warmer climate for the winter, and in September of the same year he sailed from Falmouth for Lisbon. He survived his arrival only five days, dying October 26, 1751. His hymns are prized by many who hardly know his name. Of some four hundred written by him the best known are 'Ye servants of the Lord;' 'O happy Day;' 'My God, and is thy table spread;' 'Hark, the glad sound, the Saviour comes;' 'O God of Bethel, by whose hand.' Doddridge was author of what Johnson calls 'one of the finest epigrams in the English language.' His family motto, 'Dum vivimus vivamus,' was in its primary signification hardly very suitable to a Christian divine, but he paraphrased it thus: 'Live while you live,' the epicure would say, A Country Life. 'You know I love a country life, and here we have it in perfection. I am roused in the morning with the chirping of sparrows, the cooing of pigeons, the lowing of kine, the bleating of sheep, and, to complete the concert, the grunting of swine and neighing of horses. We have a mighty pleasant garden and orchard, and a fine arbour under some tall shady limes, that form a kind of lofty dome, of which, as a native of the great city, you may perhaps catch a glimmering idea, if I name the cupola of St Paul's. And then, on the other side of the house, there is a large space which we call a wilderness, and which I fancy would please you extremely. The ground is a dainty greensward; a brook runs sparkling through the middle, and there are two large fish-ponds at one end; both the ponds and the brook are surrounded with willows; and there are several shady walks under the trees, besides little knots of young willows interspersed at convenient distances. This is the nursery of our lambs and calves, with whom I have the honour to be intimately acquainted. Here I generally spend the evening, and pay my respects to the setting sun, when the variety and the beauty of the prospect inspire a pleasure that I know not how to express. I am sometimes so transported with these inanimate beauties, that I fancy I am like Adam in Paradise; and it is my only misfortune that I want an Eve, and have none but the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, for my companions.' (From a letter to a young lady.) Happy Devotional Feelings of Doddridge. I hope, my dear, you will not be offended when I tell you that I am, what I hardly thought it possible, without a miracle, that I should have been, very easy and happy without you. My days begin, pass, and end in pleasure, and seem short because they are so delightful. It may seem strange to say it, but really so it is, I hardly feel that I want anything. I often think of you, and pray for you, and bless God on your account, and please myself with the hope of many comfortable days, and weeks, and years with you; yet I am not at all anxious about your return, or indeed about anything else. And the reason, the great and sufficient reason, is, that I have more of the presence of God with me than I remember ever to have enjoyed in any one month of my life. He enables me to live for him, and to live with him. When I awake in the morning, which is always before it is light, I address myself to him, and converse with him, speak to him while I am lighting my candle and putting on my clothes, and have often more delight before I come out of my chamber, though it be hardly a quarter of an hour after my awaking, than I have enjoyed for whole days, or perhaps weeks of my life. He meets me in my study, in secret, in family devotions. It is pleasant to read, pleasant to compose, pleasant to converse with my friends at home; pleasant to visit those abroad-the poor, the sick; pleasant to write letters of necessary business by which any good can be done; pleasant to go out and preach the gospel to poor souls, of which some are thirsting for it, and others dying without it; pleasant in the week-day to think how near another Sabbath is; but, oh! much, much more pleasant, to think how near eternity is, and how short the journey through this wilderness, and that it is but a step from earth to heaven. (From a letter to his wife in 1742.) His Correspondence and his Diary were published in 1829-31 and there is a Memoir by Stanford (1880). of John Wesley (1703-91), the founder Methodism, was a great religious and reforming genius; he was also a very copious and effective writer on innumerable subjects, and the author of one of the most interesting Journals in the English tongue. The fifteenth child and second surviving son of the rector of Epworth in Lincolnshire, he passed from the Charterhouse to Christ Church, Oxford, where his brothers Samuel and Charles also studied. He was ordained deacon in 1725, and in 1726 became Fellow of Lincoln and Greek lecturer. In 1727 he left Oxford to assist his father, but returned as tutor in 1729, having in 1728 been ordained priest. During his absence his brother Charles and one or two other students had by a new religious zeal led somebody to exclaim, 'Here