JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791) OHN WESLEY, the celebrated founder of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is described as a facile extemporaneous speaker "whose oratory was colloquial, terse, and homely, but never vulgar." It was probably Sydney Smith, who, after writing a book review, denied that he had prejudiced himself against the work by reading it. The standard authority which thus characterizes Wesley's style is probably entitled to the benefit of a similar denial, for, as a matter of fact, Wesley's style is scholarly rather than colloquial, and classical rather than homely. He was a graduate of Oxford, and a fellow of Lincoln College, who dearly loved a classical quotation, for its own sake. He quotes English, Latin, and Greek verse with equal pleasure, and apparently with equal facility. Modern editions of his sermons, which omit his classical quotations, do not represent him in what was one of the most striking characteristics of his style. He quoted Homer and Horace with as much energy as he did St. Paul in warning his generation against licentiousness in morals and luxury in dress. His English is always clear and graceful; the movement of his sentences is rapid, and in his style he compares favorably with Butler, Taylor, and Bunyan. "Let those who please," he says, "be in raptures at the pretty, elegant sentences of Massillon and Bourdaloue. . . . Let who will admire the French frippery. I am still for plain, sound English." He was born at Epworth, England, June 28th (N. S.), 1703, from a noted family of scholars, his father Samuel Wesley being an Oxford graduate, and an intimate friend of Pope, Swift, and Prior. Graduating at Oxford in 1727, John Wesley took orders in the Established Church, of which he always considered himself a member, though he founded Methodism as a protest against the politics of the Establishment and the general demoralization of the aristocratic society of his day. He visited Georgia as a missionary in 1735, spending three years in America, and returning to England, where in 1739 he began his great work as an open-air preacher. He died at London, March 2d, 1791. X-243 FA THE POVERTY OF REASON (From a Sermon on I. Corinthians xiv. 20) AITH, according to Scripture, is "an evidence," or conviction "of things not seen." It is a Divine evidence, bringing a full conviction of an invisible eternal world. It is true there was a kind of shadowy persuasion of this even among the wiser heathen; probably from tradition, or from some gleams of light reflected from the Israelites. Hence many hundred years before our Lord was born, the Greek poet uttered that great truth, "Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth But this was little more than faint conjecture; it was far from a high conviction; which reason, in its highest state of improvement, could never produce in any child of man. Many years ago I found the truth of this by sad experience. After carefully heaping up the strongest arguments which I could find, either in ancient or modern authors, for the very being of a God, and (which is nearly connected with it) the existence of an invisible world, I have wandered up and down musing with myself: "What, if all these things which I see around me, this earth and heaven, this universal frame, have existed from eternity? What, if that melancholy supposition of the old poet be the real case, Οιη περ φύλλων γενεη, τοιηδε και ανδρων; What, if the generation of men be exactly parallel with the generation of leaves'? if the earth drops its successive inhabitants just as the tree drops its leaves? What, if that saying of a great man be really true, Post mortem nihil est; ipsaque mors nihil? 'Death is nothing, and nothing is after death?' How am I sure that this is not the case; that I have not followed cunningly devised fables?" And I have pursued the thought, till there was no spirit in me, and I was ready to choose strangling rather than life. But in a point of so unspeakable importance, do not depend upon the word of another; but retire for a while from the busy world, and make the experiment yourself. Try whether your reason will give you a clear, satisfactory evidence of the invisible world. After the prejudices of education are laid aside, produce your strong reasons for the existence of this. Set them all in array; silence all objections; and put all your doubts to flight. Alas! you cannot, with all your understanding. You may repress them for a season. But how quickly will they rally again, and attack you with redoubled violence! And what can poor reason do for your deliverance? The more vehemently you struggle, the more deeply you are entangled in the toils; and you find no way to escape. How was the case with that great admirer of reason, the author of the maxim above cited? I mean the famous Mr. Hobbes. None will deny that he had a strong understanding. But did it produce in him a full and satisfactory conviction of an invisible world? Did