Wilmington journal., 1872-09-06

/ that "1h6 man IS best known bV what Inc
did - for, though it is generally true thai
a man shoLld be judged by his acts, it is
! equally true that in many important cases
the acts must be judged by the nan. Two
men may, from different motives, perform
the same outward act, may, for instance
give a certain amount Of money to relieve
the neceSsitouS poor. Knowing the ner
and their actuatiD9 impulses, no PGvcr, we
should be compelled to discriminate be-
tween them-tO regard the one as an act
OF disinterested benz violence, the oMeI OF
selfish vanity OF ambition. But if, as our
author maintains, each Of these men lis
best known by what he did" and ait is
needless TO speculate about bis motives, "
we shoUld b. forced in such cases, as we
have supposed above, TO adopt the self
contradictory conclusion that 0IDOsitc
characters arc ideJtticGi
This, then, is the radical defect, tie fun
damental error Gf Tyermau's I.ife of Ves-
ley-a work which in some other respects
Is so admirably executed. Ills ..Onc OBJ
Ject Gas he truly enough informs us i'm his
pretace) has been to collect, collate and
register unvarnished facts" and in the ac-
conplishment Of this zone Object" his sue
cess is without paralel-but he has not
written "a Life of Wesley worthy of the
man. 1hdt is work yet To be accom-
pllShcd-a work greatly desired heretofore,
but one which Is rendered ind sDCnsabIe
now 10y the publication of Nj. L yelman's
" ulrdTni&hed facts :" it is a work, how
ever, which demands for its performances a
moro accomplished pen and philosopLic
brain than his for as Macaulay truly OBJ
serves, ''Wesley is a subject whcll requires
all the qualities OF0 philosophical histO-
ran. -ni$ceVCmeOuH Writings. page 100.
This is 10 unjust disparagement Of our
author. He is d ready, iacy writer, but
unfortunately somewhat random in bis
method, and altogether regardless of logi-
cal consistency. lie laborcd diligently and
successfully in collect ing the catered ma
terialS for the WORK BE- Lad tai1nn in hand,
but, beyond doubt, he lacks that phlo-
sophical geTius-tha5 qUi k, I'M uitive in
slght-that penetrativ poser f perception
necessary to COndeuSe those chaotic ma
terials and give unity and Conference to the
whole.
For this reason it is not m1lc,I to be re-
gretted that he 'tried," as he assures us in
his Preface, ''tO practice selt-dcniaP' IN re-
slstlng the great temptation to mOralzp,"
by which he twas off, beset; for on the
few rare occasions Of self-inGulgence when
he weakly succumbs to this 'teinptation,"
lie signally betrays his incapacity.
Let one Instance su4ti e to illustrate this
statement and justify lis al parent severity.
On page IO6, vol. 2nG, where he gives an
account of |FeSley's unfortunate coniugal
relations he yields to this 'Etelnptation to
mOralize' aud accordingly pause5 in the
narrative in order to give We t u the fol-
lowing sage and original CD reflections
ga man who attans 10 the aga Of forty
eight without marrying, Oughl TO remain a
bachelor for life, iuaSmuch as he has, al
most of necessity, formed ID, bits and ac-
CURED angularlIes ana eXcIeScences W hich
3CLU 1loUer hQT7I!Onize with the relationships
and duties Of the married state" Wesley
remained a celiOat4 until he had attained
''tO the age Of forty eight" when h4 COM
mltted lone OF the greatest Numbers he
ever made in leading Mrs. Vazeille to the
hymeneal altar. Tns was unfortunate
enough for him, but, in the paragraph
just quoted, the poor bachelor is DOOM
ed to stei ner fate in being thus mer-
cilessly ''moraliz ID into a sort OF scape-
goat, upon whose mckless head is laid the
shame and blame Of all the discorl and
misery in which the hapless h1ncdict and
his innocent spouse hepaire involved for
life (CeLebS QHs1 tty0t:i p Yet on page
Ia (2nd vOl.) ntirdbite dictr, he assures us !
that Wesley's letters to his wife " have been
preserved" and then in tlagrant defiance Of !
all his own philosophy, 1yerman declares .
that these letters display the tentIeTeSt
affection, and justify the opinion thai had .
it been his happiness to be marie to a
" oman that was worthy of HIM he would /
lave been one Eof the most iOUing h3ts-
lands that erer Tired ~" This is but a
air sample OF our authors logical consist
ency and philosophical acumen and the vol
lines before us are occasionally marked and .
narred with the same inoOnsequent, self
kind or " moralizing'' about
Wesley from beginning to end.
1t is a curious fact that no g Life of .
Wesley" worthy of that wond 4rful man,
las yet been published. 1t has often been
attempted but without success.
John II Hampson-{ Memoirs Of John N-es- .
ey, &c, ) vols. II mo. 1919 first under
oOk the work without having any quaIil-
atiOns at all for it. DisapI ointed i'll his
title selfish ambition, and becoming strong
y disaffected toward Wesley, he dissolved
us connect ion with him from motives Of
PERSONAL piGuc, because Gor-ooth his name
vas not Inserted in the list Of the e" Legal
hundred"
DR.. Coke and Henry Moore (Life Of
Ioltn Wesley, London, = Va. 1922 Nes-
ty'S literary executors, pubhs he'd crude
,olleetion of materials iLn tie title ia clu-
led in our brackets which, in truth, was
misaciner- }
Rev. John Whitehead, M. ID. (LiFe Of
Rev. JOHN Wesley, &c, &c., vols, 8 vo.,
vol. lst, I793-vol. 2d, 1855 was more /;
c rmpctent and careful than either OF the .
writer's. But he wrote amidst a
storm Of controversy AMI his work was
greatly vitiated hy the partisan spirit which ,
The tim = had cngendered.
Robert Southey, j.. J.. j.. (Thc Life of
John Wesley and the Rise and Pro T2ss
Of Methodism, 1870, 2 vols. 5 vO.) OF all
the Lives OF Wesley yet published, this is
unuIcstiOnably the mOSt d; tIactivc and
popular in style, though the most eIrOuc-
Gus and defective in matter. The author /.
hiIuSclf frankly acknOW ledgcd he glaring /
Of this work aiterw ards, aud .
to remove them in new edl- /
ton which he had prepared for the ress. I
In regard to this new edition he stat. in /
a letter to friend that it was his ''in ell
lion to correct every tTror that has teen .
pointed OUT and |'make such sliterat IOnS .
IN the book as are Te,nilGd, in COnSC-
!uence of having rldgod HtdrUuSly OF Mr.. ,
Wesley Had he liv .d to pat this corrected .
and amended edtluu through the pre- II .
would have largely contributed to the iuSt .
'alne of Wesley, as well as To his Owl
put unfortunately his death d' volVed Il /
work of publication upon lis lal bless SOD,
Rev. Charles CuthbeIt SOuthcy, who was .
Justly stigmatized in the LOnd0n 9utrt Tly
Recie1c, September, 1903, for a deliberate .
suppre&Sio reri in con3yalEng every indiCl- I
ion of his tal hers altered sen inleits. The f,
sentence, written hy hat gifted .
genius. Samuel Taylor Coierid, e, viii show !
,he estimation in which this Life OF Wesley, /
With all its imperfections as held by him: |
srhe fAvorite Of my library lie exclaims,
among many favoritte the book can |.
read The twentieth time, Wnel can read .
,i.fIiilto else at al, -