CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

( 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...