| THE WORLD HIS PARISH
When the churches shut their doors to the
Oxford preachers, God was opening another gate into which
they were to step. It was from this new adventure the revival
was to begin. The low state of spiritual life marking church
and ministry was used of the Lord to turn Wesley's attention
to other fields of Christian endeavor to promote kingdom enterprises.
The turning came about on this order.
When Whitefield was twenty-one he was England's most popular
pulpit orator. His soul was aflame with the Holy Club message,
salvation by faith, and the newness of the doctrine along
with the speaker's absolute control over his audiences opened
the hearts of the people, as well as their pulpits, to him.
John in Georgia felt the need of his preaching friend, and
so he wrote George asking him to come to the colony with his
fiery messages. Their boats crossed as we have elsewhere indicated.
Whitefield remained in Georgia six months and then returned
to London for the purpose of collecting money for an orphanage.
Leaving as England's most popular preacher, he expected to
be so received again. But he discovered to his amazement that
he as well as John had been excluded from the London pulpits.
This was difficult for him to understand; so he decided to
make a preaching tour of Bristol, where he had previously
been very popular.
The Bishop of London told Whitefield that his preaching was
tinctured with enthusiasm, as indeed the preaching of the
new movement was to be, and by the end of January all churches
were closed to him. Arriving at Bristol, the attitude of the
London clergy George found had preceded him. He was informed
by the chancellor of the diocese that he could not preach
in Bristol churches without his license.
"Why did you not require a license from the clergyman that
preached last Thursday?" asked Whitefield, to which the chancellor
replied, "That is nothing to you."
From church to church the evangelist went requesting a preaching
appointment, only in the end to find all Bristol pulpits closed
to him. George, a preaching soul, could not have his message
stopped by the mere refusal of a stated pulpit. He would make
his own pulpit he declared. And that declaration was the beginning
of the Wesleyan revival.
Four miles from Bristol was Kingswood where lived a class
of men who had never seen inside a church nor heard the voice
of a preacher. The colliers of Kingswood were England's worst
specimens of humanity. They made up an ecclesiastical no-man's
land. On Saturday, February 17, George spoke to two hundred
colliers on the Kingswood Common. He defied church rules and
fashions by preaching in the open air.
"I thought," he affirms, "it might be doing the service of
my Creator, who had a mountain for his pulpit and the heavens
for a sounding board; and who, when His Gospel was refused
by the Jews, sent His servants into the highways and hedges."
His first audience was small, but the mighty power of the
man stirred those colliers souls and they called for more.
When George lifted his voice the fifth time, on the Common
before him was an audience of ten thousand. He had found a
new pulpit from which no churchly authority could exclude
him and an audience which no church could have assembled.
From victory to victory he went until a bowling green in Bristol
was offered and here he spoke to eight and ten thousand. The
near-by districts called for his open-air preaching, and in
some instances he spoke to twenty thousand people. His heart
rolled high with enthusiasm, and he decided to defy the London
bishop with his new method of preaching.
He faced a dilemma. What could he do with the crowds he had
gathered at Bristol and Kingswood? He could not let them be
as shepherdless sheep. He decided to call for Wesley. But
John with his little circle of London friends was hesitant
about taking the step. He did not feel that the outside of
a church was so proper a preaching station as the inside...
Wesley decided to go, even though from Bible guidance the
trip seemed to lead to his grave. Arriving in Bristol on March
31, it was difficult for him to take the outdoor step, for
in his heart he was still bound by the confines of Anglicanism.
Standing by Whitefield as he preached on Sunday, Wesley looked
out at the sea of faces before the orator. His heart was moved,
for he felt here indeed was an audience to whom God would
have him deliver his message.
The next day, April 2, at four in the afternoon John stood
on a little eminence outside the city and spoke to three thousand
listeners from the text, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted; to preach deliverance
to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to set
at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord."
That was a memorable text and a memorable occasion. In reality
it formed the beginning of Wesley's new work. Thinking upon
field preaching he brought himself to feel that the Sermon
on the Mount "was one pretty remarkable precedent." John had
tasted the joy of "field preaching," as it was termed, and
he wanted to go back for more of its soul enticement. Here
was a crowd of people to whom his message came as a bursting
light from heaven, and he would not deny them this glimpse
of Christ...
