tion; real piety also had received incalculable advantages from the freedom which was given to intellect, but the mass of the people remained substantially as they were before. They were grossly ignorant; they had never embraced, nor even understood, or examined the doctrines of the reformation. They had merely changed the forms of religious worship, or rather had departed from their superstition and idolatry because it was forbidden by law, but had substituted neither christian knowledge nor piety in their place. This evil, so far from being remedied by time was constantly increasing. The number of religious instructors in the English reformed church, was at first altogether inadequate, and at the time of Wesley, the population had nearly doubled, without any considerable increase of preachers. Add to this, the condition of the inferior clergy was degraded, parochial education was neglected, and the body of the English clergy needed to be awakened to the active discharge of their duties.

The consequence of all this was, "the rudeness of the peasantry, the brutality of the town populace, the prevalence of drunkenness, the growth of iniquity, and the general deadness to religion." "These," says Southey, might be combatted by individual exertions and Wesley felt in himself the power and the will both, in such plenitude that they appeared to him a manifestation, not to be doubted, of the will of heaven." "Drunkards were reclaimed by him, sinners were converted; the penitent who came in despair was sent away with the full assurance of joy." An impulse also was given to the regular clergy. Some of them, of kindred spirit, caught the flame, and all found when Methodism became a distinct sect, that the best and indeed the only method of preventing the inroads of the Methodists, was by imitating their zeal and faithfulness.

"With all this there was mingled a large portion of enthusiasm, and no small one of superstition; much that Vol. 3.-No. IX.

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was erroneous, much that was mischievous, much that was dangerous." The most remarkable effects of Methodism were uniformly among the lower classes, the poor and the uneducated. They were more susceptible both of enthusiasm and of superstition, and more readily submitted to a discipline which required but little self-denial in them, but much in persons of wealth, rank and refinement. It was probably owing as much to these facts as to his natural character or his religious taste, that Wesley never courted the great, nor seemed much pleased with their society. Southey says

"It was among those classes of society whose moral and religious education bad been biindly and culpably neglected, that Methodism produced an immediate beneficial effect; and, in cases of brutal depravity and habitual vice, it often produced a thorough reformation, which could not bave been brought about by any less powerful agency than that of religious

zeal.

" "Sinners of every other sort," said a good old clergyman, “ have I frequently known converted to God: but an habitual drunkard I have never known converted." -"But I," says Wesley," have known five hundred, perhaps five thousand." To these moral miracles he appealed in triumph as undeniable proofs that Methodism was an extraordinary work of God. "I appeal," said he, "to every candid unprejudiced person, whether we may not at this day discern all those signs (understanding the words in a spiritual sense) to which our Lord referred John's disciples, The blind receive their sight.' Those who were blind from their birth, unable to see their own deplorable state, and much more to see God, and the remedy he has prepared for them, in the Son of his love, now see themselves, yea, and the light of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. The eyes of their understanding being now opened, they see all things clearly. The deaf hear Those that were before utterly deaf to all the outward and inward calls of God, now hear not only his providential calls, but also the whispers of his grace. The lame walk. Those who never before arose from the earth, or moved one step toward heaven, are now walking in all the ways of God; yea, run

ning the race that is set before them. The lepers are cleansed. The deadly leprosy of sin, which they brought with them into the world, and which no art of man could ever cure, is now clean departed from them. And surely, never, in any age or nation since the Apostles, have those

ment designed and adapted to this end, and all who have compassionate feelings must rejoice at such success. It would be painful, indeed, in itself considered, to see in the land of the pilgrims, the prevalence of a system differing in so many respects from the scriptural standard of our fore-fathers; to see the regular churches which they planted, weakened and divided, so as to be unable, in many cases, to support the regular preaching of the Gospel; yet it would be more painful to see, in a country once made sacred by piety, multitudes of immortal souls perishing for lack of vis

ion.

It may throw some light upon the distinctive character of Wesleyan Methodism, to compare it with the effects of Whitefield's preaching.Whitefield commenced his career at the same time with Wesley; he was a more powerful preacher, equally zealous and indefatigable in his exertions to save sinners; more popular, more generally admired and approved.

