charity children by his preaching-in which otherwise would have been those days a prodigious sum, larger col-known only to himself and Wesley. lections being made than had ever before been known on like occasions. A paragraph was published in one of the newspapers, speaking of his success, and announcing where he was to preach next: he sent to the printer, requesting that nothing of this kind might be inserted again; the fellow replied, that he was paid for doing it, and that he would not lose two shillings for any body. The nearer the time of his departure approached, the more eager were the people to bear him, and the more warmly they expressed their admiration and love for the preacher. They stopt him in the aisles and embraced him; they waited upon him at bis lodgings to lay open their souls; they begged religious books of him, and entreated him to write their names with his own band and when he preached his fare well sermon, here, as at Bristol, the whole congregation wept and sobbed alond. At the end of the year he left London, and embarked at Gravesend for Georgia."-Vol, 1. p. 80. : 'Whitefield sailed from the Downs for Georgia, a few hours only before the vessel which brought Wesley back from thence cast anchor there. The ships passed in sight of each other, but neither of these remarkable men knew that so dear a friend was on the deck at which he was gazing.' As soon as Wesley landed however, he learned the facts, and (according to his usual custom on such occasions,) cast lots, and sent the result to Whitefield, (for it was still possible to communicate with the vessel in the offing,) in the following letter. "When I saw God, by the wind which was carrying you out, brought me in, I asked council of God. His answer you have enclosed." The enclosure was a slip of paper, with this sentence-"Let him return to London." Whitefield who never fell into this superstition, on receiving this singular letter, reviewed the circumstances in which he was placed, the engagements he was under, the reasons which induced him to believe himself called by God to Georgia, and the inconsistency of returning to London in obedience to a lot, and having prayed to God, determined to proceed on his voyage. Whitefield afterwards published these facts, "We sailed immediately,' he adds. 'Some months after, I received a letter from you at Georgia, wherein you wrote words to this effect: though God never before gave me a wrong lot, yet perhaps he suffered me to have such a lot at that time, to try what was in your heart.' 'I should never,' says Whitefield, 'have published this private transaction to the world, did not the glory of God call me to it. It is plain you had a wrong lot given you bere, and justly, because you tempted God in drawing one.' Whitefield afterwards, in his remarks upon Bishop Lavington's book, refers to this subject in a manner which does him honour. My mentioning,' he says, Mr. Wesley's casting a lot on a private occasion, known only to God and ourselves, has put me to great pain. It was wrong in me to pub lish a private transaction to the world; and very ill-judged to think the glory of God could be promoted by unnecessarily exposing my friend. For this I have asked both God and him pardon years ago. And though I believe both have forgiven me, yet I believe I shall never be able to forgive myself. As it was a public fault, I think it should be publicly acknowledged; and I thank a kind Providence for giving me this opportunity of doing it."—Vol. I. p. 73. We have been particular in giving this anecdote, as it exhibits the peculiar failings of these excellent men. 'God Wesley, notwithstanding gave him this wrong lot,' and afterwards many others of the same kind, never renounced his superstition. He continued through life, when deliberating on any proposed action, especially if he had any doubts or hesitancy conceruing it, to resort to sortilege in some form or other. But Wesley, if superstitious, was conscientious; and remarkable for coolness, self-possession and self-government. Whitefield, though not less conscientious, was quick in his feelings, and sometimes rashly supposed that the glory of God required him to do what, in cooler moments,he condemned. Yet, if he resembled the Apostle Peter in rashness, he resembled him also, in his quick, deep, and pungent conviction of his fault, and in his open, and generous confession of it. Whitefield proceeded to Georgia, and during a residence of three months there, experienced none of those vexations which had embittered Wesley's life among the colonists; for though he discharged his duty with equal fervour and equal plainness, he never attempted to revive obsolete forms, nor insisted upon unnecessary scruples.'