Wesley strongly criticises. He spoke of them as "wretched. magistrates," who would not assist to preserve order, although they had the power. The influence of this persecution which was very general, was that it bound the people together, and increased the piety of the members. Thus under date March 29th, 1752 (Easter Sunday) he writes: "I spoke severally to each member of the Society and found reason, after the strictest search, to believe that there was not one disorderly walked therein." Wesley's visits to Manchester were generally timed so that he was in the neighbourhood about Easter, and many a time had the voice of that great man been heard preaching in the Methodist Chapel the grand doctrines of the resurrection. From 1750, when Birchin Lane was opened, until 1781 when the Society took possession of the New House in Oldham Street, Wesley's visits numbered at least thirty. He often preached at five or seven in the morning, and at five o'clock in the evening. On Sunday morning he usually attended church as a hearer, if not himself preaching. In April, 1776, John Spear, a linen draper, and David Richardson, had purchased the site on which this chapel stood, from Sir Ashton Lever, at a yearly ground rent. The probable origin of the names of Spear St. and Lever St. would be here observed. The chapel site and buildings were subsequently in 1781 conveyed to fifteen trustees. The whole of the property was now duly vested in trustees upon the trusts of the Chapel Model Deed by an order of the Board of Charity Commissioners. The chapel itself was opened by John Wesley, on March 30th, 1781. He said "it was about the size of that in London. The whole congregation behaved with the utmost seriousness. I trust much good will be done in this place." On Sunday, April 1st, he wrote, " I began reading prayers at ten o'clock. Our country friends flocked in from all sides. At the Communion was such a sight as I am persuaded was never seen in Manchester before. Eleven or twelve hundred communicants at once; and all of them fearing God." Upon five other occasions Wesley recorded having administered the Sacrament in this Chapel, when the number of communicants varied from a thousand to sixteen hundred, according to his estimate. A saying was current that Wesley thought the site too far out of the town, and too much in the country. Upon what basis this report was founded the preacher could not ascertain, but it was likely to be correct. Any one looking over the map of Manchester would find that several years after the Chapel was opened few buildings had been erected on the land east of Ancoats Lane and south of Portland Street. The fields came almost close up to these now important thoroughfares. The bulk of the population of Manchester was housed near Deansgate, and it might easily appear that the new site was too far from the centre of the population. As it now happened the Chapel occupied a most central position, and, perhaps, could be found more readily accessible than almost any other position that might be named. The Conference met the year after Wesley's death, which occurred in 1791, in Oldham Street Chapel, being the third Manchester Conference and the second in the building. Two hundred ministers met under deeply affecting circumstances. Twelve Conferences have been held in the Chapel since this memorable Conference. In 1813 Salford and Manchester were made into two circuits. In 1814 Morning Services were begun in the Chapel, and in the same year the Trustees consented for the administration of the Lord's Supper to take place in the building. In 1816 the Morning Chapel was built, which was of one story until 1860, when another was added. Until December 27th, 1819, the Manchester Society had been carried on without Circuit Stewards. Society and Poor Stewards had long been known. But it was not until 1819 that Circuit Stewards were appointed. About that time the Trustees resolved "that if any person bought or sold their interest in a pew, or took more rent for a pew, or let more sittings in a pew than they pay for, such person or persons should have notice to quit.” Gas was introduced into the Chapel in 1826; heating apparatus in 1881. Till that time it had been thought that closing the ventilators would amply suffice to keep the Chapel warm. The name of Oldham Street Chapel was inseparably connected with the Centenary movement, which had its origin there. In many Methodist houses the picture of the Centenary meeting held an honored place. Of the hundred persons represented in that scene only two, at present, survive. Time only allowed him to mention other great gatherings connected with the Education movement, the Relief and Extension movement, more recently, that connected with the Thanksgiving Fund, and the two splendid gatherings recently It was doubtful held for young men and young women. whether two such meetings could be held anywhere else in connection with Methodism, outside the Metropolis. It was startling to think how rapidly changes had followed one another since 1863. In that year the Trustees passed the following resolution :-"That necessity having arisen for increased accommodation in the body of the Chapel, it is agreed to make four family pews on each side, under the gallery, in a portion of the free seats." The congregation was now