is a new sect of Methodists sprung up.' So the word, used in the sixteenth century for certain schools of physicians and mathematicians, was first used in its religious reference; but the movement we identify it with had not yet taken origin, though by 1735 the little company of devout friends numbered nearly a score, Hervey and Whitefield being now of the number. And even before this Wesley had been much influenced by Law's mysticism. In 1735 Wesley undertook a mission to Georgia under the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, being then a rigid High Churchman. It has even been said of him that at this time he seemed likely to anticipate by a century the work of Cardinal Newman. He returned to England in 1738, and in London had much prayerful intercourse with the Moravian missionary, Peter Böhler. Methodism dates its birth from that May evening in 1738 when, at a meeting of a society in Aldersgate Street, he heard Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans read, and felt that Christ had taken away his sins. The sweeping aside of ecclesiastical traditions, the rejection of Apostolical Succession, the ordination with his own hands of presbyters and bishops, the final organisation of a separate Church, were all involved in what took place that night. The clergy closed their pulpits against Wesley; this intolerance, Whitefield's example, and the needs of the degraded masses drove him into the open air. During his journeyings of half a century ten thousand to thirty thousand people would wait patiently for hours to hear him. He gave his strength to working-class neighbourhoods; hence the mass of his converts were colliers, miners, foundrymen, weavers, spinners, fishermen, artisans, yeomen, and day-labourers in towns. His life was frequently in danger, but he outlived all persecution, and the itineraries of his old age were triumphal processions from one end of the country to the other. He wandered all over the British Isles, crossed the Irish Sea more than forty times, and after 1757 was frequently in Scotland; and he repeatedly visited the Continent. During his unparalleled apostolate he travelled two hundred and fifty thousand miles and preached forty thousand sermons. Yet he managed to do a prodigious amount of literary work, reading on horseback; whenever and wherever he rode he read or composed. He wrote short English, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew grammars; a Compendium of Logic; extracts from Phædrus, Ovid, Virgil, Horace, Juvenal, Persius, Martial, and Sallust; an English Dictionary; commentaries on the Old and New Testaments; a short Roman History; a History of England; an Ecclesiastical History; a Compendium of Social Philosophy; and a Christian Library of fifty volumes, for the benefit of his itinerant preachers. edited the Imitation of Christ, and the principal works of Bunyan, Baxter, Edwards, Rutherford, Law, Madame Guyon, and others; endless abridged biographies, and even an abridged edition of Brooke's novel, The Fool of Quality; a Compendium of Physic-not to speak of collections of psalms, hymns, and tunes, his own Sermons and Journals, and a monthly magazine. His works were so popular that he made £30,000, every penny of which he distributed in charity during his life. He founded an orphans' home at Newcastle, charity schools in London, and a dispensary in Bristol. Dean Stanley affirmed that Wesley was the founder of the Broad Church. Under his direction the Conference in 1770 adopted resolutions which provoked the indignation of his orthodox Calvinistic friends that the heathen who had never heard of Christ could be saved if they feared God and worked righteousness according to the light they had. And he believed Marcus Aurelius would be saved, and spoke of the 'execrable wretches' who wrangled at the various Church councils. He took upon himself with the utmost reluctance the responsibility of organising He a separate Church. But the most striking feature of his life as a theologian was his readiness in the last resort, whatever it cost him, to adapt his creed to indisputable facts. Of the enormous mass of his writing, much is admirable. 'As for me,' he said, 'I never think of my style at all, but just set down the words that come first.' For that very reason, since he was an exceptionally gifted man and a well-read scholar, his work is natural, simple, generally pithy and racy. His sermons are not eloquent, original, or profound, but they were abundantly effective, probably by reason of their very simplicity. He was a keen and telling controversialist, and sometimes carried frankness and free speech to their full limits. When Toplady, author of 'Rock of Ages,' but a fierce Calvinist champion, became too abusive, and talked of Wesley's Satanic guilt and Satanic shamelessness, Wesley retorted that he declined to fight with chimney-sweepers. John Wesley's best hymns are translations from Moravian and other German sources; but Charles's noblest and