. During Wesley's voyage to Georgia, and while residing there, he had formed and cultivated an acquaint ance with a band of Moravians, which went to the same colony. He admired their meekness, humility, and condescension in performing the meanest offices for the passengers, refusing all recompense, and saying that the service did them good. He still more admired their unshaken faith, and fearlessness of death. Return ing to London, filled, as we have seen, with doubts, and overwhelmed with distress and despondency, he repaircd immediately to a number of the Moravian brethren, for advice and instruction, and especially to Peter Boehler. This man, says Southey, a person of no ordinary powers of mind, became Wesley's teacher: it is no slight proof of his commanding intellect, that he was listened to as such. At this time forty or fifty persons, including the Moravians, agreed to meet weekly, and drew up the fundamental rules of their society, "in obedience to the command of God by St. James, and by the advice of Peter Boehler." In these rules, drawn up by the advice of this Moravian, we see the commencement of the organization of Methodism.They regulated the "band-meetings" -the "love-feasts"-the terms of admitting members, and the manner of admonishing and dismissing them. When Boehler, soon after, departed for Georgia, "O what a work," says Wesley has God begun, since his coming into England. Such a one as shall never come to an end till Heaven and earth pass away.”. Wesley himself however was at this time in the darkest and most unsatisfactory state of his progress.' Hear ing that his brother Charles had attained efficient faith',— "He continued himself the three folsorrow and heaviness :-this was bis lanlowing days under a continual sense of guage; Oh, why is it that so great, so wise, so holy a God will use such an instrument as me! Lord, let the dead bury their dead! But wilt thou send the dead to raise the dead? Yea, thou sendest whom thou will send, and showest mercy by whom thou wilt show mercy, Amen! speak the word, Judas shall cast out devBe it then according to thy will! I thou ils.' And again he thus expressed himself. I feel that I am sold under sin. I know I deserve nothing but wrath, being All my works, my righteousness, my prayers, need an to plead.-God is holy, I am unholyatonement for themselves. I have nothing God is a consuming fire, I am altogether a sinner, meet to be consumed. Yet I hear He that believeth is passed from death a voice,-Believe and thou shalt be saved. unto life.--Oh let no one deceive us by vain words as if we had already attained this faith! By its fruits we shall know.- full of all abominations. Saviour of men, save us from trusting in any thing but Thee! Draw us after thee! Let us be emptied of ourselves, and then fill us with all peace and joy in believing, in time or eternity. This was his state and let nothing separate us from thy love day in the history of Methodism, for upon till Wednesday, May 24th, a remarkable that day he dates his conversion,—a point, say his official biographers, of the utmost sell, but to others."—Vol. I. p. 87. magnitude, not only with respect to him 'After his new birth, he continued about a fortnight in heaviness because of manifold temptations-in peace, but not in joy.' He was also “sawn asunder," as he expresses it, with doubts, especially on the question whether every true believer, is assured-so he determined to visit the Moravians at Herrnhut, in the hope that "conversing with those holy men, who were themselves living wityet, able to bear with those that are nesses of the full power of faith, and weak, would be a means of so establishing his soul, that he might go on from faith to faith and from strength to strength." "They travelled on foot to Cologne, went up the Rhine to Mentz, and were received at Frankfort by Peter Boehler's father. The next day they reached Marien 6 born, where Zinzerdorf had a family of disciples, consisting of about fifty persons, gathered out of many nations. And here,' says Wesley, I continually meet with what I sought for,-living proofs of the power of faith; persons saved from inward as well as outward sin, by the love of God shed abroad in their hearts; and from all doubt and fear, by the abiding witness of the Holy Ghost given unto them." "Here he collected the opinions of the Count upon those peculiar points of doctrine in which he was most interested : they were fully delivered in a conference for strangers; and in reply to the question, Can a man be justified and not know it? and they were to this effect: 1. Justification is the forgiveness of sins. 2. The moment a man flies to Christ, he is justified; 3. and has peace with God, but not always joy: 4. nor perhaps may he know he is justified till long after; 5. for the assurance of it is distinct from justification itself. 6. But others may know he is justified, by his power over sin, by his seriousness, his love of the brethren, and his hunger and thirst after righteousness, which alone proves the spiritual life to be begun. 7. To be justified is the same thing as to be born of God:-here Wesley remarks, no; this is a mistake. Lastly, 8. When a man is awakened he is begotten of God, and his fear and sorrow, and sense of the wrath of God, are the pangs of the new birth. These were not the tenets which Wesley had learnt from Peter Boehler, who seems more than any other man to have possessed, at one time, a commanding influence over the English aspirant. He taught thus; 1. When a man has a living faith in Christ, then he is justified; 2. this living faith is always given in a moment; 3. and in that moment he has peace with God; 4. which he cannot have without knowing that he has it; 5. and being born of God he sinneth not; 6. and he cannot have this deliverance from sin without knowing that be has it. "Both statements Wesley noted in his journal, expressing no opinion upon either, though undoubtedly he agreed with Boehler."