“As soon as I got into the house, he called me into the
parlour, and desired the company that was with him to go out,
for he had something to say to me. When they went, he rose up,
barred the door, then sat down, and asked me, ‘Do you know
your own heart, think you?’ I answered, ‘Not rightly; but
I know Jesus Christ, and He knows and has taken possession
of it; and though it be deceitful, yet He can subdue it to
Himself; and I trust He will’. He said, ‘Have you not deceived
yourself with thinking that your sins are forgiven, and that
you are in a state of grace? I was three years seeking before
I found Him.’ I replied, ‘Suppose you were, do you confine
God to be three years in converting every soul, because you
were so long? God is able to convert a soul in three days now,
as He was to convert St. Paul seventeen hundred years ago.’
I then began to tell him what I had seen at London under Mr.
Wesley’s preaching. He said he pitied poor Mr. Wesley, for he
was ignorant of his own state; and he spoke as if he believed
Mr. Wesley to be an unconverted man; at which words my corrupt
nature began to stir. But it came to my mind, ‘The wrath of
man worketh not the righteousness of God’; and I lifted up
my heart to the Lord, and my mind was calmed in a moment. He
said, ‘You ought not to tell people that they may know their
sins forgiven, for the world cannot bear it; and if such a
thing were preached, it would raise persecution.’ I replied,
‘Let them quake that fear. By the grace of God, I love every
man, but fear no man; and I will tell all I can, that there
is such a prize to run for. If I hide it, mischief will come
upon me. There is a famine in the land; and I see myself in
the case of the lepers that were at the gate of Samaria, who
found provisions in the enemy’s camp; and, when they had eat
and drank, and loaded themselves, said, “We do not well; for
this is a day of glad tidings, let us go and make it known to
the king’s household.” When I found God’s wrath removed, for
the sake of His dear Son, I saw provision enough for my poor
fainting soul, and for all the world if they would come for it.
I believe it is a sin not to declare to the children of men
what God has done for my soul, that they may seek for the same
mercy.’ He told me, I had nothing to do with the Old Testament,
or to make comparisons from anything in it. I answered, ‘I have
as much to do with it as with the New Testament.’ He replied,
‘I would not have you speak any more to the people till you are
better acquainted with your own heart.’ I told him, I would
not in his societies, unless I was desired; but what I did in
my own house, or any other person’s that requested me, he had
no business with. I added, ‘I do not belong to you; and though
I have heard you several times, it is no benefit to me; for I
have experienced more of the grace of God than ever I heard you
preach of it, or any one else since I left London.’”
Nelson here obviously refers to his enjoyment of the Holy Spirit’s
witness to the fact that his sins were pardoned; and hence he continues,—
“Soon after Mr. Ingham came out and began to preach; when I
was greatly surprised; for what he had forbidden me to do, he
himself did directly; for he told the people, that night, they
must know their sins forgiven in this world or go to hell.”[80]
Soon after this, Ingham went to London, where the Wesleys were in
painful conflict with the Moravians. Philip Henry Molther, who had been
the private tutor of Zinzendorf’s only son, was preaching, to large
congregations, four times every week, and was much more popular than his
talents or his misty doctrines merited. The chief controversy between
him and Wesley was concerning the use of the means of grace. Molther
recommended penitent inquirers to “_be still_;” that is, not to search
the Scriptures, not to pray, not to communicate, not to do good; for it
was impossible to use means, without trusting in them. Wesley, on the
other hand, recommended and enforced just the opposite. The contention
among their partisans was fierce and furious; and the object of Ingham’s
visit to the metropolis seems to have been to reconcile the irritated
disputants. Charles Wesley writes:—
“1740. May 22.—I found our dear brother Ingham at Mr. West’s.
The holiday mob were very outrageous at the Foundery. God
filled my mouth with threatenings and promises; and, at last,
we got the victory, and the fiercest rioters were overawed into
silence.
