No More Learning

Louis the Eighteenth once remarked of Châteaubriand's
René' that it bore a resemblance to Werther'; and when
asked if a parallel might indeed be drawn between those two
works, he replied: “Yes, without doubt; and I give the prefer-
ence to Werther,' on account of its simple naturalness. The
hero is placed amid quite ordinary circumstances, which is an im-
portant matter. These every-day details attract us all the more
to Werther's violent passion. On the other hand, we feel little or
no sympathy for René, who is a mere figure of romantic fiction. ”
This observation, which was remarkable for a prince trained in
the old dogmatic school, was looked upon for some score of years
as an example of tasteless criticism. But in the present period,
an enormous amount has been done to spread abroad the dis-
covery that the world of poetry is at bottom just the same as
that which is usually called “the prosaic world. " No Parisian
doubts this at the present time. Even in the abnormal growths
of French literature, in the monstrous sensational pieces where-
with many a theatre seeks to gain the attention of a restless
(


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15786
JOHAN SEBASTIAN CAMMERMEYER WELHAVEN
public, forcing it to listen, there are traces of this reformation.
These pictures have many lifelike details; and herein they resem-
ble the Greek fabulous combinations of plant and animal forms,
which are monstrous as wholes, but whose separate parts are
worked out with the most exact truth.
Whoever closely views the various pictures of life that throng
upon the observation in the French capital, will easily recognize
them as mirrored in the productions of art; either seen in their
full potency as in a concave mirror, or viewed as sparks and
colors through some many-sided prism. The strange figures and
bizarre delineations of a Balzac are to be found here in living
reality. We read in the newspapers the bare account of some
wonderful domestic drama which seems to belong to the dream
world; yet it has been enacted in palpable form at our very
door. We go to the Théâtre de la Porte St. Martin, and view
with repulsion and terror scenes from La Tour de Nesle,' that
harrowing painting with all its ice-cold corpses; and we reject
the idea that life could have furnished forth the composition
with matter and models. Yet the original lies close at hand:
it is the corpse-house on the Seine,- La Morgue! The poet of
the Tour de Nesle' has been there. He has gazed himself sick
upon these mystical shapes; the death smell has crept into all of
his pleasures; he has been forced to visit the morgue again and
again, and the shadows have haunted him until he freed him-
self from them with his work. La Morgue is the black crater
beneath the Parisian people's grapevines of joy; it is the cry of
woe in the midst of the triumph; it is the dark writing on Bel-
shazzar's wall. The joys of life have no such focus, for they
culminate in a thousand places at once.
La Morgue is a police institution: it supplements the bureau
of found articles. This frightful find of the suicides and the
slain must fall into the right hands. People go there to seek
out in the collection the bodies of friends or relatives.
doubts it to be a wise arrangement. A body is a small thing, of
less account than hay or dry brushwood. But we know that it
sometimes is inestimable as measured by affection, and sometimes
has a deep hieroglyphic significance. Consequently, for the con-
venience of observers, the morgue is situated in the centre of
the city. Were it perhaps better that it should stand apart in
some solitary place, shaded by the cypress and the weeping wil.
low? The forsaken one might then be alone with his unrest and
No one


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JOHAN SEBASTIAN CAMMERMEYER WELHAVEN
15787
his fear when he went to seek, and alone with his sorrow when
he had found. Alas! this is only a secondary consideration. La
Morgue is a public exhibition, a museum of the day's history.
These bodies still belong to the public; therefore their place is
in the midst of the crowd. The pit would see the tragic hero on
the boards, and pass judgment upon him before turning home-
wards.
How busily Parisian life stirs about this grewsome little
house! There is nothing sad in the neighborhood, except the wan
stream and the towers of Notre Dame. It is but a few steps to
the morgue from the flower-market. A light zephyr is enough
to waft the fragrance of roses over the low roof. Close by the
walls there is a busy traffic in fruits and vegetables. The her-
alds of life's stir, the restless omnibuses, rumble by over the
bridge. When the morgue is full of bodies, there are speculators
on hand, drawn by the throng,-mountebank tricksters, placards
announcing new inventions, harp-players and organ-grinders!
One might think that the sense of the people had become
blunted to the sights in the morgue. But this is not so: it has
offered too many heart-rending spectacles; they know that it is
a cave of Avernus, which may at any moment reveal the most
frightful things. The dusk of life hovers over that house, and it
throws a deep shadow. We often see some gloomy, motionless
figure in the midst of the noisy crowd; he casts a spell upon our
eyes, and we see him alone thereafter. His whole nature pre-
sents the picture of a dark and brooding soul, and we say to
ourselves: He is lost, — the shadow of the morgue is within him.
The arrangement of the morgue is very simple. The bodies
lie in a light-yellow hall, on dark inclined planes, and a stream
of cold water falls upon each of them. They are naked save for
a fig-leaf of dark leather. Over the couch hangs the clothing of
the corpse. Light falls from above. This hall is separated by a
grating from the anteroom, which is always open to the public.
Here we find placards displayed, describing persons who have
disappeared, and asking for information about them. At the
grating may be seen many indifferent, but also many feverishly
agitated faces.
Now and then an outcry is heard, as "C'est
affreux ! ” and “Pauvre homme ! »
How mysterious these bodies are! We stare at them, and
would read their history in their discomposed features: we pict-
ure them in the silent oppressive gambler's den, in the dark


