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burned his papers, and began to seek in earnest that faith which he had before opposed.

Mrs. Delamotte continued her opposition. In reading a sermon, one evening in the family, Mr. Wesley maintained the doctrine of faith: Mrs. Delamotte opposed. "Madam," said Mr. Wesley, "we cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard: I received faith in that manner, and so have more than thirty others in my presence." Her passion kindled; said she could not bear this, and hastily quitted the room.-Mr. Wesley here gives us some idea of his success in conversing and praying with the people. A month had now elapsed since his justification. A part of this time he had been confined by sickness, and was not yet able to preach. Notwithstanding this, more than thirty persons had been justified in the little meetings at which he had been present! Mrs. Delamotte was afterwards convinced of the truth, and cordially embraced it.

June the 30th, Mr. Wesley received the following letter from Mr. William Delamotte.

"Dear Sir,

"God hath heard your prayers. Yesterday about twelve, he put his fiat to the desires of his distressed servant; and glory be to him, I have enjoyed the fruits of his holy Spirit ever since. The only uneasiness I feel, is, want of thankfulness and love for so unspeakable a gift. But I am confident of this also, that the same gracious hand which hath communicated, will communicate even unto the end.-O my dear friend, I am free indeed! I agonized some time between darkness and light; but God was greater than my heart, and burst the cloud, and broke down the partition wall, and opened to me the door of faith."

CHAPTER VII.

SECTION IV.

CONTAINING SOME ACCOUNT OF MR. CHARLES WESLEY'S PUBLIC MINISTRY.

If we consider how necessary the gospel is, to the present and future happiness of men, we shall readily acknowledge that a minister of it, occupies the most important office in society; and hence it becomes a matter of the utmost importance, that this office be filled with men properly qualified for it. Christianity is a practical science, the theory of its principles being only preparatory to the practice of those duties which it enjoins. A preacher therefore should not only understand the doctrines of the gospel, and be able to arrange them according to the natural order in which they are intended to influence the mind, and direct the conduct of life; but he ought to experience their influence on his own heart, and be

daily conversant in a practical application of them to every duty which he owes to God and man. Here, as in every other practical art or science, principles and practice must be constantly united; they illustrate and confirm each other. Fundamental principles must first be learned; they must be applied to the heart, so as to awaken the conscience to a sense of the evil of sin, &c., and have a suitable influence on our actions. This first step in christian knowledge will prepare the mind for the second; and so on till we come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. If a minister of the gospel be unacquainted with this practical application of the principles of the christian religion to his own heart and life, he is deficient in one of the most essential qualifications for his office, whatever may be the degree of his speculative knowledge.

The observations of a professor of divinity in a foreign university, on the qualifications of a gospel minister, appear to me so just and excellent, that I shall take the liberty to translate them, and present them to the reader.

"If," says he, "an evangelical pastor be only a voice, a voice crying in the temple, and nothing more, as many seem to think; if he be nothing, but a man who has sufficient memory to retain a discourse, and boldness sufficient to repeat it before a large congregation-If an evangelical pastor be only an orator, whose business it is to please his audience and procure applause-then we have nothing to do, but to make the voice of our pupils as pleasing and sonorous as possible-to exercise their memory, and to give them a bold and hardened countenance, not to say impudent-to teach them a rhetoric adapted to the pulpit and our audiences; and by perpetual declamation, like the sophists of old, render them prompt and ready in speaking with plausibility on any subject, and to point out to them the sources from whence they may draw matter for declamation. But the pastor whom we should form in our academies, is something much greater and more divine than all this. He is a man of God, who is influenced by nothing but high and heavenly thoughts; of promoting the glory of God, of propagating the kingdom of Christ, and destroying the power of satan; of obtaining daily a more perfect knowledge of that sublime science on which eternal happiness depends, of more widely diffusing it, and more efficaciously persuading others to embrace it; of restoring fallen Christianity, binding up the wounds of the church, and healing her divisions.-He is a man whose business it is to perform and direct all the parts of divine worship before the whole church; to offer to God, the desires, the prayers, the praises and thanksgivings of the people assembled.-This pastor is a man divinely called, an ambassador of God sent to men, that he may bring as many souls as possible, from darkness to light, from the world to Christ, from the power of satan to God, from the way of perdition to the way of salvation: a man who, by public preaching and private instruction, faithfully explains the word of God, especially the doctrines of salvation contained in it, and by the simplicity and clearness of explanation adapts them to the capacity of every individual person. O tremendous employment!" &c.*

* Werenfelsius in Dissert. de Scopo Doctoris Thcologi.

