g might be done now to
save the remainder, if only you had resolution, and would stand by me as
firmly as I will stand by you. Consider what you are bound to do as a
clergyman, and what you do, do quickly.' It has been already stated that
Charles was, if possible, even more attached to the Church than John.
John, on his part, fully felt the need of his brother's help. In 1768,
he wrote to him, 'I am at my wits' end with regard to two things: the
Church and Christian perfection. Unless both you and I stand in the gap
in good earnest, the Methodists will drop them both. Talking will not
avail, we must _do_, or be borne away. "Age, vir esto! nervos intende
tuos."' On another occasion, John rescued his brother from a dangerous
tendency which he showed towards the stillness of the Moravians. He
wrote to him, 'The poison is in you, fair words have stolen away your
heart;' and made this characteristic entry in his journal:--'The
Philistines are upon thee, Samson; but the Lord is not departed from
thee; He shall strengthen thee yet again, and thou shalt be avenged for
the loss of thine eyes.'

There is an interesting letter from Whitefield to Charles Wesley, dated
December 22, 1752, from which it appears that there was a threatened
rupture between the two brothers, the cause of which we do not
know.[755] 'I have read and pondered your kind letter with a degree of
solemnity of spirit. What shall I say? Really I can scarce tell. The
connection between you and your brother hath been so close and
continued, and your attachment so necessary to him to keep up his
interest, that I could not willingly for the world do or say anything
that may separate such friends. I cannot help thinking that he is still
jealous of me and my proceedings; but I thank God I am quite easy about
it.'[756] The last sentence is characteristically injudicious, if
Whitefield desired, as undoubtedly he did, to heal the breach; but the
letter is valuable as showing that, in the opinion of Whitefield, who
must have known as much about the matter as anyone, the co-operation of
the two brothers was essential to their joint work.

Indeed, if for no other reason, Charles Wesley occupies a most important
place in the history of early Methodism, as forming the connecting link
between John Wesley and Whitefield. In October, 1749, he wrote, 'George
Whitefield and my brother and I are one; a threefold cord which shall no
more be broken;' but he does not add, as he might