people, to make them stink in the nostrils of infidels. For instance. After reading his laboured ridicule of the sorrow and fear which usually attend the first repentance (ca…
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11. I cannot but account it another good effect, that he is something less confident than he was before. He is likewise (not more angry or more bitter, for that cannot be) but a few degrees more serious. So that I plainly perceive, this is the way I am to take, if I should have leisure to answer the third part; althoug…
862 wordsSECTION 91_SIR_,
1. YOU have undertaken to prove (as I observed in my former letter, a few sentences of which I beg leave to repeat) That the ¹_whole conduct of the Methodists, is but a counter-part of the most wild fanaticisms of popery_. ¹ Preface to the first part, page 3. You endeavour to support this charge, by quotations from o…
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“Yet I cannot but remind considerate men, in how remarkable a manner the wisdom of God, has, for many years, guarded against this pretence, with regard to my brother and me in particular.” This pretence i. e. “_of not employing fit instruments_.” These words are yours, though you insert them as mine. The pretence I men…
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¹“_I shall give_ (says Mr. _Church_) _but one account more, and that is, what you give of yourself_.” The sum whereof is, “At two several times, being ill, and in violent pain, I prayed to God, and found immediate ease.” I did so. I assert the fact still. _But if these_ (you say) _are not miraculous cures, all this is …
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These are all the combats and conflicts with Satan, which you can prove I ever had. O, Sir, without more and greater conflicts than these, none shall see the kingdom of God. 11. In the following sections, you are equally out of your element. The ¹first of them relates to _spiritual desertions_; all which you make the …
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15. In your ¹next section, you are to give an account of the “spiritual succours and advantages received either during these trials or very soon after.” It is no wonder you make as lame work with these, as with the conflicts which preceded them. _As the heart knoweth its own bitterness, so a stranger doth not intermedd…
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But to the proof. “Mr. _Wesley_, you say, at one time declares for a disinterested love of God: at another, declares, There is no one caution in all the bible, against the selfish love of God.” Nay, Sir, I will tell you what is stranger still. Mr. _Wesley_ holds _at one time_, both sides of this contradiction. I now d…
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This is what I have taught from first to last. And now, Sir, what becomes of your heavy charge? On which side lies the “pertinacious confidence” now? How clearly have you made out, my _inconsistency_ and _self-contradiction_? And that I “occasionally either defend or give up, my favourite notions and principal points?”…
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Speak frankly, Sir, does this prove me guilty of _scepticism_, _infidelity_ or _atheism_? What else does it prove? Just nothing at all, but the “pertinacious confidence” of him that cites it. 25. You recite more at large one passage more. The whole paragraph stands thus. ¹“St. _Paul_ tells us, _the fruit of the Spiri…
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27. You charge the _Methodists_ next, with ¹“an _uncharitable spirit_.” All you advance in proof of this, _as if_ it were from my writings, but without naming either page or book, I have nothing to do with. But whatever you tell me where to find, I shall carefully consider. ¹ Section 15, page 115, &c. I observe but o…
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30. You charge the _Methodists_ next ¹“with _violation and contempt of order and authority_,” namely, the authority of the governors of the church. I have answered every article of this charge, in the second and third parts of the _Farther Appeal_, and the letter to Mr. _Church_. When you have been so good as to reply …
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The passage, a fragment of which you produce as a sixth argument, stands thus. “¹A few of us had a long conference together. Mr. _C._ now told me plainly, he could not agree with me, because I did not preach the truth, particularly with regard to election.” He did so; but without any rancor. We had a long conference; b…
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Add to this, (I recite the whole passages in order; not as you had mangled, and then jumbled them together:) “_Wednesday, December 19._ I came to _London_, though with a heavy heart. Here I found every day the dreadful effects of our brethrens reasoning and disputing with each other. Scarce one in ten retained his firs…
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You add, “This is bad enough; but it is not the worst. For consider what becomes of those that leave them?” Why, Sir, what if _their last end be worse than their first_? Will you charge this upon _me_? By the same rule you must have charged upon the apostles themselves, whatever befel those who having _known the way of…
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You assert 5. “The _Moravian Methodists_ trample down morality, and multitudes of the _Wesleyans_ have been infected.” The _Moravian Methodists_! You may as will say the _Presbyterian Papists_. The _Moravians_ have no connexion with the _Methodists_. Therefore whatever they do (though you slander them too) they and not…
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You say ninthly, “Give me leave to make a remark. The _Methodists_ wandered many years, in the new path of salvation by faith and works, which was the time too of their highest _glory and popularity_. During this time, they were _seducing their disciples into_ the most destructive errors.” Excuse me, Sir. While they pr…
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41. Your thirteenth proof is this: “Mr. _Wesley_ has taught us, that _infirmities are no sins_.” Sir, you have taught me to wonder at nothing you assert; else I should wonder at this. The words, I suppose you refer to, stand, in _The sermon on salvation by ¹faith_; (though you do not chuse, for a plain reason, to shew …
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“Whose fault is this? Is it ours? Or your own? Why have not thousands more been reformed? Yea, for every one who is now turned to God, why are there not ten thousand? Because you and your associates laboured so heartily in the cause of hell: because you and they spared no pains, either to prevent or to destroy the work…
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45. Your fifth argument is, “That they use _private confession_, in which every one is to speak the state of his heart, with his several temptations and deliverances, and answer as many searching questions as may be. And what scene, say you, is hereby disclosed? What a filthy jakes opened, when the most searching quest…
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But the dreadful one you reserve for the last, namely, our “recommending popish books. One is the life of Mr. _de Renty_, of which Mr. _Wesley_ has published _an extract_.” To prove your inimitable fairness here, you scrape up again all the trash, wherein the weak writer of that life abounds, and which I had pared off …
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⁴ Section 6. ⁵ Section 9. ⁶ Section 11. ⁷ Section 12. ⁸ Section 13. ⁹ Section 14. ¹⁰ Section 15, &c. ¹¹ Section 18. ¹² Section 19, &c. ¹³ Section 20. ¹⁴ Section 21. 50. These things being so, what must all unprejudiced men think of you and your whole performance? You have advanced a charge, not against one o…
704 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.