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The Great Controversy 1888
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
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sufficient ground of hope? Would he rob me of my endeavors? I have
nothing else to trust to.” Such was the dense darkness that had settled
down 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 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
Rome. All who refused to renounce the truth were forced to flee.
Some of these, finding refuge in Saxony, there maintained the ancient
faith. It was from the descendants of these Christians that light came
to Wesley and his associates.