not more than sixty or seventy. Amid the discouragements it was some joy to think that the present desolation which had overtaken Oldham Street had resulted from success. The growth of the Church could be abundantly shown. When the Chapel was opened there were three preachers and 1,426 members. Upon the same ground now there were 72 preachers, 213 Chapels and preaching places, and about 22,000 members; there were 28 circuits, besides a host of agencies not thought of a century ago. As new life would be entered upon in the restored SancThe superintendent-preacher stationed in Manchester when the Chapel was opened was John Walton, his colleagues being was encouragement and strength in that motto, which had an tuary, and under conditions more favourable to success. There John Allen, and Alexander McNab. Wesley visited Manches-unperishable charm for Methodists the wide world over— ter thirteen times during the ten years between the opening of the Chapel and his death. "The best of all is, God is with us." EP PARLIAMENTARY ORATORS. XIII. THE LATE LORD DERBY. DWARD-GEOFFREY SMITH STANLEY, fourteenth Earl of Derby, was born at Knowsley, in Lancashire, on the 19th March, 1799, his father, Lord Stanley, afterwards becoming the thirteenth Earl of Derby. He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he distinguished himself as a classical scholar, the Chancellor's prize for Latin verse being awarded to him in 1819. He also began to show oratorical talent, and it is said that he used to take lessons in elocution from Lady Derby, his grandfather'a second wife, who before her marriage had been a celebrated actress. It was inevitable with his natural gifts and the position he occupied, that he should early become a member of the House of Commons, and he had only just attained his majority when he was returned as the representative of the nominal borough of Stockbridge in Hampshire. He began his political life as a Liberal, and he was for four years a silent member of the House. When he did break silence it was upon a mere parochial question, the subject being a private bill for lighting Manchester with gas. Notwithstanding, however, the unexciting nature of the subject, he created a favourable impression, and his speech was reported as being characterised by "much clearness and ability." His next effort was during the same seзsion, and was a much more striking attempt, the subject being Mr. Hume's motion for a reduction of the Irish Church Establishment, which he vehemently and eloquently denounced. After this he spoke frequently, and soon rose to be one of the most powerful orators in the House. In 1826 Mr. Stanley was returned for the borough of Preston, and this change of seats lef: him at liberty to inveigh against the system of rotten boroughs which he held in the utmost contempt. He Was rejected by Preston, however, on the occasion of his seeking re-election in 1820, after being appointed by Lord Grey to the Chief Secretaryship of Ireland, and he then became one of the members for Windsor. In 1832 he was returned for North Lancashire, and represented this constituency until his elevation to the House of Lords. Mr. Stanley was a very successful Chief Secretary, and his success more creditable from the troublesome nature of the circumstances at that time affecting Ireland. Amongst other measures he passed was the first national Act for Ireland, and the Irish Church Temporalities Act, was due to him, although when it was introduced into Parliament he had been appointed to But it was also his lot to propose a Ceorcion Bill, and this brought him into contact with the redoubtable O'Connell, who with the freedom of invective which characterised him, styled his opponent "Scorpion Stanley." But the Chief Secretary was equal to the occasion, and in the duels which took place constantly between them, the ready agitator was very far from always having the best of it. On one occasion when O'Connell had risen three times in succession to make some observations hostile to the Government, Mr. Stanley jumped up and quoted against him a line from Shakspeare's Macbeth, was all the another office. "Thrice the brindled cat hath mewed." In 1833 Mr. Stanley was appointed to the Secretaryship of the Colonies, and while in this position he bad the honour of introducing a Bill for the emancipation of the slaves in the West Indies, his speech on this occasion being one of great power. In 1834 he separated from the Whig party, the cause of the separation being the proposal of the Government to appropriate the revenues of the Church to educational purposes. He spoke against the Bill, and his speech contained passages of some of the fiercest invectives which has ever been delivered in the history of Parliamentary oratory. In the same year, his father having succeeded to the Earldom of Derby, he became Lord Stanley. In 1841 he accepted office under Sir Robert Peel, and in 1844 he entered the Upper House in the right of his father's barony. In 1846 he broke with Sir Robert Peel ou the subject of Free Trade, and from that time became the leader of the Protectionist party in Parliament. In 1851 he succeeded to the Earl dom, and in 1852 he became Premier. In 1858 he was again entrusted with the formation of a cabinet, and a third time in 1866. He retired from political life early