CHAPTER XIII.
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.
OU 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 Böhler, 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. Böhler 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.
