A History of the Moravian ChurchHutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Religion
A History of the Moravian Church
Hutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Moravian Church -- History
As the man was outside that Church himself, and remained outside it all
his life, his statement is rather bewildering.[114]
John Wesley was disgusted. He regarded Molther as a teacher of
dangerous errors. The two men were poles asunder. The one was a quietist
evangelical; the other a staunch High Churchman. According to Molther
the correct order was, through Christ to the ordinances of the Church;
according to Wesley, through the ordinances to Christ. According to
Molther, a man ought to be a believer in Christ before he reads the
Bible, or attends Communion, or even does good works; according to
Wesley, a man should read his Bible, go to Communion, and do good works
in order to become a believer. According to Molther the Sacrament was a
privilege, meant for believers only; according to Wesley it was a duty,
and a means of grace for all men. According to Molther, the only means
of grace was Christ; according to Wesley, there were many means of
grace, all leading the soul to Christ. According to Molther there were
no degrees in faith; according to Wesley there were. No longer was the
Fetter Lane Society a calm abode of peace. Instead of trying to help
each other the members would sometimes sit for an hour without speaking
a word; and sometimes they only reported themselves without having a
proper meeting at all. John Wesley spoke his mind. He declared that
Satan was beginning to rule in the Society. He heard that Molther was
taken ill, and regarded the illness as a judgment from heaven. At last
the wranglings came to an open rupture. At an evening meeting in Fetter
Lane {July 16th, 1740.}, John Wesley, resolved to clear the air, read
out from a book supposed to be prized by the Brethren the following
astounding doctrine: "The Scriptures are good; prayer is good;
communicating is good; relieving our neighbour is good; but to one who
is not born of God, none of these is good, but all very evil. For him to
read the Scriptures, or to pray, or to communicate, or to do any outward
work is deadly poison. First, let him be born of God. Till then, let him
not do any of these things. For if he does, he destroys himself."
He read the passage aloud two or three times. "My brethren," he asked,
"is this right, or is this wrong?"
"It is right," said Richard Bell, the watchcase maker, "it is all right.
It is the truth. To this we must all come, or we never can come to
Christ."
"I believe," broke in Bray, the brazier, "our brother Bell did not hear
what you read, or did not rightly understand."
"Yes! I heard every word," said Bell, "and I understand it well. I say
it is the truth; it is the very truth; it is the inward truth."
"I used the ordinances twenty years," said George Bowers, the Dissenter,
of George Yard, Little Britain, "yet I found not Christ. But I left them
off for only a few weeks and I found Him then. And I am now as close
united to Him as my arm is to my body."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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