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Lortqua la documant att trap grand pour itra raproduit an un taul clichO. il att film4 * partir da i'angia tupAriaur gaucha. da gaucha i droita. at da haut an bat, an pranant la nombra d'imagaa nOcattaira. Laa diagrammat tuivantt illuttrant la mOthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 MICROCOfY mSOlUTION TBI CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) la ITS 13.2 12^ 1^ 1^ m m m ^ APPLIED IIVHGE In ^SFm 1653 East Moin Street =^S Rochesttr, New York 1*609 USA ^= (716) +82 -0300 -Phone ^B (716) 268 -5989 -Fax J^^r^ £^,:^, 7 !>< THE Young People's Wesley By w. McDonald WITH AN INTRODUCTION By BISHOP W. F. MALLAUEU. D.D. "The best of all is, God is with us."— Wesley TORONTO : WILLIAM BRIGGS M«..r«li c. W. Co„«. Halift. : s. F. HuBT«. vi'S' APrCCTIONATCLr VeMcateA TO AU. THE MCMBCRS Of JOHN WEJCEYt WJDELY EXTENDED AND CONSTANTLY INCREASINa PARHH. PREFACE. remember,^ bj all; not so expensive «« t-, kl We conversion n.arvelous ministry, what he d.d. how he did it. the doctrines he preached foS'tr'"^ •""•' ""'"^ ^d't!"" will be •l«tond CoMmnc^. who Hndly <„„J,m" Preface. character of the 1«« ' If '"°'" remarkable enco of hi, life km-! "'^' ""'^ ">« influ- than ever^bitr^^ "n7„^«111°' ^ *°^«^ ment-if liis fou'owew a~ »,"'""! ^ "f -tiU the end of tS ""^ '° *'""' «"»» WiuuM McDonaul CONTENTS. PurAci, .... Imthoddctiox, . . . ' ' I. BOKN IN Troublovi Tiiiu II. The Wulit Familt, III. WEsLEr't Early Life, IV. Epworth Rapmmoi, . V. Origin or tbe Holt Cms, VI. Weslei in America, VII. WE.LET'. Reltoiocs Experience Vni. WrsLEr's M- ipli-j) Ubor., IX. WESLEr-g D .MTIC RELTIONi, X. WeBLEV's PERJECUnONf. XI. WE8LBT AND HiS ThEOU; ., XII. We»let a» a Man, . . ' * XIII. Weslbt as a Preacher, . XIV. Weslet as a Reformer, ! . . ^^" ^To iJi,*"" '^••""•"•' M«™ODiiM Prior XVI. Weslet and American Methodism^ " m xvm' w"""" ^"■"•'"=""' ™» C'-o»« OF Life, m ^iv w "'" "" "" '^-""'"'"^ D-ATH, . ,™ XIX. Weslei's Character as Estimated bt Unbiased JcDOES, ... ,gj XX. The Greater Weslet of the Opening Century, . ,^ -,„ 198 CO.NCLCSION, . . ^^ . t . 9 . 18 . 20 n 41 49 u n 88 88 101 lis 188 188 144 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PoBTBAiT or Jon» Weslkt, . . Frontispiece PACINO An Undsua,. V.kw or the E-wokt,. Rectort. *" w Tbb Weslevan Mbmohial CiiUKcn, Ei-wouth, E""""!., ^ JBrPKBT-s A.iic Room, Whenc. the Mvstbriocs NoiSEa Camb, Wbslbt's Armcbair Wbslky's Clock, . „ ' 86 Samubl Wesley's Grate, upon Wn.cn John Preached His Famous Sermon, . . . jjg WbslbVs Teatot. WeslbVs Bible and Case, . 144 St. Andrew's Church at Epworth. Epwobth Memorial Church at Cleveland, O., . . leo The Room in Which Wesley Died, . . . ijb John Wesley's GHArs, . . , _ jj^ INTRODUCTION. What, another Life of John Wesley! Why not? This time a "Young People's Wesley." If ever the common people had an interest in any man, living or dead, that man is John Wesley. It is true that we already have many "Lives" of this remarkable man. They range from the massive volumes of Tyerman down to the booklet of a few pages. The truth abides that of making many books there is no end, and so more Lives of Wesley will be writ- ten from time to time as the years and cen- turies come and go. The reason of this is that John Wesley is one of the greatest men of all the Christian centuries. When we under- take to enumerate the five greatest men that the English race has ever produced we must of necessity include the name of John Wesley. As the distance increases between the present time and the days of his protracted activity the grander does he appear. The majority of the men of his day and generation did not comprehend him. They could not, for the plan of his aspirations and achievements was far above their thinking or living. They did not realize his greatness; they did not foresee the 10 tntroouction. • h»nd«d Je^; ^l 5:^, "J-" d-ci ^ore than o intellectual Z Sual tkll t'lfi velopment of the statu ' T 'u"-*'«^' *''" ^^ man will continue for l;;^ '^" """"^^'^^^ on\Thtfiitnd"^r^:f r -" ''-^• herited thi qnalitl« „f 1 T^^^f^f «''^« ^e in- land- So far i we kno: ^- """"^ °^ ^"f" Purely Saxon, and of th».l." ancestry was Saxon lineag; of ^„" ^ *^ ?t English- affairs, as a diDl„™«* ' '""'1' »" niilitaiy have bUn eminlTi^: :*"*-'»««' ^e woulj century. He was f..ll„ T ^ scholars of his aU n,aTters of"n S SZTl '" '"^^ '" euist of rare excellJnn\,!^i ' ^^ ''"^ a lin- «an; he wa^ aSme fn ^h-^ I '"^taphysi- the rare abilitv of ^!- P^'l?«°Pby- He had «-t and hitrVu^Csef t'"^'' '<" '^^ genius, not a cranfc a ?^ ^^ a real Wronment; a^„i„//^°."" »t"«es en- ^tances; a geniurmakes r"^" "'""""■ a genius pioneers mankind ;*'"."«' ""''• a"/e'?Srist^r °V^^ -S -din. the iir^nr^r^r- e?-st:; fntrottuction. 11 writing the life, of this man. Born in the' liumble rectory of Epworth, in the midst of the fens of Lincolnshire, his name and fame reach to the ends of the earth. Men know him not for what he might have been, but for what be was— a friend of all, and a prophet of God. Just now when the common people are more and more educated, and nearly all of them are readers of books, and many of them interested in good books, it is important that we have a Life of Wesley that is perfectly adapted to those who are not critical historical students, but rather to those who want the gist of things, who want the substantial and essential facts in compressed shape. It is believed that this volume will meet all these requirements, and that a careful perusal of its pages will put any person of ordinary intelligence in very close touch with one of the greatest religious and social reformers the world has ever known. This volume is onn that might be read with great profit by every member of our Church, and by all Methodists everywhere. Especially would its reading help all our young people, and particularly the mem- \-evs of our Epworth League. It is certain that its reading would give them clear, definite, and correct views of the life and work of the found- er of Methodism; and such views would be sure to lead to a more healthful and vigorous personal religious experience, and would en- I 13 IntroDuctlon. courage all heroic aspirations for the highest attainments in holy living, and excite the most ardent and persistent efforts for the salvation of all men. John Wesley knew that human- ity had been redeemed by the sufferir.gs and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew that every redeemed soul might be saved. Ho knew that it was his business to bring re- deemed humanity to the feet of its Redeemer. yTould that all his followers might share in this threefold knowledge; and that by the reading of this volume all might be led to con- secrate themselves to the accomplishment of the supremely glorious task at which John Wesley wrought until he ceased at once to work and live. O, that all Methodists might follow John Wesley even as he followed Christ 1 W. F. Mallalieu. Auburndale, Mass., April 8, 1901. The Young People's Wesley. CHAPTER L BOBK IN TBOUBLOUS TIMES. During the latter part of the seventeenth and the first part of the eighteenth century England was the theater of stirring events. War was sounding its clarion notes through the land. Marlborough had achieved a series of brilliant victories on the Continent, which had filled and fired the national heart with the spirit of military glory. The English, at that time, had an instinc- tive horror of popery and power. James II, cruel, arbitrary, and oppressive, had been hurled from the throne as a plotting papal tyrant, and his grandson, Charles Edward, known as the Pretender, was making every possible effort to regain the throne and to sub- ject the people to absolute despotism. To add to their dismay, the fleets of France and Spain were hovering along the English coast, ready, at any favorable moment, to pounce upon her. The means of public communication by rail- " ttbe Voung people'0 TRneelev. road and telegraph were unknown. Ther« nnTh« ?r'*' ""^ '*"""* information couW not be readily or safely obtained. Under th«e cn^umstancea it is not surprising that Strang! and exareerated reports should have kept the pubhc mmd in a state of great excitement .„! general consternation. «-'iement and It was also, pre-eminently, an infidel a"» the character of these efforts was generally more humorous and sarcastic than serious. OccasionairtW ^ve a sober rebuke of the religion of the da^^ Berkeley attacked, with his keen logic and S l^^'l the skeptical opinions wWch pre- vailed Most of his articles were on the Lh ;ect of "Free Thinking." Johi^n th"t' I Xorn (n Croubloue Cimes. is moralist, stood up, it is said, "a great giant to battle, with both hands against all error in religion, whether in high places or low." These men, and Young, with his vast re- ligious pretentiousness, are said to have walked in the garments of literary and social chastity; but Swift, greater intellectually than any of them, and a high church dignitary to boot, would have disgraced the license of the "Merry Monarch's" court and outdone it in profanity. Kven Dryden made the literature of Charles Il's age infamous for all time. "Licentiousness was the open and shameless profession of the higher classes in the days of Charles, and in the time of Anne it still festered under the surface. Gambling was an almost universal practice among men and women alike. Lords and ladies were skilled in knavery; disgrace was not in cheating, but in being cheated. Both sexes were given to profanity and drunkenness. Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough, could swear more bravely than her husband could fight. The wages of the poor were spent in guzzling beer, m wakes and fairs, badger-baiting and cock- fighting. ♦ And yet the reign of Anne claims to have been the golden age of English liter- ature. It did show a polish on the surface, but within it was "full of corruption and dead men's bones." • Same Heretics o/ Yesterday, pp. 294, 285. 16 zbe ^otma people's taeelec. Added to this, the Church, which should have been the light of the world, was in a most deplorable state. Irreligion and spiritual in- difference had taken possession of priest and people, and ministers were sleeping over the threatened ruins of the Church, and, in too many instances, were hastening, .by their open infidelity, the day of its ruin. The Established Church overtopped everything. She possessed great power and little piety. Her sacerdotal robes had been substituted for the garments of holiness; her Prayer Book had extinguished those earnest, spontaneous soul-breathings which bring the burdened heart into sympa- thetic union with the sympathizing Saviour. Spirituality had well-nigh found a gTave, fr^^m which it was feared there would be no' resurrection. Isaac Taylor says : "The Church had become an ecclesiastical system, under which the people of England had lapsed into heathenism;" and "Nonconformity had lapsed into indifference, and was rapidly in a course to be found nowhere but in books." In France hot-headed, rationalistic infidelity was invad- ' ing the strongholds of the Reformation, and French philosophers were spreading moral con- tagion through Europe, which resulted in the French Revolution. The only thing which saved England from the same catastrophe was the sudden rise of Methodism, which, as one writer says, "laid hold of the lower classes and AN UNUSUAL VILW UK THE iPWOKTH RECTORY.. J»orn In CrouMoua Citne*. n ch«t!S' K I *'' Pwachew of the Gospel eel- l,,nif 1 51 «""°"»"ion and preachJd to « handful of hearers on Sabbath morning and tT^ tt •'rrV" -«'-Pl»yi»«r. and "he Pdii'^c^^pir-^fTdoXur^^ ruZ.rdlltrtr"^*^''^''-''*^' The North Briluh Review says • "Never has a century risen on Christian England so voW tZ '"^ ^f **•' '* '^ • ""«'«« dawn fol. low ng a dewless night. The Puritans were b,med. and the Methodists were not born^ "The S 1 ^'"'"'*'^ '"•'^' '- » '«™on: iS^^oti-dre:;/'j^--c;r =r- r.i'iir^.-arth^ other days of the week. Strong drink Ta, become the epidemic distemper of the city of I^don. Sin in general has become ^C dened and rampant that immoralities are d^ kindlf ':""V^"«i'««J. on principle. E.ei^ iSicate '^,i"" '°""<^ " ^*«' *° t«-h an'J wTs Pot. !? II* '"'' ^•''^•*°«: the minstiil Th^ w 'SV"^'^ *•"* P'«'"''>e' was Atterbuiy The world had an idle, discontented iXof a mormng after some mad holiday." 8 18 cb« voung people'* tmeeles. Over tliig state of moral and roligiou. apo*- twy a few were found who made gad and bitter lamentations. Bishop Burnet was "filled were under more contempt than those of any other Church in Europe; fcr they were much more remiss in their labors and least J^vere without the deepest concern, when I see im- minent rum hanging over the Church, and by consequence, over the Keformation. The outward state of things is black enough, God knows. b,.t that which heightens nv fea™ arises chiefly from the inward state into which we are tallen." Bishop Gibson gives a heart-saddening view of the matter: "Profanoness and iniquity ai^ fh^cl.Sr'l^r'; Bishop Butler'declare" the Church to be "only a subject of mirth and ndicule." Guyes. a Nonconformist divine, says that "preacher and people were content to lay Christ aside." Hurrian, another Dis- senter, sees "faith, joy, and Christian zeal tw' ''l''^ had been for some years pastor of Whitchurch Dorchestershire, and was ereatly beloved by his people. But the law conducted by Dissenters. Whoever was found in such an assembly was tried by a judge with- out a jury, and for the third offense was sen- tenced to transportation beyond the seas for seven years; and if the offender returned to his home before the seven years expired he was iiable to capital punishment. This was an example of refined cruelty. The minister who had grown gray in the service of his Lord, Whose annual income was barely sufficient to !i;r;;gigdnftjip on the world without support. * If ettey Family, vol. I, p. e». ei Cbe ]|?oung people's llSleeies. and the poor man was not permitted \i, livb within five miles of his charge, nor of any other which he might have formerly served. As Mr. Wesley could not teach, or preach, or hold private meetings, he, for a time, turned his attention to the practice of medicine for the support of his family. He bade his weeping church adieu, and re- moved to Melcomb, a town some twenty miles away. He ^ad preached for a time in Mel- comb before he became vicar of Whitchurch, and hoped to find there a quiet retreat and' sympathizing friends. But his family was scarcely settled when an order came prohib- iting his settlement there, and fining a good lady twenty pounds for receiving him into her house. Driven from Melcomb, he sought shel- ter in Preston, by invitation of a kind friend, who offered him free rent. Then came the passage of what was known as the "five-mile act," which required that Dissenting ministers should not reside within five miles of an in- corporated town. Preston, though not an in- corporated town, was within five miles of one. Finding no place for rest from the relentless persecution of the Established Church— per- secution as cruel as Rome ever inflicted, save the death penalty, and that was imposed under certain conditions — he concluded to leave his home for a time and retire to some obscure village until he could, by prayer and delibera- coe TOeeteB Wmuv. sa tion. detennine what to do. Here, alone with God hw decision was made. He fully dLTded tJe la! oTp T "^^^ " ^ «""'««'«»'». "W for-nf.^ Confomuty. as it was called. Con- *°r?»ty was to him apostasy. Pla^'ir't"^..'''!"""^?^ *° ^°^^ to soma place in South America, and if ««(• t\. to Maryland. He hoped/by so doin; to S a quiet home for himself and family^n could enjoy freedom to worship God. but not m oppressive. Protestant England, just "f c-ued from the domination of Ron^'. ^ '' '"' ^^iSrln?on*£,rrre^S^ God"wiH"7J"°K' ""'' •'° •■- besTL cS Preal* Woufd.'"' ™"^ ""^ *° P'-''''' -d In spite of every precaution, he was f~ { ' ™*'18 crushed spirit could stanH it „-. onger. and he died at the early a^'S fortv- Wesley tur^r^o^iZSSr Se-^l" ^ ttbe Boutifl people'8 TOcelefi. a graduate of Oxford; as a classical scholar ^e had few equals-a man of deep piety and distinguished talents. His father, Barthol- omew Wesley, had early dedicated his son to the Gospel ministry, and God seems to have accepted the dedication. And because he con- scientiously objected to conducting public worship strictly according to the Prayer Book, the unchristian laws regarding Conformity were enforced, and the tears, blood, and suffer- ing which, befell those godly men lay at the door of the Established Church. Cruel perse- TT Tu'^u^'^. '"'"' ^"^ ''^ P^ey even after death. When his inanimate body, followed by weeping wife, little children, and sympathiz- ing neighbors, was borne on a bier to the gates of the consecrated burial place of Preston, the gates were closed against it by order of the minister of the Established Church. So the remains of this good and great man were deposited m an unknown and unmarked grave tsamuel Wesley was sixteen years old at the time of his father's death. He had been under the careful tuition of his learned father, and under such training his mind had become high- ly educated for one of his years. He had a gemus for poetry, and possessed a highly sensi- tive nature. His associations with Dissenters were not the most favorable, and what he saw and heard at the meetings of what was known as the "Calf's Head Club" disgusted him ttbc waealcB family. 35 hasty in hk h!!v^ u ^'"'^ impulsive and He tr.vel.J .1. ,L 7t °"'"<' """•"llJ. 'K.m ih,t ti„ „,. I,. J "•<"'"•■ And '^.dv.n.m-»tsitLS™£ 26 Cbe Jifounfl people's Xaeaies. composed college exercises for those students who, It 13 said, "had more money than brains;" he read over lessons for those who were too lazy to study, and gave instruction to such as were dull of apprehension, lie wrote also for the press, and left thq. university, at the close, with four times as much money as he had when he entered. After his graduation he went to London and was ordained. He served one year as curate in i^ondon, one year as chaplain on shipboard, and two years more as curate in London. When James II was expelled, and William and Mary were called to the throne, Mr. Wes- ley was the first man to write in their defense, ^or this timely support Queen Mary appointed him rector of Epworth, Lincolnshire, which position he held to the end of his life. The vil- lage was far from being attractive, and the people were generally hard cases; but he was a faithful pastor there for forty years. He was always poor, but always honest. He was fre- quently in jail for debt, and as often relieved by donations from the Duke of Buckingham the Archbishop of York, the queen, and others! iNo man, he says, "has worked truer for bread than I have done, and no one has fared harder." In polities Mr. Wesley was no conservative. Whatever he did, he did with his might. He sspoused the cause of William, Prince of nm Weaet tmllt. g, lowing IT!: oW oVC! TT f'*^ ''"■ ^atly moved, and Sf that a .T J"""' ^'^ manded. He called th! •! ''\"'''' "^^^ '^''• «Iass of water lie dtran'd"" • " 'V"^.'