Yet, excepting a small number of Calvinistic Methodists, of "Lady Huntingdon's Connection," who as sociated together after his death, there remained no distinct society or sect, as a living testimony to his power and influence. Not that his labours were without permanent effect; but their effects remained, as Wesley professed to wish his to remain, in the several churches where he laboured. In England, the ministers who accorded with him in sentiment and feeling, and the converts made by his preaching, generally remained in the establishment. In this country his labours wholly coincided with those of our regular clergy, and the effect was to awaken both them and their people. This was what Whitefield desired. He wished only to save sinners, and had no ambition to exercise any personal, commanding influence, over their conduct, or to be looked to by them as their leader. But had be possessed the ambition which Wesley did, to become the founder of a distinct "society, and the same power of or

ganizing and governing it, and the same practical wisdom and energy in adapting means to ends, Whitefieldian Methodism would have become a widely extended and durable monument of its author's power and ambition.

But it is time to conclude these preliminary observations and present our readers with a sketch of the life and character of those distinguished individuals, the present effects of whose labours we have been contemplating. In the brief outline of Wesley's character which our limits will permit us to notice, we shall dwell especially on those which he has impressed upon the community that bears his name, and shall se- \ lect such circumstances in his life, as seem to have had an influence in forming his opinions and conduct. "Those men, who become for posterity the great land-marks of their age; receive their bias from the times in which they live, and the circumstances in which they are placed, before they themselves give the directing impulse." The volumes before us clearly show that Wesley and Whitefield deserve to be placed in the rank here assigned them by Mr. Southey.

John Wesley was born at Epworth, a market-town in Lincolnshire, on the 17th of June, 1703. His father was an orthodox and faithful minister of the Gospel in the English Church; and both his parents seem to have had an unusual share, not only of piety and zeal, but of energy and decision of character. ny distinguishing traits of character in the founder of Methodism may be traced to his parent, and were in him the effects, either of constitution or of early education. Among the

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events of his childhood we shall notice one which is not only in itself interesting, but which must have had no small influence on his future character.

Mr. Wesley found his parishioners in a profligate state; and the zeal with which he discharged his duty in admonishing them of their sins, excited a spirit of dia

bolical hatred in those whom it failed to reclain. Some of these wretches twice attempted to set his house on fire, without success: they succeeded in a third attempt. At midnight some pieces of burn ing wood fell from the roof upon the bed in which one of the children lay, and burnt her feet. Before she could give the alarm, Mr. Wesley was roused by a cry of fire from the street: little imagining that it was in his own house, he opened the door, and found it full of smoke, and that the roof was already burnt through. His wife being ill at the time, slept apart from him, and in a separate room. Bidding her and the two eldest girls rise and shift for their lives, be burst open the nursery door, where the maid was sleeping with five children. She snatched up the youngest, and bade the others tollow her; the three elder did so, but John, who was then six

years old, was not awakened by all this,

and in the alarm and confusion he was

forgotten. By the time they reached the hall, the flames had spread every where around them, and Mr. Wesley then found that the keys of the house-door were above

stairs. He ran and recovered them a minute before the stair-case took fire.

When

the door was opened, a strong north-east

wind drove in the flames with such violence from the side of the house, that it was impossible to stand against them. Some of the children got through the windows, and others through a little door into the garden Mrs. Wesley could not reach the garden door, and was not in a coudition to climb to the windows; after three

times attempting to face the flames, and shrinking as often from their force, she be sought Cbrist to preserve her, if it was his will, from that dreadful death: she then, to use her own expression, waded through the fire, and escaped into the street naked as she was, with some slight scorching of the hands and face. At this time John, who had not been remembered till that moment, was heard crying in the nursery. The father ran to the stairs, but they were so nearly consumed that they could not bear his weight, and being utterly in despair, he fell upon his knees in the hall, and in agony commended the soul of the child to God. John had been awakened by the light, and thinking it was day, called to the maid to take him up; but as no one answered, he opened the curtains, and saw streaks of fire upon the top of the room. He ran to the door, and finding it impossible to escape that way, climbed upon a chest which stood near the window, and be was then seen from the yard. There was no time for procuring a ladder, but it was happily a low house: one man was hoisted upon the shoulders of another, and could then reach the window, so as

to take him out: a moment later and it would have been too late: the whole roof fell in, and had it not fallen inward, they

must all have been crushed together.— When the child was carried out to the house where his parents were, the father cried out, "Come, neighbours, let us kneel down: let us give thanks to God! be has given me all my eight children: let the house go, I am rich enough." Jobs Wesley remembered this providential deliverance through life with the deepest gratitude. In reference to it he had a house in flames engraved as an emblem under one of his portraits, with these words for the motto, "Is not this a brand plucked out of the burning?—Vol. I. pp. 18, 19.

