CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

( CHAPTER  5 )  -  { PT.  13 } - Gradually, however, he seems to have laid himself out more and more to try to do good to others, and later was entirely taken up with it. His method of action was in the highest degree simple and unpretentious. Assisted by his brother Charles, who was then a student of Christ Church, he gathered a small society of like-minded young men in order to spend some evenings together every week studying the Greek New Testament. This was in November 1729. The members of this society were at first four in number: John Wesley, Charles Wesley, Mr. Morgan of Christ Church, and Mr. Kirkman of Merton. Somewhat later, they were joined by Mr. Ingham of Queen's, Mr. Broughton of Exeter, Mr. Clayton of Brazenose, the famous George Whitefield of Pembroke, and the well-known James Hervey of Lincoln. This little group of witnesses, as might reasonably have been expected, soon began to think of doing good to others, as well as getting good themselves. In the summer of 173

( CHAPTER  5 )  -  { PT.  5 } - If we never can have any certainty of being in a state of salvation, that is a good reason that every moment should be spent not in joy, but in fear and trembling; and then, undoubtedly, in this life we are of all men most miserable. May God deliver us from such a fearful expectation as this! Correspondence of this kind could hardly fail to do good to a young man in John Wesley's frame of mind. It undoubtedly led him to a closer study of the Scriptures, deeper self-examination, and more fervent prayer. Whatever doubts he may have had were finally removed, and he was ordained a deacon on September 19, 1725, by Dr. Potter, then bishop of Oxford, and later became archbishop of Canterbury. In the year 1726, John Wesley was elected Fellow of Lincoln College after a content of more then ordinary severity. His recently adopted serious manner and general religiousness were used against him by his adversaries, but his high character carried him triumphantly t

  ( CHAPTER  5 )  -  { PT.  9 } - Let us hear what John Wesley's mother say about Thomas a Kempis opinion that all mirth or pleasure is useless, if not sinful. She observes: I believe Kempis to have been an honest, weak man who had more zeal than knowledge by condemning all mirth or pleasure as sinful or useless, in opposition to so many direct and plain texts of Scripture. Would you judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure, or of the innocence or enmity of actions? Here is a good rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes away the desire for spiritual things--basically, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind--that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself. Let us hear what John Wesley himself says in a letter on the opinion of Jeremy Taylor: Whether God has forgiven us or not; therefore, let us be sorrowful for ever having sinned. Samuel Wesley res