in 1868, and died at Knowsley on the 23rd October, 1869. In the intervals of political work Lord Derby engaged a great deal in literary labour, his most notable achievement being a translation of the whole of the Iliad, which, by some critics, is regarded as the best translation which has ever been made of that poem. By his contemporaries Lord Derby was regarded as a great orator. Sir Archibald Alison, writing of him when he was in the zenith of his powers, described him as being, by the admission of all parties, the most perfect orator of his day." But those who view the oratory of his time do not grant him that pre-eminence. His oratory, Mr. Justin McCarthy says, "was not weighted with the thought which could have secured it a permanent place in political literature; nor had it the imagination which could have lifted it into an atmosphere above the level of Hansard." Still his bursts of unpremeditated eloquence, his wonderful fluency, his faculties of illustration, his charm of voice and manner, all combined to make him an unmistakeable orator, and he was certainly one of the most skilful debaters that ever entered the House of Commons. Macaulay declared that the faculty which most men acquire only by long and laborious practice, was with him intuitive. "Indeed," he said, "with the exception of Mr. Stanley, whose knowledge of the science of parliamentary defence resembles an instinct, it would be difficult to name any eminent debater who has not made himself a master of his art at the expense of his audience." And Professor Pryme says-" Gladstone's manner I never saw excelled, except by Lord Derby when he was in the House of Commons. The speaking of these two was like a stream pouring forth; or it might be described as if they were reading from a book." When he was Secretary for Ireland, he gave a striking instance of his debating power on the introduction of the Coercion Bill. The Bill was brought in by Lord Althorp, the Leader of the House, in a very tame and dispirited manner, so that no case seemed to be made out for the passing of the Bill, and the Government supporters became sullen and rebellious. While they were venting their dissatisfaction, Mr. Stanley slipped out with Lord Althorp's official papers, and went to a room upstairs where he could read them quietly. After two or three hours, the House being still in the same stupor, he rose, shewed what the state of Ireland was, detailed some of the most dreadful outrages which had been commtted, and brought home to the agitated minds of the members the appalling horrors that existed. Then, turning to O'Connell, he denounced him in scornful and indignant language as the vilifier of tha House of Commons, as having described the members at a recent public meeting as 658 scoundrels, and so excited the anger of his audience against him, that they who, a short time before, had appeared to sympathise with the great agitator, were now enraged with him. When he sat down, he had achieved a great oratorical triumph, and had raised a perfect storm of excitement in the House. The term " Rupert of Debate" was applied to Lord Stanley by Lord Lytton in his early poem, "The New Timon," in the following pas "The brilliant chief, irregularly great, sage: Frank, haughty, rash-the Rupert of Debate! The Pulpit Record. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1883. LITERATURE. THE exalted estimate of is the only HE most exalted estimate of literature is the only one which leaves it any rational place to occupy in the system of things. For what is literature but the speech of man reduced to method and recorded? What is speech but the utterance of man's soul? It is the soul that speaks; the body but supplies the mechanical instrumentality. Genuine literature, then, must be yet more inwardly the work of the soul, since there is more of forethought about it than accompanies ordinary speech. Once more: if speech be the utterance of man's soul, upon what subjects does that soul utter itself? It can but find three-The world around us, that is Nature; the world within us; and the world above us. Or the vision is of Nature, with her numberless angellike ministrations-her awakening fountains, her shades, her mountains, her inspiring billows, and overawing caves. Every one of these, as it passes, has its special gifts to man-a cheering influence for the weary, a benign calm for the tumultuous, a shield for the timid, a summons to the brave, an oracle to the vigilant intelligence. As these ministrations pass before us we give them names; and those names are, poetry. The largest description, the most varied illustration, are still but names expanded; and in them lurks a power which reminds us how nearly allied are nomen and numen,— that gods have been Names, and that Names have wielded godlike might. SERMON. By the Rev. CHARLES GARRETT (President of the Wesleyan Conference) at the last service held in the Oldham Street Chapel, Mancheeter, Thursday, February 1st, 1883. (At the commencement of the Service, Mr. GARRETT remarked that he was using the Bible that was used by John Wesley at the opening of the Chapel, a century ago.) "The Lord our God be with us, as He was with our forefathers, let Him MY In discoursing of outward objects, as Divine Providence makes them pass successively before the eyes of the individual, or of the whole race, we too, as has already been remarked, like our first parent when the animal not leave us, nor forsake us.”