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146
From Here to Forever
of eternal life. His answer: “I have used my best endeavors to serve
God.” The friend seemed not fully satisfied with this answer. Wesley
thought: “What! ... Would he rob me of my endeavors? I have
nothing else to trust to.
Such was the darkness that had settled
on the church, turning men from their only hope of salvation—the
blood of the crucified Redeemer.
Wesley and his associates were led to see that God’s law extends
to the thoughts as well as to the words and actions. By diligent and
prayerful efforts they endeavored to subdue the evils of the natural
heart. They lived a life of self-denial and humiliation, observing
with exactness every measure which they thought could be helpful in
obtaining that holiness which could secure the favor of God. But in
vain were their endeavors to free themselves from the condemnation
of sin or to break its power.
The fires of divine truth, well-nigh extinguished upon the altars
of Protestantism, were to be rekindled from the ancient torch handed
down by the Bohemian Christians. Some of these, finding refuge in
Saxony, maintained the ancient faith. From these Christians light
[160]
came to Wesley.
John and Charles were sent on a mission to America. On board
ship was a company of Moravians. Violent storms were encountered,
and John, face to face with death, felt he had not the assurance of
peace with God. The Germans manifested a calmness and trust to
which he was a stranger. “I had long before,” he says, “observed the
great seriousness of their behavior. ... There was now an opportunity
of trying whether they were delivered from the spirit of fear, as well
as from that of pride, anger, and revenge. In the midst of the psalm
wherewith their service began, the sea broke over, split the mainsail
in pieces, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks as if the
great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began
among the English. The Germans calmly sang on. I asked one of
them afterwards, ‘Were you not afraid?’ He answered, ‘I thank God,
no.’ I asked, ‘But were not your women and children afraid?’ He
replied mildly, ‘No; our women and children are not afraid to die.’
8
John Whitehead, Life of the Rev. Charles Wesley, p. 102.
9
Ibid., p. 10.