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 cla.s.s, 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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CHAPTER XIV.
Methodist rules.--Pulpits closed against Mr.
Wesley.--A visit to Germany.--A walk in Holland.--Christian David, the German carpenter.--The Fellow of Lincoln College takes lessons in a cottage.
I DARE say many of my readers go to Wesleyan Chapels, and understand some of the Methodist rules. Most of these rules were made by the two Mr. Wesleys and their friends more than one hundred and fifty years ago, and they have been kept by their followers ever since. I want to tell you about a few of them.
The people who attended the Methodist meetings were divided into little bands or companies, no band to have fewer than five persons in it, and none more than ten. They were to meet every week, and each one in turn was to tell the rest what troubles and temptations they had had, and how G.o.d, through Jesus Christ, had helped them since the last meeting.
Every Wednesday evening, at eight o"clock, all the bands joined together in one large meeting, which began and ended with hymns and prayer.
There were many other rules, some of which I will tell you later on, others you can read about when you are older.
All this time you must remember that Mr. Wesley was a church clergyman.
He loved the Church of England very dearly, though there were a great many things in it with which he did not agree.
Wherever he preached he told the people just what he believed, and as very few clergymen thought as he did, they did not like him speaking his opinions so freely. At last, first one and then another said he should never preach in their churches again. Yet the message Mr. Wesley gave to the people, was the very same message that Christ spoke long before on the sh.o.r.es of Galilee.
Mr. Wesley still longed to understand his Bible better, and to learn more of Jesus Christ, so he determined to go and visit the Moravians at a place called Herrnhuth in Germany, and see if he could get some help from them. So one June day, he said good-bye to his mother, and with eight of his friends set off. One of these friends was an old member of the Holy Club at Oxford. On their way to Herrnhuth, they had to pa.s.s through Holland. This is what Mr. Wesley says about a walk they had in that country:
I never saw such a beautiful road. Walnut trees grow in rows on each side, so that it is like walking in a gentleman"s garden. We were surprised to find that in this country the people at the inns will not always take in travellers who ask for food and bed. They refused to receive us at several inns. At one of the towns we were asked to go and see their church, and when we went in we took off our hats in reverence, as we do in England, but the people were not pleased, they said: "You must not do so, it is not the custom in this country."
After a long, long journey through Germany, the little party at last reached Herrnhuth.
Mr. Wesley had only been a few days there, when he wrote to his brother Samuel: "G.o.d has given me my wish, I am with those who follow Christ in all things, and who walk as He walked."
I must just tell you about one of these Moravians, because he helped Mr.
Wesley more than any of the others. His name was Christian David. He was only an ignorant working-man, and when not preaching was always to be found working at his carpenter"s bench. But David was Christian in life as well as in name; he "walked with G.o.d," and whether he preached and prayed, or worked with chisel and plane, he did all "in the name of the Lord Jesus." He was never tired of telling people about the Saviour he loved, and trying to get them to love Him too. He was a man who often made mistakes, but as some one has said, "the man who never makes mistakes never makes anything;" and Christian David was always ready to own his faults when they were pointed out to him.
You remember to what a high position Mr. Wesley had risen at Oxford, and how clever he was? Yet Christian David knew more than he did about Jesus Christ and His love; and the Fellow of Lincoln College was not too proud to go and sit in a cottage and be taught by this humble carpenter, who so closely followed the Holy Carpenter of Nazareth.
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CHAPTER XV.
Fetter Lane.--Popular preachers.--Old friends meet again.--Love-feasts.--1739--Small beginning of a great gathering.--A crowded church.--A lightning thought.--But a shocking thing.--George Whitefield"s welcome at Bristol.--"You shall not preach in my pulpit."--"Nor mine."--"Nor mine."--Poor Mr. Whitefield.