When brother Samuel heard about this open-air preaching, he
too was quite shocked, for he never seemed to catch the meaning
of his brother's life or message. John's reply is famous:
"God in Scripture commands me according to my power to instruct
the ignorant, reform the wicked, confirm the virtuous. Man
forbids me to do this in another's parish; that is, in effect,
to do it all, seeing I have now no parish of my own, nor probably
ever shall. Whom then shall I hear: God or man?...
"I took upon the world as my parish. Thus far, I mean, that
in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right and my
bounden duty to declare unto all that are willing to hear
the glad tidings of salvation."
This is Wesley's Magna Charta. From thenceforth on he was
forever done with bishops when their indictments ran contrary
to God's will for his life...
Blasphemers cried for mercy; sinners were smitten to the earth
in deep conviction; even passing travelers were so affected..."During
these weeks small societies were growing up which were modeled
upon the Fetter Lane Society in London. There were two in
Bristol, one on Nicholas and the other on Baldwin Street.
Wesley saw the necessity of having a place for the groups
to worship, and so he laid the foundation on which all of
Methodism's churches throughout the world were to arise.
Taking possession of a piece of ground near St. James' Church
in Horsefair, Bristol, he held it in the name of eleven trustees.
At the time he did not realize the depth of this act's meaning,
but as the years went by it became evident that here was the
seed from which the systematization of his work was to come..,
All the early buildings of Methodism were built by Wesley
personally.,.
Nor was the new building to remain idle long, for just three
weeks after laying the cornerstone, Wesley entered in his
Journal, "Not being permitted to meet in Baldwin Street, we
met in the shell of our new society room. The Scripture which
came in course to be explained was, 'Marvel not if the world
hate you.' We sang:
Arm of the Lord, awake!
Thine own immortal strength put on.
And God, even our own God, gave His blessings"
Thus in Wesley's own building was held the
first meeting of his society. This was a mighty step forward
in his final break with the Church of England. The little
building was to have an interesting future. In it during John's
lifetime eighteen conferences were to sit, and from the old
pulpit he expounded the Acts of the Apostles, which he declared
to be "the inalienable charter" of the Church of God...
Wesley returned to London in June, 1739, where he preached
indoors and out as opportunity was granted. In the autumn
the weather turned unusually cold for open-air preaching.
Two gentlemen invited him to speak in the city one November
Sunday in a building then unused. Thirty years before, this
had been a foundry where an explosion wrecked the building.
The government moved the cannon works elsewhere and since,
the building had been in ruins. Finally it was leased and
afterwards restored and almost rebuilt at a cost of $4,000.
The preaching room would seat fifteen hundred. There was also
a small band room seating three hundred. One end of the chapel
was fitted as a schoolroom and on the opposite end was the
book room. The "Collection of Psalms and Hymns," published
in 1741, was imprinted "Sold at the Foundry, Upper Moorefields."
Above the band room were John's apartments where his mother
was to spend her declining years.
"I preached at eight o'clock to five or six thousand," he
says of the first Foundry service on Sunday, November 11,
1739, 'on the Spirit of Bondage and the Spirit of Adoption,'
and at five in the evening in the place which had been the
king's foundry for cannon. O hasten Thou the time when nation
shall not rise up against nation, neither shall learn war
anymore."
John now had the makings of a new movement which should center
around his personality. His break with the Church of England
was as complete as it could be until his death. He was in
possession of his particular doctrine, and with two buildings,
one at Bristol and the other at London, he was ready to launch
forth in aggressive evangelism.
That Foundry was to be the pivot and headquarters around which
John's movement was to revolve for thirty-eight years. It
was to be superseded by City Road Chapel only when it was
insufficient to meet the needs of the organization which John's
personality brought into being. Time and again it was crowded
out, until in 1775 Wesley obtained property some two hundred
yards distant from the Foundry, and on a stormy April day,
1777, he laid the cornerstone of the City Road Chapel...
Wesley viewed his work seriously, believing that his life
had been channelized in the broad current of the divine will.
