"CHARLESTON, _August 22, 1740_.
"Every day I love and honour you more and more; and, when you
come to judgment, God will shew you how many tears I have shed
in secret for you, and for my dear sister. Honoured mother, flee
to Jesus. Behold, with open arms, yonder He stands ready to
embrace you, if you feel your misery, and are willing to come
to Him to find rest. For near six weeks past, I have been under
great weakness of body. I am now somewhat better; but, without a
miracle, cannot think of being long below. Every day I long to
be dissolved and to be with Christ."
Whitefield's correspondence with Wesley was chiefly on the
doctrines of election and final perseverance. The ensuing is too
characteristic to be omitted:--
"CHARLESTON, _August 25, 1740_.
"Dear and honoured Sir,--Last night I had the pleasure of
receiving an extract from your Journal.[360] This morning I read
it. I pray God to give it His blessing. Many things, I trust,
will prove beneficial, especially the account of yourself.
Only, give me leave, with all humility, to exhort you not to
be strenuous in opposing the doctrines of election and final
perseverance, when, by your own confession,[361] 'you have not
the witness of the Spirit within yourself,' and, consequently,
are not a proper judge. I remember dear brother E---- told me
one day, that he was 'convinced of the perseverance of the
saints.' I told him, you were not. He replied, 'But he will be
convinced when he has got the Spirit himself.' For some years,
God has given me this living witness in my soul. I have not,
since then, indulged any doubts (at least, for no considerable
time), about the forgiveness of my sins. Nay, I can scarce say
that I have ever doubted at all. When I have been nearest death,
my evidences have been the clearest. I have been on the borders
of Canaan, and do every day long for the appearance of our Lord
Jesus Christ; not to evade sufferings, but with a single desire
to see His blessed face.
[360] "An extract of the Rev. John Wesley's Journal from August
12, 1738, to November 1, 1739. No. III."
[361] No doubt the reference here is to Wesley's remarkable
confessions, in the Journal afore-mentioned, under the dates of
October 14, and December 16, 1738.
"Perhaps the doctrines of election and final perseverance have
been abused; but, notwithstanding, they are children's bread,
and ought not to be withheld from them, supposing they are
always mentioned with proper cautions against the abuse.
"Dear and honoured sir, I write not this to enter into
disputation. I hope I feel something of the meekness and
gentleness of Christ. I cannot bear the thought of opposing
you; but how can I avoid it, if you go about, as your brother
Charles once said, to drive John Calvin out of Bristol? Alas! I
never read anything that Calvin wrote. My doctrines I had from
Christ and His apostles. I was taught them of God; and, as God
was pleased to send me out first, and to enlighten me first,
so I think He still continues to do it. My business seems to
be chiefly in planting; if God send you to water, I praise His
name. I wish you a thousandfold increase.
"I find, by young Mr. W----'s letter, there is disputing
among you about election and perfection. I pray God to put a
stop to it; for what good end will it answer? I wish I knew
your principles fully. If you were to write oftener, and more
frankly, it might have a better effect than silence and reserve.
"I have lately had many domestic trials, and that about points
of doctrine, not from myself, but from others in my absence. I
daily wait upon God, depending on His promise, that all things,
even this, shall work together for my good. Many in Charleston,
I believe, are called of God. You may now find a Christian,
without searching the town as with a candle. Mr. Garden is less
furious, at least in public. He has expended all his strength,
and finds he cannot prevail.
"Adieu! honoured sir, adieu! With almost tears of love to you
and the brethren, do I subscribe myself,
"Your most affectionate brother and servant in Christ,
"GEORGE WHITEFIELD."
Commissary Garden had done his utmost to silence the young
evangelist, but had failed. Whitefield arrived again in Charleston
on August 21; and, though in feeble health, he preached, during his
brief sojourn, once every day, and twice on Sundays. He writes:--
"The audiences were more numerous than ever. It was supposed
that not less than four thousand were in and about the
meeting-house, when I preached my farewell sermon. Being denied
the sacrament at church, I administered it thrice in a private
house; namely, yesterday, yesterday seven-night, and this
morning. Never did I see anything more solemn. The room was
large, and most of the communicants were dissolved in tears.
Surely Jesus Christ was evidently set forth before us. Baptists,
Churchmen, and Presbyterians, all joined together, and received
according to the Church of England, excepting two, who desired
to have it sitting. I willingly complied, knowing it was a thing
quite indifferent."