^™ * voice Wesley sai], 'Srry tSsTo'tt'' ''*'" ion interfered, saying "Na^ col' l """""" the first offense Ynn ^ ''^' °°'°"<'1> you gave clergyman "Th J >^^ ^^^ ^•'"t^man is a "ot~the inrnrt'"'''''''-"'^' ^"' ^id 28 Cbc Uouttfl people's TOicelep. versy, in which he at times engaged, ho was often unspanng i„ his invectives IBut tlu -t be set down, in part to the spirit of to time. He was a faithful pastor and a fine oriental scho ar. Mr. Tyerman says. "Ho yis learned, laborious, an,l godly." He had the reputation of being a good poet, a fn"; writer! "' "'"^ "" "'"^ miscoilaneous , Sl'saxxah Wesley. Susannah Wesley, mother of John Weslev her husband She is said by some to have been beaut.fu , and by all to have been devout energetic and .ntelligent. She had mastered was^h • ^f '"' V"^ ^""""^ languages, and was the mother of nineteen children. And such a mother, for the careful, wise, religiou» training of her children, modern times has never furnished a superior. She was the daughter of Dr. Samuel Annesley, one of the many sufferers under the cruel law of Nonconformity; but he does not jeem to have suffered as severely as John Wesley, whose fate we have recorded. It must have been that he. for some cause, was more fortunate than his contemporary. Miss Annes- ey became the wife of Samuel Wesley at the age of nineteen years. It seems quite re- markable that Samuel Wesley and his wife Cbe wiealcB fmtlt. ag should have both been connected with Bis- ^.■nters, and their parents, on both sides should have suffered by the oppression of the SaK lished Church, and that both of them while young, should have left the n;.«rT ' joined the Establishment, "t foudtoTho"^ been the result of careful inves£t on but'' A^ ' « ^',°* y""*""' prejudice ' nr a;, ^'•*?^f ,""•« " "Ohio woman. Of her •Ur. Adam Clarke savs- "Siml, , her all in all T t " ^"'""n. take her equal have ^11"''"' '""-""' °^' °°' ^'i^h ," equal have I been acquatnted Afanv Ve"£Zs "^^ In r "°"^'^' KusaS "esley has excelled them all." She was tbp sole mstructor of her numerous family ''ami such a family," continues Dr. Clarke ^i have m.ver read of, heard of, or knownfnor sh^L the days of Abraham and Sarah, Joseph and ^ru"! \^'''"''^' h"^ *^r« been a family "o Manl .^"™''° ''"' ^"^ •^^''" «°re ""debt " ^any have supposed that Samuel Weslov was a sour and disagreeable husbaTd But he H^a one of the kindest of husbands, and his children are said to have "idolized" him. H ' Ses7heTa f "*''' '^ ^" '" " P^^^i "- let still I bore an undisputed sway ^orwes 't her task, but pleasure, ,„ Obey. 80 Cbe Vounfl ixople'e VSeeles. v„t H,^ ■ . '"' ™'"'«°'<"'« •nd delight ; Nor did I for her care ungrateful pnn. But only u^ „y p„„„ ,^ ,^_^^ _^P ^ iru'dge:*" "'"'' ■ «"*• *'"'"« "P'o-'O o. For .till .he rea«,n a.ked, and I wa. Judge. All my command,, request, at her fair hand, And her reque.t. to me were all command. To other houaehold, rarely .hed Incline? Her hou.e her plta.ure was, and ahe wa. min. Barely abroad, or never .bui with me, Or when by 'pity called, or charity." Mrs. Wesley's attachment to her l,asban< curred between her brother and her husband Mrs Wesley took the side of her husband, and wrote to her brother as follows: "I am ok the wrong side of fifty, infirm and weak, but, old as I am, since I have taken my husband for him. Where he lives, I will live; where he dies, I will die, and there will I be buried Ood do unto me, and more also, if aught but death part him and me." In giving directions to her son John in re- TA f short, whatever increases the strength and au- thority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself." Did ever divine or philosopher state the question more clearly? Whoever follows these directions will not err in regard to the question of amusements. Such a woman as this is worthy to be the mother of the founder of Methodism, for had not Susannah Wesley been the mother of John Wesley it is not likely that John Wesley would have been the founder of Methodism. We shall have occasion to speak of this woman and her hiisband further on. CirAFfER III. WESLKV'g EAHLY LIFE. DiRiNQ the first eleven years of Wesley's Jifo two events occurre''« that, wi^h suchTorrunt anT ^^' ^"""^^^ " ences surroundin7hTm\?t T'^^l'"* '"An- ally ruined. ^ ' ^^ ^'^ ''o* been mor- Christ College. Colli? oX?orof*rh" \f"*^-'' ^'^-^ that famous seat of l •'''''^'* """«««« of mained five ^ars uidn?'?f '"'^^'^ ^^ '«" Wigon. a genSn nf / *^1 '^"'"^ "' Dr. r.ients. HisexeeW,/ ^-^ '''^*^'<=^' ««ai„- house gave him a Ll^'^'"?."* '^^ ^^'''"te'- Hismelnsof sunno,^*'^ ''°''*'''° "* Orford. mother lament??L^ ^T-,-"'^ ""'"«'• H« In^a ietterThimXril'*" *" ''"'^* ^'- forsake ug. We have «IM hi. T ^'"^ »"' "<" depend on. Dear Jack be n,.t rt. *^'' """M'-ce to duty. Keep close to your .tudf.. "".?***■ "^ ^<"" ter days. Perhap,, after all rr/f," """^ '"■■ "«'• ,7""; '0' you 'before the end „'?" l""* "" » '<"- Jack, I be^ech Aln,„«, Go^t °b'e.f th^:"" J^'^ Vleele^'s Bang Xife. 37 as their abiUuig trust in God no. resolve to nf J"Sion' 'iL ^^nt s^^ of life I hpflrt,-), • V *° ^""^ purposes upon a strict !v ^- J""" ''""" "°^ ''"ter "puu a strict examination of yourself tl,,.* casion for "earl than . T" '^^^^^^^<^ oe- tragejy." *'""' ^"^ ''« m*^' ^vith in any assure youTivprvn *"' ^ '^^^ faithfully ment f^^^' fJZJZ "° 7^!^' °' '^'^'=°"-^- Jack is a brave bov 1 • x '°" '^ «<^h°'ar. as he can." ^' ^''"'""^ ^^<^brew as fast den^t'af OxTr;'"hr*""°"%"'''"« ^^* ^ «*- the time "the verv f^M' '"^'^ « ^"t" »* Ie.ian; a^oung felroSeT' TT '""- taste, of the most Zral t^/"^«',«'''««ic.al ments." Alexander Knox says '"w "^ ''"*'■ nance, as well as \,uT ^ ■ ''^'^ counte- as his conversation, expressed * Cbe Voung people's TOesleB. an habitual gayety cf heart, which nothing advanced life, he ;ars''''^?wl°, i^truVr «ost perfect specimen of U j happ^Le'ss I ever saw; and my acquaintance with h^ has done more to teach me what a heaven unon piety than all I have elsewhere seen or heard or read, except in the sacred volume^ Strange," says another writer, "that suT„ man should have become a tar.^t for polsotd arrows, discharged, not by the hands of mad- cap students only, but by college dig^ita^fes fcducS^ '"^'^^•^ *° ''^ --' ^'^■ T;i^?*r *",'," ''"^ ^^^^y '^"arae Fellow of Lincoln College, and his brother Charles! who rt-^'^r^'t y°""S"' '^"me a student of college at Westminster grammar school and was a "gay young fellow, with m^re genius than grace." loving pleasure more than pfety When John sought to revive the "fireside dt votion" of the Epworth home he rejoinTwftt CIUk, w,th wbich hi. ,s«l f.lk„ J„£ WlealeB'a Batle Xtrc. 89 have been greatly delighted, saying, "Wher- ever I am, Jack is Fellow of Lincoln I" Ills Father's Curate. His father's health failing, John was urged to become his curate. He responded to his father s request, but does not seem to have had a very high appreciation of his father's flock, for he describes them as "unpolished wights, as dull as asses and impervious as stones." But for about two years he hammers away, preaching the law as he then understood it, confessing that "he saw no fruit for his labor." He then returned to Oxford as Greek lec- turer, devoting himself to the study of logic, ethics, natural philosophy, oratory, Hebrew' and Arabic. He perfected himself in French' and spoke and wrote Latin with remarkable purity and correctness. He gave considerable attention to medicine. In this way Providence was fitting him for the great work of which he was to be the God-ordained leader. About the time that Wesley entered upon his minis- try, by episcopal ordination, and commenced his hfework, Voltaire was expelled from irance and fled to England. During a long iite he and Wesley were contemporaries. Mr lyerman gives a graphic description of these two remarkable men. "Perhaps of all the men then living," he says, "none exercised so great an influence as the restless philosopher a physiognomy so sfrln™ !. Y.°\^»"^ ''"^ of fire so Wf-hdl sh S^ha?f"h ''^''f "P. "•*'> was hard to say whether if t^ru"'^.' *'"''* '' satyr or man. wZl^^h T"' ^^^ ^"^^ °f ■» world-wide heneyoSZl^ZlJ'^ ',1'^'^ "''^ « gigantic mind, searcelv'hL T' '^""^^ °^ « incarnation of aval^- " ''•""■' " «»-an victim ^to petty ^w "Jf^ness. and a friend of all and the en "'' f""^'^ ^"^ th« was too selfish "o love «T u "^ = ^°'taire the scanty and ill tl '*"''7?^« ^^rced to pay sometimeY Se L^""^ ^r""' ^^^'^^^^ the shrine "f S and ::aS'' Vt"-^. "* myriads who loved him V^n ■ ^T'^^ ^«<1 ous admirers b..?n,^K i!, ^"^^""^ had numer- were menTf e^'^''^ ^ "»* « «en^^ Both equaled authors but J ■^"iu"'^ ''>"'°«* in- land with blSngs," Ci fLT '"^^ ''^- and mendacious nft,.„u ^ "^ ^»^ sneering ligion, inSa^„1" ''^'''°^' '^^^^l^J '«- inflict;d bylTe wr^"*"' ?'^ ^'^^^ ^as been either before o sl^ce^The ""^ "^^-^^ ''"*'^°' esteemed by all wW^J^ evangelist is now having; the Dh.Tnl \^ ^ opinions are worth to beUded'S SmeV:::!^ ""^'"'^'^^ shame." Voltaire e^di^T^ '^P""'«'' «nd taking opium whiltw ^' ''^^ "^ « ^0°' by ^o.yfriu;XeSi]r?i^,4ts?^/^^ God is with us." * "^ a'l is. CHAPTER IV. THK EPWOBTH BAPPIN08. It does not seem as if a Life of John Wes- ley would be complete without an account of what wus known as the "Epworth rappings," Tn l'7ir\"f^ f u**"" ^"""^ °^ ««■""«! WeslJy Zh ,7 f John was at the Charterhouse bchool. London. They occasioned no little speculation among philosophers and doubters m general not only at the time they occurred, but down to the present day. A brief descrip- ■on of these strange noises, and how they were regarded at the time, may be proper in this On the night of December 2, 1716. Robert Brown, Mr. Wesley's servant, and one ^th^ Z!^' 11^' ^"'""^ ""'' "'°"« ■'' the dfning room About ten o'clock they heard a strong knocking on the outside of the door which call, but no one was there. A second knock was heard, accompanied by a groan. The door was again and again opened, as the knocks were repeated, with the same result. Being sS they retired for the night. startled. As ilr. Brown reached the top of the stairs I! ,i\ *• ttbe Voutifl peopie'g meelev. a hand mill, at a little distance, was seen whirl- ing wuh g^eat veloeity. On se;i„g th^ stTan^ sight he seemed only to regret that it was n^ f"' °l '""It- Strange noises were heard in and about the room during the night The e were related to another maid in the mor^! ing, only to be met with a laugh and "WUf parfontgf " '"'''"''' ""'^ ^ *»« Epwo^rth Subsequently, knocking was heard on the Susannah and Ann were one evening below d.amber at the time, nor in the room l^Iow 91^^'^^'^''^ f^" *•""' <"» *'>e night of the 21st of December, "I was wakened, a little before one o'clock, by nine distinct and veS loud knocks, which seemed to be in the ne^ Wk " Th' "'*V ^'^r ''-- «* -er/th rd on the Jh "?* "If''* ^"''y heard knocks on the bedstead and under the bed She knocked, and it answered her. "I ^t ^„™! pairs'; says Mr. Wesley, Cd knoTed t^ my stick agamst the joists of the kitchen Cbe Spwortb "Rapptngs. 48 It answered me as loud and as often aa I knocked." Knockings were heard under the table; latches of doors were moved up and down as the meinlx'rs of the family approached them. Doors were violently thrust against those who attempted to open or shut them. When prayer was offered in the evening, by the rector, for the king, a knocking began all around the room, and a thundering knock at the amen. This was repeated at morning and evening, when prayer was offered for the king. Mr. Wesley says, "I have been thrice pushed by an invisible power, once against the cor- ner of my desk in my study, and a second time against the door of the matted chamber, and a third time against the right side of the frame of my study door, as I was going in." Mr. Poole, the vicar of Haxey, an eminently pious and sensible man, was sent for to spend the night with the family. The knocking com- menced about ten o'clock in the evening. Mr. Wesley and his brother clergyman went into the nursery, where the knockings were heard. Mr. Wesley observed that the children, though asleep, were very much affected ; they trembled exceedingly and sweat profusely; and, becom- ing very much excited, he pulled out a pistol and was about to fire it at the place from whence the sound came. Mr. Poole caught his arm and said: "Sir, you are convinced that this is something preternatural. If so, you ley eaid : "Thou dLf «nH^ »•>« PJace, Mr. We.- thou friKhten tht: XilT'Ll''"'' '''«"1<«' who am a «an7 iStZ K Th '" "^ ?*"'^' knock which the tomZ ^ *'"' Particular gate was given as in ' wT- «""« "' *h° in pieces The nexl Iv "''' ''''"" ">« >^"<1 «tudy, of whiVhT "J"*' °" entering his keyVSoTr wa^thruTa^- 'i'^'^ '"'^ *h« force as ncarl/rtCwXrow? "'"^ ^""^ thr^rrirgtr^"' ^'/ \'-^- •-" ^a. they heard a oSaf ifa v ''°T.^°^'' «*"'" poured upon M« VL .^'^' °* "'^«' ^ere iinglingd^wnSwS and ?"'* f""^ '"" a noise as if alUyZJ^l' """^ '* another time the kitehen But Tn ''"•'* '^''"^" "l^"' found undisiurSS ^^'""">''«on aU was approach^e wouid'^^^^.f ^f««'|^^^ »« ^^eir and that frequemlvw"^' ""'^ °" ^''^ °*her. Cbe JBpwortb Itappinsv. in ily knew of its approach. Footsteps were heard m ail parts of the house, from cellar to garret. Groans and every sort of nois.,. were heard al over the house too numerous to re- late. Whenever it was attributed to rats and mice the noises would become louder and nercer. These disturbances eontinued for some four months and then subsided, except that some members of the family were annoyed by them lor several years. Mr. Wesley was frequently urged to quit the P?r«Jonajre His reply was eminently char- acteristic: "No," said he. "let the devil flee trom me. I will never flee from the devil." ±.very effort was made to discover the cause of these disturbances, but without satisfactory results save that all believed they were preter- rntr-r^l**?"'" ^'""■'y ^^"^ unanimous in the belief that it was satanic. A full account of these noises was prepared trom the moat authentic sources by John Wes- ley and published in the Arminian Magazine. JJr. Priestley, an unbeliever, confessed it to have been the best-authenticated and best-told story of the kind that was anywhere extant; and yet so strongly wedded was he to his ma- terialistic views he could not accept them, nor find what might be regarded as a common- probable that it was a trick of the servants I 46 ITbc Jffounfl peoprcj, wnealeB. family and amu8"nXhi ^'fP' P"^^""« 'he Wesley and ot W ^ themselves. But Mrs. opfnL'rthLtoS ''^ ^^'?°* -p'- - in a letter to Mr Wnil"rf' "^'^^ "^ ^''''^' lief in their r,Ztorr:l,T "'""'^ ^i^ be- i->7a »/ v^Lr^dr: ;'fTrLt'" ^^^ upon which it rests i, f.J\ f *^«t"no°y «et aside because of V '*°° '"•°"» *° ^ relation." *'"' strangeness of the tha'J'alMhf pTrttrr '^ '"^"^ °^ '^^ «t-y flciently void of f '^*° ^""'^ b«<"^- «»f- credulity, if if"' «"d also free from things were su^*,^; LSr Bntf '^ ^"«'' "where no good end La'lw^ "''"^ *••** 'miracle' were nr^nZM . ! ^ '* *''« term 'miracle' Mr. Pries lev^nf^*''" "'''' •>"* ''^ of divine power and n!K'"'"""'*^«*«*'°n y may be in the ordinary course of tlbe Bpwottb «appinfl0. 47 nature, and yet imply no alteration of its laws And in regard to the good end which it may be supposed to answer, it would be end sufficient if sometimes one of those unhappy persons, who, looking through the dim glass of infidel- ity, sees something beyond this life and the narrow sphere of mortal existence, should, from the well-established truth of such a story (trifling and objectless as it may appear), be led to conclude that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in their philosophy."* Mr. Coleridge finds a satisfactory solution of this knotty question in attributing the whole thing to "a contagious nervous disease" with which he judged the whole family to have been afflicted, "the acme or intensest form of which 18 catalepsy." The poor dog, it would seem, was as badly afflicted as the rest. a/'^'^J?"*'"" ^°^ "°* "^«J refutation. Dr. Adam Clarke, who collected all the accounts of these disturbances and published them in his Wesley Family, claims that they are so cir- cumstantial and authentic as to entitle them to the most implicit credit. The eye and ear witnesses were persons of strong understand- ing and well-cultivated minds, untinctured by Buperstition, and in some instances rather skeptically inclined. • Ll/e of Wesley, pp. 24, 26. « Obe tfouiw People's TO«flle». III CHAPTER V. OBIOIN OP THE HOLY CLUB. It was while he was a member of Lincoln College that that unparalleled religious career of Mr. Wesley, which has always been regarded as the most wonderful movement of modem times, began. "Whoever studies the simplicity of ite beginning, the rapidity of its growth, the stability of its institutions, its present vi- tality and activity, its commanding position and prospective greatness, must confess the work to be not of man, but of God." The heart of the youthful collegian was pro- foundly stirred by the reading of the Chris- itan Pattern, by Thomas a Kempis, and Holy Living and Dying, by Jeremy Taylor. He learned from the former "that simplicity of intention and purity of affection were the wings of the soul, without which he could never ascend to God;" and on reading the latter he instantly resolved to dedicate all his life to God. He was convinced that there was no me- dium; every part must be a sacrifice to either God or himself. From this time his whole life was changed. How much he owed under God to these two works eternity alone will *o ttbe Voung pcopie'e TOJeales. They praM fasted, visited the sick, the X the .mpnsoued. They were neap to admS remarkabWl- '"*'°!|- ^''^ '^^«'«« "^ these Se^teoSi-K- s: ^S£ Morgan, George Whitefield, John Clayton T la'l"^w\^;,^"«'"»'"' J- Harvey, f White.- i vu^.^^"' "^- Ga-^bold, C. Kinch.^ W Smith, Richard Hutchins, Christopher' t icutd'lnd*!^'"'' been expected, they were rid- f^r^ fl, ^=mP°e°ed by those who differed from them, and who could not comprehend [he .^niI'-*°/"."^ " '^''^''-^ life. They w^ called in derision "Sacramentarians " «bI^ -Trn.r^^\,^°*^«'' "The Hoi C?«E» fil,ll «^^ ?'"?*•' "Supererogation Men/' a -d live in^'*'""*'"*'" ^'•^'^ ^'"«*> «ethodfceI iives m the arrangement of their studies and the improvement of their time, their serious deportment and close attentioA to reSs •rtfltn Of tbe t)el8 Club. oi duties, caused a jovial friend of Charles Wes- ley to say, "Why, here is a now sect of Meth- odists springing upl" alluding to an ancient school of physicians, or to a class of Noncon- forming ministers of the seventeenth century, or to both, who received this title from some things common to each. The name took, and the young men were known throughout the university as the Methodists. The name thus given m derision was finally accepted, and has been retained in honor to this day by the fol- lowers of Wesley. A writer in one of the most respectable jour- nals of the day, in describing these inoffensive men, employed the most unwarrantable lan- guage. It was affirmed tP U they had a near affinity to the Essenes among the Jews, and to the Pietists of Switzerland; they excluded what was absolutely necessary to the support of life; they afflicted their bodies; they let blood once a fortnight to keep down the canial man ; they allowed none to have any religion but those of their own sect, while they them- selves were farthest from it. They were hyp- ocrites, and were supposed to use religion only as a veil to vice; and their greatest friends were ashamed to stand in their defense. They were enthusiasts, madmen, fools, and zealots. They pretended to be more pious than their neighbors. These were but the beginning of sorrows, as we shall see later "3 ttbe Vouna people's Wlesles. Wesley says: "III men say all manner of evil of me, and good men believe them. There w a way, and there is but one. of making my peace. God forbid I should ever take "As for reputation," he says, "though it be a glonous instrument of advancing our Master s service, yet there is a better than that TZ " WK ?"*' ." "'"^'^ ^y'^' « «»»' full of t^ T ^ T "'^'■''' "'^ ^^^^ ^°'- = minister of the Lord Jesus! It implies heroic, unselfish devotion to a glorious object. He had discov- ered the secret of success. What golden words are these : "I once desired In", ""u n ^"""u '^"^ '" l«"^a«e and phi- losophy. But that is past. There is a nwre excellent way; and if I cannot aUaJl? nn tn^.i!"""