CHAPTER XI.

WESLEY SEPARATES FROM WHITEFIELD.

IN separating from Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians, there had been little sacrifice of feeling on Wesley's part; but he was involved at the same time in a difference with Whitefield, which affected him deeply, and led to consequences of greater importance. At the commencement of his career, Wesley was of a pugnacious spirit, the effect of his sincerity, his ardour, and his confidence. He wished to obtain Whitefield's acquiescence in his favourite doctrine of perfection, the "free, full, and present salvation from all the guilt, all the power, and all the in-being of sin; a doctrine as untenable as it was acceptable to weak minds and inflated imaginations. He knew also that Whitefield held the Calvinistic tenets of election and irreversible decrees: tenets which, if true, would make God unjust, and the whole Gospel a mere mockery.* Upon both these subjects he wrote to his old

* I would rather that Southey had said "which seem, primâ facie, to make God unjust," &c.; and for the following reasons: 1st. Because such language would be more considerate, in application to doctrines adopted, after painful study and fervent prayer, by such men as Archbishop Whitgift, Bp. Davenant, and others not less eminent. 2nd. Because the practical consequences are = 0, or harmless the sap of this wormwood becoming poisonous only by being mixed with a new ingredient, the juice of a plant ex horto Wesleyano, videlicet, the doctrine of individual assurance, and a sensation of election, which Wesley once held a necessary and universal, and even, in later life, a proper and frequent, sign and test of having been elected. 3rd. Because, as long as the doctrine was qualified by the concession that these irreversible decrees were likewise secret decrees, known to God alone,-the same intolerable consequences, as are objected to it, would follow no less inevitably, on the same logic, from the Divine prescience, from the eternity, omniscious omnipotence, omnipresence, yea, from the very existence of an absolute infinite Being. The defect is one and the same in all-viz. the application of deductive and conclusive logic at all, to subjects concerning which the premises are of necessity expressed in not merely inadequate, but positively improper and accommodated terms. But to conclude terms proper and adequate, from quasific and mendicant premises, is illogical logic with a vengeance. It is but to add a link or two of the same metal with the rest of the chain, and equally undeniable, and I pledge myself to apply every sentence of Wesley's declamation against Whitefield to Wesley's own creed. As water cannot rise higher than its source, so neither can human reasoning. Now all reasoning respecting transcendent truths must have its source where the truths or ideas themselves originate. Now this is either revelation ab extra=the Scriptures, or revelation ab intra="the light that lighteth every man,” or the light of reason manifesting itself as a law in the conscience. Such consequences therefore as Scripture has drawn, or such as are consonant with the moral sense, are the only consequences that can, without folly and blundering presumption, be

friend and disciple, who at this time, though he could yield to him upon neither, wished earnestly to avoid all dispute. "My honoured friend and brother," said he in his reply, "for once hearken to a child who is willing to wash your feet. I beseech you, by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, if you would have my love confirmed towards you, write no more to me about misrepresentations wherein we differ. To the best of my knowledge, at present no sin has dominion over me, yet I feel the strugglings of in-dwelling sin day by day. The doctrine of election, and the final perseverance of those who are in Christ, I am ten thousand times more convinced of, if possible, than when I saw you last. You think otherwise. Why then should we dispute, when there is no probability of convincing? Will it not, in the end, destroy brotherly love, and insensibly take from us that cordial union and sweetness of soul, which I pray God may drawn at all. He reasons rightly who reasons wisely. Piety is here the best logic; and edification the only safe measure. And such too is the purport and spirit of our Church Article on Predestination, which I deem a model of good sense and theological discretion.-S. T. C.

