is now impressed upon the society of which he was the founder. Having received ordination as a Deacon, he left the university for a short time to assist his aged father in his parochial duties. During his absence, his younger brother, Charles, who was then in college, 'meeting with two or three under-graduates, whose inclinations and principles resembled his own,' he associated with them for the purpose of religious improvement, lived by rule, and received the sacrament weekly.' "The greatest prudence would not have sufficed to save men from ridicule, who at such an age, and in such a scene, professed to make religion the great business of their lives; and prudence is rarely united with enthusiasm. They were called in derision the Sacramentarians, Bible-bigots, Bible-moths, the Holy or the Godly Club. One person with less irreverence and more learning, observed, in reference to their methodical manner of life, that a new sect of Methodists was sprung up, alluding to the ancient school of physicians known by that name. Appellations even of opprobrious origin, have often been adopted by the parties to which they were applied, as well as by the public, convenience legitimating the inventions of malice. In this instance there was neither maliciousness nor wit, but there was some fitness in the name; it obtained vogue; and though long, and even still sometimes, indiscriminately applied to all enthusiasts, and even to all who observe the forms of religion more strictly than their neighbours, it has become the appropriate designation of the sect of which Wesley is the founder."Vol. I. p p. 33-34. "When John returned to Oxford, they gladly placed themselves under his direction, their meetings acquired more form and regularity, and obtained an accession of numbers." In their number was Mr. Morgan, who died young; James Hervey, the author of the Meditations, and Whitefield, "a man," says Southey, "so eminently connected with the rise and progress of Methodism, that his history cannot be separated from that of Wesley." "George Whitefield was born in the city of Gloucester, at the close of the year 1714,' when John Wesley was eleven years of age. "He had a devout disposition, says Southey, When he was and a tender heart.” about ten years of age, he was deeply affected by Bishop Ken's Manual for Winchester scholars, and some years afterwards was greatly delighted with Thomas à Kempis. At the age of eighteen he was removed from the Grammar School to Oxford, where, by the assistance of friends he was admitted as Servitor-a situation in which by performing menial services, for the wealthiest scholars, he nearly defrayed the expenses of his education. "Before Whitefield went to Oxford, be had heard of the young men there who "lived by rule and method," and were therefore called Methodists They were now much talked of, and generally despis ed. He, however, was drawn toward them by kindred feelings, defended them strenuously when he heard them reviled, and when he saw them go through a ridiculing crowd to receive the sacrament at St. Mary's, was strongly inclined to follow their example. For more than a year he yearned to be acquainted with them; and it seems that the sense of his inferior condition kept him back. At length the great object of his desires was affected. A pauper had attempted suicide, and Whitefield sent a poor woman to inform Charles Wesley that he might visit the person, and administer spiritual medicine; the messenger was charged not to say who sent her; contrary to these orders she told his name, and Charles Wesley, who had seen him frequently walking by himself, and heard something of his character, invited him to breakfast the next morning. An introduction to this little fellowship soon followed; and he also, like them, "began to live by rule, and to pick up the very fragments of his time, that not a moment of it might be lost.”—Vol. I. p. 36. It is curious to observe at this time the gradual formation of the character, especially the habits and man ners of the founder of the Methodists. Eight or ten years before the time of elected fellow of Lincoln College, he which we now speak, when he was commenced an important change in his outward conduct, which sixty years afterwards he describes in the following manner. "When it pleased God," he says, 'to give me a settled resolution to be not & nominal, but a real Christian, (being then 1821.] Review of the Lives of Wesley and Whitefield. about twenty-two years of age,) my ac- self But there was this difference: I saw them no more. answer. my calling to go through evil report and 479 The following anecdote is still more "Wesley would not be at the expense After His austerities, however, had not yet reached their height. In the year 1735, being then about thirty-two years of age, he had an offer to go out to Georgia, with General Oglethorpe, the founder of that colony. some reflection and consultation he determined to go, in the hope of Cherokee Indians, and his brother preaching the Gospel to the Creek and Charles, with Delamotte and Ingham accompanied him. "While be resided at Oxford he had al consciously, by some regard to appearanways hitherto been restrained, perhaps unces; that restraint was no longer felt, and ascetic principles in full practice. Believhe and his companions began to put their His acquaintance with Mr. Law favoured the austerity of life, to which he was inclined, and which was still farther increased by his connection