He took the future in his stride, meeting opposition by
evangelism, overcoming obstacles by organization. When
preachers wrote against him he answered in kind, always keeping
his ear attuned to the voice of the people who came to hear
him.
He had undertaken a task as broad as any man's since Paul
lost his head to Nero's axman. If the world was to be his
parish it would demand the blessings of heaven upon his work
as well as the proper organization of his converts into a
dynamic force. The expediency which gave birth to the organization
was upon him.
THE MASTER BUILDER
The Fetter Lane Society had already given
John the practical plan by which to centralize his growing
work. He had touched thousands with the Gospel, and to Wesley
these people looked for spiritual guidance...
Problems came up in the Fetter Lane Society which resulted
in a small group of Wesley's followers withdrawing from its
fellowship. This was a nucleus which was to form the center
of John's new group.
Near the close of 1739, eight or ten people came to Wesley,
then in London, with the request that he should meet with
them for prayer and counsel. Agreeing to do so he set aside
Thursday evening for this purpose.
"The first evening," he says, "about twelve persons came;
the next week thirty or forty. When they were increased to
about a hundred, I took down their names and places of abode
intending as often as it was convenient to call upon them
at their houses. Thus without any previous plan began the
Methodist Society in England--a company of people associating
together to help each other to work out their salvation."
[What did Paul say in Ephesians 4? That the work of the
Church is to what? "And He Himself gave some to be apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
FOR THE EDIFYING OF THE BODY OF CHRIST, till we all
come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son
of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ..." The number one responsibility
of the church is to edify its' members, the children of God--not
to evangelize. Evangelism is a by-product of spiritually healthy
people as pastor Chuck Smith brings out in his book HARVEST.]
Remembering the words of the "serious man" who had long ago
during Oxford days told him, "The Bible knows nothing of solitary
religion," it was easy for John to form his societies for
spiritual advancement. Early in April of that same year he
had held meetings with his converts for counsel and guidance.
In Bristol he took the names of three women who "agreed to
meet together weekly," along with the names of four men who
planned to do the same.
"If this be not of God, let it come to naught," he had said
at the time. "If it be, who can hinder it?"
The Bristol group was but the seed from which the London Society
was to spring, of which Wesley says, "This was the rise of
the United Society, first in London, and then in other places."
This was a most worthy occasion, and John as always was anxious
to found it in Scripture. He felt his work was moving in the
general direction of that of the Apostles.
"In the earliest times," he says, "those whom God had sent
forth preached the Gospel to every creature...As soon as they
were convinced of the truth as to forsake sin and seek Gospel
salvation, they immediately joined them together, took account
of their names, advised them to watch over each other and
met those catechumens...apart from the great congregation
that they might instruct, rebuke, exhort and pray with them..."
Feet solidly resting on Bible grounds, he went forward rapidly.
"Thus arose without any previous design on either side, what
was commonly called a society; a very innocent name, and very
common in London for any number of people associating themselves
together."
When the Foundry Society had begun, the first to be directly
controlled by Wesley, the Fetter Lane group was still in existence;
but trouble arose on July 20, 1740, which caused seventy-two
of the members to unite with Wesley's group.
He had bound them together in a united whole, but he found
a further step to be necessary. The people were widely scattered
throughout London, and as such it was impossible for him to
keep an oversight of their personal life. This gave birth
to a new working unit, of which he says, "At length while
we were thinking of quite another thing we struck upon a method
for which we have cause to bless God ever since."
He broke down his parent society into smaller working units
known as "classes." When this plan was outlined it was proposed
for a different end altogether.
There was still a debt on the Bristol Horsefair meeting house,
so John called together the principal men and asked how it
could be met. Said one of the men, "Let every member of the
society give a penny a week." Said another, "But many of them
are poor and cannot afford to do it."
Captain Foy, the first speaker, suggested , "Then put eleven
of the poorest with me and if they can give anything, well;
I will call on them weekly and if they can give nothing, I
will give for them as well as for myself. And each of you
call on eleven of your neighborhood weekly, receive what they
give and make up what is wanting."
