THE KING’S BUSINESS
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faith, repentance, and conversion— from one end o f the year to the other, AN ORGANIZER Wesley, however, was very unlike White- field in one important respect He did not forget to organize as well as to preach. He was not content with reaping the fields which he found ripe for the harvest. He took care to bind up his sheaves and gather them into the barn. He was as far superior to Whitefield as an administrator and man o f method, as he' was inferior to him' as a mere preacher. Shut out from the Church o f England by the folly o f its rulers, he laid the foundation o f a new denomination with matchless skill and with a rare discernment o f the wants of human nature. To unite his people as one 'b od y—to give everyone something to do— to make each one consider his neighbor and seek his edification—to call forth latent talent and utilize it in some direction—to keep “all at it and always at it”' (to adopt his-quaint saying)—these were his aims and objects. The machinery he called into existence was admirably well adapted to carry out his purposes. His preachers, lay- preachers, class-leaders, band-leaders, cir cuits, classes, bands, love-feasts, and watch- nights, made up 'a spiritual engine which stands to this day, and in its ,own way can hardly be improved. If one thing more than another has given permanence and solidity to Methodism, it was, its founder’s masterly, talent for organization. It is needless to tell a Christian reader that Wesley had constantly to fight with opposition. The prince o f this world will never allow his captives to be rescued from him without a struggle. Sometimes he was in danger o f losing his life by the assaults o f violent, ignorant, and semi heathen-mobs, as at Wednesbury, Walsall, Colne, Shoreham, and Devizes. Sometimes he was denounced by bishops as an enthusiast, a fanatic, and a sower o f dis sent. Often— far too often—he was preached against and held up- to scorn by the parochial clergy, as a heretic, a mis chief-maker, and a meddling troubler of
Israel. But none o f these things moved the good man. Calmly, resolutely and undauntedly he held on his course, and in scores o f cases lived down all opposition. His letters in reply to the attacks made upon him are always dignified and sensi ble, and do equal honor to his heart and : head. I have now probablytold the reader enough to give him a general idea o f John Wesley’s life and history. I dare not go further. Indeed, the last fifty years o f his life were, so entirely o f one complexion, that I know not where I should stop if I went further. When I have said that they were years o f constant travelling, preach ing, organizing, conferring, writing, argu ing, reasoning, counselling, and warring against sin, the world, and the devil, I have just said all that I dare enter upon. THE WHEELS STOP He died at length in 1791, in the eighty- eighth year o f his life and the sixty-fifth o f his ministry, full o f honor and respect, and in the “perfect peace” o f the gospel. He had always enjoyed wonderful health, and never hardly knew what it was to feiel weariness or pain till he was eighty-two. The weary wheels o f life at length stood still, and he died o f no disease but sheer old age. The manner o f his dying was in beauti ful harmony with his life. He preached within a very few days o f his death, and the texts o f his two last sermons were curiously characteristic o f the man. The last but one was at Chelsea, on February 18, on the words, “ The king1 s business requireth haste” (1 Sam. 21:8). The last o f all was at Leatherhead, on Wednesday, the 23rd, on the words, “ Seek ye the Lord while he may be found” (Isa. 50:6). After this he gradually sunk, and died on Tues day, the 29th.. He retained his senses to the end, and showed clearly where his heart and thoughts were to the very last. The day but one before he died he slept much and spoke little. Once he said in a low but distinct manner, “ There is no way into the holiest but by the blood o f Jesus.”
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