Charles Wesley regarded Whitefield's Calvinism with abhorrence; and Whitefield regarded some of Wesley's doctrines as pernicious heresy. In a letter, dated "Gloucester, May 5, 1741," Whitefield writes: "At Bristol, error is in a great measure put a stop to." And, in another, dated "Bristol, May 16, 1741, he says: "Sad tares have been sown here. It will require some time to pluck them up. The doctrines of the gospel are sadly run down, and most monstrous errors propagated. They assert, that, 'the very in-being of sin must be taken out of us, or otherwise we are not new creatures.' Oh, dear sir, exhort all to pray for us, that I may be faithful to my Lord, and yet be kept gentle in my temper. At present, our dear Lord causes me to triumph in every place."
After paying a short visit to Gloucester, Whitefield returned to Bristol, where he continued till the end of the month of May. There can be no doubt, that, at this time, the Bristol Methodists marshalled themselves under two different banners. Whitefield and Charles Wesley were in the city, but there is no evidence that they ever sought each other's company. Whitefield, as he thought, was successfully plucking up the tares that his former friends, the Wesleys, had sown; and Charles Wesley was labouring with all his might to destroy Whitefield's doctrine of reprobation. He writes:—
"May 19. I am more and more confirmed in the truth by its miserable opposers. I talked lately with Mr. H——," (Humphreys?)[437] "and urged him with this dilemma: 'For what did God make this reprobate—to be damned, or to be saved?' He durst not say that God made even Judas to be damned, and would not say that God made him to be saved. I desired to know for what third end He could make him; but all the answer I could get was, 'It is not a fair question.' Next I asked, 'Whether he that believeth not shall be damned, because he believeth not?' 'Yes,' he answered; and I replied, 'Because he believeth not what?' Here he hesitated, and I was forced to help him out with the Apostle's answer, 'That they all might be damned who believed not the truth.' 'What truth?' I asked again, 'but the truth of the gospel of their salvation? If it is not the gospel of their salvation, and yet they are bound to believe it, then they are bound to believe a lie, under pain of damnation; and the Apostle should have said, 'That they all might be damned who believed not a lie.' This drove him to assert, that no man was damned for actual unbelief, but only for what he called original; that is, for not believing before he was born. 'But where,' said I, 'is the justice of this?' He answered, not over-hastily, 'I confess there is a mystery in reprobation.' Or, to put it in Beza's words, which I then read him, 'We believe, though it is incomprehensible, that it is just to damn such as do not deserve it.' Further, I asked him, 'Why does God command all men everywhere to repent? Why does He call, and offer His grace to, reprobates? Why does His Spirit strive with every child of man for some time, though not always?' I could get no answer, and so read him one of his friend Calvin's: 'God speaketh to them, that they may be the deafer; He gives light to them, that they may be the blinder; He offers instruction to them, that they may be the more ignorant; and uses the remedy, that they may not be healed' (Calvin, Instit. l. iii., c. 24). Never did I meet with a more pitiful advocate of a more pitiful cause. And, yet, I believe he could say as much for reprobation as another. I told him his predestination had got a millstone about its neck, and would infallibly be drowned, if he did not part it from reprobation."[438]
The two Methodist leaders felt strongly on the subject of their respective doctrines; and that their partisans were quite as zealous as their leaders will be evident from the following extracts from Charles Wesley's Journal, written at and about the time of Whitefield's visit to Bristol:—
"May 25. While I was passing by the Bowling-green, a woman cried out, 'The curse of God light upon you,' with such uncommon bitterness, that I could not but turn and stop to bless her. When I asked her why she cursed me, she answered, 'For preaching against Mr. ——.' I had, indeed, a suspicion, from her dialect, that she was one of the self-elect; but stayed heaping coals of fire upon her head, till at last she said, 'God bless you all!'
"May 31. To several, God shewed Himself the God of consolation; particularly to two young Welshmen, whom His providence sent hither from Carmarthen. They had heard most dreadful stories of us Arminians, Freewillers, Perfectionists, Papists, which all vanished like smoke when they came to hear with their own ears.
"June 8. A woman spoke to me of her husband. He was under strong convictions, while he attended the word; but the first time he heard the other gospel, he came home elect, and, in proof of it, beat his wife. His seriousness was at an end. His work was done. God doth not behold iniquity in Jacob. He uses his wife worse than a Turk (his predestinarian brother), and tells her, if he killed her he could not be damned."
Charles Wesley was far more alarmed by the Calvinian controversy than his brother John. The following letter, kindly supplied by Mr. G. Stampe, of Grimsby, has not before been published. It is addressed "To the Rev. Mr. Wesley, at Mr. Hooper's, maltster, Bristol," and is endorsed, in John's handwriting, "September 28, 1741. In a panic about G. W." It begins abruptly, as follows:—
"Extract of a letter from Bristol.—'I am exceedingly afraid lest predestination should be propagated among us in a more subtle and dangerous manner than has hitherto been attempted. Mr. Whitefield preaches holiness very strongly, and "free grace" to all; yet, at the same time, he uses expressions which necessarily imply reprobation. He wraps it up in smoother language than before, in order to convey the poison more successfully. Our Society, on this account, go to hear him, without any scruple or dread. We have sufficiently seen the fatal effects of this devilish doctrine already, so that we cannot keep at too great a distance from it. For my part, by the grace of God, I never will be reconciled to reprobation, nor join with those who hold it. I wish there might be a real and thorough union betwixt us.'
"O thou eternal Phrygian! I am too full to write or speak! Do you know the value of souls! precious, immortal souls! yet trust them within the sound of predestination? This is outdoing your own outdoings. Stop the plague just now, or it will be too late. Send me word, first post, that you have warned our flock from going to hear the other's gospel. O how you are outwitted! The subtle Scots[439] (those sons of Zeruiah) are too hard for you. I pity you and those few sheep in the wilderness, who are left to the wolf. For mine, and your own, and theirs, and Christ's sake, open your eyes; regard not fair speeches; renounce your credulity and George Whitefield, till he renounces reprobation. 'But that he does already, and preaches holiness and free grace for all!' And are you, can you be so easily caught? O that virtue of credulity! Send me word, I say, by next post, that you have restrained the unwary; or I shall, on the first preaching night, renounce George Whitefield on the house-top.
"P.S. When it was told the Grand Turk that all the princes of Christendom were entering into a confederacy against him, he answered, 'When these fingers are joined,' (holding them up,) 'then will the Christians agree.' So the world may say concerning our Societies and the Predestinarians joining against them.
"I have received a letter from Mr. Hutchins, of Lincoln College, with an order upon his brother to pay you £12 (I think it is). You should send me your order to receive it.
"Charles Wesley."
These extracts furnish glimpses of a lamentable state of things in Bristol, where, within the last three years, both Whitefield and the Wesleys had witnessed some of their most glorious triumphs. Old friends were divided, and loving Christians had become furious partisans. In the midst of this unhallowed strife, Whitefield wrote as follows:—