This is the testimony of his word; the testimony of his works are his miracles. That his Apostles did miracles in his name, was a testimony of his Deity. "His name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong," says St. Peter, at the raising of the cripple. But that he did miracles in his own name, by his own power, is a nearer testimony. For, Mutare naturam, nisi qui Dominus naturæ est, non potest: (Epiphanius:) "Whosoever is able to change the course of nature, is the Lord of nature:" and he that is so, made it ; and he that made it, that created it, is God. Nay, it is more to change the course of nature, than to make it; for, in the creation, there was no reluctation of the creature, for there was no creature; but to divert nature out of her settled course, is a conquest upon a resisting adversary, and powerful in a prescription. The recedat mare, and the sistat sol, "let the sea go back," "the sun stand still," met with some kind of opposition in nature; but in the fiat mare, and fiat sol, "let there be a sea," and a "sun," God met with no opposition, no nature: he met with nothing. And, therefore, interrogemus miracula, quid nobis de Christo loquantur: (Augustine :) "Let us ask his miracles, and they will make us understand Christ." Habent enim, si intelligantur, linguam suam: “If we understand them, that is, if we would understand them, they speak loud enough, and plain enough." In his fasting, his invisibility, his walking upon the sea, his re-assuming his body at the resurrection, Christ spoke in himself, in the language of miracles. So had they also a loud and a plain voice in other men, and other things. In his miraculous curing the sick, raising the dead, dispossessing the devils; in the miraculous change of water into wine, in feeding five thousand with five loaves, in bringing plenty of fish to the net; Christ spoke in all these in the language of miracles. So the Scriptures testify of his Deity, and so do miracles, and so do those conclusions which arise from thence. For we reason thus: God gives not his glory to others; and his glory is in his essential name, and in his attributes and to whomsoever he gives them, because they cannot be given from God, he who hath them is God. Of these, none is so peculiar to him as the name of Jehovah; the name which, for reverence, the Jews forbore to sound, and in the room thereof ever sounded Adonai, and Adonai is Dominus, "the Lord." Christ, by being thus "the Lord" Jesus, is Jehovah; and if Jehovah, then God. He is Lord with the Father, as he was con-Creator,-his colleague in the creation; but for that dominion and lordship which he hath by his purchase, by his passion,-calcavit solum, "He trod the winepress. alone;" not only no man, but no Person of the Trinity, redeemed us by suffering for us, but he. All that was written in the Scriptures, all that was established by miracles, all that is deduced by reason, conduces to this, determines in this," that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord."-Dr. Donne (Sermon on 1 Cor. xvi. 22.) MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS. THE WESLEYAN METHODIST. (No. XCII.) "BETTER throw away all the libraries in the PRESUMING, my dear friend, that you may have felt some increased anxiety on the duty of pastoral visitation, as illustrated in the two foregoing letters; and that you are somewhat encouraged in its performance, by the holy examples which I have given; I am desirous further to assist your plans and purposes, by referring you again to the views taken of this great work by the venerable Conference of our body; and this with the especial object of endeavouring to meet certain objections which some have seemed to think they saw to the regular engagement of a Minister in such pastoral occupations. First, it is objected, "This will take up too much time; so that we shall not be able to follow our studies." "Gaining useful knowledge is a good thing; but, still, saving souls is better. By this very thing we shall gain the most excellent knowledge, that of God and eternity. We shall likewise have time for gaining other knowledge too, if we spend all our mornings therein. Let us only sleep no more than we need, and never be idle, or triflingly employed. Let each try himself. No idleness can consist with growth in grace. Nay, without exactness in redeeming time, we cannot retain the grace we received in justification." "" # According to the excellent example of Alleine, the afternoon, and not the morning, is the fittest part of the day to devote to this duty. Every student will know, that whereas the morning is the time for more intense study of any kind, the afternoon is therefore less profitable for that close attention * Larger Minutes, pp. 31-33, which the study demands. The mind becomes jaded by too long application to one thing; the mental powers require relaxation; and the afternoon, devoted frequently to pastoral visitation, will at once be an agreeable recreation by the interchange of duties, advantageous to health, and a most profitable means of nourishing up our own souls, and those of our people, to everlasting life. Some will object, "I have no gifts for this work." "Gift or no gift, you are to do this, or else you are not called to be a Methodist Preacher. Do it as you can, till you can do it as you would. Pray earnestly for the gift, and use every help God hath put into your way, in order to attain it. But, in order to the success of this and all other plans of usefulness, let us cultivate a deep conviction of the absolute necessity of an abundant effusion of the Holy Spirit's influence on ourselves, and on the societies and congregations committed to our pastoral care." This will remove every apprehended difficulty or deficiency. "Who is sufficient for these things,' unassisted by the eternal Spirit? But, surely, every Minister of Christ, who is