WHILE Mr. Wesley was in Germany, his brother Charles had been preaching and working in London, and when Mr. John returned he found about thirty-two people had joined the society there. They had hired a room in Fetter Lane, and here they held their meetings. Mr. Wesley had come back so full of love to Jesus Christ, and therefore so full of love to everybody, and so eager for all to be as happy as he was, that he soon got many others to join them. When he wrote to his German friends, he said: "We are trying here, by G.o.d"s help, to copy you as you copy Christ."
He and his brother still preached in any church where they were allowed, and wherever they went crowds of poor people followed to hear them. They used to go, too, to the prisons, and the hospitals, and preach to the sinful and the suffering. They told them how Jesus forgave sins, and how He used to heal the sick; and the sinful were made sorry, and the suffering ones were comforted, and many believed in Jesus and prayed for forgiveness.
Mr. Wesley had returned from Germany in September; a few months later Mr. George Whitefield came back from Georgia. He had got on very well with the people there, because he did not try to alter the ways they had been accustomed to, unless it was really necessary.
Mr. Wesley went to meet his old friend, and, oh! how pleased they were to see each other again. Mr. Whitefield joined the little society in Fetter Lane, and they all worked together most happily.
I dare say most of my Methodist readers will have been to a love-feast; those of you who have not, will at any rate have heard of them. Well, it was just about this time that love-feasts were first started. The little bands or companies that I told you about used to join together, and have a special prayer meeting once a month on a Sat.u.r.day; and the following day, which, of course, was Sunday, they all used to meet again between seven o"clock and ten in the evening for a love-feast--a meal of bread and water eaten altogether and with prayer. It was a custom of the Moravians, and it was from them Mr. Wesley copied it.
I have also heard that the love-feast was provided for the people, who had walked a great many miles to hear Mr. Wesley preach, and were tired and hungry. If this was the idea of the love-feast, they would have to give the people a great deal more bread than they do now, or they would still be hungry when they had done.
The year after Mr. Whitefield returned from Georgia, 1739, was a wonderful year for the Methodists. It started with a love-feast and prayer meeting, which lasted half through the night. Then a few days later, on January 5th, the two Mr. Wesleys and Mr. Whitefield, with four other ministers, met together to talk about all they hoped to do during the year, and make rules and plans for their helpers and members.
I told you, if you remember, that first one pulpit and then another was closed against these clergymen. At last there were only two or three churches where they were allowed to preach. One day when Mr. Whitefield was preaching in one of these, the people came in such crowds to hear him, that hundreds could not get into the church. Some of them went away, but a great number stood outside.
All at once there flashed across Mr. Whitefield"s mind this thought: "Jesus preached in the open air to the people, why can"t I?" Numbers had often before been turned away when he preached, but he had never thought of having a service outside a church, it seemed a most shocking thing. However, the message seemed to come straight from G.o.d. He dared not act on it at once, for you see he was a clergyman, and had always been brought up to believe that inside the church was the only place where people can properly worship G.o.d.
When he mentioned the matter to his friends, some of them were very much shocked, and thought to preach in the open air would be a very wrong thing. But some said: "We will pray about it, and ask G.o.d to show us what we ought to do." So they knelt down and prayed to be guided to do the right thing.
Soon after this Mr. Whitefield went to Bristol, where he had been liked so much before he went to America. When he got there he was invited to preach first in one church and then in another, all were open to him.
But before very long the clergymen in the place showed that they disapproved of the plain way in which he spoke to the people, and they told him they would not allow him to preach in their pulpits again.
By and by all the churches were closed against him, and there was nowhere but the prison where he was allowed to preach. Soon the mayor of Bristol closed that door also.
Poor Mr. Whitefield! what could he do now? I think I know one thing he would do. He would turn to his Bible, and there he would read: "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."
In the next chapter you shall hear how G.o.d fulfilled His promise to George Whitefield.
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CHAPTER XVI.
Kingswood.--Grimy colliers.--The shocking thing is done.--A beautiful church.--From 200 to 20,000.--John Wesley shocked.--Drawing lots.--To be or not to be.--To be.--Mr. Wesley gets over the shock.--George Whitefield"s "good-bye" to the colliers.