In this excursion Mr. Wesley was very successful in doing good; but he met with strong opposition to the doctrine of justification by faith alone, from William Delamotte, whom he calls his scholar, and from Mrs. Delamotte, who was still more violent against it than her son; both were zealous defenders of the merit of good works. Mr. Delamotte supposed, that if men were justified by faith alone, without any regard to works, then sinners obtaining this justification, and dying soon after, would be equal in heaven with those who had laboured many years in doing good and serving God. But, said he, "It would be unjust in God << to make sinners equal with us, who have laboured

The

many years." The Jews of old reasoned in a similar manner concerning the reception of the Gentiles into the gospel church, on the same conditions and to the same privileges with themselves. Their disposition towards the Gentiles is beautifully described, and gently reproved, in the parable of the prodigal son. cases indeed are not perfectly similar; the one relating to our state in heaven, the other to the blessings and privileges of the gospel in this life. Mr. Delamotte's conclusion however, does not follow from the doctrine of justification by faith. As all men have sinned, so all men must be justified, or pardoned, and be admitted to a participation of gospel blessings, as an act of mere grace or favour; and the condition required of man, is, faith alone; but it is such a faith as becomes a practical principle of obedience to every part of the gospel, so far as a man understands it. Thus far all men, who hear the gospel are equal; they must be pardoned and accepted by an act of grace or favour, and the same condition of receiving these blessings is required of every man, without any regard to his works, which are all sinful. Our state in heaven will

be

be regulated by a different rule. All who are saved, will not be treated as equal: Every man will be rewarded according to his works; that is, according to his improvement in practical holiness, on gospel principles. Heaven will undoubtedly be a state of society; this appears evident, not only from some passages of scripture, but from the faculties of man, which are formed for social intercourse, in order to obtain the highest degree of happiness. But in a state of society, the members occupy different ranks and degrees; there are certain honours and rewards to be bestowed: in heaven these will all be distributed in proportion to our works, and the conformity to Christ, to which we may attain in this life.

Mr. Delamotte however, thought his conclusion good, and was animated with zeal against this new faith, as it was then commonly called. He collected his strong reasons against it, and filled two sheets of paper with them; but in searching the scripture for passages to strengthen his arguments, he met with Titus iii. 5. "Not by works of righteousness which "we have done, but according to his mercy he hath "saved us." This passage of scripture cut him to the heart, destroyed all confidence in the specious reasoning he had used on this subject, and convinced him he was wrong. He burned his papers, and began to seek in earnest that faith which he had before opposed.

Mrs. Delamotte continued her opposition. In reading a sermon, one evening in the family, Mr. Wesley maintained the doctrine of faith: Mrs. Delamotte opposed. "Madam, (said Mr. Wesley) we cannot "but speak the things we have seen and heard: I "received faith in that manner, and so have more "than thirty others in my presence." Her passion

kindled

kindled; said she could not bear this, and hastily quitted the room.---Mr. Wesley here gives us some idea of his success in conversing and praying with the people. A month had now elapsed since his justification. A part of this time he had been confined by sickness, and was not yet able to preach. Notwith standing this, more than thirty persons had been justified in the little meetings at which he had been present! Mrs. Delamotte was afterwards convinced of the truth, and cordially embraced it.

June the 30th, Mr. Wesley received the following letter from Mr, William Delamotte.

"Dear Sir,

"God hath heard your prayers. Yesterday about "twelve, he put his fiat to the desires of his distressed

servant; and glory be to him, I have enjoyed the "fruits of his holy Spirit ever since. The only un"easiness I feel, is, want of thankfulness and love for

so unspeakable a gift. But I am confident of this "also, that the same gracious hand which hath com"municated, will communicate even unto the end."O my dear friend, I am free indeed! I agonized

some time between darkness and light; but God was "greater than my heart, and burst the cloud, and "broke down the partition wall, and opened to me "the door of faith."

1

CHAPTER

CHAPTER VI.

SECTION IV.

Containing some Account of Mr. Charles Wesley's public Ministry, until he became an Itinerant,

IF

F we consider how necessary the gospel is, to the present and future happiness of men, we shall readily acknowledge that a minister of it, occupies the most important office in society; and hence it becomes a matter of the utmost importance, that this office be filled with men properly qualified for it. Christianity is a practical science, the theory of its principles being only preparatory to the practice of those duties which it enjoins. A preacher therefore should not only understand the doctrines of the gospel, and be able to arrange them according to the natural order in which they are intended to influence the mind, and direct the conduct of life; but he ought to expericnce their influence on his own heart, and be daily conversant in a practical application of them to every duty which he owes to God and man, Here, as in every other practical art or science, principles and practice must be constantly united; they illustrate and confirm each other. Fundamental principles must first be learned; they must be applied to the heart, so as to awaken the conscience to a sense of the evil of sin, &c. and have a suitable influence on our actions. This first step in christian knowledge will prepare the mind for the second; and so on till we come to the measure of

the

the stature of the fulness of Christ.

If a minister of

the gospel be unacquainted with this practical application of the principles of the christian religion to his own heart and life, he is deficient in one of the most essential qualifications for his office, whatever may be the degree of his speculative knowledge.

The observations of a Professor of Divinity in a foreign university, on the qualifications of a gospel. minister, appear so just and excellent, that we shall take the liberty to translate them, and present them to the reader.

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"If (says he) an Evangelical pastor be only a voice, a voice crying in the temple, and nothing more, as many seem to think; if he be nothing, but a man "who has sufficient memory to retain a discourse, "and boldness sufficient to repeat it before a large

congregation--If an evangelical pastor be only an "orator, whose business it is to please his audience "and procure applause-then we have nothing to do, “but to make the voice of our pupils as pleasing and

sonorous as possible-to exercise their memory, and "to give them a bold and hardened countenance, not "to say impudent-to teach them a rhetoric adapted "to the pulpit and our audience; and by perpetual "declamation, like the Sophists of old, render them prompt and ready in speaking with plausibility on

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any subject, and to point out to them the sources "from whence they may draw matter for declamation. "But the Pastor whom we should form in our Acade"mies, is something much greater and more divine "than all this. He is a man of God, who is influenced

by nothing but high and heavenly thoughts, of promoting the glory of God, of propagating the "kingdom of Christ, and destroying the power of satan; of obtaining daily a more perfect knowledge of

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"that