Of course all this was scandalous in the eyes of Mr. Garden; but to
keep Whitefield within the grooves of church order was impossible.
Having, for the present, finished his work at Charleston, he again
embarked, and proceeded to Rhode Island. During the voyage, he wrote
the following letter to "The Right Reverend Father in God, Edmund
Lord Bishop of London."
"ON BOARD THE SAVANNAH, _September, 1740_.
"MY LORD,--Although your lordship has been pleased to caution
the people against running into those extremes, to which your
lordship apprehended my doctrine would lead men; yet I am
persuaded that will not any way influence your lordship as
to the contents of this letter. The one single point which
it contains, is this query, Whether the commissary of South
Carolina has power given him, from your lordship, to exercise
any _judicial_ authority against me, or against any other
clergyman, who does not belong to his province?
"The reason of my putting this question, I suppose, your
lordship will be apprised of, before this reaches your
lordship's hands. I have been lately cited to appear in an
ecclesiastical court, erected by the Rev. Mr. Garden, for not
reading the Common Prayer in the meeting-house, which, unless
I would be silent, I was obliged to preach in at Charleston,
because the commissary would not let me have the use of his
church. I appeared; and have appealed, according to law, to four
of His Majesty's commissioners for reviewing appeals, to know
whether the commissary ought not to have accepted a _recusatio
judicis_, which I lodged in the court. This, I suppose, they
will determine. I only desire your lordship's explicit opinion,
whether Mr. Garden, (supposing he has power over his own clergy)
has authority to erect such a court to arraign me, belonging to
the province of Georgia. The bearer hereof will give me your
lordship's answer; in favouring me with which, your lordship
will oblige your obedient son and servant,
"GEORGE WHITEFIELD."
It is doubtful whether the words "obedient son and servant" were
quite appropriate. At all events, it is certain, that, there
had been several things in the past career of the "obedient son
and servant," of which his _lordship_ disapproved. The reply of
Bishop Gibson has not been published; but that the impeachment by
Commissary Garden's court caused Whitefield considerable thought, if
not anxiety, is evident from another letter, which Whitefield sent
to a friend in London, probably by the same messenger as conveyed
the letter addressed to his Diocesan. He writes:--
"The bearer brings the authentic copy of my appeal. I sent you
another copy from Carolina. Be pleased to keep this I have now
sent, till you hear of my coming to England. If I come in the
spring, I will lodge it myself; if not, be pleased to lodge it
for me, and I will pay all expenses."
Whitefield landed at Newport, in Rhode Island, on Sunday evening,
September 14, and immediately became acquainted with the "Rev. Mr.
Clap,[362] who had been the minister of a Dissenting congregation in
the island upwards of forty years. "He was," says Whitefield, "the
most venerable man I ever saw. He looked like a good old Puritan.
His countenance was very heavenly, and I could not but think, whilst
at his table, that I was sitting with one of the patriarchs. People
of all denominations respect him. He abounds in good works; gives
all he has away; and is wonderfully tender of little children.
He rejoiced much to see me, and prayed most affectionately for a
blessing on my coming." Whitefield and this venerable Dissenting
minister waited on the clergyman of the Church of England, and
desired the use of his pulpit. The request was granted, and, on
the two succeeding days, Whitefield read prayers and preached
in the consecrated edifice, "at ten in the morning and three in
the afternoon." The congregations were very large; and, at the
conclusion of the afternoon service of the second day, more than a
thousand people followed the young evangelist to the house where he
lodged. "I therefore," says he, "stood upon the threshold, and spake
for near an hour on these words, 'Blessed are they that hunger and
thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.' It was a very
solemn meeting. Glory be to God's great name!"
[362] The Rev. Nathaniel Clap was now seventy-two years of age. He
died in 1745.