-Vol. I. pp. 98-99. After remaining a fortnight at Marienborn, they proceeded to Herrnhut, where was the principal establishment of the brethren, and where he became acquainted with the singular regulations of their community. His admiration of the Moravians, probably had no small effect on the organization, which he afterwards gave to Methodism. "I would gladly," he says, "have spent my life here; but my Master calling me to labour in another part of his vineyard, I was constrained to take leave of this tarriance, therefore, he departed on Nothing, in the early history of دو Nor was it long before I bent the bow too far the other way: by making antiquity a co-ordinate rather than sub-ordinate rule with scripture; by admitting several doubtful writings; by extending antiquity too far; by believing more practices to have been universal in the ancient church than ever were so; by not considering that the decrees of a provincial synod could bind only that province, and the de crees of a general synod only those provinces whose representatives met therein; consistences in the system of his teachers, while it failed to lead him in the path to divine truth. This fluctuation of opinion, and want of confidence in his own judgment is the more remarkable in a man, who rarely, in a long life, changed his course of conduct through the advice or arguments of others. that most of those decrees were adapted to particular times and occasions and consequently, when those occasions ceased, must cease to bind even those provinces. These considerations insensibly stole upon me as I grew acquainted with the mystic writers, whose noble descriptions of union with God and internal religion, made evry thing else appear mean, flat, and insipid. But in truth they made good works appear so too: yea, and faith itself, and what not? They gave me an entire new view of religion, nothing like any I had before. But alas! it was nothing like that religion which Christ and his Apostles loved with the steady, consistent, scrip ed and taught. I had a plenary dispensation from all the commands of God; the form was thus: Love is all; all the com mands beside are only means of love: you must choose those which you feel are means to you, and use them as long as they are so. Thus were all the bands burst at once; and though I could never fully come into this, nor contentedly omit what God enjoined, yet, I know not how, I fluctuated between obedience and disobedience. I had no heart, no vigour, no zeal in obeying, continually doubting whether I was right or wrong, and never out of perplexities and entanglements. Nor can I at this hour give a distinct account, how or when I came a little back toward the right way; only my present sense is this, all the other enemies of Christianity are triflers, the mystics are the most dangerous; they stab it in the vitals, and its most serious professors are most likely to fall by them."Vol. I. pp. 71, 72. This was written when he was returning from America. We have seen how he afterwards became acquainted with Peter Boehler. The sentiments which he received from him, were so different from those taught him by William Law, that Wesley wrote to the latter, severely reproving him, for not giving a due importance to faith. Now sir, says Wesley, suffer me to ask, how you will answer it to our common Lord, that you never gave me this advice? Why did I scarcely ever hear you name the name of Christ? never so as to ground any thing upon faith in his blood ?" In all this fluctuation of opinion, this leaning to one human authority, and then another, we see a great want of implicit faith in the divine testimony,together with a diffidence in his own judgment, which increased perhaps by finding that his logick detected in This continual fluctuation of opinion in Wesley, is strikingly contrast tural views of Whitefield. The latter, from the commencement of his dially received the doctrines of grace. spiritual course, seems to have corContinual growth in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,' served to confirm his faith in these doctrines, and to increase their importance in his estimation. With all his heart he believed ir those doctrines of the Gospel which are called Calvinistic, and impelled by the emotions which they are fitted to excite, he exhibited them in his preaching with powerful and unparalleled effect. Soon after Wesley returned from Germany, Whitefield also arrived in London from America. His object in returning was to receive Priest's or ders, and to raise funds for an Or. phan House in Georgia. According to his earnest prayers, he was ordained by "good Bishop Benson," but the business of raising money for the Orphan House detained him some time in England. At Kingswood, near Bristol he commenced preaching in the fields, to a collection of Colliers who worked in the neighbourhood. There was no church in which they could meet, which seemed a good excuse for the irregularity of field preaching, but soon became necessary, as the pulpits in which either he or Wesley