tenderest hymns gained much from the elder brother's judicious and numerous emendations. Here he had Charles's sanction and cooperation. But his effective touch is also seen in the alterations he made in Watts's hymns. If one man may alter another man's hymns, then perhaps Wesley performed the task as judiciously as is possible; the alterations are in most cases obvious improvements. Wesley's published Journal (more precisely 'Extracts of the Rev. Mr John Wesley's Journals'), which extends from 1735 to 1790, contains the experiences, observations, reflections, comments, and intimate thoughts of one of the most acute and sagacious of men, not without wit, epigram, and irony. Many of those far removed from the Wesleyan fold take delight in Wesley's Journal; it was Edward FitzGerald's favourite reading. Wesley was keenly interested in ghoststories, psychical research subjects, firmly believed in apparitions and in diabolical possession, and even held that the inspiration of Scripture guaranteed the reality of what Englishmen understood by witchcraft. 'Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness,' from a sermon of Wesley's on dress, seems to be the first known instance in which this proverbial saying occurs precisely in this form; and his letters are studded with sage sayings such as, 'Passion and prejudice govern the world; only under the name of reason.' These extracts are from the Journal: The Birth of Methodism. In my return to England, January, 1738, being in imminent danger of death, and very uneasy on that account, I was strongly convinced that the cause of that uneasiness was unbelief, and that the gaining a true, living faith was the 'one thing needful' for me. But still I fixed not this faith on its right object: I meant only faith in God, not faith in or through Christ. Again, I knew not that I was wholly void of this faith; but only thought, I had not enough of it. So that when Peter Böhler, whom God prepared for me as soon as I came to London, affirmed of true faith in Christ, (which is but one,) that it had those two fruits inseparably attending it, 'Dominion over sin, and constant Peace from a sense of forgiveness,' I was quite amazed, and looked upon it as a new Gospel. If this was so, it was clear I had not faith. But I was not willing to be convinced of this. Therefore, I disputed with all my might, and laboured to prove that faith might be where these were not; especially where the sense of forgiveness was not: For, all the Scriptures relating to this, I had been long since taught to construe away; and to call all Presbyterians who spoke otherwise. Besides, I well saw, no one could, in the nature of things, have such a sense of forgiveness, and not feel it. But I felt it not. If then there was no faith without this, all my pretensions to faith dropped at once. When I met Peter Böhler again, he consented to put the dispute upon the issue which I desired, namely, Scripture and experience. I first consulted the Scripture. But when I set aside the glosses of men, and simply considered the words of God, comparing them together, endeavouring to illustrate the obscure by the plainer passages, I found they all made against me, and was forced to retreat to my last hold, that experience would never agree with the literal interpretation of those scriptures. Nor could I therefore allow it to be true, till I found some living witnesses of it.' He replied, he could show me such at any time; if I desired it, the next day. And accordingly, the next day he came again with three others, all of whom testified, of their own personal experience, that a true living faith in Christ is inseparable from a sense of pardon for all past, and freedom from all present, sins. They added with one mouth, that this faith was the gift, the free gift of God; and that he would surely bestow it upon every soul who earnestly and perseveringly sought it. I was now thoroughly convinced; and by the grace of God, I resolved to seek it unto the end, (1.) By absolutely renouncing all dependence, in whole or in part, upon my own works or righteousness; on which I had really grounded my hope of salvation, though I knew it not, from my youth up. (2.) By adding to the constant use of all the other means of grace, continual prayer for this very thing, justifying, saving faith, a full reliance on the blood of Christ shed for me; a trust in Him, as my Christ, as my sole justification, sanctification, and redemption. I continued thus to seek it, (though with strange indifference, dulness, and coldness, and unusually frequent relapses into sin,) till Wednesday, May 24. I think it was about five this morning, that I opened my Testament on those words, Τὰ μέγιστα ἡμῖν καὶ τίμια ἐπαγγέλματα δεδώρηται, ἵνα διὰ τούτων γένησθε θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεως. "There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should be partakers of the divine nature' (2 Pet. i. 4). Just as I went out, I opened it again on those