able to "declare" and illustrate, as occasion may require," the whole counsel of God" in public, ought to be prepared to do the same to the individual members of his flock. "And this is absolutely necessary, as many of our people neither repent nor believe to this day. Look round, and see how many are in danger of damnation; and then say, 'How can we walk, and talk, and be cheerful with such people, when we know their case?'" "O brethren," continues the stirring document from which I am quoting, + Grindrod's Compendium, pp. 60, 61. "if we could set this work on foot in all our societies, and prosecute it zealously, what glory would redound to God! O, for the sake of poor souls, let us bestir ourselves, and spare no pains that may conduce to their salvation! We let men perish, for fear of offending them; we let them go quietly to hell, lest they should be angry with us; we have a foolish bashfulness; we know not where to begin; we are unskilful in the work, and blush to contradict the devil! But the greatest hinderance is weakness of faith. Our whole motion is weak, because the spring is weak.” * Is any But some are tempted to say, or think, "I have no taste for this work, and am therefore unfit for it." This supposes, that a man may have a taste for one method of saving souls, and not for another. But can we choose in this matter? man at liberty to prefer preaching to teaching, or the popular sermon to the pastoral visit, when the holy Scriptures have made both imperative at suitable seasons? Can we attend to the one, and innocently leave the other undone? especially where the distressing necessity for all kinds of ministerial fidelity will appear when we seriously "consider that personal religion," (I again quote from our Minutes,) "either towards God or man, is still very much wanted among us? How little living faith is there among us! How little communion with God! How little living in heaven, walking in eternity, deadness to every creature! How much love of the world, desire of pleasure, of ease, of getting money! What cause have we to blush before the Lord this day, that we have so long neglected this good work! If we had set upon it sooner, how many more might we have brought to Christ! and how much holier and happier might we have made our societies before now! But, above all our motives, let this be ever before our eyes: The church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.' Let us write this upon our hearts, and it Grindrod's Compendium, pp. 55, 56. will do us more good than twenty years of study." You may, not improbably, sometimes find a temptation to regard this exercise (embracing, as it must of course do, the instruction of the ignorant in the very first principles of Christianity, and occasionally the children and servants of families, in language suited to their various capacity) as an unintellectual employment, suited only, or principally, to those whose talents for the public ministry are not of the higher order; and who may therefore very properly assume this as their appropriate path of duty, while their more gifted brethren may pursue that more elevated sphere of ministerial usefulness which attracts the world, and brings men under the sound of the Gospel. While, however, both are good, and men have confessedly various talents, the sacred duties may not be separated or set in opposition to each other. Such a temptation will find no resting-place in your mind, when your heart is filled with love to the adorable Saviour, whose servant you are; and when, with yearning pity for mankind, and burning charity, you desire to snatch the immortal souls committed to your trust from everlasting misery. But you will "go into every house in course, and teach every one therein, young or old, if they belong to us, to be Christians indeed, inwardly and outwardly;" for you will find that many are very ignorant, even though they sit regularly under the word, and know but little of the nature of repentance, faith, and holiness. Most of them have a sort of confidence that God will save them, while," in many cases, "the world has their hearts, and evil tempers have dominion over them." This private instruction is absolutely necessary as an auxiliary to your public labours, would you be wise to win souls" for the Lord Jesus, and "make full proof of your ministry." ་་ Among other difficulties which may contribute to the hinderance of this good work is, it may be feared, the laudable desire, without the full ability from private resources, to relieve the temporal wants of all the poor of the flock; who will, at the same time, most need the benefit of pastoral visitation. This is, it will be acknowledged, an embarrassing difficulty, and one which can only be met by certain prudential arrangements. It ought not to be presumed, that every young Minister possesses the ability, considering other necessary claims upon his often slender resources, (as of his library, wardrobe, &c.,) to meet the ever-recurring claims upon his Christian sympathy, which will be found attendant upon this duty, unless it be chiefly confined to the affluent, which would involve great partiality and unfaithfulness toward the poor; and it is painful in the extreme to be able, as in many cases, only to say, "Be ye warmed, and be ye clothed," and afford no assistance to the objects of our anxiety. It is, however, believed, that wherever a Minister is known thus to devote himself to the care of the poor, the more respectable friends of the society will considerately make him, at least in part, their almoner; and that a portion of the bounty which flows through the church in other channels, might be profitably sent through the medium of the Pastor; thus increasing the weight and influence of his character among the poor. His own resources, meanwhile, will not remain unapplied, as far as his ability goes, -remembering