On Wednesday, September 18, Whitefield arrived at Boston, then the
capital of New England.[363] This is not the place to write the
remarkable history of this English settlement It has been estimated
that more than twenty-one thousand emigrants settled in New England
prior to the year 1640. The majority of these were Puritans, or
Congregationalists; and Cotton Mather says four thousand were
Presbyterians. Of the two thousand ministers cast out of the Church
of England by the Act of Uniformity, in 1662, a considerable number
fled for refuge to this distant colony. The revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, in 1685, drove hundreds of thousands of French
Protestants from their native country; and of these not a few
became New Englanders. To a great extent, the population consisted
of godly refugees. A good general idea concerning the religious
denominations of the settlement as a whole, may be gathered from
Oldmixon's description of Boston in the year 1708. "Boston," says
he, "is the capital of New England, and the biggest city in America,
excepting two or three on the Spanish continent. There are abundance
of fine buildings in it, public and private: as the court-house,
market-place, Sir William Phip's house, and others. There are
several handsome streets. It contains ten or twelve thousand
souls; the militia consisting of four companies of foot. There are
three parish churches, a French church, and two meeting-houses in
the city. The Old Church, North Church, and South Church belong
to the Presbyterians, who are the _Church of England as by law
established_; the French church belongs to the French Protestants;
and the meeting-houses, to a congregation of Church of _England_ men
and Anabaptists."
[363] The name of the northern states of the North American Union,
namely, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
and Connecticut.
As to the creed of these miscellaneous religionists, there cannot
be a doubt that, speaking generally, it was Calvinistic, and quite
in harmony with those views of election and final perseverance which
Whitefield had embraced. In such a colony, Wesley would have been
branded as a heretic; whereas Whitefield was warmly welcomed as a
friend, whose faith was gloriously orthodox.
Whitefield was invited to Boston by the Rev. Dr. Colman, was warmly
welcomed by almost all the Bostonians, except a famous doctor of
divinity, who met him in the streets, and said, "I am sorry to see
_you_ here;" and to which Whitefield quietly remarked, "So is the
devil."[364]
[364] Wakeley's "Anecdotes of Whitefield," p. 142.
On September 19, Whitefield commenced his preaching work in the
capital of New England. He writes:--
"Friday, September 19. I was visited by several gentlemen and
ministers, and went to the governor's with Mr. Willard,[365] the
secretary of the province, a man fearing God, and with whom I
have corresponded, though before unknown in person. The governor
received me with the utmost respect, and desired to see me as
often as I could. At eleven, I went to public worship at the
Church of England, and afterwards went home with the commissary.
He treated me very courteously; and, it being the day whereon
the clergy of the Established Church met, I had an opportunity
of conversing with five of them. In the afternoon I preached
to about four thousand in Dr. Colman's meeting-house; and
afterwards exhorted and prayed with many who came to my lodgings.
[365] Josiah Willard was the son of the Rev. Samuel Willard,
minister in Boston, and vice-president of Harvard College.
In 1717, King George the First appointed him Secretary of
the Province of Massachusetts, an office which he held for
thirty-nine years. He was also a judge of the probate court, and
a member of the Council. He died in 1756, aged 75.
"Saturday, September 20. Preached in the morning, to about six
thousand hearers, in the Rev. Dr. Sewall's[366] meeting-house;
and afterwards, on the common, to about eight thousand; and
again, at night, to a thronged company at my lodgings.
[366] The Rev. Joseph Sewall, D.D., was son of the Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, and was ordained minister
of the Old South Church, in Boston, in the year 1713. He died in
1769, aged 80, having been the pastor of the Old South Church
for fifty-six years.
"Sunday, September 21. Went in the morning, and heard Dr. Colman
preach. Dined with his colleague, the Rev. Mr. Cooper.[367]
Preached in the afternoon at Mr. Foxcroft's[368] meeting.
Immediately after, on the common, to about fifteen thousand; and
again, at my lodgings, to a greater company than before.
[367] The Rev. William Cooper, having graduated at Harvard
College, became the colleague of Dr. Colman in 1716. He died
in 1743, at the early age of 49; and declared, just before his
death, that "since the year 1740, more people had come to him in
concern about their souls" than had come during the whole of his
previous ministry.
[368] The Rev. Thomas Foxcroft was ordained minister of the
first Congregational Church in Boston, in the year 1717. No
minister was more universally admired. He was the author of a
large number of publications, including a sermon occasioned by
the visit and labours of Whitefield in 1740, and an apology
for Whitefield in 1745. After a ministry of more than half a
century, he died in 1769, aged 72.
"Monday, September 22. Preached this morning, at the Rev. Mr.
Webb's[369] meeting-house, to six thousand hearers in the house,
besides great numbers standing about the doors. In the afternoon
I went to preach at the Rev. Mr. Checkley's[370] meeting-house;
but God was pleased to humble us by a very awful providence.
