( CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18TH CENTURY ) - [ CHAPTER 3 ] - { PT. 2 }


 { PT.  2 } - His journal explains that for two or three years before he went to the university, he had been having some religious convictions, but from the time he entered Pembroke College, these convictions quickly grew into definite Christianity. George Whitefield diligently attended all means of grace within his reach. He spent his spare time visiting the city prison, reading to the prisoners, and trying to do good. He became acquainted with the famous John Wesley and his bother Charles, and a little band of like-minded young men, including James Hervey, the well-known author of Theron and Aspasio. These were the devoted party to whom the name Methodists was first applied because of their strict method of living. At one time he seems to have greedily devoured such books as Castanuza's Spiritual Combat and writings by Thomas a Kempis, and he was in danger of becoming a semi-Roman Catholic, an ascetic, or a mystic, and of placing all of her religion in self-denial. He says in his journal: I always chose the worst sort of food. I fasted twice a week. My apparel was humble. I thought it unbecoming a penitent to have his hair powdered. I wore woollen gloves, a patched grown, and dirty shoes; and though I was convinced that the kingdom of God did not consist in meat and drink, yet I resolutely persisted in these voluntary acts of self-denial because I found in them great promotion of the spiritual life. He was gradually delivered out of all this darkness, partly by the advice of one or two experienced Christians, and partly by reading such books as Henry Scougal's Life of God in the Soul of Man, William Law's Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, Richard Baxter's Call to the Unconverted, Joseph Alleine's Alarm to Unconverted Sinners, and Matthew Henry's commentary on the Bible. 

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