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15788
JOHAN SEBASTIAN CAMMERMEYER WELHAVEN
squalid street where a dull gleam from the mansards is the only
light; we follow them to the Seine; we hear the awful spash of
the water: and before we know it, we have clothed these dumb
shapes with life, full of horror and despair.
I was once with a friend who lived close to the morgue. I
saw the crowd stream in, but I saw no one come out, and con-
cluded with a shudder that the corpse-house must be unusually
rich. I could not resist the powerful impulse that drove me
to view the image of terror close by. The house was full, and
most of the bodies were set forth in horrible display; one of
them had been hanged, and still had the rope about his neck.
High up lay an old colossal warrior. There was a great scar
on his forehead; his coat hung wet and muddy behind him, and
was decorated with the Legion of Honor. What proud memories
must not have dwelt in that broad breast! But they were shad-
owy ranks, and could bring no booty to his airy bivouac. This
warrior had been at Beresina. Perhaps with the fury of a tiger
he hewed a path for this body through the dense mass of men
on the breaking bridge, or fought for his life among the ice
floes of the wild stream. And now it was all a fairy tale. It
rushed into his head when he stood alone on the Pont-Neuf; but
the bridge would not break under him, and he had to cast him-
self into these quiet waters, which mirror the trophies of his
valor. The last body in this company was that of a young girl:
her hair was of glistening black and extraordinarily long; one
hand was clenched convulsively, the other limp and outspread.
“Du armes Kind, was hat man Dir gethan ? " A soldier stood
at my side: he was a handsome man, and could not have been
over eighteen. The sweat pearled on his forehead, and he
pressed his face hard against the grating. I could not tire of
watching him, but he did not notice,- he stared incessantly at
the last body.
La Morgue is an instructive institution, and has brought many
misdeeds to light. But a true feeling for the high seriousness of
death, for the deep significance of silent grief, may not be recon-
ciled with this sort of exhibition. The mechanism of the State
is skillfully constructed, - it goes and goes, and its workings cor-
respond more and more closely to calculation, - but how many a
delicate nerve in the human organism must it bruise or divide
before it shall become an entirely safe and trustworthy machine!
Death is a mystery; a corpse is sacred. We must take heed


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JOHAN SEBASTIAN CAMMERMEYER WELHAVEN
15789
not to offend the sanctity that invests a body from which the
soul has fled. The thought of suicide is fearful; but it does
not lose its poison through the desecration of God's image in
human form. The sad and prayerful moods that attend the
dead, and preserve his memory, shun the body in the morgue.
Repulsion and terror alone seize upon us at the sight of these
shapes. We have the same uncomfortable feeling as when we
read in old chronicles of those sorceries whereby the body was
robbed of its repose by horrible runes placed under the tongue.
The warm heart, that would bleed itself to death, and desired
naught but rest, must now be anatomized by cold hands! Those
secret sorrows that made its fibres quiver must now be displayed
to stimulate and amuse a light-hearted mob! Here in the French
corpse-house, I could but think of our Norse tale of the wounded
bird, that, stricken to death, dives to the bottom and bites fast in
the sea-weed.
Translation of William Morton Payne.


## p. 15789 (#116) ##########################################


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JOHN WESLEY.


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15790
JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY
(1703-1791) (1708-1788)
BY WILLIAM POTTS
W
ith a jocose reapplication in a literal sense of a metaphorical
phrase, John Wesley was used to speak of himself as “a
brand plucked from the burning. ” He had been forgotten
when a child, through the excitement caused by a conflagration in his
father's house due to incendiarism, and only rescued at the last pos-
sible moment. There were other experiences in that house, and in
the one which succeeded it, which were not
wholly conventional. Susannah Wesley, the
mother of John and Charles, was a woman
of fine education and of strong character,
and a pious and devoted mother. She usu-
ally bent herself to her husband's will,
though with discretion; but they were not
politically agreed, and he at one time with-
drew for a considerable period from associ-
ation with her because he was offended on
this account. It is said that his salary was
never greater than £20 per annum, and
he was frequently called upon to aid impe-
CHARLES WESLEY cunious relatives; but Malthus had not yet
come, and neither he nor his wife perhaps
realized any incongruity between his income and their family of
nineteen children. Mrs. Wesley had her own theory as to how the
early education of children should be conducted. She did not begin
with them until they were five years old, and then she made them
learn the alphabet perfectly in one day; on the next day they were
put to spell and to read one line, and then a verse, never leaving it
until they were perfect in the lesson. ” Of the nineteen, only a lim-
ited selection of three boys and three girls lived to grow up: the
three boys all attained prominence, the girls all great unhappiness.
Unseen powers appear to have taken part in the political schism
between the Rev. Samuel Wesley and his wife: their home at Ep-
worth parsonage, during a long period while John was a schoolboy,
being the scene of the most unaccountable noises and other disturb-
ances, which attained their maximum of obtrusivenes during the

(


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در بیرون می اور بین .
دیگر نمی تنه


## p. 15789 (#120) ##########################################

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9
JOHN WESLEY.