—I. Kings, viii., 57. creation passed before him, have to assign them "names." These names, or descriptions, what are they but the accounts rendered by the human intelligence of the visible objects around it,-of their meaning, their functions, and their end? The chief of these objects is Man. We see the radiant apparition emerge out of darkness, and pass once more into darkness. We see the child with his playthings, and, ambushed near him, the task he cannot elude, the destiny that never averts its eye from him. We see the youth, with a world for his plaything, and, insurgent all around him, a storm of passions, any one of which is competent to create or obliterate a world. We see the man with his many labours, yet not deserted by the Heavenly Guardian of his youth. And lastly, the wrinkled being, feeble as childhood, and evanescent as a dying melody. Through the mirror of our intelligence the vision passes in mournful transit. We give it a name; and that name is, philosophy. Y text, as you well know, is from the prayer of Solomon offered on the consecration of the temple— one of the most sublime prayers ever offered from human lips, marked with deep reverence and great humility and everywhere recognizing man's absolute dependence upon God. The words of my text may be regarded as almost the summary of this prayer, and they have occurred to me as being peculiarly applicable to the circumstances under which we hold the service to-night. We gaze again. This time it is not an individual that passes before us, but a race. In long procession its successive changes follow each other beneath our ken. It is a family; it has become a tribe; it grows into a clan; it swells into a people; it is matured into a nation; it expands itself into an empire. All its chances pass before us: The internal strife and the external; the sufferings that were but growing pains, and the wound that nothing could heal; the prosperity that rewarded industry; the feebleness that followed prosperity; vice, and the suicide that vice ends in; the decay, and the dissolution. The vision has passed; we give it a name; that name is, history. "The Lord our God be with us as He was with our fathers, You will see that let Him not leave us, nor forsake us." there is, first, a grateful recognition of God's presence with their fathers. When Solomon uttered those words he, of course, referred to the fathers of the Jewish Nation, and who can doubt that God was with them? An almost unbroken series of miracles proclaim His presence in their midst. I wish to apply these words to our Methodist fathers, and again an almost, nay, may I not say, a quite, unbroken series of moral miracles demonstrate God's presence with them. Let us look at them for awhile. Let us look at them that we may be humbled, and stimulated, and so lead to copy their example and tread in their steps; that we may carry out, and complete the work that they began. I think one of the defects of the present generation of Methodists is their want of acquaintance with their Methodist forefathers. We are so busy with literature of another kind, that large numbers of Methodists are growing up, to whom the names of John Nelson, or Mrs. Esther Ann Rogers have no charm. It ought not so to be; and if to-night, in the few words which I shall speak, I can only persuade the young people who listen to me, to go home and study the noble biographies we verted the Class Meeting into an ice-house, and until men's possess, our meeting will not have been held in vain. Let us look at the lines of our Methodist forefathers, and you will admit that there were giants in those days. Look, for instance, at their faith! They were men strong in faith giving glory to God. The late George Dawson said that what the World wanted was a Church for doubters. blood froze in their veins. No; they cheered and warmed one another, and encouraged one another to persevere. They had in their midst what we are told the world wantsLiberty, Equality, Fraternity. In the Methodist Class there was no distinction of class. If the Squire came in the leader called him "brother ;"-if a pauper came in, still the leader called him "brother." Distinctions were left outside. They were all children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. And they had so much love that a meeting once a week would not serve them,-they must institute a new meeting,-" The LoveFeast," and oh! what miles they walked to these Love-Feasts! Ten, fifteen, twenty miles were nothing-they sang all the way there, and they sang louder all the way back,—and when they came home they said, "Did not our hearts burn within us? What a glorious time we had !" Then their love to the Bible! They were called Bible bigots, and Bible moths. A great many, I think, in the present generation, are not at all likely to get that name, unless it be through their fathers. Bible moths! They had God's word in their hearts. It was Spirit and Life to them. Thus, with hearts full of love to God, and armed with God's Word, they went their way rejoicing. I thank God that the Methodist Church has never yet been able to supply that want. Ours is a church for believers suffering-it may be fighting-it