The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 2 (of 2)Tyerman, L. (Luke)
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The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 2 (of 2)
Tyerman, L. (Luke)
Whitefield, George, 1714-1770
“I seriously beg those who are prejudiced against this
dispensation of God’s extraordinary grace, and look upon it
as a delusion, to direct me and other ministers what we shall
answer the distressed persons of all ages, who come to us crying
bitterly that they are lost and undone, because of their sins.
Shall we tell them, that, their fears of the wrath of God are
all delusion? Shall we tell persons, lamenting their cursing,
swearing, Sabbath-breaking, and other immoralities, that, it is
the devil who makes them see these evils to be offensive to God,
and destructive to their souls? Shall we pray, and recommend
them to pray to be delivered from such delusions? It would be
worse than _devilish_, to treat the Lord’s sighing and groaning
prisoners at this rate. And, yet, such treatment is a natural
consequence of reckoning this the work of the devil, and a
delusion.”
In reply to “The Associate Presbytery”――the Church-reformers of the
age――who bitterly denounced the work, and compared the converts to the
Camisards,[14] Mr. Robe remarks:――
“My dear brethren, whatever bitter names you and your party give
us――whatever bitter reproaches you cast upon us――we take all
patiently. There are thousands of witnesses, that we return you
blessing for cursing, and that we pray for you, who despitefully
use us. We would lay our bodies on the ground, for you to go
over, if it could, in the least, contribute to remove your
prejudices, and advance the kingdom of our dear Redeemer; but
we cannot look upon the guilt you have brought upon yourselves,
without the deepest grief; and upon the opposition you give to
us in our endeavours to recover sinners out of the snare of the
devil, without the most zealous concern. You declare the work of
God to be the work of the grand deceiver. My dear brethren, for
whom I tremble, have you been at due pains to know the nature
and circumstances of this work? Have you taken the trouble to
go to any of these places, where the Lord has appeared in His
glory and majesty? Have you ever so much as written to any
of the ministers, to receive information from them? It is not
consistent with common justice to condemn them as deceivers; and
it is amazing rashness, to pronounce, without enquiry, that to
be the work of the devil, which, for anything you know, may be
the work of the infinitely good and holy Spirit. Is not this to
be like the scribes and Pharisees, who ascribed the miraculous
work of our Lord to Beelzebub? Are you not afraid lest you come
too near this sin?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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