While the stewards were visiting their eleven's for money
purposes, the caught rumors of how the men were living. These
lax conditions were reported to John, who like a flash saw
the spiritual implications of his group plan. He said, "This
is the thing; the very thing we have wanted so long."
Immediately he called together the leaders of these financial
classes, unfolded his scheme and told them to inform him as
to how the people were living in their groups. In London the
same plan was put into operation April 25, when he called
his leaders together and perfected his mobile working force.
"This was the origin of our classes in London," he states,
"for which I can never sufficiently praise God, the unspeakable
usefulness of the institution having ever since been more
manifest."
It was in this talent for organization that Wesley's superiority
over Whitefield is to be found. Whitefield was the popular
pulpit orator, speaking to as many as sixty to eighty thousand
people at a time. But he knew little or nothing about uniting
these forces in workable and controllable units, while
John understood the force of small bodies and knew how to
harness his man power. [This could have been the predecessor
of the modern house fellowship.] Whitefield's work
was soon dissipated while Wesley's remains, for the latter
built upon the foundation of linking man to man for workable
schemes.
There would have been little or no Methodism without such
a capacity. It was at this time that John began using the
term "Methodists" in reference to his followers. "I preached
at Moorfields to about ten thousand, and at Kennington Commons
to, I believe, near twenty thousand," he enters in his Journal
for Sunday, September 9..."at both places I described the
real difference between what is generally called Christianity
and the true old Christianity, which under the new name of
Methodism is now also everywhere spoken against."
John soon found it impractical for the class leaders to visit
each member at his own home; so it was decided to hold a weekly
meeting at some central place, which caused them "to bear
one another's burdens...And as they had daily a more intimate
acquaintance, so they had a more endeared affection for each
other."
The next step was the institution of weekly meetings for the
class leaders, who were untutored men for the most part, "having
neither gifts nor graces for such divine employment." For
this purpose a Tuesday-night meeting was arranged, concerning
which Wesley remarked, "It may be hoped they will all be better
than they are, both by experience and observation and by the
advices given them by the minister every Tuesday night, and
the prayers offered up for them."
A forward step in the societies together was taken on February
23, 1743, when Wesley issued his General Rules. The society
was defined "as a company of men, having the form and seeking
the power of godliness, united in order to pray together,
to receive word of exhortation and watch over one another
in love..." The members were to evidence their desire for
salvation "by doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind,
especially that which is most generally practiced." They were
also to "avoid such diversions as cannot be used in the name
of the Lord."
John realizing that spirituality is endangered by use of the
means of grace wrote into his rules, and urged his followers
to be faithful in public worship, attend to the ministry of
the Word, partake of the Lord's Supper, fast and pray as well
as conduct family and private prayers. In well-erected segments
Wesley hereby laid the broad platform upon which his followers
were to be molded into a church...Shortly a voluntary division
of classes into bands came about. Another revival from ancient
time was that of the love feast or agape, to which
service only members holding class tickets were admitted.
A little plain cake and water was used as a token of spiritual
friendship which was followed by a service of Christian testimony...
Gradually it became necessary for John and Charles to make
provision for their followers to receive the sacrament of
the Lord's Supper. Very shortly Wesley was forced to separate
his societies from the Church of England in that not only
the Wesley's themselves were excluded from the parishes, but
their members or followers as well. This is especially true
after 1740. It therefore was their ministerial duty to supply
the Sacrament to their converts who were thus denied this
sacred privilege...
Performing this sacred duty without the bishop's authorization
brought the anethemas of the Church upon John's and Charles's
heads. They were called before the bishops at London to answer
for their actions. Samuel went so far as to declare that he
would "much rather have them picking straws within the walls
than preaching in the area of the Moorfields--referring to
the half-witted actions of those incarcerated in insane asylums..."
This represents the views of the clergy of John's day, as
well as of his brother. The Church might be lax morally, but
there was still enough life left in her to arouse the bishops
when a schism was impending. Forgetful of the Church's seeming
wrath for her wayward son, John went on with his message of
redemption heralded for high and low alike. The glorious blessings
of God walked by his side in this battle against evil...
