The Oxford Methodists : $b Memoirs of the Rev. Messrs. Clayton, Ingham, Gambold, Hervey, and Broughton, with biographical notices of othersTyerman, L. (Luke)
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The Oxford Methodists : $b Memoirs of the Rev. Messrs. Clayton, Ingham, Gambold, Hervey, and Broughton, with biographical notices of others
“Think, sir, I conjure you, think upon this, if you have any
inclination to escape the fire that never will be quenched.
Would you be rescued from the fury and fierce anger of Almighty
God? Would you be delivered from weeping, and wailing, and
incessant gnashing of teeth? Sure you would! Then, I exhort
you as a friend; I beseech you as a brother; I charge you as
a messenger from the great God, in His own most solemn words:
‘Cast away from you your transgressions; make you a new heart
and a new spirit; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.’
“Perhaps you may be disposed to contemn this and its serious
import, or to recommend it to your companions as a fit subject
for raillery; but, let me tell you beforehand, that for this,
as well as for other things, God will bring you into judgment.
He sees me now write. He will observe you while you read.
He notes down my words in His book. He will note down your
consequent procedure. So that, not upon me, but, upon your own
self, will the neglecting or despising of my sayings turn. ‘If
thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; if thou scornest,
thou alone shalt bear it.’
“Be not concerned, sir, to know my name. It is enough that you
will know this hereafter. Tarry but a little, till the Lord,
even the most mighty God, shall call the heaven from above, and
the earth, that He may judge His people, and then you will see
me face to face. There shall I be ready, at the dread tribunal,
to joy and rejoice with you, if you regard my admonitions, and
live; or to be—what God prevent—by not inclining your heart to
receive this friendly admonition.”
This was plain dealing; but was greatly needed. To write such a
letter, to such a man,—an accomplished gallant, exercising sovereignty
over nearly all the fashionable residents of a gambling, dissipated
city,—required no ordinary courage in a young clergyman, who had not
yet attained his thirtieth year. How it was received, and what were its
effects, we are left to guess; but it is a curious fact, that, it was not
destroyed, but was found among Nash’s papers after his decease.
Leaving Bath, Hervey, in October, 1743, became curate to his father, at
Weston-Favel, a small village of three or four hundred inhabitants, near
Northampton; and here, in this rural seclusion, he continued to reside
(with the exception of a short interval) until his death, in 1758.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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