Wesley Corpus

A Letter to the Rev. Mr. Thomas Maxfield Source: The Works of John Wesley, Volume 11 (Zondervan) Year: 1778 Author: John Wesley --- I was a little surprised to read, in a late publication of yours, the following assertions : 1. Thomas Maxfield was “some of the first-fruits of Mr. Whitefield's ministry.” (Page 18.) 2. “When he went abroad, he delivered me, and many thousands more, into the hands of those he thought he could have trusted them with, and who would have given them back to him again at his return. But, alas! it was not so.” (Ibid.) “I heard Mr. Whitefield say, at the Tabernacle, in the presence of five or six Ministers, to Mr. -- a little before he left England for the last time, ‘I delivered thirty thou sand people into the hands of your brother and you, when I went abroad. And by the time I came back, you had so turned their hearts against me, that not three hundred of them would come to hear me.” I knew this was true.” (Ibid.) 3. “I heard Mr. Whitefield say, ‘When I came back from Georgia, there was no speaking evil of each other. O what would I not give, or suffer, or do, to see such times again But O that division I that division ? What slaughter jt has made l’ “It was doctrine that caused the difference; or, at least, it was so pretended.” (Ibid.) “He preached a few times in connexion with his old friends. But, ah! how soon was the sword of contention drawn l’’ (Page 19.) 4. “Where can you now find any loving ones, of either party? They have no more love to each other than Turks.” (Ibid.) “Read their vile contentions, and the evil characters they give of each other, raking the filthiest ashes, to find some black story against their fellow-Preachers.” (Page 20.) They “slay with the sword of bitterness, wrath, and envy. Still more their shame is what they have sent out into the world against each other, on both sides, about five or six years ago, and till this very day.” (Page 21.) To satisfy both friends and foes, I propose a few queries on each of these four heads. I.