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Untitled Article
But I would cut the matter short , by simply observing , that the effects ascribed to Ghrist * s preaching did not result in Wesley ' s case ; so that if the parallel were exact as to the style of preaching * it does not illustrate the effect , which has to be explained . It is not proved , nor even alleged of Wesley ' s , or Whitfield's , or any other Methodist preaching , that * the effect was the extraordinary cure of many diseases , —a persuasion in the multitudes and
in hjmselfj that this was owing to the power of his word , and his consequent successful assumption and exercise of such miraculous powers / Wesley never assumed the power of working miracles . It is a paltry confusing of the argument by the sound of words , to quote him as pretending to it , —p . 70 . 6 I appeal , ' said Wesley , * to every candid , unprejudiced person , whether we may not , at this day , discern all those signs ( understanding the words in a spiritual sknse ) , to which our Lord referred
John ' s disciples : —the blind receive their sight!—those who were blind from their birth , unable to see their own deplorable state ,, &c . y &c . ' And so he proceeds to describe the moral miracles he had performed on the spiritually deaf , the spiritually lame , the spiritual lepers ; and this conversion of sinners to God he expressly tells us is ' what we mean by talking of the extraordinary work of God . '
Two instances are , indeed , given of excessive mental excitement throwing people into convulsions , ' which Wesley styles ' instances of divine power , ' and the author correctly describes as exhibiting a ¦ * state of spiritual drunkenness , ' ( p . 77 . ) But the author allows ( p . 78 ) , ' that no bodily paroxysms were produced upon the multitudes who listened to Jesus , ' and answers the supposed objection , by saying that no fits or convulsions were
produced by Whitfield ' s preaching , till he preached among those who had heard Wesley , and yet ' Whitfield preached the same doctrine as the Wesleys , and addressed himself with equal or greater vehemence to the passions , and with more theatrical effect . * If this has any meaning , it is , that our Saviour ' s . preaching may have been powerful , though it did not throw people mto convulsions , —a position which could easily be established
. positively instead of negatively ;—it is , however , hereby virtually admitted * hat there is no point of comparison between the effect of our Lord ' s preaching in producing extraordinary cures supposed to be miracles , and the effect of Wesley ' s or Whitfield ' s . Why , then , all the lo&d of quotations from Southey * s life of Wesley ,
'irrelevant as they are to the question ? ! But we naturally look for the author ' s more particular explanation of the Gospel miracles individually . Vague general statements may be easily made , and not so easily rebutted ; but when particular explanations are offered for particular incidents alleged to Vje miraculous , the argument is more tangible . The book before riie does go into particulars , but very * superficially . The
Untitled Article
830 Orthodoxy dnd Unbelief .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1832, page 830, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1826/page/38/
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