“His noble way of thinking, in several other particulars, will not so much recommend him at first sight, as expose him to censure; but noble it is, however, and will be found best in the end. He is against using any compulsion with hearts, who ought to be led by the love of the Saviour, and by a new nature; and is endeavouring to bring the discipline of the congregation to such a temperature, as that it may assist a work of grace where it is, but not mimic it where it is not. In pursuance of which principle, he rather tolerates (with secret grief and employing only distant hints), several unessential faults of those about him, than correct them with detriment to the ingenuity of spirit. These faults are charged upon him; as for instance, a few ill-judged flights of spiritual joy and cheerfulness, which he discerned to be such from the beginning, but would not retrench them, because they would not subside of themselves; and the true Christian gaiety of spirit is too valuable a jewel to hazard the breaking of it, by a rough blow in the polishing. So far goes the generosity of his conceptions, that he is resolved to drop the whole fabric of the congregation, if ever the life and spirit should be found to have left it. No wonder, then, that he insists upon adapting the outward worship, from time to time, to the inward state of the members; so that the Liturgy, from honesty and not from fickleness, is capable of many progressive gradations, and even of retrogradations, rather than fall into hypocrisy.
“In short, the person I have been speaking of is a plain man, who proceeds straight forward; and, amidst all the richness of his active and extensive genius, will always be serving and inculcating one only point, namely, the meritorious sufferings of our Creator,—a point by which alone Christians are distinguished from Deists.”
How far this serves as a vindication or apology, the reader must form his own opinion; but it exhibits the fidelity of Gambold to his German leader, and also indicates some of the principles which Gambold himself entertained at this period of his history.
Gambold did more than this for the censured Zinzendorf. In 1751, a five shillings volume was published, with the title, “Maxims, Theological Ideas, and Sentences, out of the present Ordinary of the Brethren’s Dissertations and Discourses, from the year 1738 to 1747. Extracted by John Gambold, M.A. 8vo.” In his Preface, Gambold writes:—
“Every one has heard, in some light or other, this noble person’s name mentioned. To judge impartially of him, we are to look back at what he has preached in a course of several years, especially since the discourses, by their nature and circumstances, were such a free out-pouring of his heart.”
To this there could be no objection; but it may be doubted whether Gambold’s extracts were as impartial as he wished them to be regarded.
In 1753, Gambold rendered another service to the Count, by the publication of “The Ordinary’s Remarks upon the manner of his being treated in Controversy. Translated from the High-Dutch, with a Preface, by John Gambold, Minister of the Moravian Chapel in Fetter Lane.”
And shortly after this, in 1754, Gambold issued, “A Modest Plea for the Church of the Brethren,” of which publication, Lavington, Bishop of Exeter, wrote:—
“The whole drift of this pamphlet is to commend their sect in general terms, without answering any one accusation brought against them.”[133]
Lavington was a bitter antagonist, and what he says must be received with caution; but still, the very title of Gambold’s production indicates that the Brethren’s Church was hardly perfect.