Wesley thought he had one friend left, though only one, in Mr. Romaine; but in this he was mistaken. Hence the following, written within a week after the above.
“Lambeth, March 26, 1763.
“Madam,—Thanks to your ladyship for your kind remembrance of me in your last. Enclosed is poor Mr. John Wesley’s letter. The contents of it, as far as I am concerned, surprised me; for no one has spoken more freely of what is now passing among the people than myself. Indeed, I have not preached so much as others whose names he mentions, nor could I. My subject is one, and I dare not vary from it. A perfection out of Christ is with me all rank pride and damnable sin. Man cannot be laid too low; nor Christ set too high. I would therefore always aim, as good brother Grimshaw expresses it, to get the old gentleman down, and keep him down; and then Christ reigns like Himself, when He is all, and man is nothing.
“I pity Mr. John from my heart. His societies are in great confusion; and the point, which brought them into the wilderness of rant and madness, is still insisted on as much as ever. I fear the end of this delusion. As the late alarming providence has not had its proper effect, and perfection is still the cry, God will certainly give them up to some more dreadful thing. May their eyes be opened before it is too late!
“Things are not here as at Brighton. The Foundery, the Tabernacle, the Lock, the Meeting, yea, St. Dunstan’s, has each its party, and brotherly love is almost lost in our disputes. Thank God, I am out of them.
“My wife joins me in duty and affection to your ladyship, and we are your faithful servants in our most dear and eternally precious Jesus,
“W. Romaine.”[509]
Such, in the midst of his London troubles, was Wesley’s want of sympathy and help from those whom he had been accustomed to regard as friends. Fletcher of Madeley continued faithful, but the duties of his distant vicarage were a bar to his rendering assistance in the metropolis. As early as November 22, 1762, he wrote Charles Wesley:[510] “Many of our brethren are overshooting sober Christianity in London. Oh that I could stand in the gap! Oh that I could, by sacrificing myself, shut this immense abyss of enthusiasm, which opens its mouth among us! The corruption of the best things is always the worst of corruptions.”
In another letter, dated September 9, 1763, Fletcher writes: “If Mr. Maxfield returns, the Lord may correct his errors, and give him so to insist on the fruits of faith as to prevent antinomianism. I believe him sincere; and, though obstinate and suspicious, I am persuaded he has a true desire to know the will, and live the life of God. I reply in the same words you quoted to me in one of your letters: ‘Don’t be afraid of a wreck, for Jesus is in the ship.’ After the most violent storm, the Lord will, perhaps all at once, bring our ship into the desired haven.”[511]
Fletcher thoroughly understood Wesley’s doctrines; but it is clear that Romaine did not. When and where did Wesley preach “a perfection out of Christ”? What was Romaine’s meaning when he employed that expression? Who can tell? Could Romaine himself? We greatly doubt it. Wesley, in the plainest language, had said all he had to say, both in the former and in the Farther Thoughts on Christian Perfection. Had Romaine read these tracts? If he had, he ought to have known that they contained not a single syllable concerning any “perfection out of Christ”; if he had not, he was culpable in branding a doctrine, the meaning of which he had yet to learn. In a letter to Mrs. Maitland, dated May 12, 1763, Wesley declares, that he can say nothing on the subject of Christian perfection but what he has said already. Nevertheless, at her request, he is willing to add a few words more. He proceeds:—