Ottumwa semi-weekly courier., 1903-03-31

ed an after dinner speaker is simply a
point from which he may graciously
depart and to which he is never ex-
pected to return. However, will try
not to wander farther from my subject.
John Wesley.
"There is an exquisitely sculptured
marble tablet in Westminster abbey
to the memory of John Wesley. On it
are engraved three sentiments that
fell from his lips, and they are key
notes to the greatness of Methodism:
1.-The world is my parish
"'The best of all is God is with u.s.
"God buries His workmen, but car
ries on His work
"Its world wide mission, it's conse-
Grafton to God and reliance on His
providential leading, its matchless or
ganization. would not have been pos
sible to Methodism except for the life
of John Wesley.
When Methodism Was Born.
''The light of the English reforma-
tion had waned to the twilight. An un-
godly reaction had come. Where there
was not positive vice there was relig-
ious apathy. immortality abounded in
high and low places. The church at
most entered but feeble protest. The
clergy were the idlest and most life
less in the world Such was the con-
dition of England when Wesley conse-
/ Grated himself to the mighty task of
| leading a revival of spiritual religion.
wesley formulated no new creed,
but resurrected from the cerements
| of dead ritualism the simple truth of
the gospel, rekindled it upon the altar
of burning religious experience, and
bore it as flaming message before
the eyes of men. He smote the rock
of Journalism, and 10! the rivulet and
then the river of Methodism.
"But the historian Green tells us
| the Methodists themselves were the
least result of the Methodist revival
Before the close of that matchless min
istry of fifty years there arose across
| the channel, a deadly peril to Christen-
| DOM As virulent contagion with
reckless abandon to passion, anarchy
and atheism, had burst forth the ter
rible French revolution. 1t surged as
a tidal wave towards England but il
| encountered rock that was able tc
HuI1 IL pdSh W IllS olCcN anu pieAiS'os
shores from whence it came. 1t was
the rock, Christ Jesus, implanted il
the hearts of Englishmen by the Meth
odist religious revival.
/ Crisis in Worlds History.
s'Had the spirit ol the French revo
j luton encountered unregenerate Eng
land fifty years before, not yelling
4 toms guns nor Burke's eloquence, no
i Pitts genius could have saved the
4 Anglo-SaXon from that scourge, which
threatened a darker age than the darl
ages.
'Lecky, England's most recent his
torian says: The dazzling episodes il
the ministry of Pitt must yield tt
real Importance to that religious revo
luton which shortly before had begu1
in England by the preaching of the
Wesleys and Whitefield" This service
to posterity can hardly be over-estimat
+ ed
did not Methodism thus in its be
ginning have to do with public life a
crisis in the worlds history?
The Membership.
+ "The Baptists, Presbyterians AM
. Lutherans were established in Americ
!. before the birth of Wesley. The Epis
+ copal and Congregational churche
: began their work here an hundre
} years before Philip Embury preache
. the first Methodist sermon on this cor
! tinent in 1853. The Methodists nov
exceed in number the total member
ship of the Lutheran, Presbyterian
Congregational, Baptist (north) ant
l Disciple churches all combined. Ou
membership has increased at doubl
e the rate of the increase in the popula
! tion until now one in every thirteel
: of the population is Methodist, or
e total of over six million members, an
S our own branch of the denomination
q has nearly one-half of the whole.
e Some Statistics.
: "Bishop Asbury established the frs
Sabbath school in America in 17St
:, and today our Sabbath school enrol
j ment equals our church membership
During the last thirty years of tn
nineteenth century the members of tn
). Methodist Episcopal church laid dow
!, upon Gods altar for the maintenance
:, and the spread of His kingdom in tn
: 'Sworld $50 millions of dollars, or seve
:, hundred tons of solid gold, and tn
= value of all her properties exceeds 1f
!, millions. In addition to all the abov
:, the church is even now celebratin
its success in raising in the past fou
years 20 million dollars as a twentiet
century thank offering fund.
O "Can it be doubted that church {