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## p. 15791 (#123) ##########################################

JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY
15791
>
Reverend Samuel's prayers for the royal family. So customary did
these noises become, that for convenience, their unknown author was
given the name of “Old Jeffery,” by which appellation he was long
familiarly called in the family.
John Wesley was born at Epworth, Lincolnshire, June 17th (O. S. ),
1703. His brother Charles, with whom he was closely associated
throughout their lives, was born at the same place five years later
(December 18th, 1808, O. S. ). In studying their biographies, one can-
,
not well avoid the conclusion that though Charles was less aggressive
than his brother, and though his fame, in part on this account, has
been wholly overshadowed by that of the latter, his was the steadier
and better rounded character of the two; and that to him their com-
mon success as religious leaders is largely due. Charles was the
forerunner in the movement at Oxford, and again, though only by a
few days, in his “conversion”; and above all, Charles was the hymn-
writer of Methodism, and the influence of the service of song upon
the Methodist movement it is almost impossible to exaggerate.
Charles Wesley, it is said, wrote more than six thousand hymns; and
though in this vast flux of words he sometimes — nay, often — “ran
to emptins,” there are among his sacred songs some which appeal to
people of every faith, and promise to live as long as Divine service
is continued. The strong musical bias in his blood is shown in the
fact that his son Samuel played on the organ at three, and composed
an oratorio at eight.
John was educated at Charterhouse School, and at Christ Church
College, Oxford. He easily won a reputation as a fine scholar. He
was ordained a deacon in 1725, was elected a Fellow of Lincoln Col-
lege in 1726, was in the same year appointed Greek lecturer and
moderator of the classes, became curate for his father at Wroote in
1727, and was ordained a priest in 1728. Charles was educated at
Westminster School, at St. Peter's College, Westminster, and at Christ
Church College; but was not ordained until 1735. At Oxford, about
1728, he with a dozen others organized an association, which in deris-
ion was known variously as the Holy Club, the Godly Club, the
Bible Moths, the Bible Bigots, the Sacramentarians, and the Method-
ists. The latter term, referring to the formal system introduced by
them in their services, was destined to become the title of the most
important religious organization of the century; although this organ-
ization, founded by the same men, took a wholly different direction
from the club from which it inherited its title. Among the members
of the club, besides the Wesleys, the most important were George
Whitefield, and James Hervey the author of the Meditations.
Returning to Oxford in 1729. John joined this club, and was im-
mediately recognized as its leader. In the austerities practiced by
the members, and in many other ways, is clear that they permitted


## p. 15792 (#124) ##########################################

15792
JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY
themselves to be led into great excesses, which later they more or
less frankly acknowledged.
In 1735 the brothers went to Georgia in General Oglethorpe's com-
pany; the elder to take spiritual charge of his colony, the younger as
his secretary. Upon the same vessel were a number of Moravians
from Herrnhut, by whom John was greatly impressed; and under the
influence of that body he remained for a number of years. This
Georgia episode was characterized by a variety of disagreeable inci-
dents. The responsibility for the troubles which occurred, it is now
impossible to place with exactness; but it is safe to say that they
resulted in part at least from some lack of tact or of fitness in the
brothers for the tasks which they undertook. Charles returned to
England in 1736, but John remained abroad until 1738.
Through their intercourse with the Moravians, the brothers had
become convinced that although they had undertaken to teach oth-
ers, they had themselves not yet become true Christians. Remaining
under the same influence, it was in the natural order of events that
John, a little later, recorded his awakening into the new life "at a
religious meeting at a quarter before nine o'clock on the evening of
May 24th 1738 ”; Charles having gone through the same experience
three days earlier. From this time forward the work of evangel-
ism occupied his life, until its close fifty-three years later. He died
March 2d, 1791, having traveled during the period of his active minis-
try, it is estimated, 225,000 miles, and preached more than 40,500 ser-
mons, not including miscellaneous addresses. After he was seventy
years of age he gave this explanation of his continued cheerfulness
and good health: “The chief reasons are, my constant rising at four
for about fifty years; my generally preaching at five in the morning,
one of the most healthy exercises in the world; my never travel-
ing less by sea or land than four thousand five hundred miles in a
year. ” Until his later years he usually traveled on horseback; and
he often read the while, until consequent mishaps warned him of
the risks to which he was exposing himself. His home life was not
inspiring. He had spoken much of the advantages of celibacy, but
in 1750 married a widow with four children. The marriage was not
a blessed one. Mrs. Wesley seems to have been “good” but not
wholly agreeable. Their intercourse was not harmonious; and after
some tentative absences, it is said that she finally left him not to
return, although in his journal there appears some indication that
this is not a strictly correct statement.
Neither of the brothers withdrew from the established Church, and
Charles appears never to have reconciled himself to the prospective
establishment of a new denomination, to which course John seems to
have been fully committed many years before his death. Both en-
gaged actively in the ministry from the date of their conversion or