^' i" """^ ^•"'<'"* throwing well" Tv"^ •' °^*^" "*'"'"•' ^'■y' f"e it well. This gives the reader an idea of the motive which governed him to the end of wSel''^'^''''* f ^^'^ "^""^ °^ persecution Wesley addressed a letter to his venerable fa- ther, still living at Epworth, asking his advice. The old man urged him to go on and not be weary ,„ well-doing; "to bear no more sail than necessary, but to steer steady. As they had called his son the father of the Holy Club, they might call him the grandfather, and he would glory in that name rather than in the Origin of tbe feols aiub. oa title of His Holiness." These were noble words from sire to son at such a time and in such a conflict. In years after, when looking back upon the scenes of Oxford and that mustard-seed be- ginning, Wesley said: "Two young men, with- out name, without friends, without either power or fortune, set out from college with principles totally different from those of the common people, to oppose all the world, learned and unlearned, to combat popular prejudices of every kind. Their first principle directly attacked all wickedness; their second, all the bigotry in the world. Thus they attempted a retormation not of opinions (feathers, trifles not worth naming), but of men's tempers and lives; of vice of every kind; of everything con- trary to justice, mercy, or truth. And for this It was that they carried their lives in their hands, and that both the great vulgar and the small looked upon them as mad dogs, and treated them as such." Such was the begin- ning of the religious career of this wonderful man Wesley refers to three distinct periods of the rise of Methodism. He says- "The iirst rise of Methodism was in November, 1729, when four of us met at Oxford. The second was at Savannah, in April, 1736, when twenty or thirty persons met at my house. The last was at London, May 1, 1738, when forty or fifty of us agreed to meet together every •* ttbe Voung teople'a vneelcB. Wednesday evening, in order to free eonver- 8at.on, begun and ended with singing and Sw' "^ "^""^ "' °"* *" "^ " ^^y It would be interesting to follow these men and learn the results of their lives; but our space does not permit. We refer the read^ to that most excellent work. The Oxford Meth- od^stshy ^yerman. Of Kobert Kirkham littlo or nothing is known. William Morgan died while a mere youth, and died well. John Clay, ton became a Jacobite Churchman, and treated Wesley and his brother Charles with utter co^ tempt Thomas Broughton became secietair hL ^ Society for the Promotion of Chris- on « <^„W .?' <1'^. suddenly upon his knees, on a Sabbath morning just before he was to have preached. James Harvey, author of Med- ttaUnns. was a man of beautiful character but opposed Wesley's Arminian views. Charl« iimchin, unhke most of the "Holy Club " re- John Whitelamb married John Wesle/s sister t^Z' Ik 1'^ .'^'"''" °"^ y«"' leaving her husband broken-hearted and despondent He seems to have lost much of his early devotion, causing Mr Wesley to say, "0, why did he not die forty yeaw ago?" Wesley Hall mar- ried John Wesley's sister Martha, a lady of superior talents and sweetness of disposition. 0ti0ln of tbe 1>ols Club. 80 Wesley regarded Hall aa a man "holy and un- blamable in all manner of conversatioa" After «ome years Hall went to the bad. He became, first, a Dissenter, then a TJniversalist, then n deist, after that a polygamist. He abandoned his charming wife, nine of his ten children having died, and the tenth soon followed. Ho went to the West Indies with one of his con- cubines, living there until her death. Broken in health and awakened to his terrible con- dition, he returned to England, where he soon after died. His lawful and faithful wife, hear- ing of his condition, like an angel of mercy hastened to his bedside. He died in great sor- row of heart, saying — and they were his last words — "I have injured an angel, an angel that never reproached me." Wesley says: "I trust he died in peace, for God gave him deep repentance." John Gambold became a Morav- ian bishop, and was so opposed to Wesley that he frankly told him he was "ashamed to be seen in his company." Wesley, however, al- ways held him in high esteem. Of Bichard Hutchins little is known, except that he was rector of Lincoln College, and never seems to have opposed the Wesleys. Christopher At- kinson was for twenty-five years vicar of Shorp-Arch and Walton. His last words were, "Come, Lord Jesus, and come quickly." Charles Delamotte was one who accompanied the Wesleys to Qeorgia. Little further is M Obe Voung people-, Wealet. i ■ f\ Humber. ^^ "* B«"ow upon the An7Zt ZinT'S* °^ '''^ "Ho'y Club ■' th.s they ca„,e in ZflLt wS ^ "i*"' ""-'^ they remained with Weslev wUf ^^- ^"'^ m'ght have madel Wetr^^L^^'^'^ "^^^ peace. > ® *'"«* t^eir end was A Tmumphakt Death Scenb. f nd they are'at'l^e ^^^^T^the'r^.i^f ^°"^' 18 SO overcome thaf^ ^ faithful wife witness thrSnK Lf„: "'""'* »" P'--* to forttnaX';?'^''"''"' "^° ^- -^ "ye«. bu noihW JtL^"'^"""' '^Ponds. heaven. Theweak«T *°°.'""''h to suffer for and moi. s:nS^:i^^-i'^S ^^ '^^^^^ The dying. ggi„t lays his t«.^W- f* ^'^• the he. of Charles «^^ trembling hand on «urely revive inLuLT!""'T ^"''^ ^''' it, though I shall not "Ir- • ^"^ ^*''» ^ 'Are you near heavtn ?» Thi"^ ^^^^ ''^'''"• joyfully responds, "^^ am^^ ^'-*'' ^--a. over which the Ength h«W " ""^ ^'°'i''». diction. It was a Si un„ ? "T'''"' J""'- inhabited only hy&^^Tu'^ wildernew, "action of a royal cW^ •^'- ^''**«' the compliment to the iS,' ^T'^'^'xr'' «« « named Georgia *' ^^^^ ^^- i* was »irifrs':;rp!ylroi:tr!^^^ -» *-^oid.. ulation of the eZS t'^ '!^""'^''"' POP" o-diy. to furnish a iel^SV ""/' "^ Protestants who were th» i" °' ^""^'K" intolerance. No San o/.h^r*" °* P^P^h home there. Jai^ f^ ^''*i'°^'' "'"W find a earnest friend of h«"a^t'l'''^'**^°'P«' »« first governor of Z w* ' "PPointed the twenty others ^re n8m^"l*T' """^ ^« »n«'»' to 'ive wholly to Wesley hoped by subjecting himself to the Weelefi in Smetlca. 61 hardships of such a life to secure that holi- ness for which his soul so ardently longed. He had no clear conception as yet of the doctrine of salvation by faith alone. He hoped by ■pending his life among rude savages to es- cape the temptations of the great metropolis. In the wilds of America he could live on "wa- ter and bread and the fruits of the earth," and epeak "without giving offense." He justly con- cluded that "pomp and show of the world had no place in the wilds of America." "An In- dian hut offered no food for curiosity." "My chief motive," he says, "is the hope of saving my own soul. I hope to learn the true sense of the Gospel of Christ by preaching it to the heathen." "I cannot hope to attain the same degree of holiness here which I do there." "I hope," he continues, "from the moment I leave the English shore, under the acknowl- edged character of a teacher sent from God, there shall be no word heard from my lips but what properly flows from that character." But Wesley could not get away from him- self. The greatest hindrance to holiness was in h\s own heart. He had looked for holiness in works, sacrifices, austerities, etc., but had failed to see that it was by faith alone. The voyage, though of almost unparalleled roughness, was of infinite profit to Wesley. A company of Moravians, with David Nitsch- mann as their bishop, were passengers, bound <* ttbe Boung people'* TWlesleB. the midst TrSatS^S '^"' '^'""^'" ^ . they were in ^:LZn'o7l::T:^ ,!^' servant. Hearinir . a;J T^ . ^* Itahan Wesley stS fn" 'f^'^^Zll S ""?'"' hun. and being in a Wf. f ' °*'««'"''k apologize. "You m^,»f * ^""P^""' ^""Kl't to he said^ "I I:™ whlT"' ^" ^"'^^•" ^-t for a man totaT VouT"'"!"? .*<^ foot, and S to J: ^ ''i ^''^ -""J "•re how he used meT /?""'* '""'« ^"^^'^ WesW fiJ- ^ ^' ^'" I never forgive » I hope. gener^^lf^rrver'S ■""'' "^'"^ tOesIec in Bmertca. Sb The goneral's heart was touched, his con- Bcience smitten. He stood speechless before the youthful evangelist for a moment, and then threw his bunch of keys on the floor be- fore his poor, cringing servant, saying, "There, villain, take my keys; and behave better in the future." Wesley, it seems, had the moral courage, which probably no other man pos- sessed on that ship, to reprove General Ogle- thrope to his face. Soon after landing in Georgia, Wesley met Spangenberg, the Moravian elder, and desired to know of him how he should prosecute hig i?ew enterprise. The devout man of God saw clearly the need of the young evangelist, and inquired of him: "Have vou the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear wit- ness with your spirit that you are a child of God?" Wesley seemed surprised at such questions. Spangenberg continued, "Do you know Jesus Christ?" Wesley replied, "I know him as the Saviour of the world." "True," responded the Moravian elder, "but do you know that he saves you?" Wesley re- plied, "I hope he has died to save me." Span- genberg gravely added, "Do you know your- self?' Wesley answered, "I do;" and here the interview ended. _ Charles Wesley was Oglethorpe's secretary, m place of Rev. Samuel Quincy, a native of Jtfassachusetts, who retired from the office, de- I ' ''I ' « ttbe Bounfl people's TOe9ie». «elf to the ch£„ S tT' "'"' ^'^°'^ ^^■ first to follow ChaStT',"^' ""A *''«' motte was impelled tV^ * England. Dela- love of Joh™ey aTd h-^T^'" '™'» ^ Wminanrcapacit7:^«nSl. " ''^l'^ *° ««"e • a day while, ^^S 'Zltj-"V'^' '"^ *« was the last to leaveThT^. '" ^'"^"'''•- He was the sole iSinTsfer 5? T"""; ^"^^ ^««'«y next to Oglethor^etiitr "'''"^' "'^ ^^^-^ diS:„ w;r ttti? ^-'r -- ^as very only a few S sh settw" ?' ^^-'^'y- ^' ^^^ territory bein^ tL K ™> ^''^ '"'"t °f the These tri£ b^i^^^'.t °Tr "vpf" ^T ^'«J'««- access to them was cut off "*xt'' T*" °**'«'' «« extend their mission fm .?"* "^'"^ ""« *« Ws colabor^rtZedXr.'r.^"'^^'"'' whites hoping that God wouid"^"" V^'' s^'CL*" --^ ^^""-p^rto'rhf theylTr^ctititheroSd" "'.'''"^ --'- slept on the grounT^^t^'j' "^ '",!^'- "^^'^ on bread and waw ^f ° °" ^^' ^"^ luxuries and m^t' If "^k"""*^ ^'*'' "" ^^e life. They were ?nL *''^ °«*"i«es of everywhe^^ Sg thoT r*'/"* °^ «««»"• Wesley set apart fht h^' ' .*" " .^'^ «'*■ -iting the people ^ttl^l^cS:^,^; WESLEY'S AKM-CHAIR. WJeates in amettca. 6s the midday hours when the people were kent indoors by the scorching heat *^* Charles Wesley and Mr. Ingham were at Their plain, earnest, practical public preach- ^nd private rebukes aroused the spWrJf persecution, which broke upon them whhout to^^e'^h'^r^- Scandal, with its sc^Sn tongue; backbiting, with its canine prodivT Business on borrowed capital-these ran like fires over sun-scorched prairies, untirtC saihiS'"'^' ^^"'^'/''"owly escaped as- h^ that h ^Se'"' ""^ ''■**«' ''«« the fiate that he says: "Some turned out of the T^br^Jf """ '"^^^ ^--t that usld to S^S^i^SL-^J ruTp\rber«nrh::a^-^^^^^^^^ much lower degree of obloquy at oS" " fc^ki JT f.'"'' '■^ ""^ enable to secure a few boards to lie upon, and was obliged "o lie on the ground in the comer of Mr Ks hut He thanked God that it had not as ^J^t «0 Vbe Bounfl peoprca mcBlev. b-S'^'^oJ- to «ive W« a „.o^, „, °"t.«t night fo bS a IS r/""* *° 8» envied him his quiet^ave^ H^"*"""' "'"" old bedstead on whicfZ'hn^ '''"P"'^'' *•»« "Pon which to rest his '„^"*T" '"«' "^'^J- most dying frame bnfrt^'""""* """^ »'- taken from him b^ orde ^of'^o'w,'' ""^ «°«» «elf. B„t through th^ ml °f'??''orpe him- eoming of his brother ZIZ'^^J?'^ ""^ tl"* "^covered. ^"'^ ^'•- ^elamotte he « stripes abovTmrasure Pr^''?>"''<^«'«o«t his way to retumTo E^rfL^ 'u^°°* "'^'•ed patches to the governmet II! ^T °' ''•^- w a pickerty old veTsel Iwk .'°°'' P«««a8e tain, and all came Tear J ," ^'^''^^'' '"'P- sh* put into Sostoni^^? /'"*"*««''• The Charles Wesley^Sained t''""'' ""'^ ^'^'e month, sick much oTthetim/K™?'" ""«" « ^vera times in King's cZ'i."* "'"'"=''«« School and Tremont ft J; '^'', "'™«' of Church, on Sa™t^ "^*^/.«"J i-^ Christ ^mains as it w^s wh^ wJi!" '''""' '=''"°'' pulpit. "^'^ ^esiey occupied its WMles m ametlca. m b'ui1'L®"T'"'!1 "'f'^ ""^ "" ««"! to the in- per and, in the strengrth of Qod. make tliP devil's kingdom shake about his eakT fest h^ • * ?""'"« craftiness and mani- fest hypocrisy of one Miss Ilopkey, niece of the chief magistrate, and a lady of ^^ex- ru™:i "Tr '*r If- "« ^^^-^ -" '^•"« ruined. She sought his company; bestowal on him every attention; v atc'iied'^ 'him w£ i 1" "'T^? "' ''■^ «"ly -norning m«t^ leaded tTaft '° "T ''^''^ ^^ «he ieametl that he was pleased with that color- was always manifesting great interest in h;» spiritual state; and all,liC doub . to L, t^W^„ h'' ^onfid'.^ft became strongly at- tached to her for a time, but was subseauentiv -convinced that God did not app^vTof an alliance in that direction, and at on4 deter" .Ii !u ^ Y^ became greatly exasperated and withm a few days was married toTotS man-Wilhamson-and then, with her husband and uncle to aid her. she sought inevery wav the overthrow of Mr. Wesley ^ ^ fact in?""!?." '^''' *° '"^'^'^ 'his case, as, in W^ley H:*''' Mi *r *". '^' disadvantage of Wesley. He will have it that Weslev had P-mised to marry Miss Hopkey Ihough IK <» Zbe Home t>eopWe meiUt. Sat'nn^T*^?"'*'^ ^I""* Wesley told him that no 8uch thing ever occurred. Mr. Ty^ H9^^o;::»h„";t,er"*^*°' pa.d grand jury bringing against him S It^nTir't)!^; ?K*^ "'^--^-'^ - trial thonT w 1 ■ . '^^ ''^^^'^ '»»ne to The prejudice excited against him by the chief magastrate and others became so strong tt'JSpTe"'' '"^'"^""' •'"' "«•« "^ --^ Su^l*t* f"'"^** ' '^"^ '""^'''*« »>« held every IS'. T ?''" *° ""' " P™y«' »«'vice in iilh . J ^2.30 he preached a sermon in Eng- hsh and administered the communion; at o^ t- }'^^ service in French; at two he caT chised the children; at three he hdd anoTh» service in English; still later he c^ndS a service in his own house, consisting of «ad" ng prayer, and praise; and at six attend^ the Moravian service. ""euaea at an end. to leave Georgia and return to Wetltt in Smetlca. M England. His public announcement of hia purpose created great excitement among all classes. The magistrate forbade his departure. Williamson 'demanded that he give bail to an- swer the suit against him; but this he refused to do, lelling them that he had sought seven times to have the case tried, but in vain, and that for the balance they could look after that. On the same night, after public prayers, with four men to accompany him, Wesley left Savannah, December 2, 1737, never more to return. They took a small boat to Penys- burg, a distance of some twelve miles. They then made their way on foot through swamps and forests, suffering untold hardships from cold, hunger, and thirst for four days, when they safely arrived at Port Royal. Here Dela- motte joined them, and all took boat for Charleston, where they arrived after four more days of toil. After spending a few days in Charleston Mr. Delamotte returned to Savannah, and on the 2-M day of December Mr. Wesley set sail for England, where he safely arrived on the first day of the following February, the next day after Mr. Whitefield had sailea for America. Mr. Wesley did not regard his mission to America as a failure. He blessed God for having been carried to America, contrary to all his preceding resolutions. "Hereby I trust TO Wx Voun0 t€opie't tm«»iev. He hath, in some mewure humhl.^ America i. inexpreMible ^-^ "^""^ '" precious amonir thTi^ti i*^"** " ^^'y ? foundation th'LtThownX",'' ''•' '^^ >"d 'I. will ever be abL to'lhak Tt'hat"7 '''" follow him as he followed Christ I" ""^ ( CIlM'i'Li. VI!. WESLBV's JIO.' tX! ERn.vCfc Mr. Weslei'. rcli^oH (..i.-,.,K.e deservM special noticf. if 1.,. v ..; n.isprf up by God for any purjiosis \ va.s to 'evive spiritual Christianity, whicii in.'n.l.Hl j istification by faith, entire sanctificut'., nn °''^'^««. f^ these words "'He tha T I^ ^f ? •^'^''» ^ ■'th his command™ '»''*'' """^ """^ "^^P" wiU co'Sce'Zi^'^h ?' ^^ '"«>*««on« Mr. Wesler'sor/ u^"* ^^^ difference in other is not not th«t '• ''""^erted and the «ot, not that one is accepted by God TO cbe Vonng people'« TOeaies. and the other rejected, but that one has the djr^t witness of the Spirit that he is a child of God and the other has not. This was Wes- ley's religious state when he returned to Eng- kJi k?\T ""t *•"»* '°«' «°"1' tl««t heir of hell, which he reckoned himself to be, but an accepted servant of God without the direct witness of the Spirit to his sonship. m7M ^T*' ^^**'" ^^^"' February 7, 1738, he (B6hler) was made the instrument of a g^at blessing to his soul Bohler was a MoraW^n nine years the junior of Wesley; a most de- vout man, deeply versed in spiritual things and well qualified to lead the ^earnest oS student into the path of peace. Wesley was astonished at the announcement of Bdhler that true faith m Christ was inseparably attended by dominion over sin, and constant peace aris- °f, " ".*!?** °* forgiveness. He could in no «r^f !S°!?* *''«.<'°«t"°e "°tn he had first ex- amined the Scriptures and had heard the tes- timony of three witnesses adduced by Bohler But what staggered him most was the doctrine of instantaneous conversion. This he could Ta ".r*?- .?"* " '""^'"' "PP^"! to the Bible and the testimony of Bohler's witnesses set- tled he qu^tion. Thus "this man of erudi- taon, says Mr. Tyerman. "and almost anchor- TlTl* i 1°''.'''^' """^ "«« 'content to be thon«*t a fool that he might be wise." "s^^H^ *ot*.t *S tlHaJt *^.« -" - «?>» of years a A!;! * "T? '°' l^'lf « "« of the inner tmll%^ ^^^^ t^e glo- l>ad already receivX^ .'i'"°*her Charles and miteieldwal7.i^^- *^^* °' *he Spirit oppressed with his sd^^'i ^ ^"""^ so thought of abandoning n.i. u- ''^*^ *hat he f«W: "By no Means *'?.'!f^^,"»f'- •>"* BOhler have it. and then Causf v„ ^^k ^"'^ «" ^o- P'each it." So he^t n ^Z ^T '' ^^^ '-'U words at St. Lawrpn^? ?® "^^^'^d stronif ?-dwasinfo;m:iXlfr1/' C«th«rine^ m either place. ArOr^at S? t/T?^ °° «°« 'vith such plainness th!!u- -"^^^^ « he spoke of free salvation brVahh » f "Ju ' ''^ «P°ko the church were cloK^i;«A- *^^ *^''°« °f . «sult attended h°s n~!!v'*^""- The same -f St. Bennett's u^^rt? "*. ^f" •^•^^n's „^. Wn .»d op,„ „„,„ ^._JJ »» ffbe tlemna people's TOle«.e». much L^er/„d"r^'°°'' '?'**"'' *«y «>'>J<1 raucn 8ooner ftnd their way into it" .„.„• • , , "^* '° *"« inominK of that ^;^~ •^"y J'^. opened his Testament Z, read. Tf: e are given unto us exceeding «^a* and precious promises, that by these ye mfTk: partakers of the divine natu^." LterTth^ day he opened the word and readT^'Thou Irt not far from the kingdom of God » wl- attended St. Paul's CatwVal in the ^f^^ noon where the 'anthem was a g^eat comfor r ^ir 'nf%"^"* ^*^ ^eatStreTo Sti^t TheTh"^. "V'^^' "* Aldersgate pS to thr^ """^ °?^ '^''"^'"^ I-nther's Pretaee to the Romans; and at about a quarter tZ T'^ !?"" *^ «''«n'^e which God works Christ aione-for salvation; and an assur- ance was given me that he had taken aw" y my sins, even mine, and saved mo from The ZZ 1 /"" i?"*^ ''«''*h; and then I tTtified From this moment a new Br.;r;+„.i „ u TOealeB'6 UeKflfoua Xspcttencc. 7b And from that hour onward fn, fl*f. .u every thought, as well as actL'tr':ord Z rLht w"'' n^ '" ""y l-^"'. «nd whether k was ■I before God or tainted with pride or sTl^ ishness. I never knon, v^t "" ''""e or seu- in th^ »« • '^""""^ ''y tJ-e grace of God that God was before me nil tl,o , , '"' «° wCd:o.d"a^J/'^'^°^''*--^*.'Now? sai° "Ui; J'^'™^ *° *•>■*• experien.., he says. Many years since I saw that 'witL„t hohness no man shall see the Lord" iSZ ihom iZf '''''■ ''• '^' '"-*-^ ""with Whom I had any intercourse to do the same JCJrT/i*^J ^'^ «"^« ™« a clearer vtew than I had before of the way how to attZ 1/ God r.. 