The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1921-10-13

/ BISHOP BURNS
GIVES LECTURE
The Methodist church was crowded
last night to capacity by those who
wanted to hear the very fine lecture
"Looking Through John Wesley's
Spectacles," delivered by Bishop
Charles Wesley Burns. The speaker
has great conception of the evange-
4! list who has done so much for chris
tianizing the world and he held up
John Wesley as the greatest man
known in history for the work he did
in teaching mankind the true precepts
,of life. The lecture was too long to
i give all of it but we print here some
parts of this lecture which was greatly
enjoyed by the large crowd present:
"By the hour I have held John Wes-
ley's Spectacles in my hands and
thought of the things John Wesley
wrote and saw through them. / have
thought of them perched on his fine
acquiline nose and behind them shin
ing and glinting his hazel eyes. l
catch the merry twinkle as he says to
one of his young preachers. Don't
scream, Sammy and, laying them
aside and whispering. "The best of all
God is with us"
"a homely bit of mechanism they
are, hand wrought. steel trimmed with
the marks of the tools on them, and
/ the jointed ear parts hand fashioned.
The glasses do not magnify greatly.
They are far seeing glases--how they
did vision truly the age and the ages! !!
"This is the way it came about.
When out on area rambling Mrs. Burns
saw in the New York advocate notice
that lady in England offered them
for sale. BY cable, correspondence
and twenty-one pounds, they came
across the seas, plains and mountains
to Helena. No possession was more
treasured than the contents of that
little box. They were the spectacles
worn by John Wesley until the day he
believed he had received second sight
He gave the spectacles to Mrs. Hester
Ann Rogers, with the remark that he
"would have no further use for them
At her death they were given to an old
servant living in Gibsboro, Yorkshire
who in turn gave them to her pastor
when he was stationed in that parish
the Reverend Henry Laugher.
l. "They were brought to America by
DR.. Stephenson, president of the local
Conference in England, when he visit:
ed America to attend the ecumenical
conference. (1800?). At that con-
ference they excited great interest
and in England always have been con.
,sidered a very precious memento OF
Mr.. Wesley. At the death of the Rev
erend Henry Laugher, they came into
the possession Of his daughter, Miss
M. E. Laugher who committed then
to the Bishop of the Helena Area:
have left them in the keeping of Col
, onel John Gribbel, of Philadelphia,
long time friend of exalted regard
4 with whom they will be safely treas
ured for future generations. ~+
III. G. Wells dismissed John Wesley
his life and work and the evangelical
revival in England in phrase, but
John Wesley knew England better
than any in it and did more for Eng
land and the world than did any mar
in it.
"The evangel of Methodism was not
only in book, but burned in human
hearts and was eloquent on human
lips. It's appeal was not only y to rea
son and to revelation but to life. Be
cause of this distinguishing emphasis
Carlyle, the brusque Scotchman, sale
"John Wesley has welded more int1u
!: ence in the world than any of his three
, great contemporaries, William Pitt
the Duke of Wellington or Napoleon
!. Bonaparte." That influence persist
ed because it would not only make thi:
: world livable but the other world real
and because it distinguished between
the wisdom of the world and the wis
:! dom of God:
"With this emphasis on the heart
Wesley was the instaurator of tn
new era in the history of the Church
The Methodist revival began as al
ways among the lower orders. Re
ligious awakenings move up, neve:
down. But it's impulses soon reached
cultured society. Bolingbroke ant
Chesterfield rode out in stately car
riages to see what "these Methods
looms were making such an ado about.
If history is as Hegel the Philoso
pher so finely says it is, "the progress
of mankind in the consciousness O.
freedom" then John Wesley was
world soul and set new moral ant
spiritual goal for humanity.
"With the tip O. ones little finger
said a French philosopher, lone cal
cover on the map the places out Q:
which have come the great worlt
movements" Out of Palestine. Chris
tianity; out of Holland: Puritans; ou
of Scotland, intellectual freedom; ou
of Oxford: England, cosmic spiritua
power.
ENGLAND was the scene of grea
world movement in the eighteenth cen
tury. Here worked the leaven Of pur
ity of religious life. holiness dynamic
cvangelistic passion, and vital $50
cial psychosis." The Wesleyan re
viyal was the instrument, and Joh1
Wesley was Gods prophet and spirit
! ,,,1 boc dow IN tho roao