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JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY
15793
soon after, until 1740 in connection with the Moravians, and after-
ward independently; and when in London, their meetings were
usually held in a room in Fetter Lane. In 1739 an old building in
Moorfields called “The Foundery” was converted into a meeting-
house; but this soon became inadequate for the crowds which were
drawn together, and open-air preaching followed in the natural order
of evolution. Whitefield was soon drawn into the work; but he and
Wesley subsequently parted upon theological grounds, Wesley having
fully assimilated the doctrines of Free Grace and Salvation by Faith,
while Whitefield held firmly to Predestination. The impossibility of
attending with frequency congregations gathered in various parts of
the kingdom, led before long to the employment of lay speakers; and
these in turn gradually gave place to an established order of itiner-
ant preachers; and later these again to ministers settled for a limited
period, with superintending bishops.
The ministrations of the two brothers and of Whitefield, but
especially of John Wesley, were characterized by an impassioned ear-
nestness which worked powerfully upon the susceptibilities of their
hearers. The meetings were soon the scene of violent demonstrations
of nervous emotion and physical contortions, such as have in a meas-
ure survived to this day; though in late years they have not been so
frequent or so pronounced, nor do they appear to be usually encour-
aged by the exhorters. These hysterical demonstrations, though fa-
miliar to every student of history, were then not so well known and
understood as now; and perhaps it was quite natural that John Wes-
ley accepted them as valuable testimony to the virtue of his teach-
ing, without scrutinizing them too closely. It is true that he was at
times on his guard, and disposed to try the spirits”: to which course
he was prompted by the extravagances of the Camisards, — the
“French Prophets,” then numerous in England, the counterparts of
which had been seen in New England during the so-called witchcraft
excitement of fifty years earlier. But his occasional success in restor-
ing calm in some cases, which were clearly not intended as impost-
ure, might have led him to a greater caution in other cases. Charles
never looked with a kindly eye upon these paroxysms of “enthusi-
asm. ” He was more conservative in several ways than his brother;
and though he was engaged for many years in itinerant preaching,
he was disposed to a quieter and more contemplative life. His lit-
erary work is comprised in his innumerable hymns and verses, and
in a journal and sermons published subsequent to his death. He
was not quite so self-assertive as his brother, who perhaps would not
have written-
(How ready is the man to go
Whom God hath never sent!
XXVII–988


## p. 15794 (#126) ##########################################

15794
JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY
How timorous, diffident, and slow,
His chosen instrument!
Lord, if from thee this mark I have
Of a true messenger,
By whom thou wilt thy people save,
And let me always fear. ”
Charles Wesley died March 29th, 1788, three years earlier than his
elder brother.
John Wesley was an eager reader and a voluminous writer. It
seems almost impossible that even in his long life he could have
found time for all that he accomplished. Sermons, letters, and con-
troversial works; works on Divinity, on Ecclesiastical History, on
Medicine; a short History of Rome,' a History of England,' — what
did he not indite! He even published an abbreviation of Brooke's
(Fool of Quality. He was a good linguist and an extremely forcible
writer, and his works have been republished in many forms and .
editions.
The value to the Church and to society of the work initiated by
the Wesleys cannot be overestimated. The times in which they
lived were sadly out of joint, and few would hesitate to say with
Thackeray :-
«No wonder that Whitefield cried out in the wilderness, – that Wesley
quitted the insulted temple to pray on the hillside. I look with reverence on
chose men at that time. Which is the sublimer spectacle,- the good John
Wesley surrounded by his congregation of miners at the pit's mouth, or the
Queen's chaplains mumbling through their morning office in their anteroom
under the picture of the great Venus, with the door opening into the adjoin-
ing chamber, where the Queen is dressing, talking scandal to Lord Hervey, or
uttering sneers at Lady Suffolk, who is kneeling with a basin at her mistress's
feet ? »
Wienam Porto
THE NEW BIRTH
From a Discourse entitled (The New Birth)
EFORE
B"
a child is born into the world, he has eyes but sees
not; he has ears but does not hear. He has a very imper-
fect use of every other sense. He has no knowledge of
any of the things of the world, or any natural understanding.