it open the eyes of his understanding to see "Beyond the bounds of this diurnal sphere ? » Oh, no! far from it! His dying words ought never to be forgotten. "Where are you going, sir?" said one of his friends. He answered: "I am taking a leap in the dark!" and died. Just such an evidence of the invisible world can bare reason give to the wisest of men! . One of the most sensible and most amiable heathen that have lived since our Lord died, even though he governed the greatest empire in the world, was the Emperor Adrian. It is his well-known saying: "A prince ought to resemble the sun: he ought to shine on every part of his dominion, and to diffuse his salutary rays in every place where he comes." And his life was a comment upon his word; wherever he went he was executing justice and showing mercy. Was not he, then, at the close of a long life, full of immortal hope? We are able to answer this from unquestionable authority,- from his own dying words. How inimitably pathetic! ADRIANI MORIENTIS AD ANIMAM SUAM "DYING ADRIAN TO HIS SOUL" "Animula, vagula, blandula, Hospes, comesque corporis, Quæ nunc abibis in loca, Nec, ut soles, dabis jocos!» Which the English reader may see translated into our own language, with all the spirit of the original: "Poor, little, pretty, fluttering thing, Must we no longer live together? To take thy flight, thou know'st not whither ? "Thy pleasing vein, thy humorous folly, Lies all neglected, all forgot! And pensive, wavering, melancholy, Thou hop'st, and fear'st, thou know'st not what." Reason, however cultivated and improved, cannot produce the love of God; which is plain from hence: it cannot produce either faith or hope; from which alone this love can flow. It is then only, when we "behold" by faith "what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us," in giving his only Son, that we might not perish, but have everlasting life, that "the love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." It is only then, when we "rejoice in hope of the glory of God," that "we love him because he first loved us." But what can cold reason do in this matter? It may present us with fair ideas; it can draw a fine picture of love: but this is only a painted fire. And further than this reason cannot go. made the trial for many years. I collected the finest hymns, prayers, and meditations which I could find in any language; and I said, sang, or read them over and over, with all possible seriousness and attention. But still I was like the bones in Ezekiel's vision: "The skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them." I And as reason cannot produce the love of God, so neither can it produce the love of our neighbor; a calm, generous, disinterested benevolence to every child of man. This earnest, steady good-will to our fellow-creatures never flowed from any fountain but gratitude to our Creator. And if this be (as a very ingenious man supposes) the very essence of virtue, it follows that virtue can have no being, unless it spring from the love of God. Therefore, as reason cannot produce this love, so neither can it produce virtue. And as it cannot give either faith, hope, love, or virtue, so it cannot give happiness; since, separate from these, there can be no happiness for any intelligent creature. It is true, those who are void of all virtue may have pleasures, such as they are; but happiness they have not, cannot have. No: "Their joy is all sadness; their mirth is all vain; Their laughter is madness; their pleasure is pain!" Pleasures? Shadows! dreams! fleeting as the wind! unsubstantial as the rainbow! as unsatisfying to the poor gasping soul, "As the gay colors of an eastern cloud." None of these will stand the test of reflection: if thought comes, the bubble breaks! "SACRA FAMES AURI» (From a Sermon on I. Timothy vi. 9) YE Methodists, hear the word of the Lord! I have a mes sage from God to all men, but to you above all. For above forty years I have been a servant to you and to your fathers. And I have not been as a reed shaken with the wind; I have not varied in my testimony. I have testified to you the very same thing, from the first day even until now. But "who hath believed our report"? I fear not many rich; I fear there is need to apply to some of you those terrible words of the apostle: "Go to now, ye rich men! weep and howl for the miseries which shall come upon you. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall witness against you, and shall eat your flesh, as it were fire." Certainly it will, unless you both save all you can, and give all you can. But who of you hath considered this, since you first heard the will of the Lord concerning it? Who is now determined to consider and practice it? By the grace of God, begin to-day! O ye lovers of money, hear the word of the Lord! Suppose ye that money, though multiplied as the sand of the sea, can give happiness? Then you are "given up to a strong delusion to believe a lie ";-a palpable lie, confuted daily by a thousand |