The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 2 (of 2)Tyerman, L. (Luke)
History
The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 2 (of 2)
Tyerman, L. (Luke)
Whitefield, George, 1714-1770
“To awaken a _drowsy_ world; to rouse them out of their
_formality_, as well as profaneness, and put them upon seeking
after a _present and great salvation_; to point out to them a
_glorious rest_, which not only remains for the people of God
_hereafter_, but which, by a _living faith_, the very chief of
sinners may enter into even here, and without which the most
blazing profession is nothing worth――is, as far as I know,
the one thing――the grand and common point, in which all the
_Methodists’_ endeavours centre. This is what some of all
denominations want to be reminded of; and to stir them up to
seek after the life and power of godliness, that they may be
Christians, not only in _word and profession_, but in _spirit_
and in _truth_, is, and, _through Jesus Christ strengthening me_,
shall be the one _sole_ business of my life.”
Answers to Bishop Lavington were also written by Wesley, and by the
Rev. Vincent Perronet. On the bishop’s side there was published, “A
Letter to the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, occasioned by his ‘Remarks
on a Pamphlet, entitled, The Enthusiasm of the Methodists and Papists
compared.’” (8vo. 59 pp.) Among other railing accusations, the author
charges the poor Methodists with making their followers mad; and
broadly asserts that some of them have committed murders in Wales, and
are now hanging in chains for their crimes. Whitefield was represented
as having “a windmill in his head,” and going “up and down the world
in search of somebody to beat out his brains.” It is a curious fact,
however, that the pamphleteer attacked the Rev. Griffith Jones, who
had recently published his Welsh Catechism, more virulently than he
attacked Whitefield. The same gentleman (he calls himself a “Layman”)
published a second pamphlet, with the title, “A Second Letter to the
Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, occasioned by his Remarks upon a Pamphlet,
entitled, The Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists compared. In this,
Mr. Whitefield’s claim to the doctrine of the 9th, 10th, 11th, and
12th Articles of the Church of England is examined; as also that of
his great Mr. Griffith Jones, of Landowror, to the doctrine of the 17th
Article; together with some further account of the fire kindled by them
both in North and South Wales.” (8vo. 111 pp.) The writer was a man of
learning, and, though a layman, was well acquainted with theology. The
fault of his productions is their bitterness, and their publication
of false and even obscene stories. He charges the Welsh Methodists
with the practice of adultery, and with holding the doctrine that
fornication among themselves was not a sin. He asserts that “Most of
the Methodist teachers in Wales are become Father Confessors;” and that
one of them, Will Richard, a cobbler, “when he forgives the sins of
any person, delivers the party a paper, which, upon its being produced,
will procure him or her admittance into heaven.” There are other
stories too impure to be reproduced.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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