Later English Reformers
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had no courage or faith any longer to support the downfallen cause of
truth.
The great doctrine of justification by faith, so clearly taught by
Luther, had been almost wholly lost sight of; and the Romish principle
of trusting to good works for salvation, had taken its place. Whitefield
and the Wesleys, who were members of the established church, were
sincere seekers for the favor of God, and this they had been taught was
to be secured by a virtuous life and an observance of the ordinances of
religion.
When Charles Wesley at one time fell ill, and anticipated that death
was approaching, he was asked upon what he rested his hope of eternal
life. His answer was: “I have used my best endeavors to serve God.”
As the friend who had put the question seemed not to be fully satisfied
with his answer, Wesley thought: “What! are not my endeavors a
sufficient ground of hope? Would he rob me of my endeavors? I have
nothing else to trust to.”—John Whitehead, Life of the Rev. Charles
Wesley, page 102. Such was the dense darkness that had settled down
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on the church, hiding the atonement, robbing Christ of His glory, and
turning the minds of men from their only hope of salvation—the blood
of the crucified Redeemer.
Wesley and his associates were led to see that true religion is
seated in the heart, and that God’s law extends to the thoughts as well
as to the words and actions. Convinced of the necessity of holiness
of heart, as well as correctness of outward deportment, they set out in
earnest upon a new life. By the most diligent and prayerful efforts they
endeavored to subdue the evils of the natural heart. They lived a life
of self-denial, charity, and humiliation, observing with great rigor and
exactness every measure which they thought could be helpful to them
in obtaining what they most desired—that holiness which could secure
the favor of God. But they did not obtain the object which they sought.
In vain were their endeavors to free themselves from the condemnation
of sin or to break its power. It was the same struggle which Luther had
experienced in his cell at Erfurt. It was the same question which had
tortured his soul—“How should man be just before God?”
Job 9:2
.
The fires of divine truth, well-nigh extinguished upon the altars
of Protestantism, were to be rekindled from the ancient torch handed
down the ages by the Bohemian Christians. After the Reformation,
Protestantism in Bohemia had been trampled out by the hordes of