“May 25.—At the lovefeast, I was overwhelmed with the burden
of our brethren, with such visible signs of dejection, that
several, I was since informed, were in great hopes that I
was now coming down in my pride, or unsettling, and coming
into confusion. Indeed, my faith did well-nigh fail me; for
in spite of the seeming reconciliation which brother Ingham
_forces_ them into, it is impossible we should ever be of one
mind, unless they are convinced of their abrogating the law of
_Christian_ ordinances, and taking away the children’s bread.
“May 27.—I rejoiced to find no difference betwixt my brother
Ingham and me. He has honestly withstood the deluded brethren;
contradicted their favourite errors, and constrained them to be
_still_. That blot he easily hit: ‘You say no man must speak of
what he has not experienced; you, Oxley and Simpson, say that
one in the Gospel-liberty can have no stirrings of sin.’ ‘Yes.’
‘Are you in Gospel-liberty?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then out of your own mouth
I judge you: you speak of things which you know not of.’
“June 2.—I _preached up_ the ordinances, as they call it, from
Isaiah lviii.; but first, with the prophet, I preached them
_down_. Telchig” [Toltschig], “Ingham, etc., were present,
which made me use greater plainness, that they might set me
right, if I mistook.
“June 11.—I returned” [from the Delamotte family at Blendon]
“to be exercised by our _still_ brethren’s contradiction.
My brother proposed new-modelling the bands, and setting by
themselves those few who were still for the ordinances. Great
clamour was raised by this proposal. The noisy _still_ ones
well knew that they had carried their point by wearying out
the sincere ones scattered among them; so that a remnant is
scarcely left. They grudged us even this remnant, which would
soon be all their own, unless immediately rescued out of their
hands. Benjamin Ingham seconded us, and obtained that the names
should be called over, and as many as were aggrieved put into
new books.
“We gathered up our wreck,—_raros nantes in gurgite vasto_;
for nine out of ten are swallowed up in the dead sea of
_stillness_. O, why was not this done six months ago? How
fatal was our delay and moderation! ‘Let them alone, and they
will soon be weary, and come to themselves of course,’ said
one,—_unus qui nobis cunctando restituet rem!_ I tremble at the
consequence. Will they submit themselves to every ordinance of
man, who refuse subjection to the ordinances of God? I told
them plainly, _I should only continue with them so long as they
continued in the Church of England._ My every word was grievous
to them. I am a thorn in their sides, and they cannot bear me.
“They _modestly_ denied that we had any but hearsay proof
of their denying the ordinances. I asked them all and every
one, particularly Bray, Bell, etc., whether they would now
acknowledge them to be commands or duties; whether they sinned
in omitting them; whether they did not leave it to every
man’s fancy to use them or not; whether they did not exclude
all from the Lord’s table, except those whom _they_ called
believers. These questions I put too close to be evaded;
though better dodgers never came out of the school of Loyola.
Honest Bell and some others spoke out, and insisted upon their
antichristian liberty. The rest put by their stillness, and
delivered me over to Satan for a blasphemer, a very Saul (for
to him they compare me), out of blind zeal persecuting the
Church of Christ.”[81]
Ingham continued among these angry people a week longer, when John Wesley
wrote:—
“1740. June 18.—I went to our own society, of Fetter Lane,
before whom Mr. Ingham (being to leave London on the morrow)
bore a noble testimony for the ordinances of God, and the
reality of weak faith.[82] But the short answer was, ‘You are
blind, and speak of the things you know not.’”[83]
Matters now reached a crisis. For about two years, Wesley had been a sort
of member and minister of the Moravian Society in Fetter Lane. Five weeks
after this, by a vote of the Brethren, Wesley was expelled; and Molther,
his rival, was left in full possession. Those who sympathised with Wesley
were, in number, about twenty-five men and fifty women, all of whom
seceded with him, and, on July 23rd, 1740, met, for the first time, at
the Foundery, instead of at Fetter Lane; and thus the _Methodist_ Society
was founded.
Whitefield was in America; but, in the midst of these wretched squabbles,
wrote to Ingham the following Calvinistic, and not too luminous epistle:—
“BOSTON, _September 26th, 1740_.
“MY DEAR BROTHER INGHAM,—I thank you for your kind letter. It
is the first I have received from you since I left England.