On a mind constitutionally inclined to superstition, such an event must have made in future life, a deep imgard it as an interposition of Heaven, He would naturally repression. little less than miraculous, desiguating him, as destined by God to fulfil Every thought of this remarkable some great design of his providence. preservation would not only awaken gratitude, but would animate and embolden him in exertions, which be doubted not were destined to effect a mighty change, not only in christendom, but throughout the whole earth. It is remarkable that his followers are at this day animated by the same views. They date from his birth, or rather from his regeneration, the commencement of a work of God, which they trust will never cease, until a new and more complete refor mation than that which commenced with Luther and Calvin, shall change the appearance of the whole christian world. Each intinerant preacher, who has imbibed thoroughly the spirit of his sect and its founder, considers himself as actually and sensibly hastening on the day, when the kingdom of God shall come, throughout the earth. Each year, the annual report, at their Conference, of the thousands and tens of thousands annually added to their communion, lifts the mind of each member of their extended society to higher exaltation, and animates it with a stronger enthusiasm, in view of the irresistible progress, and the future, triumphant prevalence of Methodism. The preservation of its founder, which we

have just recorded, seems little less remarkable to many of his followers than it did to himself, and has scarcely less effect in animating their exertions and confirming their hopes of the accomplishment of its prophetic intimations.

Wesley entered the University of Oxford, at the age of 17. He distinguished himself by his progress in all his classical studies, and especially in Logic, to which he was peculiarly attached. His skill in this art, was perfected when he was afterwards elected fellow of Lincoln College.

"Eight months after his election to a fellowship, he was appointed Greek lecturer and moderator of the classes. At that time disputations were held six times a week at Lincoln College; and however the students may have profited by then, they were of singular use to the moderator. I could not avoid," he says, "acquiring hereby some degree of expertness in arguing; and especially in discerning and pointing out well-covered and plausible fallacies. I have since found abunidant reason to praise God for giving me this honest art. By this, when men have hedged me in by what they called demon strations, I have been many times able to dash them in pieces: in spite of all its covers, to touch the very point where the fallacy lay, and it flew open in a moment."-Vol. 1. p. 31.

We do not doubt the utility of skill even in the logic of Aristotle, in enabling one to detect fallacies in the arguments of an antagonist; but we much doubt whether such skill and the confidence in its power which usually accompanies it, is a good qualification for correctly understanding the declarations of God's word. It is not necessary that a man should be a skilful dialectician to understand correctly the plain and simple declarations of the Scriptures. Good sense, an honest desire to know the truth, with the docility of a little child listening to the instructions of a father, are necessary to the correct understanding of the Gospel, and these do not generally abound in a mind confiding in the skill acquired in the school of Aristotle. The charge

was brought against Wesley, even when in college, that he delighted to perplex his opponent by his expertness in sophistry.' This charge he repelled, of course, with indignation, and we doubt not with sincerity. This sincerity, however, does not evince that he was not himself often deceived by an undue reliance on an imperfect instrument of investigating truth, especially the truths of revealed religion. In the progress of this review, we shall have occasion to consider whether in defending his peculiar sentiments he relied most on revelation or on reason; and whether the spirit which he brought into the discussion, savours most of the schools of philosophy, or of the school of Christ. If it shall appear that his logic led him to embrace error, and enabled him with plausibility to defend it, we may judge whether he had 'abundant reason to bless God for giving him this honest art.'

'When he was an under-graduate, his manners were free and cheerful,' and the activity of his disposition, displayed itself in wit and vivacity'; but being designed for the church, 6 when the time arrived at which he might have taken orders, he began to reflect closely upon the importance of the priestly office,' and the motives with which it should be entered upon. He applied himself with assiduity also to theological studies. The first book which seems to have made a deep impression on his feelings, was Jeremy Taylor'sRules of Holy Living and Dying. This impression was deepened by the treatise De Imita tione Christi, ascribed to Thomas à Kempis. Soon after this he became personally acquainted with William Law, the author of the Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life; says Southey, whose writings completed what Jeremy Taylor and the treatise De Imitatione Christi, had begun.' Under the influence of these writers, Wesley was gradually forming that character which he afterwards publicly exhibited with such signal effect, and which in its great outlines,

a man,