Wellington, Salop. October 27, 1814.
AH, my dear friend, what need have we all of being occasionally pulled
down, stripped of our fancied excellencies, spoiled of our boasted props,
and laid low in self-abasement and humility of soul at the feet of Jesus.
And considering this our need, how kind is it in the LORD to take the
painful pains with us which he does. He had much rather rejoice over us
in unclouded prosperity; but our perverseness will not suffer him, and
therefore he forces himself to grieve us. He constrains himself to cut
off the dangerous limb—to amputate—when it would be injurious to spare.
We have two _classes_, after the manner of the Methodists; one consisting
of men, and the other of women. The former led by Mr. Eyton, and the
latter by myself. Out of the men’s class, Mr. E. has selected six young
men, four of whom go out on a Monday evening, in turns, and expound to
the poor in four cottages in different parts of the parish; and much
good, I trust, has already been seen resulting from the plan. Mr. E. did
not think of the classes till about a year and a half ago; but we all
feel truly thankful to God that they were begun at last. You would have
been struck at the effects which soon began to follow. A standard, if I
may so speak, was by this means erected, and many, who in all probability
would have remained halting and hesitating till the very end of their
days, were induced, one after another, to flock around it, and I have
been surprised at the degree of help which they have all received since
they were thus united. And, in addition to their own personal benefit,
they soon became instrumental of good to others. Our little society
became a kind of nursery of expounders, exhorters, and assistants in
prayer; and now, instead of a comparatively barren wilderness, we are
rejoiced to behold, in many places, an incipient garden of the LORD.
Another benefit I would just beg leave to notice, and that refers to
yourself. You will know much more of the state of your people, you will
obtain a greater insight into their temptations, difficulties, and
trials, and will be led to look around you for the means of obviating, or
else helping them to bear them; and thus your manner of preaching will
become far more experimental, and, consequently, far more useful.
Without some such knowledge of our people as we thus obtain, our
discourses, as Mr. Jerram used to say, will be about it, and about it,
but seldom actually upon the mark. I have found a very material benefit
myself in this way, and I would not have been without it for worlds.
Now, my dear friend, what hinders but that you should enter upon such a
class meeting? If you have only three or four, begin with them; meet
with them weekly; begin with singing and prayer; relate to them the state
of your own mind during the week, and then inquire into the state of
their’s. Prayer may conclude. Mr. E. began, I think, with only four,
and was some weeks before he got above two or three more; but now the
men’s class is between thirty and forty, and the women’s not far short.
Do not be afraid of the Methodistical appearance of the procedure. It is
full of benefits, and I have no question but that if you can prevail upon
yourself to adopt it, yourself and thousands more will have eternal
reason to bless God for its institution. And, under such circumstances,
should a name, or an appearance, cause you a moment’s hesitation? I
trust it will not. * * *