'in^Id tC an""' •\'"^»'' and I bar. e,Se^* to decwT'' r'""'"- thirty ^ean; wd O^ i. **"' '*" «•«"* he affirmed^ 'while t / ''°"? "''««<'' the doctrines of Christiamtv h"""*^ '*'°"«f'y ..M„p..oti..re^->J-^^^ Hitru^reotx^-Ter ..Sis ««- appear to us to be « n«^*- I " °°** "°* Portance as Z^^^^TZ^nT Th:' '"■ important question is: Did Sr wtl t T^ and teach that such an bJI • ^^^' •*"«''e in this life? Did h«^'*"**'"'«P°»«iWe to seek such a?^?„V"TT *''l ^^^^^ profess it in a huTMetS? "'th- ''•**''".^' leys P^fesS^rtlb: entri^'s"' ^^•J^'''- so. whe« mj it S S " His '^' ^ will be reirardm) .a „-V- i ^'* answer 1 1 metlev'a ite(f0lou« «n>ertenc«. 8i "This question reappears from time to time, a« though of great importance. We know of no record of his explicitly profewing or saying in 80 many words, 'I am entirely sanctified;' no record of uttering words to that effect. Hut we have no more doubt that he habitually professed it than that he professed conversion The relation John Wesley sustained to his followers, and to this doctrine, makes it cer- tain that he professed it, and almost certain that there would be no special record of it. 1. All Wesley's followers assumed him to be what he urged them to be. Before they were m a situation to make records his position was so fixed that to record his descriptions of this state would have been unthought of. "2. He preached entire sanctification, and urged it upon his followers. "3. He defended its attainability in many public controversies. "4. He urged and defended the profession of It, under certain conditions and safeguards- made lists of professors; told men they had lost It because they did not profess; and said and did 80 many things, only to be explained upon the assumption that he professed to enjoy the blrasmg, that no other opinion can support Soon after this experience at Aldersgate Chapel Mr. Wesley made a journey to Herm- • 7*c Chritian Advocate. 6 errors in doctrine He "!'" ^Tt "^ 'he!!; of iJinzendorf. that m^" *°""^ *''« a «fi«l at the m;„e' Zl tZ ""''^'^ *«»- H" opinion of the count H^ff^Jl!;^ «»>verted '«•« his estimation of Khtr '""^^"'llj CHAPTER vm. WMLEY'S MULTIPLIED LABOBS. with all possible speed to d^kre it to th •*" worshipers Tit Tnl. , T o"'*''^ '""^ '^^"^ "'°">perH at tjt. John 8 and St Tv^,,' „« • dreamed of a°temDtiS t^ ^'^T'"'-' """^ "^^^^ AUCROCOTY RESOIUTION TEST CHART {ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 1^ 13. ■ 4.0 1^ m 1.8 I m^i^ _^ /APPLIED IM/1GE li S^^ 1653 Eost Main Stfe*l j g'-S Rochester. New York U609 USA "-SS (716) 482 - 0300 - Phone ^S ("6) 288 - 5989 - Fax "-T '£• h?"LS-f °t-''^ h« J^-w no the work to which Priv;l ^'"■P°* *" ^o clearly called them r^u** "^"^ '» have be sure, bufthe IsavSt? ""V'°^^'^' '" everywhere exceot ,^^ 1 Penshing were reach and toTave hem f^ f""^^' ""^ *" to the wide, :^': wo'Td The^*°°'' ^'^"^'^^ in hospitals adm,W • "^^^y ''^re now seen condemned fe"insatV-"°^ ^r**™"' "*« *" dark colliers to a ULfeZS/S T these places unfreauentwl 11 *°«^ truth. In the Gospel of the^e^ by saeerdotal robes these unhonored s^:a:tf o?!!:' T.^ '^ prisons and hoan;tol= "esus. iiut soon then they fled to the fi^M'' ^^f"^ *'>^«' «»d '>t the cL^^'cho t?t Their VY-rn'' market-house sfa>na « ? ^"^ their pulpits the » table, a st^e wali "/°''"-"?'=k. a coal heap. 6ack. etc ' ' " "^^^^^^ «de, a horsed '^o'LSSViSTX ^"-^ - «h-b. corrupt, dewaded W J^^ "^""^ *^^ ^ost found i^ Sand si?f^"!?"' '^'^^ *° be "lawless, b™ al and ^^ ^^''^' ^^^'^ as They se;m:S'*S have ZTf^'^'l '^"^-" and man. This was I fit i ^""^aken of God TOeeteB'fl ABulttplieO ^abor8. 88 S-'r 3m.t*^ "^ ^T"^'" ^^ ^"y^' "and the lurled the Gospel banner "with a mountain for his pulpit," he says, "and the broa^Wens lor a sounding-board." ""eavens The Wesleys are lifting up their voices lik« ^Zll^ "V"*^ "' the' kingdom Tht of Wales wh *^'!; "'"^ t"^ '^' -"-"ta"'^ Chlt-:^^^ }^^ P^P'^ ''"ow as little of ^nstian. y as do the wild Indians of our Western plains. They are seen in Ireland " =11 her towns and cities. caUing h^r papa" curbed sons to a knowledge of Jesus Again their voices are heard amid the hills and val^ of Scotland, urging her stern clans to a^p? iTteiJttt"" I''- they are surrS- who ar^w • ^'T^^ds of besmeared miners mU" r^r '" "° ""'' '^^■'''''-^ - '»«'- „«.^''i^^*'7 """^ "^"hn Nelson for three weeks labored to introduce the Gos^l in^ ^1™" V-, ^"""«^ *his time they sCfon "he Kt^V^L P''°^' ^hile Nelson had b^ iLrfl Ta*^ ^"^ Testament for w^ks ™.M ^- "'^ ^" ^'•^^ "«arfy three W^llt ",°™"* *'~"* *hree o'clock, Mr ?^S Wm -er, and finding Nelson ^^Z. NeCf le usL^'/ '"*> fy'"»' "Brother x^ieison let us be of good cheer; I have one whole side yet. for the skin is off but one side " Ill- f of the immenTamrnt iTr """^"""^ by Mr. Wealev wlTii "'^'" Performed tinct headT! ^' '" """"^^ '* ""^er dis- duLf: Sd%Tfif rr"*- He averaged, thousand S a yea?^*°" years about five in all flf tl 7 ^ ' ^"^ ^"y eight, makinir around the itlobe nnT„ u ,^ °^ "^ing 2. The amnnnf °".?°'«e'>aek twelve times! twenty sermons a^Slr."' ^^^^ frame. He did in fH A "'°** vigorous what nn^fi. ' ^ "'**«'■ °f Preaehinjr wnat no other man ever Ai^ i,„ '^"vumjf, an averag.. for a Pe^^^'^-fcr'^,- meeUv'e AuitlpiJeo labore. 87 fifteen aermons a week, making in all fortv- ^oraSr"' '""''^'^ - « ^«* variety A minister in these times does well to preach IZT^:'^ ^^""^ « y-'- At this rate, to preach as many sermons as Mr. Weslev did hundred and twenty-four years. Think of a Z''**'. Pf«'«^WnK two sermons each week yeL''"and*''"' '"f ^"'•''"*^ ^^ ^^^^"0- wll f"'^^,^°™f ■•lea can be formed of Mr Wesley;s labors in this department. Whilf trJ'r™'^ '^•'u'^ ^"^ extraordinary. While traveling five thousand miles and more a year, or at least about fourteen miles aX^ and preaching two sermons, and frequency five, each day. he read extensively. He r" ad umes on a?r '?• t"^""*^ *"° hundred vol- umes on all subjects, many of the volumes fohos, after the old English style. hIs jo"^ BtendtuT to"* '^ r*'.""* °"'^ *" -d- atend, but to severely criticise his author as iJ^^ "TK' °* ^'^ publications will scarce- witt'tS^' '"-t" r''° "- -* f«-"^r pSn^ a^th":^ urZVVra-'' He wr.tr ead published grammars of the ! \\ 88 vbe Vouns people'0 meelev. Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, and English languages. He was for many years editor of a monthly periodical of fifty-six pages, known as the Arminian Magazine, requiring the undivid- ed attention of any ordinary man in these rimes. He wrote, abridged, revised, and published a library of fifty volumes known as the Chris- tian Library, one of the most remarkable collections of Christian literature of the times. He subsequently reread and revised the whole work with great care, and it was afterward published in thirty volumes — a mar- vel of excellence and industry. He published an abridgment of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, with important addi- tions, in four volumes. He published an abridgment of the History of England, in four volumes. He compiled and published a Compendium of Natural Philosophy, in five volumes. He arranged and published a collection of moral and sacred poems, in three volumes. He published an abridgment of Milton's Paradise Lost, with notes. He published an abridgment of Young's Night Thoughts. He wrote and published a commentary on the whole Bible in four large volumes, but the portion on the Old Testament was rendered ahnost worthless by the abridgment of the xaeelev't Aultiplied Xabors. 89 notes by the printer in order to get them with- in a given compass. He compiled a complete dictionary of the English language, much used in his day. He compiled and published a history of Rome. He published selections from the Latin classics for the use of students. He published an abridgment of Goodwin's Treatise of Justification. He abridged and published in two volumes Brooke's Fool of Quality. He wrote a good-sized work on electricity. He prepared and published three medical works for the common people; one entitled Primitive Physic was highly esteemed in the old country. He compiled and published six volumes of church music. His poetical works, in connection with those of his brother Charles, are said to have amounted to not less than forty volumes. Charles composed the larger part, but they passed under the revision of John, without which we doubt if Charles Wesley's hymns would have been what they are — the most beautiful and soul-inspiring in the English language. In addition to all this there are seven large octavo volumes of sermons, letters, contro- versial papers, journals, etc. It is said that Mr. Wesley's works, including translations and abridgments, amounted t» more than two hundred volumes, for we have not given here I ! pi i M Vbe Voun0 people'* vnestes. a complete list of his publications. To thia must be added: 4. His pastoral labors. It is doubtful if any pastor in these times does more pastoral work than did Mr. Wesley. He speaks fre- quently of these labors. In London he visits all the members, and from house to house ex- horts and comforts them. For some time ho visited all the "Bands" ard "Select Societies » appomting all the band and class leaders. He had under his personal care tens of thousands of souls. To these multiplied labors he added the es- tablishment of schools, building of chapels raising cf funds to carry on the work, and a Special care over the whole movement. It may be affirmed that neither in his travels, his lit- eraiy labors, his preaching, nor in his pas- toral supervision of the flock of Christ has he often, if ever, been surpassed. "Few men could have traveled as much as he, had they omitted all else. Few could hav6 preachcl as much without either travel or study. And few could have written and published as much had they avoided both travel and preaching." It is not too much to say that among uninspired men one of more extraordinary character than John Wesley never lived! It may be asked. How was he able to accom- phsh so much ? He improved every moment of every day to the very best advantage. Mr. Fletcher, who for some time was his traveling companion, says: "His diligence is matchless. Though oppressed with the weight of seventy years and the care of more than thirty thousand souls, he shames still, by his unabated zeal and immense labors, all the young ministers of England, perhaps of Chri^- tendon. He has generally blown the Gospel trumpet and ridden twenty miles before the most of the professors who despise his labors have left their downy pillows. As he begins the day, the week, the year, so he concludes them still intent upon extensive services for the glory of the Redeemer and the good of souls." In order to save time he, in the first place, ascertained how much sleep he needed; and when once settled he never varied from it to the end of life. He rose at four in the morning and retired at ten in the evening, never losing at any time, he says, "ten minutes by wakefulness." The first hour of each day was devoted to private devotions; then every succeeding hour and moment was employed in earnest labor. His motto was, "Always in haste, but never in a hurry." "I have" he says, "no time to oe in a hurry. Leisure and 1 have taken leave of each other." He makes the remarkable statement that ten thousand cares were no more weight to hi* mind than ten thousand hairs to his head. "I W Vbt Vouna teople'9 metlev. clares that he "enjoyed more hours of oriTato A?!^'"u ^.""^ ""y "'»° i" England!" I.-IL I^Kinning of his extraordinary career thirty pounds a year, he lived on twentv^i^hf and gave away two. The next yearle S^S »>^iy pounds: he still lived on twent^-S and gave away thirty-two. The following -„ out of nmety pounds, he gave away^Kwo' o^nS^d^ a^7twt:r° -"^ -" fl f CHAPTER IX. WBSLKV'S DOMESTIC BELATIONS. Divine Providence seems to indicate that some men are ordained or set apart to celibacy; that the special work to wbicli they are par- ticularly called is such as to make it necessary that they should abstain from that otherwise legal, sacred, and •-ighly honorable conjugal rektion. Not thai lis duty is restricted to any order of the c...gy~as in the Romish Church— but to particular persons in all the Churches who are divinely selected for special work. This was the case with Elijah and Ehsha, with John the Baptist and St. Paul. To John Wesley in the Old World, and Bishop Asbury in the New, Providence seems to have indicated this course of life, though Wesley was slow to see it, and did not until his sad experience made it clear to him. Though the world was his parish, he hsd a heart of love which craved deep, pure, soul companionship. He was made to love. Though he was a lamb in gentleness, he was a lion in courap. He was as daring as Richard the •Lion-hearted, or as Ney or Murat, in the bat- I A JHl 84 Cbe Boun0 people's vaeeiec. tie, yet ho had a heart as simple as a child and as affectionate as an angel. lie loved every- bcKly. He was strontrly attached to his mother, his sisters, and brothers. He clung ardently to his old associates, though they sometimes ill-treate" '•-ba^ iseioro their marriage she agreed th«t l.<. should not be expected to traveU mile £1 or preach one sermon less, than i;Xre their TOeslee'a ©omeatfc Uelatlona. 99 fare ShT" "^ '""^Jlf^"' ^'"^ '""'i^' a»d poor forfl, r' ""' ^'"'"» *° '«""«"> at home. Jiad a right to receive; and when he was at home he was preaching two or three thnes a its' :T"' '""^ '''''' ^°°''-« ''f'- the Tocie- From f "'-"^u" '-V*^"^'^'^ correspondence. 1 f u *\'"^y'"» herself neglected by her hus- band she became jealous of him-a most ab- Burd and insane idea. But on this horTnsanity knew no bounds. She is said to have traveled a hundred miles in order to intercept Wm at some town, and watch from a window toTcer srirf' •" ^" *^ '="""«'' -°h W and 7ZrZ 1" "' '° "P"" ^'' ""^ote letters and abstract his papers and place them in the hands of those who would use'them to his dat thl W r"i ",*''' *" '"^ letters-usually those fron, his female correspondents-to make cEa'acter'sh" '""M" '"'"'' "* -l^-tionaW: htrenntif ■ «l"' '^^ "^^^^PaP'^'B to blacken hi reputation. She went so far at times as to lay violent hands upon him, tear his haTr, and otherwise abuse him. Said Mr. Hampson fwho was not one of Mr. Wesley's warmerfriends) point of committing murder. When I was m the north of Ireland I went into a roZ Her husband was on the floor, where she h7d 100 ffbe ttoung people's "TOeBleB. u. been trailing him by the hair of his head; eho heraelf was still holding in her hand venerable locks which she had plucked up by the roots. 1 felt, said the gigantic Hampson, "as though I could have knocked the soul out of her. Even Southey says: "Fain would she have made him, like Mark Antony, give up all lor love; and, being disappointed in that hope. Bhe tormented him in such a manner by Q outrageous jealousy and abominable temper that she deserved to be classed in a triad with Xantippe and the wife of , ob as one of the three bad wives." But fina.ly she gathered up a quantity of his journals and other papers and left him, never to return. The only rec- ord which the good man makes is this- "I did not forsake her; I did not dismiss her; I will not recall her." Wesley may not have been in all respects in this matter faultless. But no one could ever affirm that he was wanting f i genuine affec- tion. Charles Wesley, who knew the inward- ness of all John's domestic troubles, affirms that nothing could surpass my brother's pa- tience with his perverse, peevish spouse." Mrs. Wesley died in 1781, and the church peo- ple had It inscribed upon her tombstone that she was a woman of exemplary piety." "But" says the late Professor Sheppard, "you know a tombstone is like a corporation— it has no body to be burned, and no soul to be damned." CHAPTER X. WBSLEY's FERSBCUTIOIfS. Had the immense labors of John Wesley noted in a former chapter been performed under public patronage, cheered on by all, they would have seemed less arduous. Men may prosecute a reform when public opinion favors it with comparative ease, but with less entitlement to honor than he has a right to claim who does it in the face of passion and interest. The labors of John Wesley were prosecuted in the teeth of opposition such as seldom falls to the lot of man to endure. And what made it more dastardly and cruel was the fact that it was instigated and principally con- ducted by the officials of that Church of which he was a rorthy member and ordained minis- ter to the day of his death. It is a sad fact, but nevertheless true, that most of the opposition and persecution encoun- tered by reformers and revivalists have come froni the churchmen of the times. It has been the Church opposing those who were honestly seeking her own reformation. When the Church substitutes forms for godliness, and devotes herself to ecclesiasticism instead of I III i 1 1 loa zbe Voung people's vaesles. 8oul-8aving, and place-seeking takes the place of piety, she is ready to resist all efforts for her restoration to spirituality as irregular and oitensive. No sooner had Wesley exposed the sins of the Church especially those of the pulpit, than the pulpit denounced him; and the press, tak- ing Its keynote from the pulpit, thundered as though the "abomination of desolation" had actually "taken possession of the holy place." Then the idle rabble rushed to the front, and mob violence and mob law were the order of the hour. ,, ^if 5???*,"*' d^unc'ations of the pulpits of the Establishment against Mr. Wesley and his people have never been surpassed in the history of the English nation. Wesley says : "We were everywhere represented as inad dogs, and treated accordingly. In sermons, newspapers, and pamphlets of all kinds we were painted as unheard-of monsters. But this moved us not- we went on testifying salvation by faith both to small and great, and not counting our lives dear to ourselves, so we might finish our course with peace. The Wesleys were represented as "bold movers of sedition and ringleaders of the rabble, to the disgrace of their order." They were denounced by learned divines as "rest- less deceivers of the people," "babblers " "in- solent pretenders." "men of spiritual Lleight inieeleB'e Dersecutione. los and cunning craftiness." They were sruilty of "indecent, falae, and unchristian reflections on the clergy." They were "new-fangled teach- ers," "rash, uncharitable censurers," "intrud- ing into other men's labors," and running "into wild fancies until the pale of the Church is too strait for them." They were "half dis- senters in the Church, and more dangerous to the Church than those who were totnl dis- senters from it." Bishop Gibson declared that they endeav- ored "to justify their own extraordinary meth- ods of teaching by casting unworthy reflections upon the parochial clergy as deficient in the discharge of their duty, and not instructing the people in the true doctrines of Chris- tianity." Even Dr. Doddridge is not at all "satisfied with the high pretenses they make to the divine influence." Dr. Trapp is bold in pro- nouncing them "a set of crack-brained enthu- siasts and profane hypocrites." The Weekly Miscellany denounces Wesley as the "ringleader, fomenter, and first cause of all divisions and fends that have happened in Oxford, London, Bristol, and other places where he has been." He manages by "preach- ing, bookselling, wheedling, and sponging to get, it is believed, an income of £700 a year, some say £1,000. This is priestcraft to perfection." ll I and "prejudicing the people wherever h« ^ ' against hi. brethren^e ckr^" H^T" "«ower and rinile«H«F «/!)•■ "® " • ing with unw»f.^!? °f^<*'"en«on, endeavor- »"B wiin unwearied assiduity to net ♦».« fl^u ihe former friends of Weslev ««» ♦ j agaanst him on points mere^ docWna "S ercat astonishment wC Mr W^^'^/i Pa^ed hi, ,h^„^ yea« an^S' Jm:"^ ofC^L^tuLr^^^^^^^ following as samples from the many wLlo! vaetlett rerMCtttlOM. m "lurking sly assaMin," guilty of "audacity .. J falsehood;" a "knave," guilty of "mean, , ,.