Part 26 (1/2)
While at Oxford, he and his brother Charles, who was also a fellow and a fine scholar, excited the ridicule of the University for the strictness of their lives, and their methodical way of living, which caused their companions to give them the name of _Methodists_. Two other young men joined them--James Hervey, author of the Meditations, and George Whitefield. The fraternity at length numbered fifteen young men, the members of which met frequently for religious purposes, visited prisons and the sick, fasted zealously on Wednesdays and Fridays, and bound themselves by rules, which, in many respects, resembled those which Ignatius Loyola imposed on his followers. The Imitation of Christ, by A Kempis, and Taylor's Holy Living, were their grand text-books, both of which were studied for their devotional spirit. But the Holy Living was the favorite book of Wesley, who did not fully approve of the rigid asceticism of the venerable mystic of the Middle Ages. The writings of William Law, also, had great influence on the mind of Wesley; but his religious views were not matured until after his return from Georgia, where he had labored as a missionary, under the auspices of Oglethorpe. The Moravians, whom he met with both in America and Germany, completed the work which Taylor had begun; and from their beautiful establishments he also learned many principles of that wonderful system of government which he so successfully introduced among his followers.
Wesley continued his labors with earnestness; but these were also attended with some extravagances, which Dr. Potter, the worthy Bishop of London, and other Churchmen, could not understand. And though he preached with great popular acceptance, and gained wonderful eclat, though he was much noticed in society and even dined with the king at Hampton Court, and with the Prince of Wales at St. James's, still the churches were gradually shut against him. When Whitefield returned from Georgia, having succeeded Wesley as a missionary in that colony, and finding so much opposition from the dignitaries of the Church, although neither he nor Wesley had seceded from the Church; and, above all, excited by the popular favor he received,--for the churches would not hold half who flocked to hear him preach,--he resolved to address the people in the open air. The excitement he produced was unparalleled. Near Bristol, he sometimes a.s.sembled as many as twenty thousand. But they were chiefly the colliers, drawn forth from their subterranean working places. But his eloquence had equal fascination for the people of London and the vicinity. In Moorfields, on Kennington Common, and on Blackheath, he sometimes drew a crowd of forty thousand people, all of whom could hear his voice. He could draw tears from Hume, and money from Dr. Franklin. He could convulse a congregation with terror, and then inspire them with the brightest hopes. He was a greater artist than Bossuet or Bourdaloue. He never lost his self-possession, or hesitated for appropriate language. But his great power was in his thorough earnestness, and almost inspired enthusiasm. No one doubted his sincerity, and all were impressed with the spirituality and reality of the great truths which he presented.
And wonderful results followed from his preaching, and from that of his brethren. A great religious revival spread over England, especially among the middle and lower cla.s.ses, the effects of which last to this day.
[Sidenote: Whitefield.]
Whitefield was not so learned, or intellectual as Wesley. He was not so great a genius. But he had more eloquence, and more warmth of disposition. Wesley was a system maker, a metaphysician, a logician.
He was also profoundly versed in the knowledge of human nature, and curiously adapted his system to the wants and circ.u.mstances of that cla.s.s of people over whom he had the greatest power. Both Wesley and Whitefield were demanded by their times, and only such men as they were could have succeeded. They were reproached for their extravagances, and for a zeal which was confounded with fanaticism; but, had they been more proper, more prudent, more yielding to the prejudices of the great, they would not have effected so much good for their country. So with Luther. Had he possessed a severer taste, had he been more of a gentleman, or more of a philosopher, or even more humble, he would not so signally have succeeded. Germany, and the circ.u.mstances of the age, required a rough, practical, bold, impetuous reformer to lead a movement against dignitaries and venerable corruptions. England, in the eighteenth century, needed a man to arouse the common people to a sense of their spiritual condition; a man who would not be trammelled by his church; who would not be governed by the principles of expediency; who would trust in G.o.d, and labor under peculiar discouragement and self-denial.
[Sidenote: Inst.i.tution of Wesley.]
