His face, for an old man, was one of the finest we have seen. A clear, smooth forehead; an aquiline nose; an eye, the brightest and most piercing that can be conceived; and a freshness of complexion, scarcely ever to be found at his years; and, impressive of the most perfect health, conspired to render him a venerable and interesting figure. Few have seen him without being struck with his appearance and many, who had been greatly prejudiced against him, have been known to change their opinion the moment they were introduced into his presence. In his countenance and demeanour, there was a cheerfulness mingled with gravity; a sprightliness, which was the natural result of an unusual flow of spirits, and yet was accompanied with every mark of the most serene tranquillity. His aspect, particularly in profile, had a strong character of acuteness and penetration.

"In dress, he was a pattern of neatness and simplicity: a narrow plaited stock; a coat, with a small upright collar; no buckles at his knees; no silk or velvet in any part of his apparel; and a head as white as snow, gave an idea of something primitive and apostolic; while an air of neatness and cleanliness was diffused over his whole person."

CHAPTER XV.

A FEW miscellaneous topics remain to be noticed. One of the chief reasons why full and willing justice has not been always done to the labours of Mr. Wesley, has doubtless arisen from the facts, that whatever his views might be, he raised up a people, who in his life-time formed a religious body independent of the Church, whilst yet not nominally separated from it; and that since his death, although that separation does not affect all the

members, yet the great mass of the societies, with all the Preachers, are as completely separated from the Establishment, as any body of professed Dissenters. That a strict Churchman should consider this as a great counterbalance to the good effected by Methodism is very natural,—and he has a right to his opinions, provided he holds them in charity. Still, however, this subject is so frequently dwelt upon under mistaken and imperfect views, that it demands a few additional remarks.

As far as Mr. Wesley's character is concerned, enough has been said to show the sincerity with which he disavowed all intention of separating from the Church, and of making his people separatists. This, certainly, notwithstanding the freedom of his opinions on church government, cannot be charged upon him in the early period of his career; and although, in what we may call the second period, he saw so strong a tendency to separation that his fears were often excited, yet he may surely be allowed still to have proceeded straight forward, with perfect honesty of mind, in the same course, with more of hope on this subject, than of fear. Several eminent writers of the Church party have thought, that even modern Methodism, though existing now in a form apparently less friendly to union, might still with advantage be attached to the Church, and have seen but little difficulty in the project. Why then might not Mr. Wesley, even after his societies had acquired considerable maturity, still hope that those simple institutions for promoting piety, which he had commenced, might have been recognized by the Church, and hoped that the spirit of religion, revived already to so great an extent, might still further so influence the members of the Church and its Clergy, as to dispose them to view his societies with more cordiality? He took care, therefore, and all his principles and feelings favoured the caution, that no obstacles should be placed in the way of the closest connexion of his societies with the Establishment.

Their services were very seldom held in the hours of her public service; the Methodists formed in many parishes the great body of her communicants; thousands of them died in her communion; and the Preachers were not ordinarily permitted to administer either of the sacraments to the people among whom they laboured. There can be no charge, therefore, against his sincerity at this period, any more than in the first. We may think his hopes to have been without any foundation; and so they proved; and the idea of uniting the modern Methodists to the Church is a very visionary one, but has doubtless been maintained by several Churchmen with great sincerity. Separation from the Church, at a later period of Mr. Wesley's life, was certainly anticipated. That must be allowed; but an enlightened Churchman ought to think that Mr. Wesley's conduct was still worthy of praise, not of censure; for when a partial separation was in reality foreseen as probable, it had no sanction from him, and he appeared determined so to employ his influence to his last breath, that if separation did ensue, it should assume the mildest form possible, and be deprived of all feelings of hostility. His example, the spirit of his writings, and his advices, all tended to this; and the fact is, that, though Methodism now stands in a different relation to the Establishment than in the days of Mr. Wesley, dissent has never been formally professed by the body, and for obvious reasons. The first is, that the separation of the greater part of the society from the Church, did not in any great degree result from the principles assumed by the professed Dissenters, and which are usually made prominent in their discussions on the subject of establishments; the se cond, that a considerable number of the Methodists actually continue in the communion of the Church of England to this day; and the third, that to leave that communion is not, in any sense, a condition of membership with us. All the services of the Church and her sacraments may

be observed by any person in the Wesleyan societies who chooses it, and they are actually observed by many.

It was owing to these circumstances that Methodism did not rush down, but gently glided, into a state of partial division from the Church; and this, by neither arousing party passions, nor exciting discussions on abstract points. of church polity, has left the general feeling of affection to all that is excellent in the Establishment unimpaired. No intemperate attacks upon it have been ever sanctioned; the attendance of the Methodists upon its services was never discouraged; and it is surely of some account that a vast mass of people throughout the country have been held in a state of friendly feeling towards a Clergy who have nevertheless generally treated them with disdain and contumely, and many of whom have zealously employed themselves in nursing feelings of bigoted dislike to them among their friends and neighbours. Yet after all, the prevalent sentiment of the Methodists, as a body, towards the Establishment has been that of friendship. It was so, when the Church was in a lower religious state than it is at present; and its more recent religious improvement has not diminished the feeling. I may venture to say, that there is a warmer regard towards the Church among the body of the Methodists now, than there was in the days of Mr. Wesley; although there were then more Methodists than at present who professed to be of her communion. We have no respect at all to her exclusive claims of divine right, or her three orders of Ministers; and yet have no objection to her Episcopacy, when scripturally understood, or her services. We smile at the claims she sometimes assumes to be the exclusive instructress of the people, in a country where the statute law has given them the right to be taught by whom they please, and as explicitly protects dissent as conformity; but we rejoice that she has great influence with the mass of the population whenever that influence is used for the promotion

of true religion and good morals. We wish her prosperity and perpetuity, as we wish all other Christian churches; and the more so, as we recognize in her "the mother of us all," and can never contemplate without the deepest admiration her noble army of confessors and martyrs, and the illustrious train of her Divines, whose writings have been, and continue to be, the light of Christendom. If churchmen think this feeling of any importance, let them reciprocate it; and though the formal union of which some of them have spoken is visionary, a still stronger bond of friendship might be established; and each might thus become more formidable against the errors and evils of the times;-for a people who have nearly half as many places of worship in the kingdom as there are parish churches, cannot be without influence.

Nor have the true causes which led to the separation of the Methodists from the Church, been in general rightly stated. Some of the violent adherents of "the old plan," as it was called, among ourselves, have ignorantly or in a party spirit attributed this to the ambition and intrigues of the Preachers; but the true causes were that the Clergy, generally, did not preach the doctrines of their own Church and of the Reformation; and that many of them did not adorn their profession by their lives. It may be added, that in no small number of cases, the Clergy were the persecutors and calumniators of the Wesleyan societies; that the sermons in the churches were often intemperate attacks upon their characters and opinions; and that the Methodists were frequently regarded as intruders at the table of the Lord, rather than as welcome communicants. These were the reasons why, long before Mr. Wesley's death, a great number of his societies were anxious to have the sacraments from the hands of their own Preachers, under whose ministry they were instructed and edified, in whose characters they had confidence, and