with the association called Method-ing, he says, the denying 'ourselves, even ists. When the brothers John and Charles visited Law, who lived near London, they travelled on foot, that they might save the money for the poor.' They also accustomed them selves to read while walking, that they 'Some years af might save time. when John carried his terwards, economy to the utmost, he used to read on horseback, till some severe falls which he met with in consequence, convinced him that this prac tice might probably cost him his life. in the smallest instances, might, by the blessing of God, be helpful to us, we wholly left off the use of flesh and wine, and confined ourselves to vegetable food, persuaded themselves that nature did not chiefly rice or biscuit. After a while they require such frequent supplies as they had been accustomed to, so they agreed to leave off supper: and Wesley having slept on the floor one night, because his bed had been wetted in a storm, thought he should not find it needful to sleep in a bed any more. His next experiment was, whether life might not as well be sustained by one sort of food as by a variety: he and Delamotte accordingly tried with bread, as being the staff of life in Europe, and they found themselves never more vigorous and hearty "Vol. I. p. 47. "The course of life which they adopted on board was as regular as the circumstances of a voyager would allow, and as se vere as the rule of a monastic order. From four in the morning till five they used private prayer from five till seven they read the Bible together, carefully comparing it with the writings of the earliest ages, that they might not learn to their own understandings. At seven they breakfasted, and they had public prayers at eight. From nine till twelve John Wesley was employed in learning Gerinan, Delamotte pursued his Greek studies, Charles wrote sermons, and Ingham instructed the children and at twelve they met to give an account to one another of what they had done since their last meeting, and of what they intended to do before their next. They dined about one, and from dinner till four, the time was spent in reading to those of whom each had taken especial charge, or in exhorting them severally, as the case might require. There were evening prayers at four, when the second lesson was explained, or the children were catechised and instructed before the congregation From six to seven each read in his cabin to a few of the passengers. At seven, Wesley joined with the Germans in their public service, and Ingham read between the decks to as many as desired to hear. At eight they met again to instruct and exhort. By this time they were pretty well wearied with exhortations and instruction; and between nine and ten they went to bed, where, as Wesley says, neither the waving of the sea, nor the motion of the ship, could take away the refreshing sleep which God gave them."Vol. I. p. 48. We have no disposition, nor would our limits permit us to follow Wesley, through all his trials and sufferings, during the year and five months which he spent in Georgia. It is sufficient to state that he entirely failed of the object for which he went out; he could get no access to the Indians, and in the colony, his singularities, his plainness of reproof, and his stubbornness first cooled his friends, then raised up a host of enemies, and afterwards excited such a storm of passion against him, that he was obliged to escape from the colony in the evening, in an open boat, and return by a circuitous route to his native land; disappointed, mortified, in deep distress and despondency of mind. The following passage from his diary, penned at this time, will shew his state of mind, and his reflections on what had passed. "It is now," he said, "two years and almost four months since I left my astive country, in order to teach the Georgian Indians the nature of Christianity. But what have I learnt myself meantime Why, what I the least of all suspected,— that I, who went to America to convert others, was never myself converted to God. I am not mad, though I thus speak, but I speak the words of truth and soberness; if, haply, some of those who still dream may awake, and see that as I am, so are they. Are they read in philosophy? So was I. In ancient or modern tongues? So was I also. Are they versed in the science of divinity? I too have studied it many years. Can they talk fluently upon spiritual things? The very same could I do. Are they plenteous in alms? Behold, I gave all my goods to feed the poor. Do they give of their labour as well as their substance? I have laboured more abundantly than them all. Are they wil ling to suffer for their brethren? I bave thrown up my friends, reputation, ease. country. I have put my life in my hand wandering into strange lands; I have given my body to be devoured by the deep, parched up with heat, consumed by toil and weariness, or whatsoever God shall please to bring upon me. But does all this (be it more or less, it matters not) make me acceptable to God? Does all I ever did, or can, know, say, give, do, or suffer, justify me in his sight? If the oracles of God are true, if we are still to abide by the Law and Testimony, all these things, though when ennobled by faith in Christ they are holy, and just, and good, yet without it are dung, and dross Thus then have I learned, in the ends of the earth. that my whole heart is altogether corrupt and abominable, and consequently my