The meeting-house being filled, on a sudden all the people were
in an uproar, and so unaccountably surprised, that some threw
themselves out of the windows, others threw themselves out of
the gallery, and others trampled upon one another; so that five
were actually killed, and others dangerously wounded. I happened
to come in the midst of the uproar, and saw two or three lying
on the ground in a pitiable condition. I gave notice I would
immediately preach upon the common. The weather was wet, but
many thousands followed in the field.
[369] The Rev. John Webb was ordained the first minister of the
New North Church, in Boston, 1714. He died in 1750, aged 62. His
colleague pronounced him "one of the best of Christians and one
of the best of ministers."
[370] The Rev. Samuel Checkley was the first minister of the New
South Church, in Summer Street, Boston. He died in 1769, in the
fifty-first year of his ministry, aged 73.
"Tuesday, September 23. Went this morning, with Dr. Colman and
the Secretary, to Roxbury, to see the Rev. Mr. Walter,[371] a
good old Puritan. He and his predecessor, the Rev. Mr. Eliot,
commonly called the 'Apostle of the Indians,' have been pastors
of that congregation a hundred and six years. About eleven, I
preached in the Rev. Mr. Gee's[372] meeting-house, and also in
the afternoon, to thronged congregations.
[371] The Rev. Nehemiah Walter was born in Ireland. In 1688, he
was ordained, as colleague of the apostolic Eliot. He married
the daughter of Increase Mather; and, after a ministry of
sixty-eight years, died in 1750, aged 86.
[372] The Rev. Joshua Gee was ordained pastor of the Old North
Church, Boston, as colleague with Cotton Mather, in 1723. He
possessed a strong and penetrating mind, but "preferred talking
with his friends to everything else." He died in 1748, aged 50.
The Old North Church was demolished, by the British army, in
1776, and the timber of it used for fuel.
"Wednesday, September 24. Preached at Cambridge, the chief
college[373] in New England for training the sons of the
prophets. It has one president, four tutors, and about a hundred
students. The college is scarce as big as one of our least
colleges at Oxford; and, as far as I could gather from some
who knew the state of it, not far superior to our universities
in piety. Discipline is at a low ebb. Bad books are become
fashionable among the tutors and students. Tillotson and
Clark are read, instead of Sheppard, Stoddard, and such-like
evangelical writers; and, therefore, I chose to preach from
these words,--'We are not as many, who corrupt the word of God;'
and God gave me great freedom and boldness of speech. A great
number of neighbouring ministers attended, as indeed they do at
all other times. The president of the college and minister of
the parish treated me very civilly. In the afternoon, I preached
again, in the court. I believe there were about seven thousand
hearers. The Holy Spirit melted many hearts.[374]
[373] As early as 1708, Oldmixon wrote: "Cambridge is a
university, and has two colleges--Harvard College, and Stoughton
Hall."
[374] Whitefield preached under an elm at Cambridge; and
beneath the shade of the same tree Washington first drew his
sword in the cause of the revolution, on taking the command of
the American army. From this circumstance, the tree was ever
afterwards called "Washington's Elm." It may also be added,
that, one of the students, converted by Whitefield's sermon, on
this occasion, was Daniel Emerson, who was ordained, in 1743,
first minister of Hollis, New Hampshire, the pastorate of which
place he retained until his death in 1801. "He was truly a son
of thunder, a flaming light; and was almost incessantly engaged
in preaching, attending funerals, etc., far and wide. He was
made the means of extensive revivals of religion." (Belcher's
"Biography of Whitefield.")
"Thursday, September 25. Preached the weekly lecture at Mr.
Foxcroft's meeting-house. After public worship, I went, at
his Excellency's invitation, and dined with him. Most of the
ministers of the town were invited with me. Before dinner,
the governor sent for me into his chamber. He wept, wished me
good luck in the name of the Lord, and recommended himself,
ministers, and people to my prayers.[375] Immediately after
dinner, I prayed for them all; and then crossed the ferry, and
preached at Charlestown, lying on the north side of Boston. The
meeting-house was very capacious, and quite filled.
[375] The governor was the Honourable Jonathan Belcher, a native
of Massachusetts, where his father was a wealthy merchant.
