You may, perhaps, think that now that John Wesley had joy and peace, and all his fears were gone, he would have no more troubles and sorrows, unless some great misfortunes befell him. It is true that his old troubles and sorrows were gone forever. It is written: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new, and all things are of God.” But as the old troubles passed away, new troubles came. Yes, amongst the new things which God gives His people, are not only new joys, but new troubles and sorrows. Do you think they are no better off, then, than they were before? If you did but know the difference between the old troubles and the new, you would not say so. The new troubles are a glorious, blessed gift from God, which, strange as you may think it, make the one to whom they come far happier than he would otherwise have been. Hear how Paul speaks about them, or rather how the Holy Ghost speaks by Paul: “We glory in tribulations also.” “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed.” “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong.” And God tells us of Moses, that the thing which he esteemed greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, was not that which most people would value, it was “the reproach of Christ.”
You can well understand that John Wesley, in his old days, could not take pleasure in his doubts and fears, nor glory in them, nor find them in any way an advantage. Now he was to have troubles such as His blessed Lord and Master had had, and he would learn to understand those words, “Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in Heaven.” John Wesley soon found out that the world is not changed since these words were spoken. He had come to London, as you remember, on the 3rd of February and had preached there since that time in many churches. By the 28th of May he was forbidden to preach any more in no less than ten of these churches. On that day he had preached twice about God justifying the ungodly, and this sounded strange to people who had been taught that God loved good people, and took them to heaven because they had done their best. This was the first Sunday after the day that John found rest and peace in Christ; therefore the sermons which had given offense before, must have done so because, though not himself at peace, he had at least preached some of the truths he had learned from his friend Peter; and, besides, he had been thoroughly in earnest, a thing which cold or lukewarm people much dislike.
On this same Sunday evening he gave fresh offense by something I am now going to tell you. Whenever John Wesley had had any business in London in former days, he used to stay at the house of his brother Samuel, in Westminster. When Samuel left London and went to live in Devonshire, a friend of his, called Mr. Hutton, said that he would gladly receive John and Charles into his house whenever they wanted to come to London. It was in the house of Mr. Hutton that John had been staying ever since he came back from America. You will see from this that Mr. Hutton was a kind, friendly man. He was, besides, a religious man. On Sunday evenings he used to read a sermon aloud to his family and visitors. On the Sunday of which I am telling you, when he had finished the sermon he was reading, all at once John Wesley stood up, and told them all he had something to say to them. It was this: he said, “I have to tell you that I was never really a Christian till five days ago. I am sure that this is true. If you, too, wish to be Christians, not in name only, but in truth, there is but one way. It is to confess that you are nothing but lost sinners, and believe in Christ only as the Saviour.” Mr. Hutton was astonished and displeased at John’s speech. He said that Mr. Wesley had been baptized long ago, and had often gone to the Lord’s Supper. How, then, could he dare to say that he had never been a Christian till five days ago?
Mrs. Hutton, too, was much displeased. In vain John told them that nobody was a Christian, except in name, until he gave up all trust in baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, or in any works whatever, as able to save him, and till he trusted in Christ, and Christ only.
Mr. and Mrs. Hutton only became more angry, and at last Mrs. Hutton settled it in her mind that her friend John was becoming mad, and she wrote to his brother Samuel to tell him that both John and Charles had become so wild and strange she knew not what harm they might not do. She told Samuel she believed they both meant to pay him a visit, and that then, if he could not persuade them how wrong and foolish they were, the best plan would be to shut them up in a lunatic asylum. Samuel quite agreed with Mrs. Hutton, and said, “What Jack means I cannot understand. He was baptized long ago, and how then can he say he has only just become a Christian? I pleased myself with the expectation of seeing Jack, but now that is over, and I am afraid of it.”
John, however, did not go to pay Samuel a visit. He had other plans, of which I will tell you further on. In the meantime he found that other old friends besides Mr. and Mrs. Hutton had turned against him. Amongst these was Mr. William Law. John had written to him to tell him that he had now, and only now, become a true believer in the Lord Jesus, and that it was through the teaching of Peter Böhler that he had learned the blessed truth that we are saved by Christ only, and not by our own works in any degree. “And now, sir,” he added, “suffer me to ask, how will you answer it to our common Lord that you never gave me this advice? Why did I scarcely ever hear you name the name of Christ never so as to ground anything upon faith in His blood?...I know that I had not faith, unless the faith of a devil, the faith of Judas....I beseech you, sir, to consider whether the true reason of your never pressing this upon me (that it is by faith we are saved) was not this, that you had it not yourself?” He then warned Mr. Law of the danger of remaining without true faith in the Lord Jesus.
To this letter Mr. Law replied that he had taught John the truth about faith in Christ, and so had Thomas à Kempis. It was plain, therefore, that Mr. Law did not so much as understand what John meant. In fact, amongst all his old friends, scarcely any seemed now to agree with him, except his brother Charles and Mr. Ingham, who had once belonged to the Holy Club.