Wesley was like Luther in another respect. He quarrelled with those who would not conform to all his views, whether they had been friends or foes. He had been attracted by the Moravians. Their simplicity, fervor, and sedateness had won his regard. But when the Moravians maintained that there was delusion in those ravings which Wesley considered as the work of grace, when they a.s.serted that sin would remain with even regenerated man until death, and that it was in vain to expect the purification of the soul by works of self-denial, Wesley opposed them, and slandered them. He also entered the lists against his friend and fellow-laborer, Whitefield. The latter did not agree with him respecting perfection, nor election, nor predestination; and, when this disagreement had become fixed, an alienation took place, succeeded by actual bitterness and hostility. Wesley, however, in his latter days, manifested greater charity and liberality, and was a model of patience and gentleness. He became finally reconciled to Whitefield, and the union continued until the death of the latter, at Newburyport, in 1770.
The greatness of Wesley consisted in devising that wonderful church polity which still governs the powerful and numerous sect which he founded. It is from the system of the Methodists, rather than from their theological opinions, that their society spread so rapidly over Great Britain and America, and which numbered at his death, seventy-one thousand persons in England, and forty-eight thousand in this country.
And yet his inst.i.tution was not wholly a matter of calculation, but was gradually developed as circ.u.mstances arose. When contributions were made towards building a meeting-house in Bristol, it was observed that most of the brethren were poor, and could afford but little. Then said one of the number, ”Put eleven of the poorest with me, and if they give any thing, it is well. I will call on each of them weekly, and if they give nothing, I will give for them as well as for myself.”
This suggested the idea of a system of supervision. In the course of the weekly calls, the persons who had undertaken for a cla.s.s discovered some irregularities among those for whose contributions they were responsible, and reported them to Wesley. He saw, at once, the advantage to be derived from such an arrangement. It was what he had long desired. He called together the leaders, and desired that each should make a particular inquiry into the behavior of all under their respective supervision. They did so. The custom was embraced by the whole body, and became fundamental. But it was soon found to be inconvenient to visit each person separately in his own house weekly, and then it was determined that all the members of the cla.s.s should a.s.semble together weekly, when quarrels could be made up, and where they might be mutually profited by each other's prayers and exhortations. Thus the system of cla.s.ses and cla.s.s-leaders arose, which bears the same relation to the society at large that town meetings do to the state or general government in the American democracy--which, as it is known, const.i.tute the genius of our political inst.i.tutions.
[Sidenote: Itinerancy.]
Itinerancy also forms another great feature of Methodism; and this resulted from accident. But it is the prerogative and peculiarity of genius to take advantage of accidents and circ.u.mstances. It cannot create them. Wesley had no church; but, being an ordained clergyman of the Establishment, and a fellow of a college beside, he had the right to preach in any pulpit, and in any diocese. But the pulpits were closed against him, in consequence of his peculiarities; so he preached wherever he could collect a congregation. Itinerancy and popularity gave him notoriety, and flattered ambition, of which he was not wholly divested. He and his brethren wandered into every section of England, from the Northumbrian moorlands to the innermost depths of the Cornish mines, in the most tumultuous cities and in the most unfrequented hamlets.
[Sidenote: Great Influence and Power of Wesley.]
As he was the father of the sect, all appointments were made by him, and, as he deserved respect and influence, the same became unbounded.
When power was vested to an unlimited extent in his hands, and when the society had become numerous and scattered over a great extent of territory, he divided England into circuits, and each circuit had a certain number of ministers appointed to it. But he held out no worldly rewards as lures. The conditions which he imposed were hard.
The clergy were to labor with patience and a.s.siduity on a mean pittance, with no hope of wealth or ease. Rewards were to be given them by no earthly judge. The only recompense for toil and hunger was that of the original apostles--the approval of their consciences and the favor of Heaven.
To prevent the overbearing intolerance and despotism of the people, the chapels were not owned by the congregation nor even vested in trustees, but placed at the absolute disposal of Mr. Wesley and the conference.
