The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-26
JOHN WESLEY.
One of the Great Men of the
 World

World. Lexington (Ky) Herald.
 On the 18th of June will be celebrated the bi-centennial of the birth of John Wesley, who was born on June r, old style, which under the new style is the 18th; and in anticipation of this celebra- tion Prof. Rice of the Wesleyan Univer- sity of Connecticut has published in the June number of The North American Re- view very readable and quite striking article on Wesley his characteristics, gifts and purposes and his relation to that great and most valuable movement which resulted partly in the founding of the Methodist Church, in the reformation of the Episcopal Church and a revival of evangelical religion-and to those of our readers who desire to have a quite fair and very interesting resume of the life career and work of this remarkable man we commend this article.
 Perhaps the most brilliant article on Wesley and the most thoroughly appre- ciative estimate of his true character was by Macauley. There have been printed a number of so-called biographies and lives Of Wesley and many more criticisms and studies concerning him and his work.
 Few men have been ranked as high by great and notable thinkers. Macauley deemed him possessed of a genius for government not Inferior to that of Riche- lieu; and Buckle called him the first of theological statesmen, and other eminent men used language equally eulogistie. Yet he was not very great or very eloquent preacher nor very profound or learned theologian. He was the forerunner and prophet, the leader and organizer of the wondrous religious revival which shook Great Britain from center to circum- ference during the eighteenth century, and organized the Methodist Church for work that, was enormous and for which that peculiar machinery was almost mil raculously adapted. Yet he did not pro- pose a secession from the established church, nor did he contemplate the found- ing of a separate church. After Paul. the greatest name in the long list of bishops and theologians Is St. Augustine, and perhaps next follow the names of Luther and Calvin and perhaps next in rank John Wesley. We omit the names of popes and bishops of established churches who extended the limits of their denominations. We omit also the names of missionaries like Las Casas, or the founders of orders. as Ignatius Loyola These belong to another even though equally important class. But Paul the logician and organizer of the Christian Church; St. Augustine. the disciple of Paul and the bulwark of Catholicism; Lu- ther the Reformer, and Calvin, the Paul of the Reformation, and John Wesley mark epochs in the evolution of religious OTRdnlZdIlOnS religious tion and thought.
 The Methodist Church is the most striking monument to his life and work but many thinkers and observers hold that this achievement was not of equal importance to the indirect results of his teachings. his life and his labors These hold him to be the revivor of evangelical religion in the Established Church and largely in other denominations. To him more than to any other man In centuries Is ascribed the stupendous change of re- ligion from creed to a life--from a tenet to love. Not that many others had not taught and preached and lived as he taught and preached and lived. But 1t was said of him that he found a dead church and breathed into 1t life he found an infidel world and converted 1t into a religious fanatic; he found religion a creed and made it a life; he found Chris tianity tenet and turned 1t into love. This Is indeed a marvellous triumph and If the estimate be just 1t Is a superb and fruitful life and a marvellous and benef cent career.
 But he was a far-sighted statesman he constructed a remarkable religious or ganization. For its purpose and to exc cute it's designs the Methodist organiza- tiOn Is indeed well fitted. He had the wisdom to utilize accustomed and famil- far orders and forms. He was a priest minister of the Established Church; so he adopted the Episcopal form of church government-with which all Britain was familiar-and organized conferences over which were these bishops and which held power over the churches and which were bound together by larger conferences and the Episcopal bench, The system of the circuit and short pastorates and the power of the bishops made the entire or ganization full of zeal and energy and yet compact with the utmost 1exibility In some respects the order of the Jesuits has had no superior if any equal; the most wonderful corporation is the Cath olic Church; the Presbyterian church gov ernment and form have proven to be both extremely flexible and yet very com pact. But for the peculiar work of early Methodism the circut system with the bishopric proved its unequalled adapta- bility. And one of its early supreme ad- vantages was that it gave John Wesley practically omnipotent power so long as he lived. No potentate or pope or bishop ever ruled with more absolute and un- questioned authority. It is therefore we'll that not only his own chosen denom- inatlon but all Christian and civilized people do his memory honor.
 The results of his life and work can not be measured; there is no meter by which to value what he did and what has been the fruits of his labors Of course he did not accomplish these results alone Every great movement is marked by ex- citement stimulation and the appearance of an unusual number of notable and em-
 nent men Bras are not made by any one man. he Is greatest after whom an era may be called solely because he was chief in the midst of a group of eminent men. And perhaps the fairest way to measure how great any man was is to compare him with those who were his comrades his colleagues. his co-workers and his opponents We know something or the power of Demosthenes because he won the crown from Socrates; and Wash ington Is measured by Patrick Henry the Lees, the Adamses, Jefferson. Hamilton and their peers-'primus interpares'' is