Gordon Robertson has unearthed a Methodist take on Dickens’ famous tale of the supernatural
‘… the clock struck twelve … we were startled from our chairs … the knocking continued, accompanied by deep sepulchral groans … two figures, pale and ghastly and clothed in white entered the room … we heard a voice saying, “I am Wesley, and bring a message from God to you”; and another voice saying, “I am Whitfield, and what thou seest and hearest from us, write in a book, and send to the churches”!’
Well, that makes a change from the usual Christmas reading of Scrooge and his friendly visitors. This fascinating little booklet1 came out in 1846, 55 years after John Wesley had been forced to give up the reins (or was it a whip?) of the Methodist Church by being inconveniently mortal. So now he returns to harangue the Methodist Church for its backsliding. Nice to see his erstwhile antagonist George Whitfield2 reunited with him in the ghostly realms to reinforce the rebuke.
Old times were best?
At one level, this is an old (anonymous) grump saying it was better in the old times. Some of us could easily empathise! But harking back to pioneer circuit-riding days is misplaced. Times have moved on. Yes, there was a fire and zeal in the good old days, with great blessing blending with the hardships and persecutions. But our task is to discern God’s will for today. Biblical sacrificial living, striving for truth, working hard, pleasing God rather than man, need to be worked out in a different England from that which W & W knew. Society had changed, there was a different attitude to those who dissented, and those who loved the Lord, knew his Word and had felt the Spirit move in their hearts needed to show the same spirituality in different ways.
Stirring reading
Certainly, there is a challenge from the past. No-one can read Wesley’s life and be unmoved. The lives of so very many men and women who were fired up with the gospel and determined to live it and share it regardless of the cost are an inspiration and rebuke to comfortable believers of the 19th century and the 21st. The two Ws’ ghostly rebuke is stirring reading, which probes the heart. Where is the blessedness I knew, when first I saw the Lord? Have I lost my first love? Is zeal abating? Am I too fond of my comfort and possessions? Do I give too much time to relaxation, or even family?
What would he say this year?
I’m afraid I must have dozed off as I read in front of the fire, for with a start I saw Wesley in front of me – now aged 316, but with his arm still raised as in all the pictures! What would he say to me as the year turns to 2019? Actually, there were a few things I wanted to say to him: why didn’t you prepare the leadership for the handover?; why didn’t you set up a proper structure?; why couldn’t you trust those who had worked with you for so long?; what went wrong, that they lost the gospel priority so quickly? But now wasn’t the time. I quickly said: ‘Spare the sepulchral groans’ as Wesley opened his mouth. I heard: ‘Follow me, as much and only as much, as I followed the Lord’ … and then he was gone, leaving me all of a quiver!
Gordon Robertson lives in Leeds
