The life and times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., founder of the Methodists. Vol. 1 (of 3)Tyerman, L. (Luke)
History
The life and times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., founder of the Methodists. Vol. 1 (of 3)
Tyerman, L. (Luke)
Methodism; Wesley, John, 1703-1791
A lengthened correspondence followed, which Mr. Law concluded
thus:—“Who made me your teacher? or can make me answerable for any
defects in your knowledge? You sought my acquaintance; you came to me
as you pleased, and on what occasion you pleased, and to say to me what
you pleased. If it was my business to put this question to you, and if
you have a right to charge me with guilt for the neglect of it, may you
not much more reasonably accuse them who have authoritatively charge
over you? Did the Church in which you are educated put this question
to you? Did the bishop who ordained you either deacon or priest do this
for you? Did the bishop who sent you a missionary to Georgia require
this of you? Pray, sir, be at peace with me.”[246]
This was a miserable squabble, into which Wesley foolishly rushed,
and out of which he came not victorious, but vanquished. It was an
unfortunate commencement of a new Christian life, and led to an
estrangement between two great and good men, which ought never to have
existed. No doubt, the theology of William Law was defective; but to
charge him with the guilt of Wesley’s want of faith, and to accuse
him of extremely rough, morose, and sour behaviour, was a deplorable
outrage against good manners.
But this was not the only unpleasantness which now sprang up. The
Moravian movement and the new conversions began to attract great
attention and to create some alarm. As might naturally be expected,
amid so much excitement, there was a mixture of extravagance. The
sister of Mr. Bray dreamed that at night she heard a knock at her door,
and on opening it saw a person dressed in white. She asked him who he
was, and he answered, “I am Jesus Christ.” She awoke in a fright, but a
day or two after was filled with faith, and was commanded by an unseen
power to go to Charles Wesley, who was ill, and assure him from Christ
of his recovery of soul and body. In a prayer-meeting a Mr. Verding
declared that he had just seen, as it were, a whole army rushing by him
and bearing the broken body of Christ; a sight which was overpowering,
and cast him into a cold sweat. A young man, as he entered St.
Dunstan’s church to receive the sacrament, was met by Christ carrying
His cross in His hands: and a woman dreamed that a ball of fire fell
upon her, and fired her soul. Samuel Wesley, of Tiverton, to whom these
things were related, justly deemed them “downright madness;” and, in
his anger, went so far as to wish that those “canting fellows,” as he
called the Moravians, “who talked of _indwellings_, _experiences_,
_getting into Christ_,” etc., had been somewhere else.[247]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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