whole life-that my own works, my own sufferings, my own righteousness, are so God, so far from making any atonement far from reconciling me to an offended for the least of those sins, which are more in number than the hairs of my head, that the most specious of them need in atonement themselves;-that having the sen tence of death in my heart, and nothing in or of myself to plead, I have no hope but that of being justified freely through I seek I shall find Christ, and be found in the redemption that is in Jesus,-but that him. If it be said that I bave faith, (for many such things have 1 heard from many miserable comforters,) I answer, so have the devils, a sort of faith; but still they are strangers to the covenant of promise. The faith I want is a sure trust and conf deuce in God, that through the merits Christ my sins are forgiven, and I reconciled to the favour of God. I want that faith which none can have without knowing that he hath it; (though many imagine they have it, who have it not ;) for whosoever bath it is freed from sin; the whole body of sin is destroyed in him he is freed from fear, having peace with God through Christ, and rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. And he is freed from doubt, having the love of God shed abroad in his heart, through the Holy Ghost which is given unto him, which Spirit itself beareth witness with his spirit, that he is a child of God."-Vol. I, pp. 72, 73. The early history of Wesley's life, especially in respect to his religious exercises and opinions, forms a striking contrast to that of Whitefield. The latter, though eleven years younger than Wesley, 'outrun' him in the formation of his religious opinions, in his exercises of heart, and in his early popularity and power as a preacher of the Gospel, and, alas, "he arrived also at the end of his spiritual course, before Wesley had obtained sight of the goal." The exercises of Whitefield's mind, from which he dated his conversion, are thus described. They were occasioned by reading the Life of God in the Soul of Man.' "He describes himself as having all sensible comforts withdrawn from him, overwhelmed with a horrible fearfulness and dread, all power of meditation, or even thinking, taken away, his memory gone, his whole soul barren and dry, and his sensations, as he imagined, like those of a man locked up in iron armour. "Whenever I knelt down," he says, "I felt great pressures both on soul and body; and have often prayed under the weight of them till the sweat came through me. God only knows how many nights I have lain upon my bed, groaning under what I felt. Whole days and weeks have I spent in lying prostrate on the ground in silent or vocal prayer."- Vol. I. p. 74. "At the close of the severe illness which he had thus brought on himself, a happy change of mind confirmed his returning health;-it may best be related in his own words. He says, "notwithstanding my fit of sickness continued six or seven weeks," I trust I shall have reason to bless God for it through the endless ages of eternity. For about the end of the seventh week, after having undergone innumerable buffetings of Satan, and many months inexpressible trials, by night and day, unVol. 3-No. IX. 61 der the spirit of bondage, God was pleased at length to remove the heavy load, to enable me to lay hold on his dear Son by a living faith, and by giving me the spirit of adoption, to seal me, as I humbly hope, even to the day of everlasting redemption. But oh with what joy, joy unspeakable, even joy that was full of, and big with glory, was my soul filled, when the weight of sin went off, and an abiding sense of the pardoning love of God, and a full as surance of faith, broke in upon my disconsolate soul! Surely it was the day of my espousals,-a day to be bad in everlasting remembrance. At first my joys were like a spring tide, and, as it were, overflowed the banks. Go where I would, 1 could not avoid singing of psalms almost aloud; afterwards they became more settled, and, blessed be God, saving a few casual intervals, have abode and increas. ed in my soul ever since."-Vol. I. pp. 74, 75. "His illness rendered it expedient for him to change the air; and he went accordingly to his native city, where, laying aside all other books, he devoted himself to the study of the Scriptures, reading them upon his knees, and praying over every line and word." Thus," as he expresses himself, "he daily received fresh life, light, and power from above; and found it profitable for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, every way sufficient to make the man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good word and work." His general character, his demeanour at church, his visit. ing the poor, and praying with the prisoners, attracted the notice of Dr. Benson, the then bishop of Gloucester, who sent for him one day after the evening service, and having asked his age, which was little more than twenty-one, told him, that although he had resolved not to ordain any one under three-and-twenty, he should think it his duty to ordain him whenever he came for holy orders. Whitefield himself had felt a proper degree of fear at undertaking so sacred an office; bis repugnance was now overruled by this encouragement, and by the persuasion of his friends; and as he preferred remaining at Oxford, Sir John Philips's allowance was held a sufficient title by the bishop, who would otherwise have provided bim with a cure. Whitefield prepared himself by abstinence and prayer; and on the Saturday eve, retiring to a hill near the town, he there prayed fervently for about two hours, in behalf of himself and those who were to enter into holy orders at the same time. On the following morning he was ordained. "I trust," he says, "I answered to every question from the bottom of my heart; and heartily prayed that God might say Amen. And when the bishop laid his hands upon my head, if my vile heart doth not deceive me, I offered up my whole spirit, soul and body, to the service of God's sanctuary."