I have no intention, by these observations, to reflect on any denomination of men filling the sacred office; I have introduced them merely with a view to show, what are the qualifications essentially necessary in a minister of the gospel, considering them as distinct from those peculiarities of opinion and modes of worship by which true Christians are distinguished from one another; and to illustrate the character of Mr. Wesley as a true gospel minister. He possessed the requisites for his office in no small degree: he had a clear view of the state of human nature, and of the doctrines of the gospel, pointing out God's method of restoring sinners to his favor and image. Sin blinds the understanding, hardens the heart, makes the conscience insensible of the defilement of evil, and renders a man careless of his spiritual and eternal concerns. Like a wise master-builder, he explained and enforced the doctrines of repentance towards God, and of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as first principles in christian experience; as the entrance into it, and the foundation on which it is built. His own experience illustrated and confirmed the scriptural views he had obtained of these doctrines: he spoke of them in their proper order, and described their effects with clearness and firmness; not as the uncertain conjectures of a speculative philosophy, but as the certain practical truths of divine revelation. He was now in the habit of giving a practical application to the higher principles of the gospel, in the government of his heart and life, and was daily growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in a way which could not deceive him, where theory and practice were thus combined. He was therefore, well prepared for the ministry, not only by learning and deep study, in which he had been conversant for many years, but also by such exercises of the heart, as led him to a thorough knowledge of human nature, and of the method of salvation laid down in the gospel. If all the ministers in England, of every denomination, were thus qualified for their office, and animated with the same zeal, to propagate the truths of religion by every means in their power, what an amazing change should we soon see in the morals of the people! It is an awful consideration, that ministers, who are set for the defence of the gospel, and the propagation of true christian piety, should be the hinderances of it in any degree, through a want of knowledge, experience, diligence, and zeal. It would be well if every minister would seriously examine himself on these heads, as Mr. Wesley did, and keep in view the account which he must soon give to the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls.

Though Mr. Wesley had been very diligent in his Master's service, since the 21st of May, he had not yet been able to preach. On Sunday, July 2d, he observes, "Being to preach this morning for the first time, I received strength for the work of the ministry. The whole service at Basingshaw Church, was wonderfully animating, especially the gospel, concerning the miraculous draught of fishes. I preached salvation by faith, to a deeply attentive audience, and afterwards gave the cup. Observing a woman full of reverence, I asked her if she had forgiveness of sins? She answered

with great sweetness and humility, 'yes, I know it now, that I have forgiveness.'

I preached again at London-Wall, without fear or weariness. As I was going into the church, a woman caught hold of my hand and blessed me most heartily, telling me she had received forgiveness of sins while I was preaching in the moning." In the evening they held a meeting for prayer, when two other persons found peace with God.

July 10th, Mr. Wesley was requested by he Rev. Mr. Sparks to go to Newgate: he went and preached o the ten malefactors under sentence of death. But he observes it was with a heavy heart. "My old prejudices," says he, "against the possibility of a death-bed repentance, still hung upon me, and I could hardly hope there was mercy for those whose time was soshort." But in the midst of his languid discourse, as he calls it,his mind acquired a sudden confidence in the mercy of God, and he promised them all pardon in the name of Jesus Christ, if they would even then, as at the last hour, repent and believe the gospel He adds, "I did believe they would accept the proffered mercy, and could not help telling them, I had no doubt but God would give me every soul of them." He preached to them again the next day with earnestness, from the second lesson, when two or three began to be deeply affected.