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JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY
15795
To that manner of existence which he then has, we do not even
give the name of life. It is then only when a man is born, that
we say he begins to live. For as soon as he is born, he begins
to see the light, and the various objects with which he is encom-
passed. His ears are then opened, and he hears the sounds
which successively strike upon them. At the same time, all the
other organs of sense begin to be exercised upon their proper
objects. He likewise breathes, and lives in a manner wholly
different from what he did before. How exactly doth the par.
allel hold in all these instances! While a man is in a mere
natural state, before he is born of God, he has, in a spiritual
sense, eyes and sees not; a thick impenetrable veil lies upon
them: he has ears, but hears not; he is utterly deaf to what he
is most of all concerned to hear.
His other spiritual senses are
all locked up; he is in the same condition as if he had them
not. Hence he has no knowledge of God; no intercourse with
him: he is not at all acquainted with him. He has no true
knowledge of the things of God, either of spiritual or eternal
things; therefore though he is a living man, he is a dead Christ-
ian. But as soon as he is born of God, there is a total change
in all these particulars. The eyes of his understanding are
opened” (such is the language of the great apostle); and he who
of old commanded light to shine out of darkness shining on his
heart, he sees the light of the glory of God,” his glorious love
in the face of Jesus Christ. ” His ears being opened, he is now
capable of hearing the inward voice of God, saying, “Be of good
cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee;” “Go and sin no more. ”
is the purport of what God speaks to his heart; although per-
haps not in these very words. He is now ready to hear whatso-
ever “He that teacheth man knowledge ” is pleased from time
to time to reveal to him. He “feels in his heart” (to use the
language of our Church) “the mighty working of the Spirit of
God”: not in a gross, carnal sense, as the men of the world
stupidly and willfully misunderstand the expression; though they
have been told again and again, we mean thereby neither more
nor less than this: he feels, is inwardly sensible of, the graces
which the Spirit of God works in his heart. He feels, he is con-
scious of, a "peace which passeth all understanding. ” He many
times feels such a joy in God as is unspeakable, and full of
glory. ” He feels the love of God shed abroad in his heart by
the Holy Ghost, which is given unto him”; and all his spiritual
senses are then exercised to discern spiritual good and evil. By
(


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15796
JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY
the use of these, he is daily increasing in the knowledge of God,
of Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, and of all the things per-
taining to his inward kingdom. And now he may be properly
said to live: God having quickened him by His spirit, he is alive
to God through Jesus Christ. He lives a life which the world
knoweth not of, a “life which is hid with Christ in God. ” God
is continually breathing, as it were, upon the soul; and his soul
is breathing unto God. Grace is descending into his heart; and
prayer and praise ascending to heaven: and by this intercourse
between God and man, this fellowship with the Father and the
Son, as by a kind of spiritual respiration, the life of God in the
soul is sustained; and the child of God grows up, till he comes
to the full measure of the stature of Christ. ”
From hence it manifestly appears, what is the nature of the
new birth. It is that great change which God works in the soul
when he brings it into life; when he raises it from the death of
sin to the life of righteousness. It is the change wrought in the
whole soul by the almighty Spirit of God, when it is created
anew in Christ Jesus,” when it is renewed after the image of
God, in righteousness and true holiness”; when the love of the
world is changed into the love of God; pride into humility; pas-
sion into meekness; hatred, envy, malice, into a sincere, tender,
disinterested love for all mankind. In a word, it is that change
whereby the earthly, sensual, devilish mind is turned into the
“mind which was in Christ Jesus. ” This is the nature of the
new birth: "So is every one that is born of the Spirit. ”
OUR STEWARDSHIP
From a Discourse entitled (The Good Steward)
W*
E SHALL not receive ta còla — our own things — till we come
to our own country. Eternal things only are our own:
with all these temporal things we are barely intrusted by
another - the Disposer and Lord of all. And he intrusts us with
-
them on this express condition, that we use them only as our
Master's goods, and according to the particular directions which
he has given us in his word.
On this condition he hath intrusted us with our souls, our
bodies, our goods, and whatever other talents we have received;
but in order to impress this weighty truth on our hearts, it will
be needful to come to particulars.


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JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY
15797
And first, God has intrusted us with our soul,- an immortal
spirit, made in the image of God; together with all the powers
and faculties thereof, - understanding, imagination, memory, will,
and a train of affections, either included in it, or closely depend-
ent upon it,— love and hatred, joy and sorrow; respecting present
good and evil, desire and aversion; hope and fear, respecting that
which is to come.
All these St. Paul seems to include in two
words, when he says, “The peace of God shall keep your hearts
and minds. ” Perhaps indeed the latter word, vonpara, might rather
"
be rendered thoughts, provided we take that word in its most
extensive sense, for every perception of the mind, whether active
or passive.
Now of all these, it is certain we are only stewards. God has
intrusted us with these powers and faculties, not that we may
employ them according to our own will, but according to the
express orders which he has given us: although it is true that
in doing his will we most effectually secure our own happiness;
seeing it is herein only that we can be happy, either in time or
in eternity. Thus we are to use our understanding, our imagina-
tion, our memory, wholly to the glory of Him that gave them.
Thus our will is to be wholly given up to him, and all our affec-
tions to be regulated as he directs. We are to love and hate, to
rejoice and grieve, to desire and shun, to hope and fear, accord-
ing to the rule which he prescribes, whose we are, and whom we
are to serve in all things. Even our thoughts are not our
in this sense: they are not at our own disposal; but for every
deliberate motion of our mind, we are accountable to our great
Master
God has, secondly, intrusted us with our bodies (those exqui-
sitely wrought machines, so “fearfully and wonderfully made"),
”
with all the powers and members thereof. He has intrusted
us with the organs of sense; of sight, hearing, and the rest: but
none of these are given us as our own, to be employed accord-
ing to our own will. None of these are lent us in such a sense
as to leave us at liberty to use them as we please for a season.
No: we have received them on these very terms, that as long
as they abide with us, we should employ them all in that very
manner, and no other, which he appoints.
It is on the same terms that he imparted to us that most
excellent talent of speech. “Thou hast given me a tongue,” says
the ancient writer, “that I may praise thee therewith. ” For this
Own


