Des Arc citizen., 1859-06-01


 the gospel to every creature. This was their only object. There were no efforts to catch applause-none to be popular with the fashionable and frivolous ;-thefe was no nowery dic,ion, nor gaudy meta pbor, mixed up with fanciful descriptions and pictures ;-there was no taking ot text for pretext, and then running away from il among the things actual and possi- ble, for material to fill up discourse. They were not of the class of preachers who tell men that they must be saved lon general principles, "-who talk wisely of " volnion ]" when they mean twill, - who expand "duty into "moral obiga- tion," and "thinking and doing into |" intellectual processes and moral powers 7 in whose hands heat" becomes "ca- loric, and "plants and animals "orga- nized substances, '-and i" a certain man of the Pharisees, ""a gentleman of the Pharlsees. "--and "the ten virgins, 7 "the ten young ladies. o, no. The law of their life was to preach Christ and him crucfed And to do this, they sacri- feed all domestic enjoyment and personal ease-they crossed the ocean many times they endured, joyfully, all manner of persecution, from those who sal in Moses seat down to the lowest rahble-they rose from the bed of sickness to address multi tudes, when 1t was feared they would ex- change the pulpit forihe bier--" they wore out life in labors so incessant, that II looked as if they were in haste to bring It to a close. 2 And if not possessing the classic purity of Hall; nor'the deep thoughtfulness of Edwards; nor the grand sublmly of Howe; nor the slvery light of Bates; nor the vast knowledge of Owen; nor the wonderful imagination of Taylor; they combined some of the noblest charac- teristics of these with others peculiarly their own. Like John the Baptist they were burning and shining lights; and wherever they went however opposed by Journalists, the heart of the Church opened for their reception cities and communities were moved by their presence; and they have filled the nations with the fame and the fruit of their evangelic labors. They have written their names upon the rock forever Their far fame, as we'll as the fruits of thelr great labors, belong 10 the entire Church of God and whilst we would not, in mere intellectual power, place them amongst the three first, we would, as noble preachers of the gospel, place them in the very first rank of the ministers of Christ of any age. Their names wlllllve with those oi Luther, and Calvin, and Knox, as long as the sun or moon endure.
 And yet their great leading characte- ristic, and which elevated them heaven high above other men. was their intense earnestness. They rose at time when the Church of England had sadly back. slldden from the faith when lnfidelity had obtalned among the higher classes; when bishops and rectors had lost all authority as religious teachers; when spirituality in re- ligion had been supplanted by the most heartIess formality. The picture drawn of the moral state of the English Church, at that time, by the elegant pen of Dr. Ste vens, the learned author of the .' Life of Wesley" is truly affecting and shows how Iil.le mere liturgy, however truthful, can do 10 Keep alive tne Sp'flt oi the gus pei. In this state of things, Whitfield and Wesley appear together. The effect was like the rising of the sun of summer Tn midwinter, when the earth, the streams are all frozen, when the trees and forests are eafess. Such preaching the people, then living, had never heard. The com mon people heard them gladly. The pal aces of bishops, the rectories of fox hunting priests, soon felt their influence. IL went up to the court of the sovereign. It per- vaded Britain; it crossed to the American colonies. It is, at this hour, felt at the ends of the earth. It will never die out. And all, under God, because they were earnest preachers.