The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 1 (of 2)Tyerman, L. (Luke)
History
The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 1 (of 2)
Tyerman, L. (Luke)
Whitefield, George, 1714-1770
"I am far from being bigotted to the Methodists, or to Mr.
Whitefield in particular, out of a blind zeal. I will follow him
no farther than he follows Christ. I believe him to be a sincere
good minister of Jesus Christ. You do not seem to think so. Who
wants charity, you or I? 'By their fruits ye shall know them,'
says our Lord. Do the other clergy bring forth such fruit?
You seem to reflect on me for going round the kingdom with
such a knight-errant as Whitefield. I wish you had used milder
terms. But, my dear brother, may I not justly turn the tables
upon yourself, and reflect on you for leaving your flock, and
travelling merely for profit, or little else? Perhaps you may
answer, you have committed your flock to the care of a curate.
But may I not reply to you, as St. Bernard did once on a like
occasion, 'Will your curate be damned for you?' Do not charge
others with being righteous over-much, before you can prove you
are righteous enough yourself. Return home, my dear brother;
watch diligently that flock committed to your care; catechize
and visit from house to house; live as Christ lived; teach as He
taught; leave off hunting after preferment, and cease to please
the polite world; and then I will think you a proper person to
judge whether the Methodists are enthusiasts or not.
"Excuse me, my dear brother, this seeming severity. Love for
God, love for you, constrains me to use this freedom. Yet a
little while, and I embark for Georgia. I have settled my
worldly affairs, and have taken care of my dear child. God has
begun a good work in our house. I believe He will carry it on.
He has given me my brother Benjamin, and will He not give me my
brother Thomas also? I am, your affectionate, though weak and
unworthy brother in Christ,
"WILLIAM SEWARD."
It has been already stated that, on the 14th of June, Wesley
was with Whitefield on Blackheath, and preached to Whitefield's
congregation. Four days afterwards, Wesley returned to Bristol, and,
a week later, Whitefield addressed to him the following important
letter. The two friends on some points differed in their opinions.
Whitefield disapproved of the "convulsions" of Wesley's converts
in Bristol. And again, though no Calvinism can be found in any of
the sermons which Whitefield as yet had published, it is evident,
from the subjoined epistle, that already he was inclined to the
predestinarian creed.
"LONDON, _June 25, 1739_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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