he and Whitefield were refused the use of the churches, private rooms could no longer contain the multitudes who flocked to them."* Again, you remark, "Their manners and their field-preaching were likely enough to invite insults; all persons could perceive the extravagancies into which they run; it required more candour than is commonly possessed, to acknowledge, that they did good, amid the ruder classes of society, and more charity than is usually exercised to impute these excesses to a meritorious, though erring zeal."+ There are, indeed, Sir, some very fine lenitives mixed up with this dose. But as in your poem of "Joan of Arc," where you make all the great events to result from the enthusiasm and virtues of your heroine, and where her communications with heaven are carried on through the medium of an exalted feeling, to whose dictates her prowess is to be attributed; so the effects produced by Mr. Wesley's proceedings were rather the result of enthusiasm than the power of God; and he was guided by his feelings rather than by the word of truth. The enthusiastic leaven broke through the last slight restraint of order and decorum, leaped the hedge of discipline, and got into the fields to ferment. This excess, among others, though meritorious, was the result of an erring zeal. Yet, erring as it was, they were driven into this excess by being refused the use of the churches, and by large congregations; and though their zeal was improper, they nevertheless had the example of our Lord, and of the apostles, to keep them in countenance, and the command of God for their authority," Go into all the world,”—“Go out into the highways and hedges."

The Wesleys, Whitefield, and others, Sir, looked forward to brighter days than those in which they lived; and perhaps you yourself are more indebted to them than you are aware of. They, under God, assisted in forming a basis for what, in the last section of "The poet's pilgrimage to Waterloo," is entitled, "THE HOPES OF MAN." They gave impulse to the spirit of the times in which they lived; they lit up a flame in England, and elsewhere, which has been burning, with increasing ardor, ever since. There are, in your own views of the moral features of the present times, indications of the future good that awaits us; and every pious character will participate in the confidence expressed by you, with respect to your favourable auguries of the future; but had it not been for the men, among others, whom you acknowledge to have "awakened a spirit of religion" in the land; for such luminaries as Wesley and his contemporaries, who quitted their usual orbits, and by their eccentric movements, diffused light and warmth to places unvisited before, thus preparing Britain, in disposition, for the grand work in which she is engaged, of evangelizing the world; had it not been for such men, I say, in * Page 168. + Page 170.

the church, and for men of their spirit in the state, we should not have heard you singing so sweetly, Sir, and yet from the measure so plaintively,

"Here, under freedom's tutelary wing,

Deliberate courage fears no human foe;
Here, undefil'd, as in their native spring,
The living waters of religion flow.

IHere, like a beacon, the transmutted light
Conspicuous to all nations burneth bright."

Our happy isle thus dispreading the light of truth afar, through the medium of Methodist, and other Missionaries, you depict, as though present, the happy effects in prospect,

"The light those happy islanders enjoy'd,

Good messengers from Britain had convey'd;
(Where might such bounty wiselier be employ'd?)
One people with their teachers were they made,
Their arts, their language, and their faith the same,
And blest in all, for all they blest the British name.'

"

To say nothing of the many thousands safely lodged in Abraham's bosom; of 1592 travelling preachers, and 193,670 persons, members of the Methodist Society in Great Britain; there are 21,031 in Ireland; 175 in France, at Brussels, and at Gibraltar; 157 in Southern and Western Africa; 54 in Ceylon, and Continental India; 30 in New South Wales; 20,283 in the West Indies; 2,353 in British America, including Newfoundland; and 224,853 in the United States of America; all of whom can "bless the British name" through Mr. WESLEY, and other field and itinerant preachers. Go on, then, sweet poet; continue to prophesy good, and the Methodists, by their itinerant system, and by their numerous Missionaries, will help to realize it; yes, go on

"And thou to whom in spirit at this hour
The vision of thy country's bliss is given,
Who feelest that she holds her trusted power,

To do the will and spread the word of heaven.

Hold fast the faith which animates thy mind,

And in thy songs proclaim the hopes of human kind."

Mr. Wesley, you state, "Now believed that several persons had been converted in their sleep; talked of the conversion of children between three and four years old; accredited and repeated the predictions and visions of boys and girls; and not only got rid of head-ache and tooth-ache on his own person by faith, but cured his horse of lameness, and raised people miraculously from the bed of sickness, and from the very point of death."* Really, Sir, this places that venerable man of God in a very ludicrous light. One would imagine, as in the "CURSE OF KEHAMA," where, in the course of the poem, you represent Kehama possessing himself of omnipotence, and driving the deities from Page 167.

their seats, that Mr. Wesley was invested with all-power, and capable of performing whatever be judged proper. Let us examine the whole separately.

*

He "believed that several persons had been converted in their sleep."-Unless you have obtained information from some other quarter, Sir, you will find it difficult to prove from his Works that he believed "several" persons had been converted in their sleep. He relates one remarkable case, of a person obtaining comfort during sleep, for which he was attacked by Mr. Church, and to whom he replied.+ But there Mr. Wesley only states facts, and facts will support him, that the woman retired to rest distressed, and rose in the morning filled with peace. In this, Sir, there is nothing more remarkable than in the distress and consolation of a character of your own drawing; and your charcters, I hope, are not unnatural; 1 allude to Roderick, who, alarmed and roused by the temptation to suicide, seeks refuge from its horrors in prayer. While stretched on the grave of Romano, he addresses himself to the spirit of his departed friend. Exhausted with his agony, he falls asleep on the grave, and the consolation. for which he had prayed comes to him in his dreams. The dream works upon him, and he interprets it into a revelation of the will of heaven. I would observe too, Sir, though you use the term "converted," I do not find that Mr. Wesley employs it on those occasions. He knew that something more was implied in conver sion, taking the work in its utmost latitude, than a sudden transition from sorrow to joy.

