Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Life, Polemic Preaching, and Death

Monday, 20.—I returned to London. On Tuesday I preached at Great St. Helen’s on “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” [Luke 9:23].

Sunday, 26.—I preached at six, at St. Lawrence’s; at ten, in St. Catherine Cree’s Church; and in the afternoon, at St. John’s, Wapping. I believe it pleased God to bless the first sermon most, because it gave most offense; being, indeed, an open defiance of that mystery of iniquity which the world calls “prudence,” grounded on those words of St. Paul to the Galatians, “As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ” [Gal. 6:12].

Monday, 27.—I took coach for Salisbury and had several opportunities of conversing seriously with my fellow travelers.

Tuesday, 28.—I saw my mother once more. The next day I prepared for my journey to my brother at Tiverton. But on Thursday morning, March 2, a message that my brother Charles was dying at Oxford obliged me to set out for that place immediately. Calling at an odd house in the afternoon, I found several persons there who seemed well-wishers to religion, to whom I spake plainly; as I did in the evening both to the servants and strangers at my inn.

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