The sun., 1908-12-18


tered his study Fun Of the muse and being
short sighted, hn would sometimes walk right
against his brothers. table and perhaps over
throw It,
II Is certain that the papers on JoHN'G
table wore all arrayed In careful order
and II methodist meant nothing but
"methodical' there could be no question
Of his first claim 10 the title. CHARLES
was considered by contemporaries the
more rousing preacher of the two; he
proclaimed the Word like herald,
and 1t was he who poured forth the
vividest battle songs of the campaign:
CHARLES went on the Georgia mis-
SION and abandoned it for the same
reason that afterward sent JOHN home
an odd enough reason it seems now in
connection with Methodism m-the in
difference of tho colonists to ritual
distinctions. Az thirty he was CON
verted," three days before JOHN, and
the pair began "itineranoy and field
preaching at the same time. For
seventeen years CHARLES too rode
about the land as a gospeller, and when
he married he took his wife with him
on pillion. In short, in sowing the
spirit he had at least an equal part with
JOHN, though he Jagged behind him in
starting new Church.
1t is this last fact of course which has
obscured CHARLEs's services to the
cause, though the spirit of Methodism
has undeniably been Of wider import
to the world than the founding of the
Methodist Church. CHARLES was ir-
reconcilably opposed to secession from
the Anglican body. He never quar-
relied with JOHN, but he sharply con-
demned his ordinations. His hymns on
the eucharist plainly teach the real
presence. He wrote to friend that
he would rather see him smiling in his
coffin than a dissenting minister In
one Of his last letters he addressed his
brother in playful rebuke by a title of
which JOHN had once been fond-"Ee-
clesie Anglican@ PresbyterJoHANNEs.
Stand by your proposal; let us agree
to differ" he writes. Have the people
given you leave to die, +. 4. p. J.?"
But with the pure spirit of Methodism
CHARLES was always overfowing, the
spirit Of living religion freed from any
deadening influences of culture, formal
ism or class distinctions, and no man
did more than he to spread it through
the world.
Not for nothing did the work origi-
nate in Oxford. 1t was as genuinely
an Oxford movement" as that to which
the title is commonly assigned In
regard to origin there is simply this
difference between the two: Methodism
was a reaction against the Oxford at
mosphere; tractarianism an intensi-
fioation Of it. But the starting point,
whether through repulsion OF attraction,
of a career usually leaves distinct and
lasting impress on it, and so il hap
pened TO the pioneer who first bore the
name of Methodist He was borne to
his grave by six Anglican clergymen,
fitting carriers of the bier.
The most tangible memorial Of
CHARLES WESLEY survives in his hymns.
Where JOHN translated, he composed
originals, more than 5000, of which
several hundreds are still in common
use, some of them literally household
words, as "Jesu, Lover OF My Soul"
"Hark! the Herald Angels Sing, 1Oh,
for Thousand Tongues to Sing, Hail
the Day That Sees Him Rise" Christ
the Lord Is Risen To-day 1t ha been
asked whether CHARLES, il he had not
turned religious, would have been one
Of the great poets Of his country. A
replied thus: Had he
been 30 unfaithful to Him who called him
as to forsake Paradise for Parnassus,
the Lord might have taken away even
these natural gifts Conclusive or not,
the answer is certainly in harmony with
own view. He despised art
for arts sake and regarded the gift Of
speech as an evil unless il was reduced
10 humble handmade Of religion. His
classical culture-JoHN
and he always talked Latin together
he deliberately tried to exclude from his
literary work.