He talked of the conversion of children between three and four years old."-These instances, too, were very rare. He mentions one of two years and a half old, and another of three. § As a historian, he simply relates the facts, as given by the family and friends. That he believed both of these children to be under Divine influence, there can be no doubt; and who but would draw the same inference, that impartially reads the accounts? Children must be converted, must be renovated, before they can enter heaven; and if Christ, and not death, be the Saviour, why not before, as well as in the immediate act of dying? Mr. Wesley was not singular in his belief in instances of very early piety. The people who furnished him with the accounts were equally strong in faith with himself. There is, perhaps, a more remarkable account before the public than any published by Mr. Wesley, and well authenticated. The work is entitled, "Memoirs of the Life and Writings (with extracts from his letters,) of CHRISTLIEB VON ExTER, son of Dr. Von Exter, physician to his Prussian Majesty who died at the early age of ten years and four months. Together with the testimonies cf Professor Franck, and his Serene High, + Vol. xii. page 348. Vol.iii. page 194-5. 4 Vol. ii. page 343.

Vol. ii. page 62.

ness, Anthony, Prince of Anhalt. By Wm Jaques." This remarkable child had scarcely completed his third year, when his parents engaged tutors from Wittenburg to reside in their family, by whom he was introduced to an acquaintance with the principles of religion, A more extraordinary instance was published by M. Martini, of Lubeck, in a pamphlet, in 1730. The child's name was Heinetkin Christian. He was born at Lubeck, in 1721. He spoke his maternal tongue fluently at ten months. At one year old he knew the principal events of the Pentateuch; in two months more he was master of the entire history of the Old and New Testaments; at two years and a half, he answered the principal questions in geography, and in ancient and modern. history; and he spoke Latin and French with great facility before his fourth year. His constitution was so delicate that he was not weaned till a few months before his death, which was in the fifth year of his age. These were remarkable cases, and so were those noticed by Mr. Wesley. Have children, then, Sir, a capacity, to receive and retain correct notions of things natural, or to make progress in human knowledge, but no capacity for Divine things? Can man perform wonders upon children in the way of instruction, and can the Divine Being do nothing in this way? When children are old enough to go to school to their fellowcreatures, are they too young to be taught of, and go to school to, God? Were you, Sir, to visit some Sunday Schools, under the direction of truly Christian teachers, you would not be surprised at instances of piety among children from four years of age and upward.

He," accredited and repeated the predictions and visions of boys and girls."-This was a subject on which he evinced the utmost caution. So early as in 1739, at a time when he was most likely to be carried away with these things, he says, "I told them (the members of society) they were not to judge of the spirit whereby any one spoke, either by appearances, or by common report, or by their own inward feelings. No, nor by any dreams, or visions, or revelations, supposed to be made to their souls, any more than by their tears, or any involuntary effects wrought upon their bodies; but by a farther rule, the only sure test, the law and the testimony." Elsewhere he observes, "I say yet again, beware of enthusiasm. Such is the imagining you have the gift of PROPHESYING, Or of discerning spirits, which I do not believe one has; no, nor ever yet had."+ But while he guarded his people against the abuse of any thing, he was far from totally discouraging any thing which the oracles of God countenanced. Hence, on the question, "Do not we discourage visions and dreams too much, as if we condemned them toto genere?" the answer is, "We do not intend to do this. We neither discou+ Vol. ii. page 232.

of

you

* Vol. i, page 390.

rage nor encourage them. We learn from Acts ii, 19, &c. to expect something of this kind in the last days."* At no time would he allow them to be a criterion by which to judge of a person's spirit of piety.

He "got rid of the head-ache and tooth-ache on his own person by faith, cured his horse of lameness, and raised people miraculously from the bed of sickness, and from the very point of death." To miraculous gifts, Sir, he never laid claim. "I pretend to the Spirit," says he, "just so far, as is essential to a state of salvation." The case of his own indisposition, and the lameness of his horse, he states, and leaves the reader to form what opinion he pleases. The restoration of persons from affliction, in answer to prayer, was the subject of controversy long ago; and how Mr.Wesley acquitted himself, may be seen in his own writings. These occasional, sudden, and extraordinary instances of answers to prayer, are related by you, Sir, as common; and you leave your reader with the impression, that the Life and Writings of Mr. Wesley were entirely composed of such things. Not that I wish to give up the point, that the "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." No, Sir; while I read such passages of Scripture as these, "All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive""Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do"-" If ye abide in me, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you"-"The prayer of FAITH shall save the sick, and the Lord shall RAISE him up;"-while, I say, I read such texts as these, I can attach the highest credit to Mr. Wesley's testimony, and the greatest importance to the prayer of faith. If you term answers to prayer miraculous, Mr. Wesley is not responsible for the terms you employ.

From prayer, Sir, we shall proceed to doctrine. "Zinzendorf," you remark, "accused him (Mr. Wesley) of preaching false doctrine, and argued, with great force, against his notion of sinless perfection." SINLESS PERFECTION, Sir, is an expression to which Mr. Wesley objected; and in one of his sermons he declared that he never used it. What his views were of CHRISTIAN Perfection, is before the world. It should seem, however, that, if not the Count, those at least under his direction, contradicted themselves. Mr. Wesley, in his sermon on "Sin in believers," observes, "some of these (the Greek and Romish churches) seem to carry the thing too far; so describing the corruption of heart in a believer, as scarcely to allow that he has dominion over it, but rather is in bondage thereto. And by this means they leave hardly any distinction between a believer and an unbeliever. To avoid this extreme, many well-meaning men, particularly those under the Vol. vi. page 318. Vol. xii. page 326. Vol. ii. page 336. § Vol. xiii. page 28; vol. xii. page 325; 377-387.

Page 167.