- hcjous impotence." He is an "Ishmaelite," a •"'f '' ," l^-P"''" " "defamer." a "reviler." a lar." without the "honesty of a heathen" an impudent slanderer," with "Satanic guilt only exceeded by Satan himself, if even by him." He 18 an "echo of Satan." Robert Hall well said, "I wouW. not incur the guilt of that virulent abuse which Toplady cast upon him [Wesley], for points merely speculative and of very little importance, for ten thousand worlds." Poets who should have sung for Jesus pros- tituted their gifts and burdened their songs with the bitterest invectives against Wesley and his people. One entitles his poem "Perfection: a prac- tical epistle, calmly addressed to the greatest hy^ritc in England-that person being John Another poem was entitled "Methodism Dis- Vu ,i.",*"!"^' '""strated and verified from John Wesley's fanatical Journals." Another, entitled "The Mechanic Inspired: or, I he Methodists' Welcome to Rome" As a specimen of this delectable production we give tne following stanza: IVaSH'' !'^ ■"""""• '""erant liar., ine spawn of French prophets and mendicant friar.- wi.?.°.,"".''°"'""""' ""» 'lot ond rob "' Wit* holy grimace and sanctified sob. 100 f" / ttbc Bounfl Deopie', mteie^. Another, "The Methodist and Mimin » world upside dUTi^d^S '^'^ *"" "«' We need no itrearor. „. i '^ ">Wne to trpSL^f^tki^^-^-*^— ^" When pulpits in London, Bristol. Bath, and, w fact everywhere were closed against Wesle^ one of two ways was open before hira~he must 2.^ '?'«'.««"^, him, or he must break ovct ecclesiastical rules and go outside the church^ He was not long choosing. ""renes. jl 108 ttbc l?ounfl people's Wealec. A good-sized volume could be filled with ac- counts of mob violence which came upon Wes- ley and his people, but we have space for a few cases only, which must be taken as samples 01 the many. While preaching at Moorfield a mob met him, broke down the table on which he stood, and m various ways abused and insulted him. JNothing daunted, he mounted a stone wall near by and esihorted the people until silence was restored. He often found himself here in the midst of a sea of human passion, the crowds thrr"d numbering from twenty to forty At Sheffield hell from beneath seemed moved to meet him at his coming. As he was wont to do, he took his stand out of doors and faced the crowd. In the midst of his sermon a military officer rushed upon him. brandishing a sword and threatening his life. Wesley faced him, threw open his breast, and bade him do as he liked. The officer cowered. The preaching house was completely demol- ished over the heads of the devout worshipers. Wesley says: "It was a glorious time. Many found the Spirit of glory and of God resting upon them." The next day, nothing daunted, he was in the midst of the town, preaching the great salvation. The mob assembled, followed him to his lodfelngs, smashed in the windows, and threatened to take his life. But while the meeleiB'e persecutions. i09 mob was howling without like beasts of prey Wesley was so little disturbed that he fell into a quiet slumber. At Wednesbury an organized mob went to nearly all the Methodist families in town, beat- mg and abusing men, women, and children. Ihey spoiled their wearing apparel and cut open their beds and scattered the contents, leaving whole families houseless and home- less in midwinter and under the peltings of a pitiless storm. The people were informed that If they would sign a paper agreeing never II '^T .u°^.^'"^ '"■ P"y together, or hear the Methodists preach again, their houses should not be demolished. A ew complied, Dut the greater number answered, "We have already lost our goods, and nothing more can follow but the loss of our lives, which we will lose also rather than wrong our consciences." A few days after, Wesley rode boldly into Wednesbury, and in a public park in the center ot the town proclaimed to an immense crowd Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." The mob assembled, arrested him, and dragged him before a magistrate, who mquired, "What have Mr. Wesley and the Methodists done?" . "Why plaze your worship," cried one, "they 8ing psalms all day and make folks get up at hve o clock in the morning. Now. what would f' i "0 Cbe l^oung people's meelev. your worship advise us to do?" "On i.„™ » replied the magistrate, "andt quiet" """"'' Not satisfied with this, they hurried hin, „« to another magistrate. AfewSd^ldW^f but were soon beaten baclc by a Wals«V Z^' which rushed upon them like wUd £ £{ but four of Wealpv'a f^;^^A oeasu. All These ston^ kL I- . .""^^ "^^"^ vanquished, inese stood by him to the last. One of the« was a brave woman whose English bloo^ b^iS^ WaLll ^' "" '"'V" ^^^"^ '"''"=ked down four E tilr ,r ''**',^ ""°**'^'' "-"^ ^o"W have Wh™ 'P^'^l-nsr at her feet had nit a ftftST?."'" ""^^ ^^' «»d held her while to^ sJ^n j!I "''*•' '''•'^ ^«'« « ^«« struck on the face person with threats of murder TJ,» ,•„=*• demanded that he promTe not to 'com to SoTl^ "^ «»«"• Wesley answered thTt he would sooner cut off his head than make such a promise. As he departed from the marfs ing stones. Wesley was beaten to the earth and forced back into the house. Mr Mack- oll^'lVT "!,*\^^''- W-'-y from New- a^K^^SaSi^Ji-^^iS 9trS\^S^:-;-outanya;! a magistrate, who inquired, "What har I' I'i ii I* lia cbe Boung people's "OaealeB. the Methodists done?" "Why. your worship," said one, "these people profess to be better than anybody else. They pray all the time, by day and by night." "Is that all they have done< asked the magistrate. "No, sir" answered an old man, "may it please your worship, they have converted my wife. Till she went with them she had such a tongue I Now she 18 as quiet as a lamb." "Carry them back, car^ them back," said the magistrate. and let them convert all the scolds in town !" At Bristol the mob cursed and swore and An*^ "I'j'e the preacher declared the Gospel. A Catholic priest in the congregation shouted. Thou art a hypocrite, a devil, an enemy to the Church." These are a few examples of what occurred almost daily, and that for many years. At Poole, at Lichfield, at St. Ives, at Grimsby, at Cork, at Wenlock, at Athlone, at Dudley, and at many other places he encountered similar opposition, until the presence of a Methodist preacher was the signal for a mob. Many of the preachers were impressed into the army on the pretense that their occupation was irregu- lar and their lives vagabondish. But wherever they went they were true to God and to the faith as they felt it in their hearts. The cause of all this opposition was the preaching of justification by faith, entire sanc- tification, and the urging of clergy and laity to TOleaUB'fl persecutions. ns tiiSh"'"- ^'1°"^ °""«'« '«"« Kichard Hill £^;blS^a\^1areS"SjrXf traveled yearly five thousand 3 l^^^ol^ yearly about one thousand seinsf^uftS as many sick beds as he had preached semo^ ttur"'"i""^ "' --y lette^fanrwho though now between seventy and eighty yl™ of age absolutely refused to abate in T ofT^ntnt °"^''.* *™"''"" *° the children which wfenior^''*'''" ^''^ -'' «^^-t.nc: The Church need? such men in theso t;,,,^ -presented, and their n.ZtlntTt^:^Z "4 ttbe Jfounfl people's Meslet, evil; men who will lovingly but unflinchingly fj w ^""'°™"'*^ ^^^^ °^ worldliness with the old Wesleyan weapons of faith and prayer un- til holiness triumphs. JTriting to Alexander Mather, Wesley says: tiive me but one hundred men who fear noth- ing but sin and desire nothing but God, and 1 care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will overthrow the king- dom of Satan and build up the kingdom of God upon earth." CHAPTER XI. WESLEY AND HIS THEOLOGY. Mb. Wesley was well versed in every phase of the theology of his times. Indeed, he was one of the best-read men of his ape. That sys- tem of scriptural truth which he formulated has stood the test of the moat searching crit- icism, being bitterly assailed on all sides. His theology has the advantage of having been forged in the hottest fires of controversy which have been witnessed during the last two cen- turies. And it is not presumption in us to say that it has revolutionized, in some marked features, the religious opinions of orthodo.x Christendom. This is manifest to all who have carefully observed the drift of religious sentiment. The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England seem framed to meet different forms of religious faith, as the seventeenth and thirty-first articles clearly show. Among the regular clergy were many high- toned Calvinists, and nearly all Dissenters were of the same faith. In 1770 Wesley's Conference met, and after ^ long and sarnest discussion of the subject 116 Sbe Voun0 people's VBe«les. 11 'I ' f; came to the decision that they had "leaned too much toward Calvinism." When the Minutes of this Conference were made public they cre- ated great excitement, for it was a blow at the prevailing belief of the times. Three classes rushed to the defense of what they re- garded as truth: 1. The Calvinistic Metho- dists, who had been associated with Wesley, and regarded him as their leader. 2. The Church party, stiijng and influential. 3. The Dissenters; these were nea/ly all Calvinists. Between these parties there had been formerly no special sympathy, but they united to antag- onize Wesley. „/P'nst all these Wesley stood, as he says, Athanasiug contra mundum" ("Athanasins against the world"). With him was associated Eev. John Fletcher, the saintly vicar of Mad- eley. As a controversialist he was peerless, and as a saintly character modem times have not produced his superior. The conflict was long and bitter. It was conducted on the one side by Rev. and Hon Walter Shirley, Hon. Richard Hill, his broth- er, the famous Rowland Hill, Rev. Mr. Bev- eridge, and Rev. Augustus Toplady; and on the other side by Mr. Wesley, but mainly by Mr. Fletcher. It was admitted by all fair- minded men that the Damascus blade of the hero of Madeley won in the conflict and was master of the situation. Fletcher's Cheelcs to XQeekc and bis Cbeologe. ii7 Anlinomianism was the result. These have stood for more than a hundred years a bul- wark against the baneful errors which they seek to overthrow. These plumed warriors have long since adjusted their dogrartic dif- ferences, for harmony is the law of that world in which they live. We shall proceed to give a brief statement of the fundamental doctrines held and ad- vocated by Mr. Wesley, omitting any merely speculative opinions regarded by him as nonessential : I. The Deity op Christ. While Mr. Wesley had charity for doubters, he held with great firmness the supreme divin- ity and Godhead of Christ. "The Word ex- isttJ," he says, "without any beginning. He was when all things began to be, whatever had a beginning. He was the Word which the Father begat or spoke from eternity." "The Word was with God, therefore distinct fron God the Father. The word rendered with de- notes a perpetual tendency, as it were, of the Son to the Father in unity of essence. He was with God alone, because nothing beside God had then any being. And the Word was God —supreme, eternal, independent. There was no creature in respect of which he could be styled God in a relative sense. Therefore he is styled so in the absolut e sense."* • Works, VOL li, p. 24. i I 1 1 118 tibe Voung people'e meeieii. II. The Fall AxNd Cobri ption or Mak. In regard to the fall and consequent cor- ruption of human nature, Mr. Wesley ac- cepted the faith of the Church of England which is as follows: "Original, or birth, sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the corrup- tion of the nature of every man, that natu- rally IS engendered of the offspring of Adam whereby man is ,very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature is in- clined to evil, and that continually." He taught that sin was both original and actual, sin of the heart and sin of the life, or outward Bin and inward sin. Of actual, or outward, sin he says: "Noth- ing is sin, strictly speaking, but a voluntary transgression of a known law of God. There- fore, every voluntary breach of the law of love is sin, and nothing else, if we speak properly." Speaking of a believer being freed from the actual commission of sin, he says: "I under- stand this of 'inward sin,' any sinful temper, passion, or affection, such as pride, self-will, love of the world." Mr. Wesley's views on this subject cannot be harmonized, except we admit his definition of sin— sin as an outward act, expressed by the voluntary commission of sin; and sin as a state or condition of the heart expressed by the text. "All unrighteousness is' Mil." VBeelev and bU VbeolO0s> ii> Jfr. Wesley's view of tin is no Unitarian riew, but sin in all its Jestructive effects upon the hnnian heart, holding it in its "unwilling grasp;" the soul "drinking in iniquity like water;" the "soul dead in trespasses and sin," •»nd being "dragged at sin's chariot wheels," until in utter despair he cries, "O, wretched taan that I am, who shall deliver me?" At this point there comes deliverance to the soul III. General or Universal Redemption. By this Mr. Wesley meant that the atone- ment was for each member of the human fam- ily, except when rejected by voluntary choice. As a consequence of this doctrine of general redemption he lays down two axioms, of which he never loses sight in his preaching. Says Mr. Fletcher: 1. "All our salvation is of God in Christ, and therefore of grace; all oppor- tunities, inclinations, and power to believe, being bestowed upon us of mere grace— grace most absolutely free." 2. "He asserted with equal confidence that, according to the Gospel dispensation, all our damnation is of ourself, by our obstinate unbelief and avoidable un- faithfulness, as we may neglect so great sal- vation." These points he made clear from the Word of God. It must be admitted that Calvinism has greatly changed in the last hundred years, both in Europe and America. We doubt if I m 180 cbe Voung peopie'a TOe«leB. any can be found who would attempt, in these tjmes. to defend the doctrine which Messrs. Shirley, Hill and Toplady attempted to do- fend .n VVexlry's time. Mr. Toplady said: Whatever comes to pass, comes to pass by virtue of the absolute, omnipotent will of God which IS the primary and supremo cause of all things. If so, it may be objected," ho says, that whatever is, is right. Consequences can- not bo helped." ^"Whatever a man does," he says, he does necessarily, though not with any sensible compulsion ; and that wo can only do what God, from eternity, willed and fore- knew we should." Surely, this docs not differ Irom whatsoever is, is right." The doctrine of foreknowledge, with Mr. loplady, included the doctrine of election and decrees. He said: "As God does not will that each individual of mankind should be saved 80 neither did he will that Christ should prop- erly and immediately die for each individual of mankind; whence it follows that, though the blood of Christ, from its intrinsic dignity was sufficient for the redemption of all men, yet, in consequence of his Father's appoint- im^nt, he shed it intentionally, and therefore effectually and immediately, for the elect only. . Mr. Wesley said, in reply to these strange utterances, that their doctrine represented Christ as a hypocrite, a deceiver of the people. TOealcB «no bla Cbeoloss. lai • man void of common sineerity; for it can- not be denied tliat he everywliere speaks as if lie was willing that all men should be saved —provided the possibility. Therefore, to say that he was not willing that all men should •^ ««»ed— that he had provided no such pos- sibihty— is to represent him as a hypocrite and deceiver." "You cannot deny," says Wes- ley, "that he says, 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and ."r. heavy laden, and I will give you rest. If you say unto me, lie calls those that cannot come, those whom he knows to be un- able to come, those whom he can make able to come, but will not, how is it possible to de- scribe greater insincerity} You represent him as mocking his helpless creatures by offer- ing what he never intended to give. You describe him as saying one thing and mean- ing another— as pretending a love which he had not. Him, in whose mouth was no giiile, you make full of deceit, void of common sincerity." In this manner the conflict went on until the theology of the ages, on this subject, has been revolutionized. The Wesleyan doctrine of foreknowledge and free agency may be stated in a few words. It 18, in substance, as follows: 1. The freedom of a moral agent is freedom to follow his own choice, where he is held re- sponsible for his conduct. 138 Cbe Uoung people's XQleslee. 2. The foreknowledge of God is a divine perception of what that agent will choose to do m a given case of responsibility. In this there is no conflict between freedom and fore- knowledge. We admit that God saw sin as a certainty, but ^at perception did not make sin a certainty. The freedom of the agent does not destroy the knowledge of God, nor does the knowledge of God destroy the freedom of the agent. God's knowledge of the certainty does not cause the certainty. His knowledge of what an agent will choose to do depends on the certainty that he will do it, and until the certainty ex- ists God cannot know it, as neither God nor man can know anything where there is noth- ing to know. The knowledge may follow after, go before, or accompany an event, but gives no existence or character to the event, any more than a light shining around a rock gives char- acter or existence to the rock. IV. The New Birth. The new birth, according to Wesley, includes pardon, justification, regeneration, and adop- tion. These are coetaneous— received at one and the same time. But they are always pre- ceded by conviction of sin, repentance, and submission to God by faith. Mr. Wesley says that whosoever is justified is born again, and whosoever is born again is justified, that "both these gifts of God are given to every believer at one and the same moment. In one point of time his sins are blotted out, and he is born again of God." Mr. Wesley taught that the new birth put an end to the voluntary commission of sin. This change is really a "new creation;" it removes the "love of sin," so that "he that is born of God does not commit sin." Sin, though it may and does exist, does not reign in him who is born of God. It has no longer dominion, though it may have a being, in his heart, re- quiring a still further work of grace. This wonderful change is effected by faith in the atoning sacrifice. It must be by faith alone. And such a doctrine is very full of comfort. V. The Witness of the Spipjt. This doctrine, as well as justification by faith, was strongly contested in Wesley's time, and the contest has not fully subsided. Many argue that there is no direct witness of the Spirit except what comes through the Word, and hence is an inference, which we draw by a process of reasoning. The Word of God, it is claimed, gives us certain marks of the new birth. We recognize such internal evidence, hence we infer that we are justified, or born again. This is Wesley's indirect T<-tness, or the witness of our own spirit. But h" claimed that God, by his own Spirit, givs' '; e direct 124 cbc ffiounfl people's tuieeleB. witness; that the "Spirit of God witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God." And here is his incomparable defini- tion of this soul-cheering truth : "By the wit- ness of the Spirit I mean an inward impres- sion of the soul, whereby the Spirit of God immediately and direr tly witnesses to my spirit that I am a child of God; that Jesus Christ hath loved me and