I bless God, that the work goes on in Yorkshire. May our
glorious, sin-forgiving Lord, bless you and your spiritual
children more and more!
“I find our friends are got into disputing one with another.
O, that the God of peace may put a stop to it! I wish many
may not be building on a false foundation, and resting in a
false peace. They own _free justification_, and yet seem to
think that their continuance in a justified state depends on
their doings and their wills. This, I think, is establishing
a righteousness of our own. My dear brother, if we search the
Scriptures, we shall find that the word _justified_ implies,
not only pardon of sin, but also all its consequences.
‘Thus,’ says St. Paul, ‘those whom He justified, them He also
glorified;’ so that, if a man was once justified, he remains
so to all eternity. There lies the anchor of all my hopes,—our
Lord having once loved me, He will love me to the end. This
fills me with joy unspeakable and full of glory. I now walk by
faith. I work not to keep myself in a justified state, (for men
nor devils can pluck me out of Christ’s hands,) but to express
my love and gratitude for what Jesus hath done for my soul.
This, I think, is what the apostle calls, ‘faith working by
love.’
“My dear brother, my heart’s desire and prayer to God is,
that we may all think and speak the same things; for, if we
are divided among ourselves, what an advantage will Satan get
over us! Let us love one another, excite all to come to Christ
without exception, and our Lord will show us who are His.
“With difficulty, I get time to write this, but I must
answer dear brother Ingham’s letter. May the Lord Jesus be
continually with your spirit, and make your soul brimful of
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost! I love you in the bowels of
the crucified Lamb. May He unite us more and more intimately
to His dear self, and to one another! Salute all that love Him
in sincerity. That you may be kept by God’s power to eternal
salvation, is the prayer of your most affectionate, though
unworthy brother and poor weak servant in Christ,
“GEORGE WHITEFIELD.”
It is needless to say, that some of the doctrines in the above letter
were not held by Wesley; but let that pass.
Ingham returned to Yorkshire with broader views and sympathies than
he had when he left for London. Sending for John Nelson to one of his
meetings, he said, “John, I believe God has called you to speak His word;
for I have spoken with several since I came back from London, who, I
believe, have received grace since I went; and I see God is working in
a shorter manner than He did with us at the beginning; and I should be
sorry to hinder any one from doing good.” Then, turning to the assembled
brethren and sisters, Ingham continued, “Before you all, I give John
leave to exhort in all my societies;” and, taking the rough hand of the
Yorkshire stonemason, he added, “John, God hath given you great honour,
in that He hath made use of you to call sinners to the blood of our
Saviour; and I desire you to exhort in all my societies as often as you
can.”
Thus, in the employment of lay preachers, Ingham co-operated with his
friend Wesley. Both were clergymen of the Church of England; and both
were willing to have lay helpers. Nelson’s preaching was attended with
great success. “Nine or ten in a week were brought to experience the
love of Jesus.”[84] John was no proselytizer. Those of his converts, who
belonged to the Church of England, he “exhorted to keep close to the
Church and sacrament;” and those who were “Dissenters, to keep to their
own meetings, and to let their light shine before their own community.”
In this respect, he was somewhat in advance of his reverend patron; for
Ingham advised just the contrary, and several acted on his advice, which,
says Nelson, “made me very uneasy.” Nelson firmly adhered to the Church
of England, and wished to avoid a schism. Ingham, on the other hand,
had already virtually seceded, and was at the head of the Moravian sect
in Yorkshire. The priest and the mason found it difficult to work in
harmony. Besides, though always actuated by the best intentions, Ingham
was somewhat fickle, and easily influenced by his Moravian helpers.
Nelson was just the opposite; and, yet, his steadfastness was not
stubbornness. He was firm, because he felt that the ground he occupied
was right. As already stated, Ingham, on his return from London, publicly
authorised, and even requested, Nelson to exhort in all his societies;
but, shortly afterwards, the authorization was withdrawn. Why? Because
Ingham was no longer the commander-in-chief of the Yorkshire converts,
but a merely co-ordinate member of a common-council. He could no longer
act as he liked; but must proceed in harmony with the decisions of those
to whom he had allied himself. Here an explanation is necessary.