may be working-it may be, but not for believers doubting. The faith of our fathers was simple and strong. What God said, that they believed, because God said it, and they did not want any men, or set of men to endorse the words of Jehovah. To them God was God; and the Devil was the Devil; sin was sin; and pardon was pardon; Hell was Hell; and Heaven was Heaven. And, hence, when they went out they had a creed, and they could say, 66 we believe, and, therefore, speak." And that was undoubtedly one secret of their success. When a man is in the pulpit you can soon find out whether he means what he says. There is a sympathy between the people and the preacher that soon enables you to find out whether a man believes or only half believes. I heard tell of a certain minister who, at the close of his remarks in the pulpit, was Then look at their holiness! It was not a creed, it was a in the habit of saying "Those are my opinions to-day, I life-a blessed experience. They avoided that which was don't bind myself that they will be my opinions next Sunday, evil, and they clave to that which was good. They were I am seeking the truth, and who knows what I may find out called the Holy Club, but when you asked them what their by next Sabbath!" That is not the teaching for us. Our work was their answer was ready-"Our work is not to build forefathers were men who knew that what they believed to- Churches and Chapels, or to do this or that wonderful thing, day, they would believe to-morrow and right on to the end. our work is to spread Scriptural holiness throughout the It was a faith that would save them at every time and in every place. land." There was no sanction for Sin in the Methodist Class-room. No league with the Devil was proclaimed from the Methodist pulpit. When you met with a Methodist you met with one who hated sin, as he loved his Saviour. Then look at their zeal! It did not evaporate in songs. Look at their prayer! They were mighty in prayer. In their prayer they lifted up the hand that moved the arm that moves the world. The Heavens were opened, and showers of blessing came down on the children of men. And in their ordinary lives their faith was also seen. Did God give | It took hold of them—it lifted them up--it constrained them. them work to do, whoever attempted to oppose and hinder. They went forward. They laughed at impossibilities, and cried, it shall be done.' Nobody can look at our Methodist forefathers without seeing that as a prominent feature they had remarkable faith and power in prayer. Then look at their Love. It was not sentimentalism. It was Divine Love. It was kindled at the altar of their hearts by the Holy Ghost. How ardent was their love to God, how burning, how quenchless. Their love to one another was seen in their tone, in their very phraseology, it was discovered in their church arrangements. They may, I think, be said to have almost introduced the habit of shaking hands amongst the lower classes. When they met they shook hands, and they did not do it daintily. Their heart was in their hand. Oftentimes a Methodist's grip had more meaning in it than a Freemason's. If one of them were in trouble the rest had sympathy with him. If one of them were in prosperity the rest rejoiced. How they loved one another! As I said, you saw it in their church arrangements-in the Class Meeting. When they met it was to talk about their love to God and their love to one another. They did not carry their doubts and fears with them until they had con Was there work to do? They cheerfully did it. Was there a journey to be performed? They cheerfully performed it. Was there anything in which they could glorify God? They rejoiced in the opportunity. As they went about you might hear them humming to themselves "A charge to keep I have, a God to glorify," and they worked so hard that people did not understand them, and said they expected to win Heaven by their works. The sketch would not be compatible if I were to omit their happiness. Whenever you met with one of our forefathers, you met with a man who was a living answer and refutation of the libel that Religion makes people melancholy. It did not make our fathers melancholy. If I might divide the army of the living God into legions, I should say the Methodist legion was the singing legion. Charles Wesley wrote, it is said, six thousand hymns. John Wesley, moving from one end of the land to the other, caught, with his quick delicate ear, a befitting tune, and noted it in a moment, and either he himself would compose, or he would get his brother to compose, suitable words for it If it was said to him"But, Mr. Wesley, this is not a hymn tune," he used to say, "I don't care about that. Why should the Devil have all the best tunes?" And so when he had finished his sermon to a society, he would set to work, and teach them a new tune, and they would teach their friends, and this was one of the secrets of the rapturous roll round of the Hosanna. They had come to the right source of happiness-the Bible. The Bible is the very fountain of joy for a poor, overburdened world. Why was the Bible written? St. John's answer to that is "these things write we unto you that your joy may be full." When our forefathers came into God's house they spent a good deal of time in singing, and they were not afraid of "repeats." If I might venture a remark in the presence of musical hearers, I would say classical music doesn't suit a warm heart. You are through and out of it before you are well in it. I say, with deliberation, that one of the greatest binding forces with our Methodist fathers was the influence of the good old Methodist tunes, such as you have sung to-night. How they sang! What a volume of sound could be heard from a Methodist Chapel. When they erected places of worship they did not erect splendid tombs. They erected bright and happy homes, and filled them—and when they were there, you hardly ever knew when they would get out again. You could hear them in many a lane and across many a field singing, sometimes in twos and threes, and sometimes alone. That is the style in which our Methodist fathers lived. If there is an old Methodist here he will say the picture is true, though perhaps somewhat feeble and incomplete. Look at their faith, their love, their zeal, their happiness, and then tell me do you wonder that God used them for His Glory? They were few in number. They were poor-many of them were unlearned, but God's strength was made perfect in their weakness, and labouring on at God's command they have called into existence, as a result of their glorious labours, the largest Protestant Church in the world. And do you doubt, can you doubt that God was with our fathers? Listen to their own testimony. Read their own books, and always, and everywhere you will meet the declaration, "the best of all is,-God is with us." Yes; he was with them in life, strengthening, girding, fortifying, and delivering them, and He was with them in death, bearing them up and making them more than Conquerors. "Ah!" said an old doctor, down this very road, to Adam Clarke, when the Cholera was raging in the neighbourhood, and he had had a number of Methodists under his care, and had seen them passing into Eternity,-he said, "Adam, thy people die well." Glory be to God, they do die well! When one of them was lying just outside Heaven the doctor said, "Father, father, I wonder that you can smile!" "Wonder! my child," said he, "Oh! I can smile at death when Jesus smiles on me." He was with them, was He not? With them in their labours and in their toils, and He with them in their sufferings and their weaknesses, and when they died He took them to dwell with Him in Heaven. was with our fathers. Go back, as many of us have been going back to-day, a hundred and fifty yearsago. Look for Methodism in Lancashire at that time. No Methodism was in existence then in this neighbourhood; but go back about a hundred and forty years ago, and I want this great congregation to look at it. You might have seen a stone-mason coming into the city. I am not sorry that Methodism was introduced to this district by a layman. He has had a long walk, but he announces that he will preach at the Market Cross. I don't know where that is, but some of you may. John Nelson, for that was his name, went and stood up at the Market Cross to preach single-handed, though it is true, some have gone with him to help him to sing. That is the unfurling of the Methodist banner in Lancashire and in Manchester. They sing tunes that we should call old, and they sing hymns well known to and Nelson preaches with a surging crowd around him. Stones are thrown, and one of the stones struck him in the forehead, and the only comment he makes upon the circumstance is "they listened more readily when they saw the blood on my face." He didn't go blubbering or calling for the police. As he stood there with blood trickling down his face, he told them of the blood of Christ that cleanseth from all sin. Three long years have passed, and he is tempted to say "I have preached in vain." Ah! no,— the word had sunk into some young hearts. There is a letter written by John Bennett, written to Mr. Wesley, to tell him that some young men who had heard John Nelson preach had been meeting together, anxious about their souls, formed a little Society, had taken a little room and written to Mr. Charles to ask Mr. John to own them as brethren. One would have liked to have seen their names. Just look at those half-a-dozen young men in Lancashire and what they have done! A hundred and forty years ago, crowded in a little room, as Mr. Tindall told you on Sunday, and now, to-day, what have you? We have,looking further than Lancashire, looking in fact at the whole Methodist Church-we have thirty-four thousand ministers, eighty-five thousand local preachers, five million church members, and twenty-five million adherents. More and more it spreads and grows, And now I look at the other phase of my text. In the second place there is an earnest petition-" that God would be with the children as he was with the fathers." The Lord be as He was with our fathers. with us Now you have seen how He was with the fathers-how He made the little one a great nation. You will have seen that, and is there one of us who can help lifting up his heart and praying that God would still be with us. But, my brother, take care that you rest on no arm but the arm of the Almighty. We have many advantages. We have the advantages of number, of wealth, of learning, of organization, of the sympathy of other Churches, and of the co-operation of influences, some of them secular, which |