John Wesley's Liberality.
A writer of Mr. Wesley's Life, from whom some observations respecting his general character have been taken, has observed: "Perhaps the most charitable man in England was Mr. Wesley. His liberality to the poor knew no bounds but an empty pocket. He gave away not merely a certain part of his income, but all that he had; his own wants provided for, he devoted all the rest to the necessities of others. He entered upon this good work at a very early period. We are told that, 'when he had thirty pounds a year, he lived on twenty-eight, and gave away forty shillings. The next year, receiving sixty pounds, he still lived on twenty-eight, and gave away two and thirty. The third year he received ninety pounds, and gave away sixty-two. The fourth year he received one hundred and twenty pounds. Still he lived on twenty-eight, and to the poor ninety-two.' In this ratio he proceeded during the rest of his life; and, in the course of fifty years, it has been supposed, he gave away between twenty and thirty thousand pounds (money chiefly arising from the constant and large sale of his writings); a great part of which, most other men would have put out at interest, upon good security. "In the distribution of his money, Mr. Wesley was as disinterested as he was charitable. He had no regard to family connections, nor even to the wants of the preachers who labored with him, in preference to strangers. He knew that these had some friends; and he thought that the poor destitute stranger might have none, and therefore had the first claim on his liberality. When a trifling legacy has been paid him, he has been known to dispose of it in some charitable way before he slept, that it might not remain his own property for one night. He often declared that his friends should be his executors; and that he would save all he could by his publications, and spend all he could, not wasting so much as a sheet of paper, but giving all he could, he was preserved from laying up treasures upon earth."—Life of Wesley. God uses not the most capable, but those nearest at hand and most willing. Those who are watching at the gates and waiting at the posts of the doors are first to receive his orders, and to be advanced to power and influence. Israel was watching and waiting at the sea when God spoke to them to "Go forward," and the sea divided for them to pass through. They were at Pentecost to be endued with power from on high, and then went forth to reap the glorious Pentecostal harvests. Prophets were "holy men," who lived near to God, and he used them to declare his purpose to men. John, at Patmos, was in the Spirit on the Lord's day; was near to God when he received that most glorious revelation ever given to mortal. Paul was up in the third Heavens when he had the vision too glorious for human language to describe. Joshua and Gideon and Luther and Judson were not more capable than some other men, but they were at hand, ready and willing, and God used them for accomplishing a glorious work.