Great Rev i va l s and Ev an g e l i s t s II. George Wh i t e f i e l d 1 By J ohn H. H unter
field had been enjoying and preach ing this blessed truth. Leaves Oxford for Gloucester ' Before Whitefield came into the experience just described he suffered much spiritual conflict. In one of these experiences he lost the sense of God’s presence during his hours of devotion. Opening up his heart to Charles Wesley, the latter advised him to keep upon his watch and re ferred him to a chapter in Thomas a Kempis. He began to practise a sys tem of asceticism that he might “mor tify the flesh.” He dressed meanly and neglected even tidiness of his person, he forsook the fellowship of the “Methodists,” for was not that leaning on an arm of flesh; he neglected to take proper food, and as a result of the whole folly, which lasted for nearly a year, he became a physical wreck and had to give up his studies and return to his home in Gloucester for a while. It was through his failing to attend their weekly meeting that Charles Wesley discovered the spiritual and physical condition of his friend, and it was through the wise, kindly and loving advice of John Wesley that he “was delivered from those wiles of Satan.” Studying, Trusting, Working At Gloucester he began a diligent study of the Bible, spending much time in meditation and prayer over its sacred pages. He says: “I got
w t w H I T E F I E L D ’S associa- tion with the Wesleys soon ripened into a y / % f r i e n d s h i p that contin- ued with one serious in terruption, to the end of his life. He became one of the most earnest and ag gressive members of the “Methodists. It is not unlikely, indeed, that he was the first of them to enter fully into the personal experience of being justified simply by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from anything he was or could do. That Mr.. Wes ley had not done so is evident from the following entry in his diary, dated February 1, 1738, that is after his return from Georgia: “It is now two years and almost four months since I left my native country in order to teach the Georgian Indians the nature of Christianity; but what have I learned of myself in the mean time? Why, what I least suspected, that I, who went to America to con vert others, was myself never con verted to God! I am not mad, though I thus speak ; but I speak the words of truth and soberness. If it be said that I have faith—for many such things have I heard from miserable comforters—I answer, so have the devils a sort of faith; but still they are strangers to the covenant of promise. The faith that I want is a sure trust and confidence in God that through the merits of Christ my sins are forgiven, and I reconciled to the favor of God.” For more than a year previous to this, George White-
C opyrighted, 1915, Jo h n H . H u n ter.
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