words, 'Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.' In the afternoon I was asked to go to St Paul's. The anthem was, 'Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. O let thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint. If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may abide it? For there is mercy with thee; therefore shalt thou be feared. O Israel, trust in the Lord: For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his sins.' In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate-Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation: And an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. I began to pray with all my might for those who had in a more especial manner despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all there, what I now first felt in my heart. But it was not long before the enemy suggested, ‘This cannot be faith; for where is thy joy?' Then was I taught, that peace and victory over sin are essential to faith in the Captain of our salvation: But that, as to the transports of joy that usually attend the beginning of it, especially in those who have mourned deeply, God sometimes giveth, sometimes withholdeth them, according to the counsels of his own will. After my return home, I was much buffeted with temptations; but cried out, and they fled away. They returned again and again. I as often lifted up my eyes, and He sent me help from his holy place.' And herein I found the difference between this and my former state chiefly consisted. I was striving, yea, fighting with all my might under the Law, as well as under grace. But then I was sometimes, if not often, conquered; now, I was always conqueror. Thur. 25.-The moment I awaked, 'Jesus, Master,' was in my heart and in my mouth; and I found all my strength lay in keeping my eye fixed upon him, and my soul waiting on him continually. Being again at St Paul's in the afternoon, I could taste the good word of God in the anthem, which began, 'My song shall be always of the loving kindness of the Lord: With my mouth will I ever be showing forth thy truth from one generation to another.' Yet the enemy injected a fear, 'If thou dost believe, why is there not a more sensible change?' I answered, (yet not I,) 'That I know not. But this I know, I have "now peace with God." And I sin not to-day, and Jesus my Master has forbid me to take thought for the morrow.' 'But is not any sort of fear,' continued the tempter, 'a proof that thou dost not believe?' I desired my Master to answer for me; and opened his Book upon those words of St Paul, 'Without were fightings, within were fears.' Then, inferred I, well may fears be within me; but I must go on, and tread them under my feet. Wesley in Scotland. Fri. [May] 8, [1761].-We rode to Glammiss, about sixty-four measured miles, and on Saturday, 9th, about sixty-six more to Edinburgh. I was tired: however, I would not disappoint the congregation and God gave me strength according to my day. Sun. 10.-I had designed to preach near the Infirmary; but some of the managers would not suffer it. So I preached in our Room, morning and evening, even to the rich and honourable. And I bear them witness, they will endure plain dealing, whether they profit by it or not. Mon. 11.-I took my leave of Edinburgh for the present. The situation of the city, on a hill shelving down on both sides, as well as to the east, with the stately castle upon a craggy rock on the west, is inexpressibly fine; and the main street so broad and finely paved, with the lofty houses on either hand, (many of them seven or eight stories high,) is far beyond any in Great Britain. But how can it be suffered, that all manner of filth should still be thrown even into this street continually? Where are the magistracy, the gentry, the nobility of the land? Have they no concern for the honour of their nation? How long shall the capital city of Scotland, yea, and the chief street of it, stink worse than a common sewer? Will no lover of his country, or of decency and common sense, find a remedy for this? Holyrood-House, at the entrance of Edinburgh, the ancient palace of the Scottish kings, is a noble structure; JOHN WESLEY. From the Portrait by Nathaniel Hone, R.A., in the National Portrait Gallery. it was re-built and furnished by King Charles the Second. One side of it is a picture gallery, wherein are pictures of all the Scottish kings; and an original one of the celebrated Queen Mary. It is scarce possible for any who looks at this, to think her such a monster as some have painted her; nor indeed for any who considers the circumstances of her death, equal to that of an ancient martyr. I preached in the evening at Musselburgh, and at five in the morning. Then we rode on to Haddington, where (the rain driving me in) I preached, between nine and ten, in Provost Dickson's parlour. About one I preached at North-Berwick, a pretty large town, close to the seashore; and, at seven in the evening, (the rain continuing,) in the house at Dunbar. Wed. 13.