that he has the Levite's portion. Many of our rich friends, and the Stewards of our societies, are known kindly to sympathize with their Minister in this matter. I am persuaded, my dear friend, that to you I need not add much in these communications, on the subject (which is, however, of great importance) of a careful redeeming of time, in order to allow the necessary opportunity for this important duty. Happily you are not among those who we fear are betrayed into the waste of many hours in a certain very unministerial habit, which if it ever could become a help to reflection, could not consistently be in dulged in the street. But you can reflect as you go along the streets, from house to house, or even read those less weighty works which it may be necessary you should be partially familiar with, but which must never be allowed to occupy the study, or to abridge the time you should devote to pastoral visitation. This may be done at intervals, and in detached portions of time, thus carefully put to a less important use, while the other must not, for the sake of a good conscience, be left undone. I have not presumed, in the various remarks I have been led to make in answer to your request, that there are no difficulties to be expected, arising from the people themselves; such as their indisposi tion to enter upon spiritual subjects, the worldly spirit, and often irregular domestic management, which may characterize some families; the claims of business, the family cares, or the intermixture of characters to be found frequently under one roof: all this, and much more, might form materials for an apology for the omission or neglect of this duty. But it will not be so with you, who are anxious to know the best method to meet and obviate such difficulties. You will rather make them all subjects for prayer; and, going forth deeply imbued with the love of Christ, gathering motives from his cross and passion, and in meek dependence upon his Holy Spirit, you will generally find that your own spirit and temper will in a great measure give the tone to others, and so mould and form their minds, that other spirits will sympathize with your own. This thought, ever present with you, will serve to promote watchfulness, gravity, tenderness, and love, in all your intercourse with the church. Your care for their souls will be apparent to them, and also lead you to act and speak in the very spirit of Him who said, "What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? for ye are our glory and joy.” ADJUTOR. ORIGINAL LETTER OF THE REV. JOHN WESLEY. We have been favoured, by Thomas Marriott, Esq., with the following letter. It shows not only the steadfast purpose of Mr. Wesley at this early stage of his religious course, but his discriminating judgment. Even losing sight of its author, the lessons which it teaches deserve to be carefully studied, and well remembered.-EDIT. TO WILLIAM WOGAN, ESQ,* SPRING GARDENS, LONDON. mouth." But what conversation is corrupt? The opposite will tell us : that which is not "good to the use of edifying, fit to minister grace to the hearers." Lastly, "Let your conversation be always in grace," (παντοτε εν χαριτι, steeped," as it were, therein, throughly impregnated thereby," not sprinkled only, but) "seasoned" (npruμevos) "with this salt;" which meat can by no means be said to be, till every IN particle of it has lost its freshness, and contracted this new flavour. DEAR SIR, I ENTIRELY agree with you, that religion is love, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; that as it is the happiest, so it is the most cheerful, thing in the world; that it is utterly inconsistent with moroseness, sourness, severity; and, indeed, with whatever is not according to the softness, sweetness, and gentleness of Jesus Christ. I believe it is equally contrary to all preciseness, stiffness, affectation, and unnecessary singularity: and those I call "unnecessary," which do not either directly or indirectly effect their progress in holiness who use them. I allow, too, that prudence, as well as zeal, is of the utmost importance in the Christian life. But I do not yet see any possible case wherein trifling conversation can be an instance of it. In the following scriptures I take all such to be flatly forbidden: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every idle word" (it is apyos, not movpos,-" wicked," because "idle")" that men speak, they shall give an account thereof at the day of judgment." "Neither foolish talking nor jesting," (eurpaTeλia,-literally, "wit," witty conversation," "facetiousness,")" which are not convenient" (or, " befitting our calling"). "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your 99 66 Of the firm of Wogan and Aspinwall, SpringGardens, Charing-Cross, Merchants. 64 That I shall be laughed at for all this, I know. So was my Master. But that I shall catch the favour of men, I know not. If I do any, it is not my strength or prudence: "No man cometh to me Father draw him." But this I am except the determined, never to "catch them with guile,”—an imputation St. Paul expresses a strong abhorrence of, (as any one may observe from the manner wherein he clears himself of that crime,) which some, it seems, had accused him of to the Corinthians. Not that I am for a stern, austere let all the cheerfulness of faith be manner of conversing, neither. No; there; all the joyfulness of hope; all the amiable sweetness, the winning easiness, of love. If we must have art, he mihi erunt artes; so soon as God shall adorn my soul with them, and without any other than these, with the power of the Holy Ghost, preventing, accompany. ing, and following me, I know that I (that is, the grace of God which is in me) shall save both myself and those that hear me ! Dear Sir, continue your prayers for Your obliged and very affec- Savannah, JOHN WESLEY. March 28th, 1737. |