[120] It is a well-known fact, that, in early life, Wesley publicly maintained that, in matters of importance, when the reasons on each side appeared to be of equal weight, it was right to decide the question by casting lots. (See Wesley's "Principles of a Methodist further explained," 1746.) Strangely enough, this was the method he adopted to ascertain whether Whitefield ought to abandon his mission to Georgia. In his letter to Wesley, in 1740, during their Calvinistic quarrel, Whitefield wrote: "The morning I sailed from Deal for Gibraltar, you arrived from Georgia. Instead of giving me an opportunity to converse with you, though the ship was not far from shore, you drew a lot, and immediately set forwards to London. You left a letter behind you, in which were words to this effect: 'When I saw God, by the wind which was carrying you out, brought me in, I asked counsel of God. His answer you have enclosed.' This was a piece of paper, in which were written these words: 'Let him return to London.' Whitefield adds, he would 'never have published this private transaction to the world,' if Wesley had not again used the lot to determine whether he should 'preach and print' his memorable sermon on 'Free Grace.'" (Whitefield's Works, vol. iv., p. 56.) It would not be honest to omit this curious fact; but this is not the place to discuss its propriety. Sortilege was one of the things which Wesley learned from the devout Moravians.
[121] Life of C. Wesley, vol. i. p. 100.
[122] Whitefield's Works, vol. i., pp. 37 and 39.
[123] Ibid. p. 38.
[124] In Cooper's edition of Whitefield's Journal, which was published without his sanction, and which occasioned the publishing of Hutton's edition, he writes under date of February 22: "We had an elegant entertainment; but my thoughts were mostly employed in pitying the unhappiness of great men who are in such a continual danger of having their table become a snare to them." James Hutton left this out.
While on this subject, it may be added, that there are many remarks and reflections in Whitefield's "Journal of a Voyage from London to Savannah" which it is probable, with all his impulsiveness, he himself would not have published. The facts of the case are these: 1. Whitefield sent his Journal in manuscript for the private perusal of his friends.
[125] It might be added, that he also began to speak to his hearers, "one by one," respecting the subjects on which he preached; and, to aid him in this, he commenced, on March 12th, to write his "Observations on Select Passages of Scripture turned into Catechetical Questions." These were published in his collected works (vol. iv., pp. 345-373); but, though carefully prepared, contain but little deserving further notice.
[126] Gillies' "Life of Whitefield."
[127] Ibid.
[128] "An Account of the European Settlements in America," 2 vols. London, 1761.