George Whitefield, the "boy parson."--The Wesleys
back in England.--Long walks.--Preaching by the
way-side.--A talk in a stable.--Sermon in
Manchester.--Mr. Charles in London.--Wants
something he has not got.--Gets it.--Mr. John
wants it too.--A top place in the class.
YOU remember the Holy Club which the Methodists started at Oxford? Well,
one of the youngest members was named George Whitefield; he was a pupil
of Mr. John Wesley's, and when he left Oxford he became a preacher.
While the two Wesleys were in Georgia, he carried on their work in
England. He had learnt to love Jesus very dearly, had felt how wicked
and sinful he was, and had gone to the Saviour and told Him all, asking
Him to "Create in him a clean heart, and to renew within him a right
spirit." Then he was so happy in knowing he was forgiven, that he wanted
every one else to be happy and forgiven too. He was so young when he
commenced to preach that every one called him the "boy parson;" but he
talked so earnestly and kindly to the people that crowds everywhere
flocked to hear him.
When he heard that the two Wesleys were leaving Georgia he determined to
go and take their place, and see what he could do for the poor exiles.
Before he left England he preached a good-bye sermon, and told the
people that he was going this long and dangerous voyage, and perhaps
they might never see his face again. When they heard this, the children
and the grown-up people, rich and poor, burst into tears, they loved him
so much. But as this book is to be about Mr. John Wesley, we must not
follow Mr. Whitefield across the Atlantic. Try to remember his name
though, for he and the Wesleys were life-long friends, and you will hear
about him again further on.
When Mr. John and Mr. Charles got back to England they took up George
Whitefield's work, going from town to town telling the people about
Jesus Christ. As there were no railways they had to walk a great deal,
and they used to speak to the people they met on the roads and in the
villages through which they passed. Once, when Mr. Wesley and a friend
were on their way to Manchester, they stayed one night in an inn at
Stafford. Before they went to bed, Mr. Wesley asked the mistress of the
house if they might have family prayer. She was quite willing, and so
all the servants were called in. Next morning, after breakfast, Mr.
Wesley had a talk with them all again, and even went into the stables
and spoke to the men there about their sins and about the love of Jesus
Christ.
He preached in Manchester the next Sunday, and this was his text: "If
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Cor. v. 17). He explained
to them that when any one begins to love Jesus, and tries to copy His
life, they grow more and more like what He was. Then everything becomes
different; the things they loved to do before cease to be a pleasure to
them, and the places they liked to go to they no longer care to visit;
they are "_new creatures_ in Christ Jesus."
The next morning (Monday) Mr. Wesley, and the friend who was with him,
left Manchester and went on to Knutsford. Here, too, the people listened
attentively, while they preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. They
visited other towns, and then Mr. Wesley returned to Oxford.
He had not been long there when he heard that his brother Charles was
very ill in London, and went at once to see him. Charles Wesley had been
living and working there with some German Christians, or Moravians, as
they were called, and before long he found that these people had
something in their lives that he did not possess. Like the Germans he
met in Georgia, their religion gave them peace and joy on week-days as
well as on Sundays.
When he was ill, one of these Moravians, named Peter Boehler, came to see
him. During the little talk they had, the visitor said:
"What makes you hope you are saved?"
"Because I have done my best to serve God," answered Mr. Charles.
You see, he was trusting in all the good deeds he had done, and not on
Jesus Christ's suffering and death for him.
Mr. Boehler shook his head, and did not say any more then. But he left
Charles Wesley longing for the something he had not got.
When he was a little better, he was carried to the house of a poor
working-man named Bray. He was not clever, indeed, he hardly knew how to
read, but he was a happy believer in Jesus; and he explained to Mr.
Charles that _doing_ was not enough, that we must believe that Jesus
Christ died on the cross for us, and that it is only through Him that we
can pray to God, and only by His death that we can hope to go to heaven.
Then a poor woman came in, and she made him understand better than any
one; and at last Mr. Charles saw where he had been in the wrong, and
instead of trusting in his own goodness and in all the kind things he
had done, he just gave up his faith in these, and trusted alone in the
dying love of his Saviour, and ours.
I expect all my readers have classes in the schools they go to. Some of
you are at the top of your class, some of you are in the middle, and
some of you are--well--near the bottom. I think this is very much the
way in Christ's school, the only difference is that in your class at
school there can only be _one_ at the top. In Christ's school there can
be any number at the top. There are a great number of Christians who are
only half-way up in the class, and I am afraid there are a still greater
number at the bottom. That is a place none of us like to be in at
school; then don't let us be content to keep that place in Christ's
school; let us all seek and obtain top places.
When Mr. John Wesley visited his brother, he found he had got above him
in Christ's school; he had taken a top place in the class, and John
could not rest until he had got a top place too. So he prayed very
earnestly, and got the people that had helped his brother to talk to
him, but still he did not seem to understand. Four days after he went to
a little service, and while the preacher was explaining the change that
comes in us, when we trust in Jesus alone, John Wesley saw it all, took
a top place in Christ's school, and joyfully went and told his brother.
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