Possibly the climax of Wesley's ill treatment at the hands
of established ministers came when he visited Epworth, the
scene of his birth. Going to services in the morning he offered
to assist the rector, Mr. Romley, who had been schoolmaster
at Wroote, but his offer had been declined. The house was
packed at the afternoon meeting, for it had been rumored that
John would bring the message. Instead the rector read a florid
message against enthusiasm, directed at the visiting cleric
and his followers.
The people would not be disappointed, for as they came out
of the church, John Taylor announced that Wesley, not being
permitted to preach from the pulpit, would speak at six that
evening in the churchyard. When time for the service arrived,
John climbed on his father's tombstone and delivered his message
to the largest crowd ever seen at Epworth.
The scene was unique and inspiring--a living son preaching
on the dead father's grave because the parish priest would
not allow him to officiate in a dead father's church. "I am
well assured," says Wesley, "that I did far more good to my
Lincolnshire parishioners by preaching three days on my father's
tomb than I did by preaching three years in his pulpit." The
folk pressed him to remain longer, and for eight evenings
he climbed on the tomb and delivered his messages. During
the days he preached in the surrounding villages as occasion
was granted.
Nor were the results of those graveyard messages lacking.
On the final Sunday evening, Wesley's voice was drowned by
the cries of those seeking salvation. The last meeting continued
for three hours, so tender the touch of heaven and the ties
of friendship.
"We scarce knew how to part...Near forty years did my father
labor here; but he saw little fruit of all his labor. I took
some pains among his people...but now the fruit appeared...but
the seed sown long since now sprung up bringing forth repentance
and remission of sins."...
John's growing movement faced him with numerous problems,
the most serious, once the Episcopal hands were off him, that
of dealing with his members who felt the urge to ascend the
pulpit and declare the message of God. He had no authority
to make ministers of them by the laying on of hands. Time
alone was to solve this problem. At his Kingswood School,
Master John Cennick, son of a Quaker, had spoken several times
without authority in 1739. But John thought little of this,
feeling that his position as teacher gave Cennick unusual
rights which did not adhere to other laymen.
While John excused Cennick, he did not think this had established
a precedent. It was early in 1740, while his mother was still
blessing his life with her presence, word came to Bristol,
where John was at the time, that Thomas Maxwell had presumed
to preach before the Foundry Society. This alarmed John and
so he rushed back to London where he sought to deal with this
troublesome fellow.
Susannah met him, saying, "John, take heed what you do with
reference to that young man for he is as surely called to
preach as you are." Heeding his mother's words, Wesley attended
a service where Maxwell was the speaker. He listened quietly
to the message and then said:
"It is the Lord's doing;. Let him do what seemeth good. What
am I that I should withstand God?"
Convinced that Maxwell was God's anointed minister, Wesley
encouraged him by sanctioning his work as a lay preacher.
This was the beginning of a remarkable rise of lay workers
in Wesley's societies. Before the year was out there were
twenty such preachers, heralding the doctrines they had learned
from John. Among the outstanding ones was John Nelson, a stonecutter
who had been converted under Wesley's ministry.
Once converted Nelson said, "If it be my Master's will, I
am ready to go to hell and preach to the devils." It enraged
the clergymen of the Established Churches to see a stonecutter
preaching the Gospel, and doing it far better than they with
all their boasted training. During one of Nelson's sermons
he was set upon by bullies and almost beaten to death. Such
were the persecutions which Wesley's lay workers faced to
preach the Gospel.
As time passed John faced another problem, that of women preachers.
True he had the example of Susannah who held forth in the
Epworth pulpit--and did it more successfully than her Samuel.
Mary Bosanquet, who married Fletcher of Mandeley, had opened
an orphanage with her own money. She was assisted by Sarah
Crosby, who with Mary began addressing members of the society.
She asked Wesley's judgment on the matter, saying, "If I did
not believe I had an extraordinary call, I would not act in
an extraordinary manner."
This was in 1771 and Wesley replied that since she possessed
"an extraordinary call" she should be free to continue her
preaching. It was this divine afflatus which he
recognized as the qualifying attribute for lay preachers."
[i.e. John recognized the anointing of the Holy Spirit on
others, anointing them for special tasks and/or the ministry.
This allowed a stable God-ordained Spirit led lay ministry
to be established.]
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