This day Mr. Wesley received a letter from Mr. William Delamotte, giving an account of his mother. "I cannot keep peace," says he; "the mercies of God come so abundanty on our unworthy family, that I am not able to declare them. Yet as they are his blessings through your ministry, I must inform you of them, as they will strengthen your hands, and prove hdpers of your joy. Great then, I believe, was the struggle in my mother, between nature and grace: but God who knoweth the very heart and reins, hath searched her out. Her spirit is become as that of a little child. She is converted, and Christ hath spokenpeace to her soul. This change was begun in her the morning youleft us (the 8th,) though she concealed it from you. The next morning when she waked the following words of Scripture were present to her mind: Either what woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one of them, doth not light a candle and sweep the house diligently till she find it.' She rose immediately, took up Bislop Taylor, and opened on a place which so strongly asserted this iving faith, that she was fully convinced. But the enemy preachedhumility to her, that she could not deserve so great a gift. God however, still pursued, and she could not long forbear to communicate the emotion of her soul to me. We prayed, read, and conversed for an hour. The Lord made use of a mean instrument o convince her of her ignorance of the word of God. Throughout that day she was more and more enlightened by the truth, till at length she broke out, Where have I been! I know nothing; I see nothing; my mind is all darkness; how have I opposed the Scipture!' She was tempted to think, she was laboring after somehing that was not to be attained: but Christ did not suffer her to fal: she flew to him in prayer and singing, and continued agonizing al the evening.

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The next morning, when reading in her closet, she received reconciliation and peace. She could not contain the joy attending it: nor forbear imparting to her friends and neighbors, that she had found the piece which she had lost. Satan in vain attempted to shake her; she felt in herself,

'Faith's assurance, Hope's increase,

All the confidence of Love.'"

Mr. Sparks asked him if he would preach at St. Hellen's. He agreed to supply Mi Broughton's place, who was at Oxford, "arming our friends" says Mr. Wesley, "against the faith." He adds, "I preachel faith in Christ to a vast congregation, with great boldness, adding much extempore." In his discourses, Mr. Wesley proposed the doctrines of the gospel with clearness, and illustrated them with great strength of evidence from the Scriptures, in which he was remarkably ready; and delivering them in a warm, animated manner, he generally carried conviction to the minds of those whogave him a fair and candid hearing. After this sermon, Mrs. Find, with whom Mr. Broughton lodged, sent for Mr. Wesley, and acknowledged her agreement with the doctrine he had preached; she wished him to come and talk with Mr. Broughton, who, she thought, must himself agree to it.

The next day, July 12th, he preached at Newgate to the condemned felons. He visited one of them in his cell, sick of a fever, a poor black, who had robbed his master. "I told him," says Mr. Wesley, "of one who came down from heaven to save lost sinners, and him in particular. I described the sufferings of the Son of God; his sorrows, agony and death. He listened with all the signs of eager astonishment. The tears trickled down his cheeks, while he cried, What! was it for me? Did the Son of God suffer all this for so poora creature as me?' I left him waiting for the salvation of God."

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"July 13th. Iead prayers and preached at Newgate, and administered the sacrament to our friends and five of the felons. I was much affectel and assisted in prayer for them with comfort and confidence. July 14th, I received the sacrament from the ordinary and spakestrongly to the poor malefactors, and to the sick negro in the condemned hole: was moved by his sorrow and earnest desire of Christ Jesus. The next day, July 15th, 1 preached there again, with an enlarged heart; and rejoiced with my poor black, who now believes that the Son of God loves him, and gave himself for him."

"July 17th. I preached at Newgate on death, which the malefactors must sufer, the day after to-morrow. Mr. Sparks assisted in giving the sacrament, and another clergyman was present. Newington asked me to go in the coach with him. At one o'clock, I was with the black in his cell, when more of the malefactors came to us. I found great help and power in prayer for them. One of them roe all in a sweat (probably with the agitation of his mind) and profssed faith in Christ. I found myself overwhelmed with the love o' Christ to sinners. The negro was quite happy, and another criminal in an excellent temper. I talked with one

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