given himself for me; that all my sius have been blotted out, and I, even I, am reconciled to God." Twenty years later, speaking of this defini- tion, he said: "I see no cause to retract any of these suggestions. Neither do I concc ive how any of those expressions may be altered so as to make them more intelligible." This constitutes the direct witness of the Spirit. The indirect witness, or the witness of our own spirit, including the fruit of the Spirit, is subsequent to this direct witness. The one is the tree, and the other its fruit. VI. Final Perseverance of the Saints. While Calvinism has modified its faith in regard to" many things, it still adheres to its original belief in this dogma. It is stated in these words in their Confession of Faith: "They whom God has accepted in his beloved, effectually called, sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the XaealCB ano bie Cbeoloflg. las state of grace but shall certainly persevere to the end, and be eternally saved." It is further declared that "this perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own will, but upon the immutability of the decrea of elec- tion, etc. They say, also, that "the persever- ance of the saints is one of the Articles by which the creed of the followers of Calvin is distinguished from that of Arminius " Mr. Wesley as well as Mr. Fletcher opposed this doctrine. They declared with all the force of scriptural authority that "if the right- eous turn away from his righteousness and commit iniquity, his righteousness shall no longer be remembered, but for his iniquity that he hath committed he shall die for it" They insisted that if "every branch in Christ that did not bear fruit was to be cut off and cast into the fire and burned," the apostasy of a believer may be final. They insisted that "if we sin willfully after we have received the knowl- edge of the truth, there remaineth no more sac- rifice for sin, but a fearful looking for of judg- ■uent and fiery indignation," etc.; that we might so far backslide as that another "might take our crown." They went everywhere de- claring that the only safeguard against final apostasy was to be "faithful unto death " : '3 Ml 'jM tTbe iDouns people's Meeles. VII. Entire Sanctification or Christian Perfection. Mr. Wesley declared thut this was "the grand depositum which God had lodged with the people called Methodists, and for the sake of propagating this chiefly he appears to have raised them up." His opponents charged him with preaching perfection. They said, deri- sively, "This is Mr. Wesley's doctrine! He preaches perfection!" "He does," responds Wesley, "yet this is not Us doctrine any more than it is yours, or anyone's else that is a min- ister of Christ. For it is his doctrine, pecul- iarly, emphatically his; it is the doctrine of Jesus Christ. These are his words, not mine: 'Ye shall therefore be perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.' And who says ye shall not; or, at least, not till your soul "is separated from your body?" It is true Wesley us-d the t«rm "perfection," but it was not the only word he used to set forth this truth, but such terms as "perfect love," "full salvation," "full sanctification," "the whole image of God," "second change," "clean heart," "pure heart," "loving God with all the heart," etc. He says : "I have no par- ticular fondness for the term perfection. It seldom occurs in my preaching or writing. It is my opponents who thrust it upon me contin. ually, and ask what I mean by it. I do noT meele'B anO bis CbeoIoflB. 127 build any doctrine thereupon, nor undertake critically to explain it." "What is the meaning of perfection* is another question. That it is a scriptural ter.n is undeniable; therefore none ought to object to the term, whatever they may as to this or that explication of it." "But I still think that perfection is only another term for holiness, or the image of God in man. 'God made man perfect,' I think, is just the same as 'He made him holy,' or 'in his own image.' " It does not come within our plan or purpose to give a detailed exposition of Christian per- fection, but simply to call the reader's atten- tion to the truth as the central doctrine in Mr. Wesley's system of religious faith. With him it was deliverance from inhred, as well aa actual, sin. It was not sin repressed, but sin exterminated, deliverance from sin. His standing definition was the following: "Sanc- tification, in a proper sense, is an instantane- ous deliverance from all sin, and includes an instantaneous power, then given, always to cleave to God. Yet this sanctification does not include a power never to think a useless thought, nor ever speak a useless word. I myself be- lieve that such a perfection is inconsistent with living in a corruptible body ; for this makes it impossible always to think aright. While we breathe we shall more or less mistake. If, therefore. Christian perfection includes this, we must not expect it until after death." Ha 1 128 zbe voune people's TOesIes. IS Jove dwelling alone in the heart.'" It is deliverance from evil desires and evil tem! pers" as well as from "evil words and worts '' I want you to be all love. This is theS;. tion I believe and teach. And thisStion IS consistent with a thousand nerv^f^sor" 'rid ^^^^.'^'^''-'^a-ed perfection s tTculaH- f ' "^ i^'*^^^"* " <'" 'his case par- ticular) , to overdo is to undo; and that to set perfection too high (so high as no m4n that we ever heard or read of attained) isihe mos effectual (because unsuspect^) Uy o? driving it out of the world."* "Wor dfd I ZCnXT^-Tr^ "" P«rf-tion than him w flf ^f "^'^^ "" '"'' '>''"*' «nd serving .lZr,7ll \°'" strength; for it might be fended with worse consequences than you XmotT""'- «*herebeamiZe!h JL othT t/^'^wi! "^ **•" """ '^^^ than on the other. If I set the mark too high, I drive men into needless fears; if you set h too low! you drive them into hell fire."t sJ.inlw'"'* *"'■"! t° defend these views, but simply to record them, as the theological faith the Methodist Church in all the world has pro- fessed to believe and teach. ^ • Workt, vol. vl, p. 718. t «>ld.,p.sa. "Ulleeles ano bie Sbeo(O0c. 129 VIII. The Kesuriiection of the Dead. Mr. Wesley taught the doctrine of the general resurrection of the human body. "The plain notion of a resurrection," he says, "requires that the selfsame body that died should rise again. Nothing can be said to be raised again but that body that died. If God gives to our souls a new body, this cannot be called a resur- rection of the body, because the word plainly implies the fresh production of what was be- fore."* While he holds that the same body is to be raised, it is not a natural, but a spiritual. body. "It is sown in this world a merely ammal fcoi/j/— maintained by food, sleep, and air, like the body of brutes. But it is raised of a more refined contexture, needing none of these animal refreshments, and endued with qualities of a spiritual nature like the angels of God." "We must be entirely changed, for such flesh and blood as we are clothed with now cannot enter into that kingdom which is wholly spirituaV'f He speaks of the place from which the dead rise as evidence of its being the same body that died (John v, 28). "The hour is coming when all that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall como forth." "Now, if the same body do not rise again, what need is there of opening the graves • Sermont, voL U, p. (sa 9 t Wesley's Azotes on 1 Cor. 15. ! i ! 180 ttbe Vouno people's TOeaJes. at the end of the world i" The graves can give up no bodies but those which were laid in them. If we were not to rise with the very same bodies that died, then they might rest forever. Mr. Wesley taught, in harmony with the Scriptures, the doctrine of IX. General Judoment. This, Mr. Wesley claimed, would take place at the second coming of Christ, at the end of the world, "when the Son of man shall come m his glory." "The dead of all nations will be gathered before him." This he calls "the day of the Lord, the space from the creation of men upon the earth to the end of all things;" "the days of the sons of men, the time that ia now passing over us. When this is ended the day of the Lord begins." "The time when we are to give this account" is at the second ad- vent, "when the great white throne comes down from heaven, and he who sitteth theieon, from whose face the heavens and earth shall flee away." It is "then the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books will be opened." "Before all these the whole human race shall appear ," etc.* • Works, vol. 1, p. 454. TmesIcB and bis Cbcoloac 181 X. EteknaL Beward avd Punishment. Mr. Wesley taught that men would be both punished and rewarded at the judgrment, and that both r-vard and punishment would bo eternal. "Either the punishment is strictly eternal, or the reward is not, the very same expression being applied to the foniier as to the latter. It is not only particularly observ- able here (1) that the punishment lasts as long as the reward, but (2) that thij punish- ment is so far from ceasing at the end of the world that it does not begin till then."* "The rewards will never come to an end unless God comes to an end and his truth fail. The wick- ed, meantime, shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." These are the doctrines of iniversal Metho- dism, as expressed in its creed. Metho- dism accepts the doctrines inculcated by John Wesley. Our space does not allow us to do more than to state these doctrines in the briefest form. Wherever they are faithfully preached they become effectual to the saving of men. It is hoped that Methodism will abide by its doc- trinal creed, for by it all its victories have been achieved. * iTotet OD Mutt 2B. 41. I 1:1 CHAPTER XII. WESLEY AS A MAN. We are always more or less curious about the personal appearance of a distinguished character — the eye, the voice, the gesture, etc. We are told that Mr. Wesley's figure was, in all respects, remarkable. He wis low of stat- ure, with habit of body almost the reverse of corpulent, indicative of strict temperance and continual exercise. His step was firm, and his appearance vigorous and masculine; his face, -^ven in old age, is described as re- markably fine — clear, smooth, with an aquiline nose, the brightest and most piercing eye that could be conceived, and a freshness of com- plexion rarely found in a man of his years, giving to him a venerable and interesting ap- pearance. In him cheerfulness was mingled with gravity, sprightliness with serene tran- quillity. His countenance at times, especial- ly while preaching, produced a lasting im- pression upon the hearers. They were not able to dispossess themselves of his striking expression. While preaching at Langhamrow a young man who was full of hilarity and mirth had. vnctfles 80 a Aan. iss on his way to church, kept saying to his com- panions, with an air of carelessness, "This fine Mr. Wesley I shall hear, and get convert- ed." He did hear him, but he had never gazed upon such a countenance before. It put him in a more serious frame of mind, and for a long time, day and night, whether at home or abroad, that wonderful countenance was be- fore him so full of solemnity and benignity. It was the means of his conversion, and he became a worthy church member and useful class leader. In dress Mr. Wesley was the pattern of neat- ness and simplicity, wearing a narrow plaited stock, and coat with small upright collar, with no silk or velvet on any part of his apparel. This, added to a head as white as snow, gave to the beholder an idea of something primitive and apostolic. The following description of him is given by one who, though not a Methodist, could prop- erly appreciate true greatness : "Very lately I had an opportunity for some days together to observe Mr. Wesley with attention. I endeav- ored to consider him not so much with the eye of a friend as with the impartiality of a phi- losopher. I must declare every hour I spent in his company afforded me fresh reasons for esteem and veneration. So fine an old man I never saw. The happiness of his mind beamed forth in his countenance. Every look showed u /M Cbe Bounj people'* VSeales. how fully he enjoyed the remembrance of a life well spent. Wherever he was he diffused a portion of his own felicity. Easy and affable in his demeanor, he accommodated himself to every sort of company, and showed how happily the most finished courtesy may be blended with the most T'erfect piety." In social life Mr. Wesley was a finished Christian gentleman, and this was seen in the perfect ease with which he accommodated him- self to both high and low, rich and poor lie was placid, benevolent, full of rich anecdotes, wit, and wisdom. In all these his conversation was not often equaled. He was never trifling but always cheerful. Such interviews were always concluded by a verse or two of some hymn, adapted to what had been said, and prayer. There was no evidence of fret. He used to Tv- "^ ^^^ °° ™"® *'^* *''*° """^ °^ swear." His sprightliness among his friends never left hira,and was as conspicuous at eighty-seven as at seventeen." He was at home everywhere, in the mansion or in the cottage, and was equally courteous to all. The young drew to him and he to them. "I reverence the young," he said, "because they may be useful after I am dead." Bradburn, one of his most intimate friends, said : "His modesty prevented him say- ing much concerning his own religious feel- ings. In public he hardly ever spoke of the Vac«lcs a* a Aan. iw state ^/ his own soul; but in 1781 he told me that his experience might, almost at any time, be expressed in the following lines: ** 'O Thou who oiOMt fram tbore, Th« pure celettlal flra to Impart, Kindle a flame of sacred love On the mean altar of my heart. •"There let It for thy glory bum, With Inextinguishable "ilase; And trembling to Its sr-irce return. With humble pray^ and ferrent praise.' " This may not be sufficiently definite for some, but it is quite as much so as genuine Chrisiian modesty would approve. But it is evident that he always possessed the "pure, celestiil fire," and that its "inextinguishable blaze" bore him on to deeds of heroic daring unparalleled in modem times. I CHAPTER XIII. WESLEY AS A PBKACHEK. for disagreeing with him " anybody co^ciefj^s '^ Hu'*^'''' k'*''^ "°^^' °f -"-'« child oo^l!i -1 • P''^?<='''"« ^a8 simple-a cnud could easily understand him Thprp of modem eloquent. Dr FrantHn t^ judge) accorded him this rank JhaS Z- ley was but little inferior to Whitefidd a^^ r;^S!=!ts;^i-Sl^ Philosophy phiC!\r^ all (wh,ch I can speak with greate; assuran,;;' TOeales m a preacher. w because I had a thorough knowledge both of one and the other), a more deep and constant TOmmunion with the Father, and with his oon, Jesus Christ." These were mighty men. The multitudes tnat listened to them were swayed by their eloquence and power as is the forest by a rushing, mighty wind. Their earnest appeals drew floods of tears from eyes unaccustomed to weep. We are not informed that Mr. Wesley often wept while preaching, and yet no such effects were produced by Whitefield's preaching as were witnessed under Wesley's. Mr. Southey admits that the sermons of Wesley were at- tended with greater and more lasting effect than were the sermons of Whitefield. Men fell wider his words like soldiers slain in battle. While he was calm, collected, deliberate, and logical he was more powerful in moving the sensibilities as well as the understanding of his hearers than any other man in England Marvelous were the physical effects produced by his preaching. We are told that "his attitude in the pulpit was graceful and easy; his action calm and natural, yet pleasing and expressive," and his command over an audience was very remark- able. He always faced the mob, and was gen- erally victorious at such times. In the midst of a mob he says: "I called for a chair; the Hi |l : ! I 188 zbe tfoung |>eople'0 IKleelec. winds were hushed, and all was calm and still; my heart was filled with love, my eyes with tears, and my mouth with arguments. They were amazed, they were ashamed, they '^^'■!„'"^™1^ '^°^"' tJ'^y devoured every word. There must have been, in such preaching, that which seldom falls to our lot to hear. Beattie once heard him preach at Aberdeen one of his ordinary sermons. He remarked that "it' was not a masterly sermon, yet none but a master could have preached it " Ibe account of Wesley preaching at Ep- worth on his father's tombstone is inspiring. He was refused the church where his honored father had preached thirty-nine years, and for three successive nights he stood upon his lathers tombstone and preached to a large company of people. "A living son," says Tyer- man, "preaching on his dead father's grave because the parish priest refused to allow him to officiate in the dead father's church." "I am well persuaded," said Wesley, "that I did more good to my Lincolnshire parishioners by preaching three days on my father's tomb than I did by preaching three years in his pulpit. During the preaching of these ser- mons. It is said, the people wept aloud on every side, and Wesley's voice at times was drowned by the cries of penitents, and many in that old churchyard found peace with God. Un another evening many dropped as dead TKlesles as a preacber. isb men under the word. A clergyman who heard Wesley preach on that occasion, in writing to him, said: "Your presence created an awe, as if you were an inhabitant of another world." Who remembers the name of Rector Komley, that ecclesiastical pretender who arrogated to himself such authority? His name has long since passed into comparative oblivion, while that of Wesley, whom he despised, shines as a star of the first magnitude, and shall shine on until the heavens shall pass away. A few years later Romley lost his voice, became a drunkard, then a lunatic, and thus died. A late writer, not a Methodist, gives a glow, ing description of Wesley and his conflicts : He was the peer. In Intellectnal endowments, of any literary character of that most literary period. No gownsman of the university, no lawned and ml- tered prelate of his time, was Intellectually the superior of this Itinerant Methodist— a bishop more truly than the Archprelate of Canterbury himself In everything but the empty name. The hosts of literary pamphleteers and controversialists that rained their attacks upon hlH system. In showers, were nade to fee' tile keenness of his logic and the staggering weight of his responsive blows. It Is a fine sight to look upou. from this distance, that of this single modest man. an unpretentious knight of true religion and consecrated learning, beset for forty years by scores, yes, hundreds, of assailants, armed in all the ostentation of churchiy dignity, shooting at him their arrows of tracts and sermons: newspaper writers pouring upon him their ceaseless squibs; malicious critics assailing his motives and 140 zbe Vouttfl people's XOeeleB. bin metboda with Innuendoes and false auggeatlons: ponderous professors tilting at bim witb their heavier lances of books and atately treatlsea ; and be, alone, giving more than thrust for thrust, and his brother Charles furnishing the Inspiring accompanlmeDt of martial music until one man had chaaed a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to aight.