MEMOIR OF MR. J. BUDGE, OF CAMBORNE,
NEAR REDRUTH.

BY THE REV. JAMES AKERMAN.

SINCE Divine Providence was pleased to fix my lot in the Redruth Circuit, about sixty members of the Methodist Society have been removed from us by death; and, blessed be God, all of them have given us reason to hope that they died well. Several of them were favoured with "a triumphant end." A considerable number of these followers of our LORD were connected with the Methodists for more than half a century; and enjoyed the privilege of attending the faithful, affectionate, and edifying ministry of the REV. JOHN WESLEY, who will, I believe, be had in everlasting remembrance in this neighbourhood. The subject of the present Memoir, MR. J. BUDGE, died at Camborne, on the 13th of July, 1823, aged ninety-three years. He was a worthy member of the Society for nearly seventy years. I regret that this "old disciple," this "Israelite indeed," this pattern of goodness, has not left any written account of his christian experience; nor can I now obtain from other sources many details respecting the first years of his religious course. He was convinced of sin, and brought to think seriously on the solemn subject of death, and the still more solemn subject of the final judgment, by reading a Tract published by MR. WESLEY. He earnestly sought the mercy of God through JESUS CHRIST; and was brought into the liberty of the Gospel, while travelling from Camborne to Truro. When a few miles from the latter place, his mind became extremely gloomy and oppressed; but he directed his prayers to Him who "ever waits to be gracious," and those prayers were not rejected. The words of our SAVIOUR to NICODEMUS were applied with great spiritual light and power to his mind,-" The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the SPIRIT." At that moment, he received power to embrace, with the simplicity of faith, the offered salvation of GoD; and had peace and joy through believing. He never lost the blessing he then obtained. For almost seventy years, he walked in the light of God's countenance; "keeping a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man.” And, after running long and well in the christian race, he laid hold on the "incorruptible crown." For several years before his death, he was confined to his house. For a day or two previous to his release from the body, he appeared to be peculiarly feeble; though immediate death was not anticipated. On the last night of his happy life, he, as usual, prayed with his wife and servant; and when he had retired to bed, he was heard to say, "Come, LORD! Prepare me for, and take me to thyself!" Soon after, he complained of a severe pain in his head; on which his servant observed, "I believe your

MASTER is coming for you." He smiled, and said, "Well! Well!"and in a few hours fell asleep in JESUS.

MR. BUDGE was characterized,—

1. By a humble and lowly spirit. His voice was not heard in the streets. He had learned of Him who is meek and lowly in heart.

2. By a conduct, strictly upright. He took the Bible for his rule; and would not knowingly, on any account step over the line of its prescriptions.

3. By a most exemplary charity. His property was not great; but it was well employed. "His kindness," says one who knew him well," was displayed toward every object that presented itself for relief." He had, indeed, a benevolent heart; and his bowels of compassion were never shut against the needy. His poorer relatives found in him a father while he lived; and the streams of his kindness will follow him, till they shall need food and raiment no more. To the cause of CHRIST he was ever willing to contribute his aid; and his name will be found in the Reports of all our Funds for pious and charitable uses. For the Chapel at Camborne he gave £300; and assisted liberally the erection of Houses for God's worship in other places.

4. By regularity in his attendance on the means of grace. For half a century he filled the important office of Class-Leader; and, during the greater part of that time, had to travel a considerable distance to meet his little flock. But the voice of duty was deemed imperative by MR. B.; and he was always at his post. In all other ordinances of religion he showed the same diligence, and was at last "found of God in peace."

5. By a pure and christian conversation. He was no tale-bearer, no slanderer, no evil-speaker. When an absent person was the subject of discourse, he would remark, "If I cannot say any good of him, I will say no evil."-O that all Christians would walk by the same rule.

6. By the spirit of holy love. This appeared in his words and actions, and even in his countenance. Those who saw him, even in the decline of life, full of weakness and infirmity, will not soon forget the christian cheerfulness and benignity that beamed forth in his face. He indeed bore the image of Him whose name is "Love."

I shall conclude these remarks, which might be greatly enlarged, by an extract from a Public Paper :

"MR. J. BUDGE was certainly no ordinary character. As a Christian his piety was exalted, and his humility deep,-his benevolence unbounded, and remarkably unostentatious. Indeed it would not be saying too much, to affirm that in him existed almost every christian grace in rich maturity. The consistency of his whole life was such as to command universal respect and esteem. He died in the full assurance of hope."

JAMES AKERMAN.

DIVINITY.

A DEFENCE OF MR. WESLEY AND OF HIS DOCTRINES,

AGAINST THE REFLECTIONS CAST UPON THEM BY THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM VAN MILDErt, lord bishop of Llandaff.

LETTER II. ON THE ALLEGED COINCIDENCE OF SENTIMENT BETWEEN MESSRS. WESLEY AND WHITEFIELD, AND ON RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.

To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine.

In a former letter I conveyed to you some remarks upon what I conceive to be a very objectionable paragraph in the "Review of the Life and Writings of DR.WATERLAND," by the present Bishop of Llandaff. The principal subject of discussion in that letter was, the assumed necessary connexion between baptism and regeneration; for not acknowledging which MESSRS. WESLEY and WHITEFIELD are severely censured by the learned Prelate. I now proceed, agreeably to my promise, to send you a few strictures upon that coinoidence of sentiment, which his Lordship states to have subsisted between those eminent men; and upon the representation which he has given of Religious Experience,-a subject which is well known to have occupied a considerable share in their public ministry.