-" Let come what will, life or death, depth or height, I shall henceforwards live like one who this day, in the presence of men and angels, took the holy sacrament, upon the profession of being inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon me that ministration in the church. I can call heaven and earth to witness, that when the bishop laid his hand upon me, I gave myself up to be a martyr for Him who hung upon the cross for me. Known unto him are all future events and contingencies: I have thrown myself blindfold, and, I trust, without reserve, into His Almighty hands." Such were his feelings at the hour, and they were not belied by the whole tenor of his after life."-Vol. I. pp. 75, 76. Soon after his ordination, he took his degree at Oxford. "From thence, however, he was invited ere long to officiate at the Tower chapel, in London, during the absence of the curate. It was a summons which he obeyed with fear and trembling: but he was soon made sensible of his power; for though the first time he entered a pulpit in the metropolis the congregation seemed disposed to sneer at him on account of his youth, they grew serious during his discourse, showed bim great tokens of respect as he came down, and blessed him as be passed along, while inquiry was made on every side, from one to another, who he was. Two months he continued in London, reading prayers every evening at Wapping chapel, and twice a week at the Tower, preaching and catechising there once; preaching every Tuesday at Ludgate prison, and daily visiting the soldiers in the infirmary and barracks. The chapel was crowded when he preached, persons came from different parts of the town to hear him, and proof enough was given that an earnest minister will make an attentive congregation."—Vol. I. pp. 76, 77. While he was in London, Whitefield received letters from Iugham, and the Wesleys inviting him to come to them in Georgia. He determined to go, and was accepted by General Oglethorpe and the trustees, but finding that the vessel in which he was to embark, would not sail in some months, he went for a while to serve the church of one of his friends at Stonehouse in his native county; and there be describes the habitual state of his mind in glowing language.' "Uncommon manifestations, he says, were granted him from above. Early in the morning, at noonday, evening, and midnight-pay, all the day long, did the Redeemer visit and refresh his heart. Could the trees of the wood speak, they would tell what sweet communion he and his Christian brethren had under their shade enjoyed with their God. "Sometimes as I have been walking," be continues, "my soul would make such sallies, that I thought it would go out of the body. At other times I would be so overpowered with a sense of God's infinite majesty, that I would be constrained to throw myself prostrate on the ground, and offer my sool as a blank in his hands, to write on it what be pleased."-Vol. I. pp 78, 79. "From hence he went again to Bristol, having received many and pressing invita tions. Multitudes came out on foot te meet him,and some in coaches, a mile without the city and the people saluted and blest him as he passed along the street. He preached about five times a week to such congregations, that it was with great dificulty he could make way along the crowded aisles to the reading desk. “Some ers climbed upon the leads of the church, hung upon the rails of the organ-loft, othand altogether made the church so hot with their breath, that the steam would fall from the pillars like drops of rain." When he preached his farewell sermen, and said to the people that perhaps they might see his face no more, high and low, young and old, burst into tears. Multitudes after the sermon followed him home weeping the next day he was employed from seven in the morning till midnight in talking and giving spiritual advice to awakened bearers; and he left Bristol secretly in the middle of the night, to avoid the ceremony of being escorted by horsemen and coaches out of the town."-Vol. I. p. 79. "The same flood of popularity followed him in London. He was invited to preach at Cripplegate, St. Anne's, and FosterLane churches, at six on Sunday morning, and to assist in administering the sacrament: so many attended, that they were obliged to consecrate fresh elements twice or thrice, and the stewards found it difficult to carry the offerings to the communion-table. Such ac orator was soon applied to by the managers of various charities; and as his stay was to be so short, they obtained the use of the churches on weekdays. It was necessary to place coastables at the doors within and without, such multitudes assembled; and on Sunday mornings in the latter months of the year, long before day, you might see the him, with lanthorns in their hands. Above streets filled with people going to hear a thousand pounds were collected for the |