* Speaking of the physical effects produced by Mr. Wesley's preaching, the same writer says: ^!u*^„'? '° Brlatolifor nine months— such a nine months Bristol never saw before. No ! nor England nor the world since the day of Pentecost. Wesleys notions of propriety were destined to be still further shocked. Among the multitudes that thronged around mm strange physical demonstrations began to ap- pear They shocked even Wbltefleld when he beard or them, and he remonstrated with Wesley for seem- ing to permit or encourage them. Men were smitten by bla words as a field of standing corn by a tempest. Intenae physical agony prostrated them upon the ground. They stood trembling, wItb fixed eyeballs staring as though they were looking Into eternal fhr/^'nt fL ^*'° "**"'"' "'"""'y Infapable of any- tning like enthusiasm, were struck as dead. Others beat tbeir breasts and begged for forgiveness for their sins, others were actually torn and maimed In un- conscious convulalons. The story of the demoniac In the goapela waa, to all appearances, realized over and oyer. And again, under his assurance of full forgiveness and free salvation, the storm would give way to a calm, and these same persons would be at peace, clothed and In their right mlnda. Wesley was help- less; never was more honest and straightforward In generous work. He was himself amazed, almost terrified: but, "I have come to the conclusion," he says, "that we must all suffer God to carry on his own work In the way that pleaaeth him. I am not anxious to account for this." Wesley's attitude was • Some Heretics tf Teterdav, p. 300. V mealev as a pteacber. I4i the right one. Wesley was preaching to men and women who were densely ignorant. In many cases, o( the nature of sin. and of the story of God's re- demptive mercy. His words to them were as truly the opening of an apocalypse as when John saw the Ylaion of his I^rd, and "fell at his feet as dead." No wonder such signal effects moved Eng- land, Ireland, and Scotland, and, in many instances, America. The venerable Rev. Thomas Jackson says: "No man was accustomed to address larger multitudes or with greater success, and it may be fairly questioned whether cny minister in modern ages has been instrumental in effect- ing a greater number of conversions. He pos- sessed all the essential element? of a great preacher, and in nothing was he inferior to his eminent friend and contemporary, George Wbitefield, except in voice and manner. In respect of matter, language, and arrangement, his sermons were vastly superior to those of Mr. Whitefield. Those who judge Wesley's ministry from the sermons which he preached and published in the decline of life greatly mistake his real character. Till he was en- feebled by age his discourses were not at all remarkable for their brevity. They were often extended to a considerable length. Wesley the preacher was tethered by no lines of writ- ten preparation and verbal recollection; he spoke with extraordinary power of utterano4 out of the fullness of his heart." 148 ttbe tfoung people's Wleales. «?v' n'f J"^*' "^" '*«'"^ *° ^^i^y « his a^wJ?! "* ''"^t' ''"'°"' ^'«"«' methodical as Wesley was. there was a deep, steadfast «t?„ r ^"T ^""T^ '''^"' ^'«i «" " «"'lden and startling shock straight home into the core of the guilty sinner's consciousness and heart." -Dr. Abel Stevens says: "As a preacher he remains a problem to us. It is at least difficult to explain, at this late day, the secret of his great power in the pulpit. Aside from the divine influence which is pledged to all faith- fu ministers, there must have been some pe- culiar power in his address which the records of the times have failed to describe; his ac- tion was calm and natural, yet pleasing and expressive; his voice not loud, but clear, agree- TOcales M a preacbcr. i48 able, and masculine; his style neat and per- spicuous. *^ Cowper says he "Could fetch the record, from earlier age. or from phllosophya enlightened page HI. rich material., and regale your ear With strain. It wa. a privilege to hear let, above all, hi. luxury .upreme. And hi. chief glory, wa. the Gospel theme • There he was copious as old Greece or Rome, His happy eloquence seemed there at home ; Ambitious not to shine or to excel But to treat Justly what he loved 'to well." Dr. Rigg says: "In his more intense utter- ances logic and passion were fused into a white heat of mingled argument, denunciation, and appeal often of the most personal searching- thraste ^" "''^'■'^''^''"■"K •" '*» vehement home Dr. Whitehead says: "Wesley's style was marked with brevity and perspicuity. He nev- er lost sight of the rule laid down by Horace- Concise your diction, let your sense be clear. ' Not with a weight of word, fatigue the ear.' His words were pure, proper to the subject, and precise in their meaning." Mr. Wesley studied human character, and sought to adapt his preaching to the masses. ■1 1?^ ,f "^"^ P"^'"« Billingsgate market, with Bradford, while two of the women were quarreling furiously. His companion urged bim to pass on, but Wesley replied, "Stay bammy, stay and learn how to preach." CHAPTER XIV. ■WMLKY AS A BBfOBMKB. Slaveby. Those moral refona, which have shaken the nations and in sothe oases revolutionized gov- enunents were scarcely known in the days of Wesley. He saw the eomingr storm and blew LI'?"'? ' ^^f «"'« "" uncertain h?,n^ij ^^ °f ^^ '«^°™» he was a iiundred years in advance of his time. Slavery, in Wesle/s time, was strongly sup- ported by the E^lish government. She had ennched herself from the African slave trade. Her great maritime cities were built on the bones, sinews and flesh, cemented by the blood, of oppressed bondmen. To oppose slavery was to oppose the government. Wesley met this gigantic evil with Christian courage. What was true of England was also true of her eol- raies. He united with Sharp, Clarkson, Wil- berforce, and others to oppose the evil. Ho represented the slave trade as "that execrable sum of all villainies, commonly called the wL'ti'"'"'?,- American slavery he declared was the vilest that ever saw the sun." No ad- dresses delivered on the subject, during the WESLEY'S BIBLE AND CASE. Wi 4 VHetUv M a Ueformet. us «^1°ii •''* f^l^ot antUlavery excitement, exceeded in seventy those which feU from the w .' «r« produced by the pen of John hJn^Y" !f * t^^"' ''""«° °"'y f""' days before his death, was addressed to Wilber- I^T'asTuols''"" *" ^'"'^'^ ^^ ^« -"'• Loi'«■' way toTT; that will buy, are poisoners In general. They mur der his majesty's shbjec.s by wLlesale: neUherdo llti^l "J"' "■' *"""• ™^'' •"■'« "■«» to hen like these men? Who. then, would enjoy their large estate and sumptuous palaces? A curse I. in the Sdst o? them A curse cleaves to the stones, the timtr, the furniture of them. The corse of God Is In the7; fo th?' 'If ™""' *"*" «™™»: • «°e that burn, to the nethermost hell! Blood, blood Is there! Wol,°"°And°°' "' ""'■■ '"* ""'• •« -fined wuh blood! And canst thou hope, O man of blood though thou art "clothed m scarlet and Bne M^' " dinve'r Jhr^r"^""' day-canst thou ho^ f L , V . ^ *'"^' "' '•'"<><' *» the third genera, tlon? Not so! There 1, a God In heaven "h^fore Sou-Zt '*/".'* "J""*^ *""■ ^'** " those wh^m He introduced into his Discipline a rule pro- hibiting the "buying or selling of spirituous liquors, OP drinking them, unless in cases of extreme necessity." He went for "prohibiting forever, making a full end of that bane of • Wesleys »rort., vol. I, p. »«. TOealeB ne a ■Reformer. 149 health, that destroyer of strength, of life and vmue-^istilling;' These are hi^ own woS He vvas a prohibitionist in principle, and in this respect was in advance of many would-te temperance men of these times. To™f h^ preachers he says: "Touch no dram.' It is a It'sl^- ^* -«.--. though slow, ^il! it saps the very spring of life." Tobacco. Mr. Wesley sought a reformation on the ^^r 2!r*'°°- ^« »^"«^«d tiiat the U.9 Sopk-^seTr."*""*''?- He exhorts his people. Use no tobacco. It is an uncleanly and unwholesome self-indulgence; and th^ more customanr it is the more resolutely ahould you break o£F from every degree of that evil custom. Let Christians be in this bond- age no longer. Assert your liberty, and that all at once; nothing will be done by degrees."* Such were the teachings of John Wesley on these subjects-teachings which we regard as very remarkable for those times, and ftdly up to the present. John Wesley and John Howard Meet. f»f^o5f ^'- ^^J^' "■*' •^°*"» Howard, the father of prison reform. He says: "I had the pleasure of a conversation with Mr. Howard I think one of the greatest men in Europe! • Works, vol. Tt, p. 74«. ' ISO tCbc Jffounfl pcoplc'8 TOeeicB. Nothing but the ahnighty power of God can enable him to go through his difficult and dan- IfTl"^"^'^''*- ^"* '^*"" '^«° harm us ^Ind" ""^ '"" ''P *° »- « "--« to Female Preachebs. fpmn/' '™^ i-"* ^"''^y ^'^ °°* »'«'ieve that female preaching was authorized by the New Testament, except under extraordinary cir eumstances. He tells Sarah Crosby that he thinks her case rests on her having an "ex- traordinary call." He was persuaded, also, hat every local preacher had a similar call, if It were not so, he could not countenance their preaching at all. "Therefore I do no? ri%!.n''T' *i'?^ "'"=" '^'^^^ which St pJvl ""f'" ""^'^'^ '"'^ °f discipline. ht. Pauls ordinary rule was, 'I permit not a woman o speak m the congregation;' yet in extraordinary cases he makes a few exceo- tions, at Corinth in particular." fJfl^'-^^\^^''^'- "^y "<»'• '"'« rauch com- forted in speaking to the people, as the Lord has removed all my scruples respecting the pro- priety of my acting thus publicly." 'I think you have not gone too far," said Wesley, though she had preached to hundreds. Yon could not well do less. All you can do more le, when you meet again tell them simply: Weelec ae a Reformer. isi 'You lay me under a great difficulty. The Methodists do not allow of women preachers; neither do I take upon me any such character. But I will just nakedly tell you what is in my heart.' I do not see that you have broken any law. Go on, calmly and steadily." She obeyed, and went on till death. Others fol- lowed in the footsteps of Sarah Crosby. Mrs. Fletcher preached, and Hester Ann Rogers really did the same. It is true that female preaching was never sanctioned by the Wesleyan Conference, but it was substantially practiced to the end of Wes- ley's life. He broke the bands which had bound women, and which in many Churches bind them still, and allowed her to be a public advocate of spiritual religion — to tell what great things God had done for the soul. Speaking of Susannah Wesley, a recent writ- er of the Congregational Church says: "The Methodist Church owes its system of doctrine quite as much, I think, to Susannah Wesley as to her illustrious son. To the instruction of a woman she added the logic of a gownsman and the love of a saint. Finer letters were never written. It is not to be wondered at that Methodists have been pioneers '.n the enfranchisement of female speech, that they have believed in it and practiced it from the first. They would have disgraced their origin otherwise." m 153 Vbe nouns people's vnesles. It will be seen that Methodism has inaugu- rated, really, all the great moral reforms of the last hundred and fifty years. The great missionary morement. which has sent evan- gelistic agencies into all the earth, had little or no life when Methodism was bom. Since that time, what hath God wrought 1 CHAPTER XV. WESLKT AND AMBBICAN UETHODISU FRIOB TO 1768. The real advent of Methodism into Amer- ica is a subject demanding special considera- tion. It has been generally supposed that its first introduction was in 1766 by Barbara Heck and Philip Embury, who inaugurated religious services at that time in the city of New York. But it has always seemed to us that Methodism was introduced much earlier. There had been no less than five members of the "Holy Club"— the Oxf6rd Methodists' fraternity — preaching in America prior to 1766, namely, John and Charles Wesley, Ben- jamin Ingham, Charles Delamot, and Qeorge Whitefield. Whatever may be said of the four former, it is certain thalt George White- field was here, from 1740, preaching as a flam- ing Methodist evangelist from Maine to Geor- gia. These men all accepted Wesley as their leader, and looked to him for counsel. Mr. Whitefield's first visit to America was undertaken with the express purpose of as- sisting Wesley in his great work. But Wes- ley had left the field before he arrived. George 184 ttbe tfouns people's TOle«IeB. Whitefield was an Oxford Methodict, a mem- her of the Holy Club, and possessed an un^- mg love for Wes ey. He was known in G^- ^ A .^«'^"ay'^'">'''' New Jersey, New York and New England as a Methodist, and 2 in after years, he drew away from Wesley fw fullest accord with him. Whatever he did in America durmg his first and second visits was parts 01 the codntry years prior to 1766 He was known in New England as a MethodS and he first Methodist chapel ever erect^ S th s land was built in Boston, the land of the ZlfrT^.^^^"^''^''^'^ ''°^^^ ^^ Boston ^veral weeks, on hia way from Georgia to ChfZc^^T^ ? ^'^'^ Street, known a Christ Church, and also in King's Chapel. He When^'mi^^n^ «"^"" °^^°"J M^^odist When Whitefield first entered New England Wn to Enlrr"^ *.'?'" ^^l^y- He had b^n to England since his first visit, and had been ed like the Wesleys, into the ;:q,^rience of salvation He at once entered i^ their It Bristol' 'rf '"""^-*«'' -Woor preaching at Bristo . It was not until he had visited New England a second, perhaps a third, tl^ and had adopted the views of Calvin as held by New England divines, that he Zw awa^ AetboMem prfoc to 1700. iss for a time from Wesley. In Pennsylvania, in New Jersey, and in New York God wrought wonders by this flaming Methodist evanglist. The Puritans, who first settled New Eng- land, held orthodox views on the subject of justification by faith and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. This was their faith for more than half a century. But when they began to decline, legal forms were substituted for spiritual power. The "halfway covenant," as it was called, was introduced, and under it persons became members of the Church with- out conversion, and it was not even deemed an essential qualification for a minister of the Gospel that he be converted. The Church and State were united, and the courts by legal enactments compelled every man, no matter what his religious faith, to sustain a Church whose creed he did not believe. The same state of things existed in Virginia, where Episcopal rule obtained. The whole land seemed a "valley of dry bones." There was one light in New England. In the obscure town of Northampton Jonathan Edwards was preaching with marvelous effect, and his in- fluence was felt all along the valley of the Connecticut; but it had not reached Boston. There was one man in Boston who waited for the salvation of Israel — Rev. Benjamin Cole- man, pastor of Brattle Street Church. He had heard of the work in Northampton, and 156 ffix Bounfl peopwe TOeelej. Boston beU Jwe^ShZ'^r.^ "'* '" seventy years of an. „ **• *°' ^e was now land of the Pitom! .»' ""^'T *° ""* t^e tion of th^ SpWn'J'""^'" ^^^ demonstra- witnessed. A writer ^.* -^"S'^nd had never foUowing descrbtion nf v ""^ "?*^ »'^^ tJ^" close of a Wu«r, °* ^' '^™'»«r: "At the Whitefield hS aS«l "^? ^^^' « 1740. the city of Boston ]^, ''•*"' ^"" '''«'' "' in the rays of the sett^ ^'"^ T'^ '^'^'""inc dweiiin/;:rxw w tJ*' "^''*' "^'*^ face of the quiet wSrswVK* """f *"- rounded the whole site n. l"'\"^"'y «"- loomed up around th^'wl I *^''^'*°* ^'"''««» drawing his eZ f * „ !?°'j ''°'r°- '^■l'- stranger, and conri^.o^V *"• '"=«'«PU8hed blessifgs t^ tt"""^""* ^V^* "'"''^f ^""^ "^d Caro^lSrtrSrs^Tets"^*? corned to the unowned eitir':ftp"^rJL- AetboMem prior to tree. 1S7 with demonstrations of honor which Alexan- der, or Csesar, or Napoleon might have coveted. He was coming among them, not the gray- haired veteran hero of a thousand battles, not the brave warrior from the fields of victory, not the monarch with patronage and power in his hand, but the sincere-hearted, pure- minded, and eloquent-tongued Methodist mis- sionary, who had drank from the pure fountain of evangelical truth, and had now come to lead the thirsty Pilgrims of New England to the garden of the Lord, " '•^?'?, "^'"« ?""«" nenUy P»M. And full salvation aows.' " It must be remembered that this most re- markable man was but twenty-six years old, and yet England and America had been thrilled by the power of his unexampled eloquence. The next day he preached in Brattle Street Church, then in other churches, hoping to af- ford the people an opportunity to hear. But the multitudes were so great that no church could accommodate them, so he resorted to the open field, as usual. Boston Common was thronged with thousands, while three times each day he preached to them with an elo- quence which Boston had never before heard. Hundreds were won to Jesus, and many min- isters were aroused and made clearly con- scious of their need of salvation. He visited some of the adjacent towns, especially Cam- iM Cbe voun0 peopte'0 TOe«le». vard College from it- sleep of a centnrv .T.J tZZ""^ "" *'"'» insUtution wReveJ Of religion. It was a wonder then; it would be more so now I Dr. Coleman, a g;adurte of Harvard, wrote at the time: "The^K is uod. and will. I trust, come out blessinira to their generation. Many of them ap^a ^ ° born again, and have proved hapT "sSl ments of conversion to their fellows, 'xhe vo^ce of prayer and of praise fills their cha^! ^w, and sincerity, fervency, and joy with ourof L T ^S'li'^f^'^'^-y *•"■* "ot seven X«S2-dayfi;'Aa;i.„--« - -^t«'. This was the introduction of Methodism ^ ^"^ ^^^^^^^ ""'^ WhitefieTd at th^ tUM was a Methodist evangelist. eve^^tf "^"^ ?"* '^ *"* ^^^''O'^"* chapel ever erected in America was built in Boston ErwhitT';. ^t^^bmitthefoSoS ioTn } ^ attending the Methodist Ecumen- ical Conference in London, in 1881. B^v Dr Allison, of Nova Scotia, had occas o7to eL-" amine the archives of the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreii. Parte » ■ under whose auspices both Wesley and WhiL Aetbo»i«m prtot to t7«fl. m field came to America. Dr. Allison telU u« that, in the course of his examination, ho found letters written by John Wesley while in Georgia. He discovered, also, a most im- portant letter written by Dr. Cutler, of Bos- ton, dated "Boston, Massachusetts Bay Col- ony, July, 1760," in which he says: "There are in Boston at this time fourteen inde- ^ndent chapels and one or two churches." He further adds: "There is, in an obscure al- ley, a Baptist chapel, and just now there has been hutlt a Methodist ehapel. a form of re- hgxon which I think will not soon die" (Con- ference report, p. 93). But who was this Dr. iVinf ^° "^^ *''* '^**«' *""" Boston in 1750? He was Rev. Timothy Cutler, first rector of Christ Church, Salem Street. Boston. He was president of Yale College as early as 1720. In 1722 he, with six others, mostly CongTegationalists. withdrew, and united with the Episcopal Church. He immediately sailed tor Jingland, where he received Episcopal or- dination and the title of Doctor in Divinity and was sent by the "Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts" as a mis- that Christ Church was erected, and it was in ttis church that Charies Wesley, an Oxford Jlethodist, preached in 1736 several times, during his detention here while on his way from Georgia to England. He speaks of preach- m iflo tSbe Voung people'* VBe«Iet. ingr in Dr. Cutler's church as well as In King's Chapel. Here is this Episcopal rector, in 1750, eighteen years before a Methodist chapel was erected in New York or Sam's Creek, Mary- land, reporting there was then a Methodist chapel in Boston! Dp. Cutler says it "had been built." Who built this chapel, whether English Methodist soldiers or some of Whitefield's followers, who might have been pressed out of the dead ch^rches, we do not know, but it was a Methodist chapel. It might have been the former; it may have been the latter. We admit the work did not abide. But that was not the first time that Methodism failed in Boston. Boardman came to Boston, and is said to have formed a class here in 1770, or near that time. But when Freeborn Qarrett- son visited Boston, in 1787, no trace of Board- man's class could be found. When William Black came, a few years later, he found no trace of Freeborn Qarrettson's work; and though Mr. Black had a great revival, when Jesse Lee came, in 1798, no fruit of Mr. Black's labors were found. It still remains true, on the authority of Dr. Cutler, who wrote from personal observation, that there was a Methodist chapel in Boston in 1750; and, if so, it was the first ever erected in America. M. ANllHKW's 1 IIIIRIII AT KI'WORTll, r.PWOltlll .Mi;.