P. S-The controversy with the Moravians I by no means consider either so empty in itself, or so easily decided by common sense. In the question of Election relatively to the Divine Elector, we have only to challenge the Judicial faculty as incompetent to try the cause: and this we prove at once by showing the incapability of the human understanding to present the idea to itself as it really is, and the consequent necessity it is under, of substituting anthropomorphic conceptions determined by accident of place and time, (pre, post, futurum,-before, after, to come,) as feeble analogies and approximations. Having thus disqualified both the faculty that is to judge, and the premises that are to be judged of, the conclusion perishes per abortum. Far otherwise is it with the question, By what means shall the soul prepare itself for the rise of faith? Pater non nisi erga ipsum conversos attrahit et adducit. The Spirit must turn the heart of man (Spiritus cor VERTAT, necesse est): but if by heart we mean a living will, and not a block or a passive machine, it is most evident that the heart must turn itself in concert; and this is the act of conversion. But how? Boehler and Zinzendorf reply, "Even as a devout Persian turns his face toward the east, when he waits for the rise of the sun. He fixes his eye in the known direction, waits, watches, and is still, lest while he is busying himself with ceremonial spells and propitiating sacrifices, the silent One should pass into a cloud and be hidden." And surely some sanction may be found for this in our Lord's words to Nicodemus. (John, iii. 8.) If the Moravians erred, their error must have consisted in enjoining this as the only way, instead of recommending it as the better way; thus confining that "wind, that bloweth as it listeth," to an exclusive channel; which may be attempted when they can make in the Cape of the heavens the zodiacal road depictured on the celestial globe of their theology. I know not that the Moravian divines do thus limit the way of the Spirit; but that the error of all sects, whether in religion or in philosophy, is commonly to be found, not in the positive of their characteristic tenets, but in the negative-nil, nisi hoc: not in the positions, but in the imposition.-S. T. C.

VOL. I.

always subsist between us? How glad would the enemies of the Lord be to see us divided! How many would rejoice, should I join and make a party against you! And, in one word, how would the cause of our common Master every way suffer, by our raising disputes about particular points of doctrine! Honoured Sir, let us offer salvation freely to all by the blood of Jesus; and whatever light God has communicated to us, let us freely communicate to others. I have lately read the life of Luther, and think it in no wise to his honour, that the last part of his life was so much taken up in disputing with Zwinglius and others, who in all probability equally loved the Lord Jesus, though they might differ from him in other points. Let this, dear Sir, be a caution to us; I hope it will to me; for, by the blessing of God, provoke me to it as much as you please, I do not think ever to enter the lists of controversy with you on the points wherein we differ. Only I pray to God, that the more you judge me, the more I may love you, and learn to desire no one's approbation, but that of my Lord and Master Jesus Christ."

These feelings are creditable to Whitefield, but he was not consistent in pursuing the course of conduct which he thus advised. Two months only after this letter was written, he followed it with another, in a different strain. "Honoured Sir," it began, "I cannot entertain prejudices against your conduct and principles any longer without informing you. The more I

examine the writings of the most experienced men, and the experiences of the most established Christians, the more I differ from your notion about not committing sin, and your denying the doctrines of election and the final perseverance of the saints. I dread coming to England, unless you are resolved to oppose these truths with less warmth than when I was there last. I dread your coming over to America; because the work of God is carried on here, and that in a most glorious manner, by doctrines quite opposite to those you hold. God direct me what to do! Sometimes I think it best to stay here, where we all think and speak the same thing: the work goes on without divisions, and with more success, because all employed in it are of one mind. I write not this, honoured Sir, from heat of spirit, but out of love. At present I think you are entirely inconsistent with yourself; and therefore do not blame me if I do not approve of all that you say. God himself, I find, teaches my friends the doctrine of election. Sister H. hath lately been convinced of it; and, if I mistake not, dear and honoured Mr. Wesley hereafter will be convinced also. Perhaps I may never see you again till we meet in judgement;

then, if not before, you will know, that sovereign, distinguishing, irresistible grace brought you to Heaven." Wesley received this letter in a kindly spirit, and thanked him for it. "The case is

quite plain," he said in reply. "There are bigots both for predestination and against it. God is sending a message to those on either side, but neither will receive it unless from one who is of their own opinion. Therefore, for a time you are suffered to be of one opinion, and I of another. But when His time is come, God will do what men cannot, namely, make us both of one mind." Soon afterwards Whitefield writes to one of his friends in England, "For Christ's sake desire dear brother Wesley to avoid disputing with me. I think I had rather die than see a division between us; and yet how can we walk together, if we oppose each other?" And again to Wesley himself, he says: "For Christ's sake, if possible, dear Sir, never speak against election in your sermons: no one can say that I ever mentioned it in public discourses*, whatever my private sentiments may be. For Christ's sake, let us not be divided amongst ourselves: nothing will so much prevent a division as your being silent on that head."