That MR. WHITEFIELD, some time after he had entered upon his laborious career as an itinerant Preacher, embraced the peculiar doctrines of Calvinism, is well known, and also, that this circumstance occasioned a partial separation between him and his coadjutor and friend; MR. WESLEY retaining those views concerning the extent of the divine mercy, and of the design of the atonement of CHRIST, which he had cherished from the beginning. Notwithstanding their open and avowed difference of religious sentiment on what are usually called "the five points," his Lordship charges them both with a "fundamental error," in which he states that their "opinions nearly coincide." What this "fundamental error" is, he does not distinctly specify; but appears to mean, the separation of regeneration from baptism, and, by natural consequence, teaching people to look for "other proof" that they are actually born again, besides that of their having been baptized. That they both denied the assumed necessary connexion between baptism and regeneration is freely admitted; and in this I presume they were

perfectly right; but it is not correct that their opinions on this subject will be found "nearly to coincide." MR. WHITEFIELD, as a Calvinist, could not, with the slightest consistency, believe that children in general receive from the HOLY SPIRIT those gracious communications in the ordinance of baptism, which MR. Wesley so explicitly acknowledged. As to the "proof" by which they taught people to ascertain the fact of their "actual regeneration," it is true that they were both agreed; but this part of their conduct, I must contend, so far from being fundamentally erroneous, displays the soundest wisdom, and the purest ministerial fidelity. If indeed the new birth never takes place but in baptism, and is necessarily connected with that ordinance, then a man might rest perfectly satisfied that he is a child of GoD and an heir of glory, when he has obtained a copy of his parish-register, duly attesting that he has been baptized. This document it might be well for him always to carry in his pocket, as a seasonable antidote against any qualms of conscience he might feel on comparing his character with that of regenerate persons as laid down in the inspired volume, and as an effectual means of preserving him from painful alarm, when he might hear of that "fundamental error" of Methodism and of the New Testament, That all who are living in the practice of sin, whether baptized or unbaptized, are "of the Devil!" But if such a certificate will afford no adequate support and protection “in the hour of death and in the day of judgment;" if regeneration be, as our LORD represents it, a preparation for the kingdom of God, and there are millions of baptized persons who are completely destitute of that "holiness, without which no man shall see the LORD; " then MESSRS. WESLEY and WHITEFIELD were sanctioned by eternal truth, and influenced by the most genuine charity, when they taught mankind to look in the moral qualities of their hearts, and in the uprightness of their lives, for such "proof" of their "actual regeneration," as their baptismal register, however authenticated, can never supply; and the "fundamental error" on this momentous subject will be found, not with them, but in another quarter!

Concerning the nature of that "proof" by which MESSRS. WESLEY and WHITEFIELD taught people to ascertain their regeneration, the Bishop gives an account which is equally uncandid and inaccurate. "This proof," says his Lordship, "their disciples were taught to expect in the perception of certain divine impulses, or impressions immediately proceeding from the SPIRIT of GOD, and the influence of which it would be impossible for them to resist." The language here used is so devoid of logical precision, that it is perhaps impossible to determine its exact import. If his Lordship intends to say, that MESSRS. WESLEY and WHITEFIELD

taught that regeneration is always accomplished by an irresistible influence of the HOLY SPIRIT; which I suppose to be his meaning; I beg leave to observe, that so far as MR. WESLEY is concerned, the charge is destitute of all foundation. He never believed, and therefore never propagated, any such doctrine. He acknowledged indeed, that, on some particular occasions, GoD is pleased to pour out his SPIRIT upon the souls of men in such a signal manner, that, for a season, they are not able to resist his convincing and renovating power; but that he thought this to be God's ordinary method in his dealings with men, and therefore taught them always to look for such visitations, is contradicted by the whole tenor of his writings. One single passage will be sufficient to set this question completely at rest. In his admirable tract on Predestination, he says,

"If man be in some measure free; if, by that light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world, there be set before him life and death, good and evil; then how gloriously does the manifold wisdom of GOD appear in the whole economy of man's salvation? Being willing that all men should be saved, yet not willing to force them thereto; willing that men should be saved, yet not as trees or stones, but as men, as reasonable creatures endued with understanding to discern what is good, and liberty either to accept or refuse it; how does he suit the whole scheme of his dispensations to this goes, his plan, the counsel of his will? His first step is, to enlighten the understanding, by that general knowledge of good and evil. To this he adds many secret reproofs, if they act contrary to this light; many inward convictions, which there is not a man on earth who has not often felt. At other times he gently moves their wills, he draws and woos them, as it were, to walk in the light. He instils into their hearts desires, though perhaps they knew not from whence they came. Thus far he proceeds with all the children of men, yea, even with those who have not the knowledge of his written word. But in this, what a field of wisdom is displayed, suppose man to be in some degree a free agent! How is every part of it suited to this end,-to save man, as man; to set life and death before him, and then persuade (not force) him to choose life! According to this grand purpose of God, a perfect rule is set before him, to serve as a lantern to his feet, and a light in all his paths,' This is offered to him in the form of a law, enforced with the strongest sanctions, the most glorious rewards for them that obey, the severest penalties to them that break it. To reclaim these, GOD uses all manner of ways: he tries every avenue of their souls. He applies sometimes to their understanding, showing them the folly of their sins; sometimes to their affections, tenderly expostulating with them for their ingratitude, and even condescending to ask, What could I have done for you, consistent with my eternal purpose not to force you, which I have not done? He intermixes sometimes threats; Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish; '--sometimes promises; Your sins and your iniquities will I remember no more.

It is singular that his Lordship should have charged MESSRS. WESLEY and WHITEFIELD with teaching that men are regenerated