If the rule of Wesley was not in accordance with democratic principles, still its perpetuation in the most zealous of democratic communities, and its escape, thus far, from the ordinary fate of all human inst.i.tutions,--that of corruption and decay,--shows its remarkable wisdom, and also the great virtue of those who have administered the affairs of the society. It effected, especially in England,--what the Established Church and the various form of Dissenters could not do,--the religious renovation of the lower cla.s.ses; it met their wants; it stimulated their enthusiasm. And while Methodism promoted union and piety among the people, especially those who were ignorant and poor, it did not undermine their loyalty or attachment to the political inst.i.tutions of the country. Other Dissenters were often hostile to the government, and have been impatient under the evils which have afflicted England; but the Methodists, taught subordination to superiors and rulers, and have ever been patient, peaceful, and quiet.
REFERENCES.--Lord Mahon's History should be particularly read; also c.o.xe's Memoirs of Walpole. Consult Smollett's and Tindall's History of England, and Belsham's History of George II. Smyth's Lectures are very valuable on this period of English history. See, also, Bolingbroke's State of Parties; Burke's Appeal from the Old to the New Whigs; Lord Chesterfield's Characters; and Cobbett's Parliamentary Debates. Reminiscences by Horace Walpole. For additional information respecting the South Sea scheme, see Anderson's and Macpherson's Histories of Commerce, and Smyth's Lectures. The lives of the Pretenders have been well written by Ray and Jesse. Tytler's History of Scotland should be consulted; and Waverley may be read with profit. The rise of the Methodists, the great event of the reign of George I., has been generally neglected. Lord Mahon has, however, written a valuable chapter. See also Wesley's Letters and Diary, and Lives, by Southey and Moore.
CHAPTER XX.
THE COLONIZATION OF AMERICA AND THE EAST INDIES.
[Sidenote: Commercial Enterprise.]
During the administration of Sir Robert Walpole, the English colonies in America, and the East India Company's settlements began to attract the attention of ministers, and became of considerable political importance. It is, therefore, time to consider the history of colonization, both in the East and West, and not only by the English, but by the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the French.
The first settlements in the new world by Europeans, and their conquests in the unknown regions of the old, were made chiefly in view of commercial advantages. The love of money, that root of all evil, was overruled by Providence in the discovery of new worlds, and the diffusion of European civilization in countries inhabited by savages, or worn-out Oriental races. But the mere ign.o.ble love of gain was not the only motive which incited the Europeans to navigate unknown oceans and colonize new continents. There was also another, and this was the spirit of enterprise, which magically aroused the European mind in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Marco Polo, when he visited the East; the Portuguese, when they doubled the Cape of Good Hope; Columbus, when he discovered America; and Magellan, when he entered the South Sea, were moved by curiosity and love of science, more than by love of gold. But the vast wealth, which the newly-discovered countries revealed, stimulated, in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the excited Europeans, the powerful pa.s.sions of ambition and avarice; and the needy and grasping governments of Spain, Portugal, Holland, France, and England patronized adventurers to the new El Dorado, and furnished them with s.h.i.+ps and stores, in the hope of receiving a share of the profits of their expedition. And they were not disappointed. Although many disasters happened to the early navigators, still country after country was added to the possessions of European kings, and vast sums of gold and silver were melted into European coin. No conquests were ever more sudden, and brilliant than those of Cortez and Pizarro, nor did wealth ever before so suddenly enrich the civilized world. But sudden and unlawful gains produced their natural fruit. All the worst evils which flow from extravagance, extortion, and pride prevailed in the old world and the new; and those advantages and possessions, which had been gained by enterprise, were turned into a curse, for no wealth can balance the vices of avarice, injustice, and cruelty.
[Sidenote: Spanish Conquests and Settlements.]
The most important of all the early settlements of America were made by the Spaniards. Their conquests were the most brilliant, and proved the most worthless. The spirit which led to their conquests and colonization was essentially that of avarice and ambition. It must, however, be admitted that religious zeal, in some instances, was the animating principle of the adventurers and of those that patronized them.