While Whitefield from America was thus exhorting to forbearance from controversy, the Calvinistic Methodists in England were forcing on the separation which he deprecated, while he foresaw. One of the leading members in London, by name Acourt, had disturbed the society by introducing his disputed tenets, till Charles Wesley gave orders that he should no longer be admitted. John was present when next he presented himself and demanded whether they refused admitting a person only because he differed from them in opinion. Wesley answered no, but asked what opinion he meant. He replied, "That of election. I hold that a certain number are elected from eternity, and these must and shall be saved, and the rest of mankind must and shall be

*Yet it appears by Whitefield's Journal, that on his last voyage to America he had been confirmed in his Calvinistic opinions, and had resolved in consequence upon preaching them. "This afternoon, was exceedingly strengthened by perusing some paragraphs out of a book called The Preacher, written by Dr. Edwards of Cambridge, and extracted by Mr. Jonathan Warn, in his books entitled The Church-of-England-man turned Dissenter, and Arminianism the Backdoor to Popery. There are such noble testimonies given before that University, of justification by faith only in the imputed righteousness of Christ, our having no free will, &c., that they deserve to be written in letters of gold. I see more and more the benefit of leaving written testimonies behind us concerning these important points. They not only profit the present, but will also much edify the future ages. Lord, open thou my mouth, that I may henceforward speak more boldly and explicitly, as I ought to speak."

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damned." And he affirmed that many of the society held the same; upon which Wesley observed that he never asked whether they did or not; "only let them not trouble others by disputing about it." Acourt replied, "Nay, but I will dispute about it." 'Why then," said Wesley, "would you come among us, who you know are of another mind." "Because you are all wrong, and I am resolved to set you all right." "I fear," said Wesley, coming with this view would neither profit you nor us." rejoined Acourt, "I will go and tell all the world that you and your brother are false prophets. And I tell you in one fortnight you will all be in confusion."

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your

Then,”

Some time before, Wesley had received a letter, in which he was reproached for not preaching the Gospel, because he did not preach the doctrine of election. According to his usual presumptuous practice at that time, instead of consulting with his friends, or even advising with himself upon the prudence of engaging in controversy, he drew a lot for his direction, and the lot was "preach and print." So he preached a sermon against this deplorable doctrine, and printed it. Whitefield was then in England, and at his desire the publication was for a while suppressed; but it was sent into the world soon after his departure for America. The rising sect was thus disturbed by a question which had so often carried discord into the schools of theology, which had unhappily divided the Protestant world, and which when it had risen in the bosom of the Catholic church, neither the Popes with their bulls, nor the Kings of France with their power, nor the Jesuits with all the wisdom of the serpent, could either determine or lay to rest. Wesley had begun the discussion, but Whitefield persevered in it, when he would fain have pressed it no farther; and he assumed a tone of superiority which Wesley, who was as much his superior in intellect as in learning, was little likely to brook. "Give me leave," said he, "with all humility to exhort you not to be strenuous in opposing the doctrines of election and final perserverance, when by your own confession you have not the witness of the Spirit within yourself, and consequently are not a proper judge. I am assured God has now for some years given me this living witness in my soul. I can say I have been on the borders of Canaan, and do every day, nay almost every moment, long for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, not to evade sufferings, but with a single desire to see his blessed face. I feel his blessed Spirit daily filling my soul and body, as plain as I feel the air which I breathe, or the food which I eat. Perhaps the doctrine of election and of final perse