had once preached were generally denied to them in future. He stood upon a mount in a place called Rose Green. "I thought" says he, "I might be doing the service of my Creator, who had a mountain for his pulpit and the heavens for his sounding-board.” Having once taken the field, he was soon encouraged to persevere in so promising a course. All the churches being now shut, and, as he says, if open, not able to contain half that came to hear, he went again to Kingswood: his second audience consisted of some two thousand persons, his third from four to five thousand, and they went on increasing to ten, fourteen, twenty thousand. The sun shone very bright," he says, "and the people standing in such an awful manner around the mount, in the profoundest silence, filled me with holy admiration. Blessed be God for such a plentiful harvest. Lord, do thou send forth more labourers into thy harvest!" On another occasion, he says, "The trees and hedges were full. All was hush when I began: the sun shone bright, and God enabled me to preach for an hour with great power, and so loud, that all, I was told, could hear me. Blessed be God Mr. spoke right; the fire is kindled in the country!"-"To behold such crowds standing together in such an awful silence, and to hear the echo of their singing run from one end of them to the other, was very solemn and striking.. How infinitely more solemn and striking will the general assembly of the spirits of just men made perfect be, when they join in singing the song of Moses and the Lamb in Heaven!" Yet he says, "As the scene was new, and I had just begun to be an extempore preacher, it often occasioned many inward conflicts. Sometimes, when twenty thousand people were before me, I had not, in my own apprehension, a word to say, either to God or them. But I never was totally deserted; and frequently (for to deny it would be lying against God) so assisted, that I knew by happy experience what our Lord meant by saying, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." The deep silence of his rude auditors was the first proof that he had impressed them; and it may well be imagined how greatly the consciousness and confidence of his own powers must have been increased, when, as he says, he saw the white gutters made by the tears which plentifully fell down their black cheeksblack as they came out of their coal-pits. "The open firmament above me," says, he, "the prospect of the adjacent fields, with the sight of thousands and thousands, some in coaches, some on horseback, and some in the trees, and at times all affected and drenched in tears together; to which sometimes was added the solemnity of the approaching evening, was almost too much for, and quite overcame me."-Vol. I. p. 118. At the earnest request of Whitefield, Wesley came from London to Bristol. "Wesley had never been at Bristol before: Whitefield received him there, and introduced him to persons who were prepared to listen to him with eager and intense belief: " Help him, Lord Jesus," says Whitefield, "to water what thy right hand hath planted, for thy mercy's sake!" Having thus provided so powerful a successor, he departed. Wherever he took his leave, at their places of meeting, there was loud weeping: "Oh," he exclaims, "these partings!" When he forced himself away, crowds were waiting at the door to give him a last farewell, and near twenty friends accompanied him on horseback."Blessed be God," says he, "for the marvellous great kindness he hath shown me in this city! Many sinners, I believe, have been effectually converted; numbers of God's children greatly comforted; several thousands of little books have been dispersed among the people; about two hundred pounds collected for the orphan house; and many poor families relieved by the bounty of my friend, Mr. Seward. Shall not these things be noted in my book? God forbid they should not be written on the tables of my heart. Even so, Lord Jesus!''—Vol. I. p. 121. On the day before his departure he set Wesley an example of fieldpreaching,' which the latter, notwithstanding his repugnance at first, soon followed with great satisfaction and effect. When Whitefield reached London, he commenced field-preaching there also. "His favourite ground upon week-days was Kennington-Common, and there prodigious multitudes gathered together to hear him; he had sometimes fourscore carriages, (in those days no inconsiderable number for London to send forth on such an occasion,) very many horsemen, and from 30 to 40,000 persons on foot and both there, and on his Sunday preachings in Moorfields, when he collected for the orphan-house, so many half-pence were given him by his poor auditors, that he was wearied in receiving them, and they were more than one man could carry home." "While he was engaged in this triumphant career, Wesley arrived, and on the day after his arrival accompanied him to Blackheath, expecting to hear him preach : but when they were upon the ground, sembled, Whitefield desired him to preach where about 12 or 14,000 persons were asin his stead. Wesley was a little surprised at this, and somewhat reluctant, for he says nature recoiled; he did not however refuse, and being greatly moved with compassion for the rich that were present, |