The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-22

further, there must be the comprehen- sion of the spiritual forces of industry in order to bring rthem to their fruitage It is in this that the influence of John Wesley in social and industrial matters. as we'll as in the religious life of the world, has been felt. and herein he was a power greater than industry, greater greater than the industrial pride and ann bition of England. - Probably no generation since the Christian era has so completely stamped itself upon the af- fairs of the world as the era that gave birth to the establishment of the modern system of industry. which was stimulated so powerfully by the work and by the influence of John Wesley.
 MT. Wright would have found far less trouble in his labors in connection with the recent coal strike in Pennsylvania if he could have found more Methodism and less Mammonism on one side, and less socialism on the other side of that con- test. The difference in the conditions there and the conditions prevalent in English mining districts, is explained by this striking paragraph from a recent article by Mir. Threlfall, Secretary of the Labor Association in England:
 "Methodism has undoubtedly played a very important part in organizing miners No one can read the detailed history of the great strikes in the mining world without observing how many of the leaders are connected with some branch of the Methodist Church. Method ism has become the dominent faith of the miners. Such affinity of the vanguard of labor for this particular church is not eloquent for the past. but Is significant for the future. It Is not based upon local peculiarities, upon conditions of employ ment. upon tradition or material sur roundings. but springs from the fact that Methodism has nearly approached the miners conception of a democratic church. Its spiritual zeal aroused him, it's democratic instincts were in keeping with his political aspirations and its organizing ability educated him, in the principles of unity. |" Can there be any more striking tribute to the influence of Methodism upon the mining communi- ty than the fact that five mining mem- bers in the House of Commons have all been trained in the Methodist Church, four being past or present local preach- CTS? In the Parliament of 1885 there were six"
 Principal A. M. Faibairn points out the same important fact in his carefully con- sidered volume entitled Religion in His tory and in Modern Life" in which he says: Methodism, in its several branches, has done more for the conversion and reconciliation of certain of the industrial classes to religion than any other Eng fish church. It is but just to say that the enfranchisement of our mining and agricultural populations made this evil dent-that their regulative ideas were reli- gious rather than utilitarian and secular
 The politicion finds, when he addresses the peasantry, that he has to appeal to dictinat1xF Ath ciples than when he addresses the upper or middle classes. And we may hope that even in a politican the principles he ap- peals to may ultimately affect his policy Meanwhile we simply note that it is the local preacher rather than the secularist lecturer who has, while converting the soul, really formed the mind of the miner and the laborer. and who now so largely represents the ideas he seeks, in his dim and inarticulate way. to see applied to national policy and legislation.
 Importance of Wesley's Work.
 To these great achievements of Wesley. in checking the mad currents of French infidelity, and in averting in some degree the perlls of modern industrialsm. Will liam T. Stead the well known editor of the Review of Reviews. adds the further glory Of the unifying the Engl!sh-speak- ing peoples. In signed article. printed in the bicentenary number of the North western Christian Advocate, issued in Chi cago. Mir Stead writes:,
 From the standpoint of those like our selves. regard the unity of the Eng .ish- speaking people as one of the supreme ends of the modern politics. it is difficult to exaggerate the importance of John Wesley and his work To the most ener- getic Christian denomination in the Un!- ted States he created a new tie between the empire and the republic. Millions up- on millions of Americans regard Epworth and Fetter Lane the foundry and the city road as the Mecca and the. Medina of their faith. Carlyle said the Shakespeare, by his genius. had unified the English speaking world. We are all united. he said. in allegiance to King Shakespeare That which Shakespeare could not do. in that millions never read or see his plays. John Wesley has done much in effect. Among the influences which create sense of unity. among our English folk that of John Wesley stands very nearly in the first rank
 Conceiving that such a result grows out of Wesley's work is 1t not strange that this fervent and forceful writer. in the same article. warmly declares: Neither Knox or Cromwell affects the lives of so many men and women. who are toIine
 
 John Wesley. There are nigh upon 30. .0CO.- 600 of English-speaking men who view the next life through Wesley's spectacles. and whose round of daily duty Is directly af- fected by the rules and regulations of the great Methodist saint-the Ignatius Loyola of the English church,
 Nor is Mir Stead alone in his estimate. MT. J. St. Loe Strachey editor of The London Spectator writes:
 Tn my opinion. there is no one to whom the English speaking race. in all parts of the world, owes more than to John Wes- ley. Tn him the English people found guide and a leader to bring them once again into the region of spiritual things when they were most in danger of being sunk in materialism. John Wesley gave England back the things of the spirit and SO conferred upon her the greatest of boons."
 And Dr. Cyrus Northrop. President of the University of Minnesota, joins this chorus of voices, saying through the col umns of the great paper which has been mentioned.
 "Very few men in the history of the world have done so much to change the character of the world as John Wesley. With a scholars training and tastes, with literary and especially poetic ability of high order: with an experience of service