-It being a fair mild evening, I preached near the Key, to most of the inhabitants of the town, and spoke full as plain as the evening before. Every one seemed to receive it in love: probably if there was regular preaching here, much good might be done.. Wed. [May] 13, [1772].-I preached at Leith, in the most horrid, dreary Room I have seen in the kingdom. But the next day I found another kind of Room; airy, cheerful, and lightsome; which Mr Parker undertook to fit up for the purpose, without any delay. Sun. 17.-I had appointed to preach at noon in the Lady's Walk, at Leith; but being offered the use of the Episcopal chapel, I willingly accepted it, and both read Prayers and preached. Here also the behaviour of the congregation did honour to our church. Mon. 18.-Dr Hamilton brought with him Dr Monro and Dr Gregory. They satisfied me what my disorder was; and told me there was but one method of cure. Perhaps but one natural one; but I think God has more than one method of healing either the soul or the body. In the evening (the weather being still severe) I preached in the new House at Leith, to a lovely audience, on, 'Narrow is the way that leadeth unto life.' Many were present again at five in the morning. How long have we toiled here almost in vain! Yet I cannot but hope God will at length have a people even in this place. Wed. 20.-I took my leave of Edinburgh in the morning, by strongly enforcing the Apostle's exhortation, 'Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.' I had designed to preach (as usual) at Provost Dixon's, in Haddington, in the way to Dunbar. But the Provost, too, had received light from the Circular Letter,' and durst not receive those heretics. So we went round by the Marquis of Tweedale's seat, completely finished within and without. But he that took so much delight in it is gone to his long home, and has left it to one that has no taste or regard for it. So rolls the world away! In the evening I preached at Dunbar. Thur. 21.-I went to the Bass, seven miles from it, which, in the horrid reign of Charles the Second, was the prison of those venerable men who suffered the loss of all things for a good conscience. It is a high rock surrounded by the sea, two or three miles in circumference, and about two miles from the shore. The strong east wind made the water so rough, that the boat could hardly live: And when we came to the only landing-place, (the other sides being quite perpendicular,) it was with much difficulty that we got up, climbing on our hands and knees. The castle, as one may judge by what remains, was utterly inaccessible. The walls of the chapel, and of the governor's house, are tolerably entire. The garden walls are still seen near the top of the rock, with the well in the midst of it. And round the walls there are spots of grass, that feed eighteen or twenty sheep. But the proper natives of the island are Solund-geese, a bird about the size of a Muscovy duck, which breed by thousands, from generation to generation, on the sides of the rock. It is peculiar to these, that they lay but one egg, which they do not sit upon at all, but keep it under one foot, (as we saw with our eyes,) till it is hatched. How many prayers did the holy men confined here offer up, in that evil day! And how many thanksgivings should we return, for all the liberty, civil and religious, which we enjoy! At our return, we walked over the ruins of Tantallon Castle, once the seat of the great Earls of Douglas. The front walls (it was four square) are still standing, and by their vast height and huge thickness, give us a little idea of what it once was. Such is human greatness! Fri. 22. We took a view of the famous Roman camp, lying on a mountain, two or three miles from the town. It is encompassed with two broad and deep ditches, and is not easy of approach on any side. Here lay General Lesley with his army, while Cromwell was starving below. He had no way to escape; but the enthusiastic fury of the Scots delivered him. When they marched into the valley to swallow him up, he mowed them down like grass. Sat. 23.—I went on to Alnwick, and preached in the Town-Hall. What a difference between an English and a Scotch congregation! These judge themselves rather than the Preacher; and their aim is, not only to know, but to love and obey. Wesley on Chesterfield's Letters. [Wed., Oct. 11, 1775.]-I borrowed here a volume of Lord Chesterfield's Letters, which I had heard very strongly commended. And what did I learn?