QUOTE: One word about Wesley’s religious life at Charterhouse is necessary. At the time of his conversion, in 1738,* after describing his earlier life at home, he proceeds, “The next six or seven years were spent at school, where, outward restraints being removed, I was much more negligent than before, even of outward duties, and almost continually guilty of outward sins, which I knew to be such, though they were not scandalous in the eye of the world. However, I still read the Scriptures, and said my prayers, morning and evening. And what I now hoped to be saved by was, (i) not being so bad as other people, (2) having still a kindness for religion, and (3) reading the Bible, going to church, and saying my prayers.” It is evident that the old notions of” universal obedience” in which he had been so carefully trained at home had broken down. He was, he says, as ignorant of The true meaning of the Law as of the Gospel. More evangelical teaching would probably have preserved him from the “outward sins” to which he refers. We must not, however, forget how sensitive his conscience was. A schoolboy who read his Bible morning and evening had not gone far astray.
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The quote above is from The Life of John Wesley by John Telford – Chapter 3, GOWN-BOY AT CHARTERHOUSE and is found at http://wesley.nnu.edu/?id=84. Copyright © 1993-2011. Wesley Center for Applied Theology, c/o Northwest Nazarene University. All Rights Reserved.