Wilmington journal., 1872-09-06
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ever, and do not even know that it has vet
been actually published.
Such and so various have been the un-
| successful attempts to write the life of
! Wesley-a man who, taking him all in all.
is without peer in the perfect and har-
monious development of his physical, in
teliectual and spiritual pOwers-and with
OUT parallel III his capabilities of action
! ana endurance Nor in these respects
/ only is he pre-emnent. 81 consider him ;,
says Southcy, ''the most influential mind
/ OF the last ccntury-the man who will
/ have produced the greatest effects centu-
rieS, or perhaps mllcuniums hence" "Hn
was" says Euglands greatest historian. "a
man whose eloqueDce and logical acute
ness might have rendered him eminent in
literature; whose genius for government
was not inferior To that of Richelieu, but
who, whatever may lIEvc been his errors
devoted all his powers in defiance of OBJ
lOquy and dcIision to the salvation of
souls. (Sec McCauldy's review of Southey's
Colloquies on Society --F FdiJlb,Tg Recie,r,
Z lSiO). To contemplate such a man in his
sublime career is the luxury Of Il lifetime
''a feast OF reason and "A flow of solIl'
which no one Who has the capacity to
relish aud enjoy should voluntarily foreco.
IL cannot fail To awaken our admiration
and inspire our loving enthusiasm for that
on his glorious way despite all opposition.
For though violently assailed Oh streets,
highways and market places by mobs,
magistrates aud even by ministers, and
though lampoOned satirized and stigma
tlIod by press, platform and pulpit in every
way That ScolinG sCribblcrs could adopt
scholarly critics Invent or rancorous bigots
employ, hc rarely turned from his course
TO chdstisc the GUS Of high or low degree
that were necessarily barking at his heels,
aud never stopped from his lofty, serene,
spiritual elevation to render evil for evil or
railing for railing to any man.
Wesley was ii wonderful worker. He
performed an amount of labor which would
have exhausted the energies Of four oRDI-
NAkI men. We see him, as a preacher,
delivering not less than eight hundred dis
COURSES annually, for fifty years, and per-
forming an incredible amount of pastoral
visiting besidcs--as ali author publishing
about Nv ohundred volumes including trans
laIionS and abIidgments, on An immense
variety OF subjects, together with pro-
digous number of pamphlets and contr-
Buttons to the rlgious and secular journals
Of his day-as a traveller, averaging during
the last fifty years of his life about five thou
sand miles annually, and most of this
Performed on horseback, over all sorts of
roads, and in all kinds of weather and as
The recognized head Of powerful religious
organization " hich became rapidly extend
ed over all parts OF the Old and New
World-the inspiring genius, animating,
directing and governing the whole move
tnemt with such practical wisdom and fore
sight that even Buckle (the celebrated
9keptical author of ''The History of Civili-
zation in tngland,'D pronounced him ''the
first of theological statesmen" To write
the life ot such man, az it should be
written, requires no ordinary degree of
philosophical discernment, but If such dis
cernment Mr.. Tyermau, his last, and in some
respects his best biographer, seems to ba
utterly destitute. 1t is to be hoped, there
fore, that lis failure will prompt some man
possessed of the Necessary qualifications to
make one more effort To supply desidera-
tum so long AID so deeply felt by many
and now, more deeply, perhaps, than ever
before. We know Of one such man, al
least, whose talents and requirements pre-
emincntlv fit him for the work. If he
could be persuaded to devote his gifted pen
to it, he would perform service for the
denomination everywhere, second only to
that which he has rendered by his unique
''Ilistory of MethOdism.