-That he was a man of much wit, middling sense, and some learning; but as absolutely void of virtue, as any Jew, Turk, or Heathen, that ever lived. I say, not only void of all religion, (for I doubt whether he believed there is a God, though he tags most of his letters with the name, for better sound sake,) but even of virtue, of justice, and mercy, which he never once recommended to his son. And truth he sets at open defiance: He continually guards him against it. Half his letters inculcate deep dissimulation, as the most necessary of all accomplishments. Add to this, his studiously instilling into the young man all the principles of debauchery, when himself was between seventy and eighty years old. Add his cruel censure of that amiable man, the Archbishop of Cambray, (quantum dispar illi,) as a mere time-serving hypocrite! And this is the favourite of the age! Whereas, if justice and truth take place, if he is rewarded according to his desert, his name will stink to all generations. Witchcraft. [Wed., May 25, 1768.]—It is true likewise that the English in general, and indeed most of the men of learning in Europe, have given up all accounts of witches and apparitions as mere old wives' fables. I am sorry for it, and I willingly take this opportunity of entering my solemn protest against this violent compliment which so many that believe the Bible pay to those who do not believe it. I owe them no such service. I take knowledge, these are at the bottom of the outcry which has been raised, and with such insolence spread through the land in direct opposition not only to the Bible, but to the suffrage of the wisest and best of men in all ages and nations. They well know (whether Christians know it or not) that the giving up witchcraft is in effect giving up the Bible; and they know, on the other hand, that if but one account of the intercourse of men with separate spirits be admitted, their whole structure (Deism, Atheism, Materialism) falls to the ground. John Wesley's works have often been edited. The first collected edition (just after his death) was in 32 vols.; that of 1856-57, the eleventh, was in 15 vols. See John's Life by Tyerman (new ed. 1876), and those by Southey (1820), Miss Wedgwood (1870), Urlin (1870), Rigg (1875), Telford (1886), Overton (1891), Kirton, Bevan, and others. Charles Wesley (1707-88) studied at Westminster (where he was the protector of the Jacobite Scotch boy afterwards to be Lord Mansfield) and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he was known as a 'Methodist' early in 1729. But it was not till 1738 that, like his elder brother, he came under the influence of Peter Böhler and found rest to his soul.' Though they differed about the ordination of ministers and on other points, Charles was in the main and throughout life an indefatigable lieutenant to his greater brother, becoming an itinerant preacher. In 1771 he settled with his family in London. Though he did vastly less work in prose than John, he is by far the most copious of English hymn-writers, and is also one of the best. He is said to have written six thousand five hundred hymns, the bulk of which were carefully revised and often corrected by John. Many of them are really great religious poetry; amongst the number are the well-known 'Jesu, Lover of my Soul;' 'O for a thousand tongues to sing;' 'Hark the herald angels sing;' 'Love divine, all loves excelling;' 'O for a heart to praise my God;' 'O Love divine, how sweet thou art; Gentle Jesus, meek and mild.' And of 'Come, O thou traveller unknown,' Watts said, too enthusiastically, that it was worth all the hymns he himself had ever written. The poetical works of the two brothers, edited for the Wesleyan Conference, fill thirteen volumes (1868-72). There are Lives of Charles by Jackson (1841-49) and Telford (1886); of Samuel, the elder brother, by Tyerman (1866); of their mother, by Kirk (1866) and Clark (1886); and of the Wesley family, by Stevenson (1876). George Whitefield (1714-70), born in the Bell Inn, Gloucester, came to Oxford when the Wesleys had laid the foundations of Methodism, and he became conspicuous for zeal. He took deacon's orders in 1736, and in 1738 joined Wesley in Georgia, returning to be admitted to priest's orders. The religious level of the age was low, and Whitefield found amongst his brethren the most active opposition. But when the parish pulpits were denied him he preached in the open air; and thenceforth spent his life in constant travel and incessant preaching, everywhere moving audiences by his irresistible earnestness and eloquence. About 1741 differences on predestination led to his separation as a strict Calvinist from John Wesley as an Arminian. His supporters now built him a large 'Tabernacle' at Moorfields; and his preaching gathered immense audiences. But he founded no distinct sect, many of his adherents following the Countess of Huntingdon (q.v.) in Wales, and ultimately helping to form the Calvinistic Methodists. The Countess appointed Whitefield her chaplain, and built and endowed many chapels for him. He made seven evangelistic visits to America, and spent the rest of his life in preaching tours through England, Scotland (1741), and Wales. Hume said he was worth travelling twenty miles to hear. He died at Newbury in New England. His writings are strangely tame and commonplace, and sincere admirers regretted that he should have injured his fame by publishing sermons, journals, and |