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purpose was it given to all the children of men, to be employed
in glorifying God. Nothing, therefore, is more ungrateful or
more absurd than to think or say, “Our tongues are our own. ”
That cannot be, unless we have created ourselves, and so are
independent of the Most High, Nay, but It is he that hath
made us,
and not we ourselves: " the manifest consequence is
that he is still Lord over us, in this as in all other respects. It
follows that there is not a word of our tongue for which we are
not accountable to him.
To him we are equally accountable for the use of our hands
and feet, and all the members of our body. These are so many
talents which are committed to our trust, until the time appointed
by the Father. Until then, we have the use of all these; but as
stewards, not as proprietors: to the end, we should render them,
not as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but as instru-
ments of righteousness unto God. ”
God has intrusted us, thirdly, with a portion of worldly goods,
with food to eat, raiment to put on, and a place where to lay
our head; with not only the necessaries but the conveniences of
life. Above all, he has committed to our charge that precious
talent which contains all the rest, - money: indeed it is unspeak-
ably precious, if we are wise and faithful stewards of it; if we
employ every part of it for such purposes as our blessed Lord
has commanded us to do.
God has intrusted us, fourthly, with several talents which do
not properly come under any of these heads. Such is bodily
strength; such are health, a pleasing person, an agreeable ad-
dress; such are learning and knowledge in their various degrees,
with all the other advantages of education. Such is the influence
which we have over others, whether by their love and esteem of
us, or by power-power to do them good or hurt, to help or hin-
der them in the circumstances of life. Add to these that invalu-
able talent of time, with which God intrusts us from moment
to moment. Add, lastly, that on which all the rest depend, and
without which they would all be curses, not blessings; namely,
the grace of God, the power of his Holy Spirit, which alone
worketh in us all that is acceptable in his sight.
Brethren, "Who is an understanding man and endued with
knowledge among you? » Let him show the wisdom from above,
by walking suitably to his character. If he so account of him-
self, as a steward of the manifold gifts of God, let him see that
(


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all his thoughts, and words, and works, be agreeable to the post
God has assigned him. It is no small thing to lay out for God
all which you have received from God. It requires all your wis-
dom, all your resolution, all your patience, and constancy;– far
more than ever you had by nature; but not more than you may
have by grace.
For his grace is sufficient for you; and “all
things,” you know, "are possible to him that believeth. Ву
faith, then, put on the Lord Jesus Christ"; "put on the whole
armor of God”: and you shall be enabled to glorify him in all
your words and works; yea, to bring every thought into captivity
to the obedience of Christ!
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
From The First Discourse upon the Sermon on the Mount)
ThS
his is that kingdom of heaven, or of God, which is within us:
even “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. ”
And what is righteousness, but the life of God in the
soul; the mind which was in Christ Jesus; the image of God
stamped upon the heart now renewed after the likeness of him
that created it ? What is it but the love of God, because he first
loved us, and the love of all mankind for his sake ?
And what is this "peace,” the peace of God, but that calm
serenity of soul, that sweet repose in the blood of Jesus, which
leaves no doubt of our acceptance in him; which excludes all
fear, but the loving, filial fear of offending our Father which is
in heaven?
This inward kingdom implies also “joy in the Holy Ghost ”;
who seals upon our hearts the redemption which is in Jesus,”
the righteousness of Christ imputed to us for the remission of
the sins that are past”; who giveth us now the earnest of our
inheritance,” of the crown which the Lord, the righteous Judge,
will give at that day. And well may this be termed “the king-
dom of heaven”: seeing it is heaven already opened in the soul;
the first springing up of those rivers of pleasure which flow at
God's right hand for evermore.
« Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ” Whosoever thou art to
whom God hath given to be "poor in spirit,” to feel thyself lost,
thou hast a right thereto, through the gracious promise of Him
(C
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JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY
(
who cannot lie. It is purchased for thee by the blood of the
Lamb. It is very nigh: thou art on the brink of heaven! An-
other step, and thou enterest into the kingdom of righteousness,
and peace, and joy! Art thou all sin ? “Behold the Lamb of
God, who taketh away the sin of the world! ” All unholy? See
thy "Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”!
Art thou unable to atone for the least of thy sins? “He is the
propitiation for [all thy] sins. ” Now believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and all thy sins are blotted out! Art thou totally unclean
in soul and body ? Here is the “fountain for sin and unclean-
ss”! “Arise, and wash away thy sins! ” Stagger no more at
the promise through unbelief! Give glory to God! Dare to be-
lieve! Now cry out from the ground of thy heart,
!
(
ness
“Yes, I yield, I yield at last,
Listen to thy speaking blood;
Me, with all my sins, I cast
On my atoning God! »
Then thou learnest of him to be "lowly of heart. ” And this
is the true, genuine, Christian humility, which flows from a sense
of the love of God, reconciled to us in Christ Jesus. Poverty of
spirit, in this meaning of the word, begins where a sense of guilt
and of the wrath of God ends; and is a continual sense of our
total dependence on him for every good thought, or word, or
work,- of our utter inability to all good, unless he water us
every moment, and an abhorrence of the praise of men, know-
ing that all praise is due unto God only. With this is joined a
loving shame, a tender humiliation before God, even for the sins
which we know he hath forgiven us, and for the sin which still
remaineth in our hearts, although we know it is not imputed to
our condemnation. Nevertheless, the conviction we feel of inbred
sin is deeper and deeper every day. The more
we grow in
grace, the more do we see of the desperate wickedness of our
heart. The more we advance in the knowledge and love of God
through our Lord Jesus Christ (as great a mystery as this may
appear to those who know not the power of God unto salvation),
the more do we discern of our alienation from God,- of the
enmity that is in our carnal mind, and the necessity of our being
entirely renewed in righteousness and true holiness.


