The life and times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., founder of the Methodists. Vol. 2 (of 3)Tyerman, L. (Luke)
History
The life and times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., founder of the Methodists. Vol. 2 (of 3)
Tyerman, L. (Luke)
Methodism; Wesley, John, 1703-1791
On Sunday, August 5, he reached Everton, “faint and weary”; attended
the morning and afternoon services in Mr. Berridge’s church, where
several “cried out aloud, not from sorrow or fear, but love and joy.”
At night, he preached in Mr. Hicks’s church, at Wrestlingworth, and
“two or three fell to the ground, and were extremely convulsed; while
one or two were filled with strong consolation.” He “talked with Ann
Thorn, and two others, who had been several times in trances”; and
Berridge took him to Alice Miller, a girl fifteen years of age, whom he
found “sitting on a stool, and leaning against a wall, with her eyes
open and fixed upward.” He made a motion as if about to strike her,
but her eyes remained unmoved. Tears stole down her cheeks; her face
was stamped with reverence and love; her lips were open, but not a
word was uttered. In about half an hour, her countenance changed into
the form of fear, pity, and distress; she burst into a flood of tears,
and cried, “They will all be damned!” In five minutes, her smiles
returned; this was followed by an exhibition of distress, when she
again exclaimed, “They will go to hell! Cry aloud! Spare not!” After
remaining in this state for some hours, “her senses returned.” Wesley
asked, “Where have you been?” She answered, “With my Saviour.” “Why
did you cry?” “Not for myself, but for the world; for I saw they were
on the brink of hell.” This is a strange story, which Wesley leaves,
as he leaves many more, without comment. On August 7, he got back to
London.
Before proceeding farther, the following extract from a letter, which
Berridge wrote to Wesley three weeks before his visit, will not be out
of place, and will furnish the reader with “an idea of the wonderful
work and scenes witnessed at Everton, and in the surrounding country.”
“_July 16, 1759._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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