"His zeal was not a transient blaze, but a steady and constant flame. The ardour of his spirit was neither damped by difficulty, nor subdued by age. This was ascribed by himself to the power of Divine grace; by the world, to enthusiasm. Be it what it will, it is what philosophers must envy, and infidels respect; it is that which gives energy to the soul, and without which there can be no greatness or heroism.

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Why should we condemn that in religion, which we applaud in every other profession and pursuit? He had a vigour and elevation of mind, which nothing but the belief of the Divine favour and presence could inspire. This threw a lustre round his infirmities, changed his bed of sickness into a triumphal car, and made his exit resemble an apotheosis rather than a dissolution.

"He was qualified to excel in every branch of literature he was well versed in the learned tongues, in metaphysics, in oratory, in logic, in criticism, and every requisite of a Christian minister. His style was nervous, clear, and manly; his preaching was pathetic and persuasive; his journals are artless and interesting; and his compositions and compilations to promote knowledge and piety, were almost innumerable.

"I do not say he was without faults, or above mistakes; but they were lost in the multitude of his excellencies and virtues.

"To gain the admiration of an ignorant and superstitious age, requires only a little artifice and address; to stand the test of these times, when all pretensions to sanctity are stigmatized as hypocrisy, is a proof of genuine piety and real usefulness. His great object was, to revive the obsolete doctrines and extinguished spirit of the Church of England; and they, who are its friends, cannot be his enemies. Yet for this he was treated as a fanatic and impostor, and exposed to every species of slander and persecution. Even bishops and dignitaries entered the lists against him; but he never declined the combat, and generally prove dvictorious. He appealed to the Homilies, the Articles, and the Scriptures, as vouchers for his doctrine; and they who could not decide upon the merits of the controversy, were witnesses of the effects of his labours; and they judged of the tree by its fruit. It is true, he did

not succeed much in the higher walks of life; but that impeached his cause no more, than it did that of the first planters of the Gospel. However, if he had been capable of assuming vanity on that score, he might have ranked among his friends some persons of the first distinction, who would have done honour to any party. After surviv. ing almost all his adversaries, and acquiring respect among those who were the most distant from his principles, he lived to see the plant he had reared, spreading its branches far and wide, and inviting not only these kingdoms, but the western world, to repose under its shade. No sect, since the first ages of Christianity, could boast a founder of such extensive talents and endowments. If he had been a candidate for literary fame, he might have succeeded to his utmost wishes; but he sought not the praise of man; he regarded learning only as the instrument of usefulness. The great purpose of his life was doing good. For this he relinquished all honour and preferment; to this he dedicated all his powers of body and mind; at all times and in all places, in season and out of season, by gentleness, by terror, by argument, by persuasion, by reason, by interest, by every motive and every inducement, he strove, with unwearied assiduity, to turn men from the error of their ways, and awaken them to virtue and religion. To the bed of sickness, or the couch of prosperity; to the prison, the hospital, the house of mourning, or the house of feasting, wherever there was a friend to serve, or a soul to save, he readily repaired; to administer assistance or advice, reproof or consolation. He thought no office too humiliating, no condescension too low, no undertaking too arduous, to reclaim the meanest of God's offspring. The souls of all men were equally precious in his sight, and the value of an immortal creature beyond all estimation. He penetrated the abodes of wretchedness and ignorance, to rescue the profligate from perdition; and he communicated the light of life to those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death. He changed the outcasts of society into useful members; civilized even savages, and filled those lips with prayer and praise that had been accustomed only to oaths and imprecations. But as the strongest religious impressions are apt to become languid without discipline and practice, he divided his people into classes

and bands, according to their attainments. He appointed frequent meetings for prayer and conversation, where they gave an account of their experience, their hopes and fears, their Joys and troubles; by which means they were united to each other, and to their common profession. They became sentinels upon each other's conduct, and securities for each other's character. Thus the seeds he sowed sprang up and flourished, bearing the rich fruits of every grace and virtue. Thus he governed and preserved his numerous societies, watching their improvement with a paternal care, and encouraging them to be faithful to the end.

"But I will not attempt to draw his full character, nor to estimate the extent of his labours and services. They will be best known when he shall deliver up his commission into the hands of his great Master."

The following is a description of Mr. Wesley's person :"The figure of Mr. Wesley was remarkable. His stature was low; his habit of body, in every period of life, the reverse of corpulent, and expressive of strict temper-. ance and continual exercise; and, notwithstanding his small size, his step was firm, and his appearance, till within a few years of his death, vigorous and muscular. 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 expressive 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 affected 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 acquir. ed 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 farther 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 prin. ciples and feelings favoured the caution, that no obstacles should be placed in the way of the closest connection 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 second, 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