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THE LOVE THAT HOPETH AND ENDURETH ALL THINGS
From the (Second Discourse upon the Sermon on the Mount)
ND when it can no longer believe, then love “hopeth all
A » ?
the relation is not true, that the thing related was never
done. Is it certain it was? — "But perhaps it was not done
with such circumstances as are related; so that allowing the fact,
there is room to hope it was not so ill as it is represented. '
Was the action apparently, undeniably evil? Love hopes the in-
tention was not so. Is it clear the design was evil too ? — “Yet
might it not spring, not from the settled temper of the heart,
but from a start of passion, or from some vehement temptation,
which hurried the man beyond himself? ” And even when it
cannot be doubted but all the actions, designs, and tempers are
equally evil, still love hopes that God will at last make bare his
arm and get himself the victory; and that there shall be "joy in
heaven over [this] one sinner that repenteth, more than over
ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance. ”
Lastly: It "endureth all things. ” This completes the character
of him that is truly merciful. He endureth not some, not many
things only, not most, but absolutely all things. Whatever the
injustice, the malice, the cruelty of men can inflict, he is able to
suffer. He calls nothing intolerable; he never says of anything,
“This is not to be borne. ” No: he can not only do but suffer
all things through Christ which strengtheneth him. And all he
suffers does not destroy his love, nor impair it in the least. It
is proof against all. It is a flame that burns even in the midst
of the great deep. “Many waters cannot quench” his love,
neither can the floods drown it. ” It triumphs over all. It
“never faileth, either in time or in eternity.
(
« Thus in obedience to what Heaven decrees,
Knowledge shall fail, and prophecy shall cease;
But lasting charity's more ample sway —
Nor bound by time, nor subject to decay –
In happy triumph shall forever live,
And endless good diffuse, and endless praise receive. "
So shall “the merciful obtain mercy”: not only by the bless-
ing of God upon all their ways, by his now repaying the love


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JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY
they bear to their brethren a thousandfold into their own
bosom; but likewise by “an exceeding and eternal weight of
glory,” in the "kingdom prepared for them from the beginning
of the world. ”
A CATHOLIC SPIRIT
From a Discourse entitled “Catholic Spirit)
, , that is not
F*speculative"latitudinarianism. It is not an indiference to all
(
>
opinions: this is the spawn of hell, not the offspring of
heaven. This unsettledness of thought, this being driven to
and fro, and tossed about with every wind of doctrine,” is a great
curse, not a blessing; an irreconcilable enemy, not a friend, to
true catholicism. A man of a truly catholic spirit has not now
his religion to seek, He is fixed as the sun in his judgment
concerning the main branches of Christian doctrine.
It is true,
he is always ready to hear and weigh whatsoever can be offered
against his principles; but as this does not show any wavering
in his own mind, so neither does it occasion any. He does not
halt between two opinions, nor vainly endeavor to blend them
into one.
Observe this, you who know not what spirit ye are
of: who call yourselves men of a catholic spirit, only because you
are of a muddy understanding; because your mind is all in a
mist; because you have no settled, consistent principles, but are
for jumbling all opinions together. Be convinced that you have
quite missed your way; you know not where you are. You think
you are got into the very spirit of Christ, when in truth you
are nearer the spirit of Antichrist. Go first and learn the first
elements of the gospel of Christ, and then shall you learn to be
of a truly catholic spirit.
From what has been said, we may learn, secondly, that a
catholic spirit is not any kind of practical latitudinarianism. It
is not indifference as to public worship, or as to the outward
manner of performing it. This likewise would not be a blessing
but a curse. Far from being a help thereto, it would, so long as
it remained, be an unspeakable hindrance to the worshiping of
God in spirit and in truth. But the man of a truly catholic
spirit, having weighed all things in the balance of the sanctuary,
has no doubt, no scruple at all, concerning that particular mode