After an academical education in his own country, he came to
Europe, was twice at Hanover, and was introduced to the Court
there when the Princess Sophia was the presumptive heiress to
the British crown. The gracefulness of his person, his talents,
and property, procured him considerable notice. In 1730, he
was appointed Governor of New England, and continued in that
office until the year 1740, the time of Whitefield's visit.
He lived in great state, was hospitable, fond of splendid
equipages, and of an aspiring turn of mind. In 1741, he became
Governor of the New Jerseys, and was succeeded in New England
by Governor Shirley. To enable the reader to estimate the value
of some of Whitefield's collections for the orphans, it may
be added that, when Belcher left New England, the currency
was so much depreciated, that £100 sterling was equal to £550
Massachusetts currency. Belcher, to the end of his life, was one
of Whitefield's most faithful friends. (Milner's "Life of Dr.
Watts," and Johnston's "History of Bristol and Bremen.")
"Friday, September 26. Preached in the morning at Roxbury to
many thousands of people. Dined at Judge Dudley's. In the
afternoon, preached from a scaffold erected without the Rev.
Mr. Byles's[376] meeting-house, to a congregation nearly double
of that in the morning.
[376] The Rev. Mather Byles, D. D., was the first pastor of the
church in Hollis Street, Boston. From 1733 to the revolution in
1776, he continued to discharge his ministerial functions with
great acceptance; but, because he then sympathised with the
royalists rather than with the revolutionists, he was brought
to a public trial, and was denounced as a person inimical to
America. After this, he was not connected with any church. His
literary merits introduced him to some of the most distinguished
men in England, including Pope and Watts. He died in 1788, aged
82.
"Saturday, September 27. In the morning, preached at the Rev.
Mr. Welstead's meeting-house; in the afternoon, on the common,
to about 15,000 people. Oh, how did the word run! I could scarce
abstain from crying out, 'This is no other than the house of God
and the gate of heaven.'
"Sunday, September 28. Preached, in the morning, at good Dr.
Sewall's meeting-house, to a very crowded auditory, and, £555
currency were collected for the Orphan House. In the afternoon,
I preached at Dr. Colman's; and here £470 were collected. In
both places, all things were carried on with great decency and
order. After sermon, I had the honour of a private visit from
the governor. I then went and preached to a great number of
negroes, on the conversion of the Ethiopian; and, at my return,
gave a word of exhortation to a crowd of people, who were
waiting at my lodgings. I went to bed greatly refreshed with
divine consolations."
Whitefield had now spent ten days in Boston and its immediate
neighbourhood. The next seven days were employed in visiting
several important towns at a greater distance; after which, the
popular evangelist returned to the capital of the province. Before
following him in his itinerancy, selections from letters, written at
this period, will be useful. The following was addressed to him by
Charles Wesley:--
BRISTOL, _September 1, 1740_.
"MY DEAREST BROTHER AND FELLOW-LABOURER IN THE GOSPEL,--You will
sing, rejoice, and give thanks for the Divine goodness toward
me. God has lifted me up from the gates of death.[377] For this
month past, He has visited me with a violent fever. There was
no human probability of my surviving it; but I knew in myself
that I should not die. I have not finished my course, and scarce
begun it. The prayer of faith prevailed. Jesus touched my hand,
and immediately the fever departed from me. I am now slowly
recovering my strength, and can walk across my room; but I have
no use of my hand or head yet. I wait on the Lord, and shall
renew my strength.
[377] Charles Wesley was seized with fever while conducting
a religious service in Bristol, on August 6. His illness was
extremely violent, and, during its continuance, some of the
newspapers announced that he was dead.
"The great work goes forward, maugre all the opposition of earth
and hell. The most violent opposers of all are our own brethren
of Fetter Lane that were. We have gathered up between twenty and
thirty from the wreck, and transplanted them to the Foundery.
Innumerable have been the devices to scatter this little flock.
They are indefatigable in bringing us off from our 'carnal
ordinances,' and speak with such wisdom from beneath, that, if
it were possible, they would deceive the very elect.