-HI)KIAL UIUKIH AC I l.tVKLANll, o. t fl m I i I CHAPTER XVr. WESLKT AND AMKBICAN METHODISM. vfthS' '" ^^ ?■* '"* positively to determine Methodism m America originated with immi- grants from Ireland. To Barbara Heck must be given the honor of delivering the first Meth- odist exhortation, which aroused Philip Em- bu^ to return from his backslidings to God m1^- ^""'^'/ *° **■« ^"'^ °f *he ministry ^ Methodism. Blessed be the name of Barbara k . ^."°^' """'"J reioice to share her honors! Who can estimate the value of that "mptyr""' "''^"^ *" ''"'' -rd-playing Soon a cry reached the ear of England's flying evangelist" that a fire had been Wndled S 1,° 1-S *° '''»?* " «°«P«' *he power of which he did not feel. Thomas Ball, of Charleston, speaks of the sheep in the wilder- ness needing a shepherd. "They have strayed " world. They are drinking their wine in bowls, and are jumping and dancing, and serving the devil ,n groves and under the green treT And are not these lost sheep? An^m nTe I i«2 zbe pounfl people's TOIeeler. f u'i* ^^rt''^^'^. *=°°'^ ^«'*' Where is Brom- field? Where is John Pawson? Where is Nicholas Manners? Are they living, and will they not come V This was the cry in and from the wilderness A call for assistance came also from Philip Embury. Wesley's Conference met in 1769 in Leeda. Mr. Wesley put the question: "We have a pressing call from our brethren in New York who have built a preaching house, to come ove^ and help them. Who is willing to go »" When "^^ trVi?^'^ question asked, or call made, and Methodist preachers not ready to respond. Here I am. send me" ? An answer came from Kichard Boardman and Joseph Pilmore, who were willing to face the perils of sea and land to save the wandering souls of men." The Conference took a collection of twenty pounds to pay their passage, and fifty pounds toward paying the debt on the "preaching house" as an expression of their love for the American brethren. Before these godly men had reached our shores Captain Webb, late from England and barracks master at Albany, had heard of the work in New York, and, being a local preacher among the Wesleyaiis, joined Emburv and his company and preached to the people in His mihtary regimentals, full of faith and power-preached with a zeal which attracted hundreds to the Methodist faith. On the arrival of Boardman and Pilmore- Vlle0les anO Bmerican AetboMem, i63 men of God — the work prospered. Boardman preached in New York, extending his labors 88 far east as Boston. Pilmore went to Phil- adelphia, but extended his labors south as far as Charleston, S. C. The ministry of these holy men was greatly blessed to the people, and new societies were formed as the work extended. Two years later Wesley made another call, and a response came from Francis Asbury and Bichard Wright. And never did Pr yidenco seem to overrule in a more manifest manner than in the selection of Mr. Asbury. But for him it does not seem that one vestige of Metho- dism would have survived the War of the Kev- olution. He navigated the Methodist ship through that fearful storm with consummate skill. It is true that he was arrested and fined twenty-five dollars for preaching, but he held his place. He was obliged to seek shelter in the hospitable home of Hon. Thomas White, of Belaware, where he remained, partly con- cealed, for nearly two years. The military authorities then discovered that he was a friend and not a foe to American independ- ence, and he was thereafter allowed to exercise his ministry without annoyance. No peril could deter him from his purpose. "In passing through the Indian country, west of the moun- tains," he is said to have "often encamped in the wilderness, where no one ventured to sleep 164 «be Bounj; people's Meelev. except under the Dpotwf;™ < . sentinel." He pC2d L* ' trustworthy and patienee of S^Se I^r ' '"•'?*'^' 14?dnerir3te™t;"tn 'V°-<' -'^ ers. and 371 «eS« i? r^ 'r' '"^'"=^- were nearly 700 Iwlts2oS/'Y'' '^T e«, and 214,d00 mem"^' m. **' "^f""^- preach but little h» fin^' i.- "^ ""a^e to Bibles and TVieL 1 /" """•"«« '^'t^' he went, saylnj 'ThaW t ?""'^ *'"«"» "« heretofore, ^ow I £^1 *"""" "^^ '^°"« g^^„ ow 1 know I am sowing good _ . ^"- Thomas Coke. inTh'^VnnaVrAilrierd-'*''"''^'' in Wales in 1747 oj J^ethodism. Born -rs.>.i'd"a''orsrtrleS.l:''^ s- ish, Somersetshirp f,» jIT ^etherton Par- the Meth liamg, a local preacher, wag first to enter Vir- ginia and preach his first sermon at Norfolk. Joseph Tillard was the first Methodist preach- er to ent^r Illinois; he formed the first class. JVathan Bangs preached the first Methodist sermon in Detroit, Mich., and William Mitch- ell organized the first class. Beverly Allen preached first in Georgia, in 1785. In 1836 L. Stevens entered Iowa. In 1849 William Rob- erts and J. H. ;Wilber, on their way to Oregon, spent some time in San Francisco, and in 1849 Isaac Owen and William Taylor were sent as missionaries to California. Wisconsin first heard the Gospel from John Clark. We have thus given the dates of the intro- duction of Methodism into the several States, and the names of the preachers so far as we' are able to ascertain. There may be some mistakes in these dates and names, but they are substantially correct. But this work was not prosecuted without fearful persecution. Not all suffered equally. Freeborn Garrettson, in a letter to Mr. Wesley, says: "Once I was imprisoned, twice beaten! left on the highway speechless and senseless (I must have gone to th«; world of spirits had not God sent a good satn iritan that took me to a friend's house); once shot at; guns and pistols presented to my breast; once de- livered from an armed mob, in the dead of night, on the highway by a flash of lightning; , VBcflet and Smetican A•«« ever hf.»d up his voice among men. by which Wesley was greatly moved. Bpproacbfnd tbe aioee of X «" '"e uuicast. . . . The poet says : "Of those three hundred grant but three To make a new Thermopyla>." And when I think of Joan Wesley, the organizer. 183 Ube Voung people's XQeales. of Cbarlea Wnlej, the pott, of George Whiteflcid, th» orator, of tbii mighty moniDent, I feel Inclined to m; of tboie three aelf-urrlHcIng and holy men. Grant but even one to help In the migbtjr work wbk'b yet remalDi to be accompllsbed 1 Had we but three aucb now, "Hoary-beaded •elflsbneaa would feel Hli deatbblow, and would totter to bla grarei A brighter light attend the human day, When every tranefer of earth's natural gift Should be a commerce of good worda and works.'* We have. It la true, bundreda of faithful worker* In the Church of Kngland and In other rellgioua com- munities. But for the alaylng of dragona, the re- kindlement of Irrealstlble enlhualaam, the redresa of Intolerable wrongs, a Church needs many Pente- coats and many resurrections. And these. In the providence of God, are brought about, not by com- mittees and confcr^ncea and common workera, but by men who eacape the average; by men who coma forth from the multitude ; by men who, not content to trudge on In the beaten patba of commonplace and the cart-ruts of routine, go forth, according to their Lord's command. Into the highways and hedges; by men in whom the love of God burns like a con- suming flame upon the altar of the heart ; by men who have become electric to make myrlada of other souls thrill with their own holy zeal. Sucb men are necessarily rare, but God's richest boon to any nation, to any society, to any Church, Is the pres- ence and work of sucb a man — and sucb a man was John Wesley. I CIIAFIEB XX, THB OBBATEB WE8LBY OF THB OPBMINO CENTUBY, When on March 2, 1791, John Wesley closed his eyes to earth and opened them in heaven the visible results of his life were already great. At the opening of this new century they are greater. Only a few rods from where he his "body with his charge laid down, and ceased at once to work and live" is Wesley's Chapel, City Eoad, the head cen- ter of universal Methodism. Standing on the walls of this Zion in 1791 and looking around, what would we see? Confining our vision within the bounds of Great Britain and Ireland, we would see this chapel surrounded by 644 others, "wholly ap- propriate to the worship of God." These chapels are ministered unto by 294 itinerant preachers, and have an enrollment of 71,668 members of the societies. Extending our vision to the regions beyond, m the Wesleyan Methodist missions in Frano", the West Indies, Nova Scotia, and JNewfoundland, we would see in 1791 an en- rolled membership of 5,300, looked after by 19 ministers; giving as the total of Wesleyan 13 ',1 ! 104 cbe voun0 people'* Wleales. Methodists at that time 70,968, and 313 miniatera. In addition to the home and foreign work of which John Wesley was the head, and City Road Cliapel the center, was the Methodism of the United States, which in 1790 raported 43,205 members and 188 ministers, and which was known as "The Methodist Episcopal Church of America." So that we would see as the total of Methodists in the world at Wesley's last Conference, in 1700, 120,233 memliers, and 611 ministers. Besides these, a great number who, from 1739 to 1790, saved by Methodist agency, had been transferred to the Church above. Let us now in this year 1901 stand again on the walls of this old Mothodist cathedral and look around us for the living monument of the greater Wesley. Witn the March quarter- .ly meetings' returns in ou' hands we see that in (ireat Britain iilone '-the total number of persons meeting in class, senioi-s and juniors, is 573,140, an increase for the year of 12,937." To these must be added the 40,202 full mem- bers and 11,019 "on trial" in the Wesleyan foreign missions reported in 1899. All these are under the government of the mother Con- ference. Then there are the Irish, French, South African, and West Indian Conferences, which are affiliated to it ; and to these must be added the detached bodies, such as the Aus- Sbe 0rcat" P'o-^'S Independent Church, with a name, an eplscopacT a tr^i',"'^ 'i"' ?«<'"'°<"'ts. a practical system?a doc ^virnri^irthVjr^h,^"''' "*'■'•''' "-"'-"- If ?i 198 zbe uoung people's VDeelee. The arerage annual gain baa iwen nearly 44 times. 28.35U. Hjn''*f'^K"'°"*! o( Increase Is 4,362. If the popula- «,S- ,?° Muntry had Increased In this period at the 'elaoolooo. "" "'"' "^ 232,000,000 instead of But the gains of the Methodist EpIsMpal Church ^h,H ^X""'".' ""■' "' '"* ««"" 0' M' '^odlsm In- elude all branches since 1834, and we have • The 65,000 has repeated Itself about 9l' times or once every 13 months during the last century. The percentage of gain Is 8,077. If the population had Increased at the same rate It would now be 476.000,- Zieerslsso.'*-'**"'"""- ^-^ """^^ annual- gain Ch^u'rch'^rslndlci'te'd aVfolil's*!' """"""" ^P""""" The gain for the century is 17,413. The 287 have been multiplied by 62 ; average annual gain 174 .hJ^f ''«f'°°'°K 'n a »all loft In 1766, the erection Shortly afterward of a church costing 13,000 gave no more promise of ecclesiastical wealth than It'did of f5i«nnnon?"°^™'"''-.°"r ^''•^ churches, worth 1116,000,000, show a development of resources as wonderful as a miracle. It takes now between »23 . 000 000 and 124,000,000 a year to carry on JSe wo?k of the Methodist Eplscoi,al Church, to say nothlnic about Its universities, colleges, and hospitals The consecration of wealth Is truly stupendous. Metho- dists have not been stingy. Methodism was ninth among Protestant denomina- tions In number of churches in 1775, and third la number of communicants In 1800. It soon advanced to first place In numbers, and easily holds this place at the end of the century. It was only a handful of corn on the top of the mountains at the beginning How wonderfully has God multiplied it ! It Is pertinent to asli. How did it win its success? Not by Immigration, as many other Churches did Roman Catholics came here from Kurope by hundreds of thousands. The Lutheran, Reformed German, and Presbyterian Churches gained Immensely by the streams of Immigration. But Methodists and Baptists -^1 ■\ Zbe Oceatec toiesles. 109 cbwt «™!rrn,°';' »' J*"""""" "Oil and drawn their chief strength from the surrounding elements. .I-i. ^.'"'°"''^"*°'- ^^'* l""™ '"«' hundreds of thou- sands of converts: we have gained comparatively fcw In return from the dene ilnatlons we have fed We would like to hold all who are converted at our frl^'J 'a'^^ ^oj">t feel that our losses have iTghbors." "'' "'°"*'' '""^ ""« '■"■'■^Oed Sue »i5l'-!,.tl'™"''' °u "'°''"'' "'"''»' prestige, ecclesiastical ^ ?H '^,°' """'. "° historian calls "the aristocracy of education and position." other Churches had lS™!'f''* '^*.'", "J"!. """''"K •>"« « """iy Held and earnest men full of the Holy Ghost and flaming with zeal for the Gospel. Not hy our machinery and methods. These were powerful even providential, aids .- but if we ever come to depend on these alone Methodism will be a great system of enginery, with wheels, pulleys, cogs, and Joints, all silent and Inert, because the bollfra «r" cold. It was not our Itinerancy, our class meet- iucc'ess""" ^'"""^°''^- "' ""f methods which gave us -?»i'. ''?'^' 1"™ '*'° "»"• "y ">* Powef o' the Gospel manifested In a real, religious experience, from the vast classes of unconverted persons. We have re- garded these, wherever we found them, as legitimate prey. We count It a special honor that our millions are trophies won for Christ from the masses of god- less. Indifferent, unconverted persons. The late Dr « .! 5*i'„'i°''* '"''' "■"' I"* "Peclally honored the Method St Church for the Importance It attaches to conversion. The power of Methodism Is spiritual In Its nature. I do not believe a greater boon could be asked for our Church In the twentieth century than that It might continue to regard It as Its special task to call men and women to repentance and Insist upon an ex- perience such as our fathers enjoyed and we profess. When John Wesley Ly dying in 1791 there were only fonr Methodist schools in England— three small ones at London, New- i 200 zbe Uounfl people's WleeleB. easde-on-Tyne, and Bristol, and the Kings- wood School, near Bristol. The latter is still doing most excellent work at Bath. English Methodism has no university or college em- powered to grant degrees. It sadly lacks ^ondary schools. The Leys School It Cam- bridge IS Its nearest approach to a reputable American college. But it has a good share ■n the elementary education of the people. Colonial Methodism excels in respect to Tc- ondary and higher education. Of AmericTn Episcopal Church in particular, it may be said, in this respect. "Many daughters hav^ done virtuously but thou excellest them alh" Whilst some of our colleges are somewhat and the honorable records they have made place us in the front rank of American"£ cators It has been well said that "The Meth- odist Episcopal Church began the century with the ashes of one college." In 1900 it had 6C colleges and universities, 60 academies and seminaries 8 institutions exclusively for women 4 missionary institutions and train- ing schools, 25 schools of theology, and 99 foreign mission schools-228 in all These schools have more than 3,000 instructors and about 50,000 students. The totaTta u'e oS "ThT Bo/rH 7t"'"^';* " '"'°"* $30,000,00^ Ihe Board of Education" in 1873 began its Zbe 0teatec uneeles. 20i noble work of placing the first steps to these institutions very near to the feet of any young man or woman who has the ability to climb them, whether a Methodist or not. President Warren, of Boston University, puts our edu- cational work in the strongest possible light, and in the briefest space, thus: "The Banner Church in Education." That the Methodist Episcopal Church is in- deed "the banner Church in education" the following facts bear witness : . From 1784, the year of its organization, to 1884, the Methodist Episcopal Church estab- lished 225 classical seminaries and colleges ; in other words, established a classical seminary or college every fifth month through a hun- dred toilsome years. No other organization in human history ever made so honorable a record in the higher education, or was en- titled to celebrate so jubilant a centennial. If we go back through the stormy period of the Revolution to the first feeble beginnings of American Methodism in 1766, we must add to the above-mentioned 225 institutions be- longing to the Church the 58 known schools of more private orvnership, to get the true aggregate of Methodist institutions for the higher education, namely, 283, a little more than one for every fifth month through the first 118 years of our existence as a Church, infancy included. S03 Zbe »oun0 people's meale^. Is it not time to bury the ancient allegation that the early Methodists were indifferent or hostile to learning? If the long-standing slander must live on to the end of time, let us once in a hundred years lift it gently into the pillory of ecumenical publicity and placard it as an instructive example of immortal Jnendacity. 1 ' CONCLUSION, What shall we now say of universal Meth* odism ? Of the millions reached by her ministry we have heard. The sun never sets on her domain, for it is "from the rivers to the ends of the earth." Her people are found in every land and are at home in every zone. "All climates embrace them — the winteis of Hud- son's Bay, and the sun-scorched plains of India. The Pacific waves break upon their shores, and peaks crowned with eternal snow shadow their dwellings." As she enters upon the twentieth century there should be no "wrinkle upon her brow, no haze in her vision, no stoop to her. form, no halt to her step. Riving signs of wasted energy or declining vigor;" and this will be her history if the anointing of her founder abides upon her. Her sanctuaries will be Bethesdas, and her prayer meetings Bethels. "She will gather in the street Arab, and send missionaries to Orient fields of toil and death." Her doc- trines will be as when Wesley died; her philanthropy as broad, hor relations to other churches as catholic, as when he said, "The world is my parish." *W Cbe Vouns people's TOe«le». Methodism is to be the friend of all and the enemy of none. So long as she maintains her power the world needs her, and she will not pensh. So long as she believes in conver- sion and effectually preaches it, she will not perish. So long as she believes in holiness of Heart, and proclaims it "clearly, strongly and explicitly," sh ill not perish.'^'so long as sSe believes an the Holy Ghost and the baptism ot lire, and po^^sscs it in its fullness, she wiU T ^"\^^^ ^'" «° ^"'•'l' "11 «Klow with the dew of h^ youth bright as the sun, fair as the moon and terrible as an army with banners." She has the true doctrine and a flexible economy; now let her cultivate the spint and maintain the tireless energy of her founders, and doctrines and Church shall be the dootrines and Church of the future, even till Christ comes. "When he first the work begun. Small and feeble was his day : ^ow the word doth awlftry run- Now It wins its widening way : MMe and more It spreads and grows. ever mighty to prevail : Sin's strongholds It now o'erihrows. anakes the trembling gates of hell."