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of worship wherein he joins. He is clearly convinced that this
manner of worshiping God is both Scriptural and rational. He
knows none in the world which is more Scriptural, none which
is more rational. Therefore, without rambling hither and thither
he cleaves close thereto, and praises God for the opportunity of
so doing.
Hence we may, thirdly, learn that a catholic spirit is not in-
difference to all congregations. This is another sort of latitudi-
narianism, not less absurd and unscriptural than the former. But
it is far from a man of a truly catholic spirit. He is fixed in
his congregation as well as his principles. He is united to one,
not only in spirit, but by all the outward ties of Christian fellow-
ship. There he partakes of all the ordinances of God. There
he receives the supper of the Lord. There he pours out his soul
in public prayer, and joins in public praise and thanksgiving.
There he rejoices to hear the word of reconciliation, the gospel
of the grace of God. With these his nearest, his best beloved
brethren, on solemn occasions, he seeks God by fasting. These
particularly he watches over in love, as they do over his soul;
admonishing, exhorting, comforting, reproving, and every way
building up each other in the faith. These he regards as his
own household; and therefore, according to the ability God has
given him, naturally cares for them, and provides that they may
have all the things that are needful for life and godliness.
But while he is steadily fixed in his religious principles, in
what he believes to be the truth as it is in Jesus; while he firmly
adheres to that worship of God which he judges to be most
acceptable in his sight; and while he is united by the tenderest
and closest ties to one particular congregation, - his heart is
enlarged towards all mankind, those he knows and those he does
not; he embraces with strong and cordial affection neighbors
and strangers, friends and enemies. This is catholic, or univer-
sal love. And he that has this is of a catholic spirit. For love
alone gives the title to this character: catholic love is a catholic
spirit.
If then we take this word in the strictest sense, a man of a
catholic spirit is one who, in the manner above mentioned, gives
his hand to all whose hearts are right with his heart: one who
knows how to value, and praise God for, all the advantages he
enjoys, with regard to the knowledge of the things of God, the
true Scriptural manner of worshiping him, and above all, his


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JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY
union with a congregation fearing God and working righteous-
ness: one who, retaining these blessings with the strictest care,
keeping them as the appie of his eye, at the same time loves —
as friends, as brethren in the Lord, as members of Christ and
children of God, as joint partakers now of the present kingdom
of God, and fellow-heirs of his eternal kingdom - all of whatever
opinion, or worship, or congregation, who believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ; who love God and man; who, rejoicing to please
and fearing to offend God, are careful to abstain from evil, and
zealous of good works. He is the man of a truly catholic spirit,
who bears all these continually upon his heart; who, having an
unspeakable tenderness for their persons, and longing for their
welfare, does not cease to commend them to God in prayer as
well as to plead their cause before men; who speaks comfortably
to them, and labors by all his words to strengthen their hands in
God. He assists them to the uttermost of his power in all things,
spiritual and temporal. He is ready to spend and be spent for
them”; yea, to lay down his life for their sake.
Thou, O man of God, think on these things! If thou art
already in this way, go on. If thou hast heretofore mistook the
path, bless God who hath brought thee back! And now run the
race which is set before thee, in the royal way of universal love.
Take heed, lest thou be either wavering in thy judgment, or
straitened in thy bowels; but keep an even pace, rooted in the
faith once delivered to the saints, and grounded in love, in true
catholic love, till thou art swallowed up in love for ever and
ever!
THE LAST JUDGMENT
From a Discourse on (The Great Assize)
Surday presenta before the cora
UFFER me to add a few words to all of you who are at this
Lord. Should not you bear it in
your minds all the day long, that a more awful day is
coming? A large assembly this! But what is it to that which
every eye will then behold, the general assembly of all the
children of men that ever lived on the face of the whole earth!
A few will stand at the judgment seat this day, to be judged
touching what shall be laid to their charge; and they are now
reserved in prison, perhaps in chains, till they are brought forth


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15805
we
are
.
your face.
to be tried and sentenced. But we shall all — I that speak, and
you that hear – “stand at the judgment seat of Christ. ” And
now reserved on this earth, which is not our home, in
this prison of flesh and blood, perhaps many of us in chains of
darkness too, till we are ordered to be brought forth. Here a
,
man is questioned concerning one or two acts which he is sup-
posed to have committed: there we are to give an account of
all our works, from the cradle to the grave; of all our words; of
all our desires and tempers, all the thoughts and intents of our
hearts; of all the use we have made of our various talents,
whether of mind, body, or fortune, till God said, “Give an ac-
,
count of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward. ”
In this court, it is possible, some who are guilty may escape
for want of evidence; but there is no want of evidence in that
court. All men with whom you had the most secret intercourse,
who were privy to all your designs and actions, are ready before
So are all the spirits of darkness who inspired evil
designs and assisted in the execution of them. So are all the
angels of God, those eyes of the Lord that run to and fro over
all the earth; who watched over your soul, and labored for your
good, so far as you would permit. So is your own conscience, a
thousand witnesses in one; now no more capable of being either
blinded or silenced, but constrained to know and to speak the
naked truth touching all your thoughts, and words, and actions.
And is conscience as a thousand witnesses ? — yea; but God is as
a thousand consciences! Oh, who can stand before the face of
the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ!
See! see! He cometh! He maketh the clouds his chariot!
He rideth upon the wings of the wind! A devouring fire goeth
before him and after him, a flame burneth! See! He sitteth
upon his throne, clothed with light as with a garment, arrayed
with majesty and honor! Behold, his eyes are as a flame of fire,
his voice as the sound of many waters!
How will ye escape? Will ye call to the mountains to fall on
you, the rocks to cover you ? Alas, the mountains themselves,
the rocks, the earth, the heavens, are just ready to flee away!
Can ye prevent the sentence ?