"You will expect some account of your own household. But what
shall I say concerning them? I must either deceive or grieve
you; but you have a right to the simple truth. Your mother
continues dead in sin, yet well affected toward us. Your sister
(God help her! God convert her!) is far, very far, from the
kingdom of heaven. She has forsaken the word, and servants, and
ministers of Christ, put herself out of the bands, and is the
worst enemy they have. Her complaints, that the Methodists were
burdensome to her, forced me, after paying for my board, to
hasten to my lodging at the New Room. But this is a trifle; it
is her own private behaviour and her carriage towards the Church
of God, I totally condemn. Infinite pains have been taken with
her to set her against my brother and me. I know not what to do
with her or for her, and had long since given her up had she not
been the sister of my friend.
"My brother has been most grossly abused; his behaviour (if I
may be a witness) has been truly Christian. All the bitterness
his opposers have shewn, and the woes and curses they have
denounced against him, have never provoked him to a like return,
or stirred his temper, or impaired his charity; much less are
we cooled in our affection towards you, by all the idle stories
we hear of your opposition to us. Well-meaning Mr. Seward has
caused the world to triumph in our supposed dissensions, by his
unseasonable journal. Your zealous, indiscreet friends, instead
of concealing any little difference between us, have told it in
Gath, and published it in Askelon; but I trust, by our first
meeting, all will know that those things whereof they were
informed concerning us are nothing, while we stand fast in one
mind and in one spirit, striving together for the faith of the
gospel. This is of the last importance to the cause we maintain,
which suffered so much, as you well observe, by the dissensions
of the first Reformers. Their divisions stopped the work of
God then, and in the next age destroyed it. Oh, my friend, if
you have the glory of God and the salvation of souls at heart,
resolve, by the Divine grace, that nothing upon earth, nor under
the earth, shall part us. God increase the horror He has given
me of a separation! I had rather you saw me dead at your feet
than openly opposing you. All the lovers of discord, I trust,
shall be confounded; even those, of whatever denomination, who,
through fondness for their own opinion, would destroy the work
of God. Many, I know, desire nothing so much as to see George
Whitefield and John Wesley at the head of different parties, as
is plain from their truly devilish pains to effect it; but be
assured, my dearest brother, our heart is as your heart. Oh, may
we always thus continue to think and speak the same things!
When God has taught us mutual forbearance, long-suffering, and
love, who knows but He may bring us into an exact agreement
in all things? In the meantime, I do not think the difference
considerable. I shall never dispute with you touching election;
and, if you know not yet to reconcile that doctrine with God's
universal love, I will cry unto Him, 'Lord, what we know not,
shew Thou us!' but never offend you by my different sentiment.
My soul is set upon peace, and drawn after you by love stronger
than death. You know not how dear you are to me; not dearer,
I will be bold to say, to any of your natural or spiritual
relations.
"CHARLES WESLEY."[378]
[378] C. Wesley's Journal, vol. ii., p. 170.
The doctrinal differences between Whitefield and the Wesley
brothers, and the possibility of their being separated, evidently
caused the whole three to feel great anxiety. The following extracts
from Whitefield's letters, coupled with Charles Wesley's letter,
will sufficiently prove this:--
"BOSTON, _September 23, 1740_.
"_Sinless perfection_, I think, is unattainable in this life.
Shew me a man that could ever justly say, 'I am perfect.' It
is enough if we can say so when we bow down our heads and give
up the ghost. _Indwelling sin_ remains till death, even in the
regenerate, as the article of the Church expresses it. There is
no man that liveth and sinneth not in thought, word, and deed.
However, to affirm such a thing as _perfection_, and to deny
_final perseverance_, what an absurdity is this![379] To be
incapable of sinning,[380] and capable of being finally damned,
is a contradiction in terms. From such doctrine may I ever turn
away! I hear many amongst you, who begun in the spirit, are
now ending in the flesh. Christ hath freely justified them;
that is, entitled them to all His merits; and yet they must do
so-and-so to keep themselves in a justified state. Alas! this is
sorry divinity! I have not so learned Christ--no; His gifts and
callings are without repentance. Whom He loves, He loves to the
end. Work I will, but not to keep myself in a justified state.
My Lord hath secured that; but I will work to shew my gratitude
for His putting me into a justified state."
[379] Logic was never Whitefield's forte. Adam was perfect, and yet
Adam failed in final perseverance.
[380] This is a wanton perversion of Wesley's doctrine; but let it
pass. I purposely abstain from discussing controverted doctrines.
Others have done that. Here I have no space for it. My object is
honestly to exhibit Whitefield's principles, doctrines, and life,
and to leave it to others to censure or commend.