FOR AUGUST, 1839.

BIOGRAPHY.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES

OF THE REV. BARTHOLOMEW WESLEY, AND OF THE REV. JOHN WESLEY, HIS SON; GREAT-GRANDFATHER, AND GRANDFATHER, OF THE LATE REV. JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY.

THE following notices are taken from a pamphlet just published by the Rev. William Beal, the full title of which we give below.* Mr. Beal has kindly forwarded a copy, with permission to abridge it so far as our confined limits render necessary. Those limits (connected with the number of Memoirs we have on hand) prevent the republication here of the entire pamphlet; but we the less regret this, as we cannot doubt but that the extracts now inserted will induce many of our readers to procure the pamphlet for themselves.-EDIT.

"KNOWN unto God are all his works, from the beginning of the world." What we are accustomed to term nature, providence, and, grace, are but the developement of these known purposes, and the manifestation of God. As these declare unto us "invisible things," must it not be equally the duty and the privilege of men to behold the Divine Being therein? Creation is the declaration of God; the disclosure of those plans which previously existed in His infinitely wise and benevolent mind; for "in his book they were written, when as yet there was none of them;" and these in material substances, constitute an important part of that temple in which the Creator ever lives, acts, and should be adored. Men who thus regard visible things, will not contemplate merely so much brute matter, and variously combined substances; but forms by and in which are brought to the senses

"Biographical Notices of the Rev. Bartholomew Westley, Rector of Charmouth and Catherston, Dorset, 1645–1662; and of the Rev. John Westley, A. M., his Son, Vicar of Winterbourne-Whitchurch, in the same county, 1658-1662: the former, the Great-grandfather, the latter, the Grandfather, of the late Rev. John and Charles Wesley. By William Beal." 8vo. pp. 32. J. Mason. "He whose heart is not excited upon the spot which a martyr has sanctified by his sufferings, or at the grave of one who has largely benefited mankind, must be more inferior to the multitude in his moral, than he can possibly be raised above them in his intellectual, nature."-SOUTHEY.

VOL. XVIII. Third Series. AUGUST, 1839.

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and mind, the previously existing patterns and plans wherein the "back parts" of God are disclosed.

"He who made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." These " appointments and bounds” imply both plan and design; or what we are accustomed to term Providence. This important word ideally stands for pre-vision or foresight, and pro-vision or supply. In the special endowments of men, and their disposal as to time, place, and circumstances, for the work appointed them to do, is not the developement of plan very apparent? Especi ally in connexion with the purpose of God in Christ and the Christian church, "which is his body, the fulness" and the manifestation "of him who filleth all in all."

From Eden to Calvary; from the period when it was said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," to this hour, Christianity has been, and is, the great work and manifestation of God, and especially of his only-begotten Son: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." The agents employed have been created and formed by him. They have greatly differed as to distinguishing qualifications; but have all contributed in the way of heaven to the same end. As mighty operations, though unnoticed in one season, prepare the earth for the flowers and fruits of the next, so good men, comparatively unheeded and forgotten, have been chosen instruments in the hand of God to prepare his way.

In the agents by which Christianity was successfully made known, and has been continued in the world, amidst the "counsel" and efforts of men, who, resolved to scout the Gospel from the earth, as a "pernicious and pestilent superstition," divine Providence is strikingly apparent. In the estimation of the world, they were base, weak, and as such despised;" but they brought to nought things that were. The immediate successors of the Apostles were vessels of honour, prepared and meet for the Master's use, whether they are contemplated as Ministers, or as apologists. Such also were the witnesses clothed in sackcloth, who prophesied when the gold had become dim, and the most fine gold was changed. To the same end, and by the same Providence, the wrath, purposes, and inventions of men were made to praise God;-the Crusades, for example, and the fall of Constantinople; these events led to the dispersion of valuable knowledge in western Europe;-the rise, also, of the Florentine school in the house of Medici, and the great change in letters to which this led; -the invention, at this moment, of printing, and the rapid multiplication of books-the building of St. Peter's;-the work of Tetzel;all, led the way to Luther, Melancthon, and the Reformation; by which, as from death, the church arose in her might.

The honoured names of the most conspicuous actors in this important event have been deservedly handed down to posterity; and long

may they be remembered by men! But there were others equally worthy, who laboured, suffered, and prepared the way for their more distinguished successors, of whom but little is recorded and known. How scanty, for example, are the memorials which have been transmitted to us, of that Deacon who, A. D. 660, on his return from Mahometan captivity, was hospitably received at Mananalis, in the north of Syria, by Constantine, another Christian in suffering. In the morning, when about to depart, the only way in which the Deacon could reward his kind host was, by the gift of a copy of the holy Scriptures. This became to Constantine an invaluable gift, and precious seed. He searched the Scriptures, and they became the power of God to his salvation. The blessing he had found, he began to make known to his neighbours, and with great effect. As the Epistles of Paul were highly valued by this good man, and affectionately commended to his hearers, Constantine and his followers were speedily known by the term Paulicians. Their enemies reported them to be Manichees; but Gibbon, though not their friend, declares, "The Paulicians sincerely condemned the memory and opinions of the Manichæan sect." Mosheim states the same fact. They were severely persecuted, yet they grew and rapidly extended. From Asia Minor and the east of Europe, they were driven towards the west, and were known as Cathari, a word akin to our Puritans. Still driven by intolerance, their representatives fled to the glens near the Alps, and were proscribed on one side of those mountains as Vallenses or Waldenses, and on the other as Albigenses. From thence they were hunted to the caverns of the Alps, &c., where, as if wolves and not men, they were the jest of their enemies as Turlupins. Still regarded and pursued as reptiles who should be trodden under foot, they fled wherever they could find a refuge. In France their designation was Tisserands, from their employ, and "the poor men of Lyons." Among these persecuted fugitives, and remnants of early churches, under different names, whom Bossuet acknowledges as "the theological, if not the natural, descendants of the Paulicians of Armenia," the Protestants of those ages, the flock and church of Christ was permanently found. It would be no difficult task, to attempt to connect the gift of one solitary copy of God's word by a suffering Deacon to Constantine, with the light that dawned on Wickliffe, Huss, and Luther, and which led to the Reformation. Yet the Deacon and the Paulicians are but little known; and, where known, generally it has been but to be dishonoured.

Luther, and his noble associates, stand before us in growing repute. Yet how few have heard of John de Wesalia, and John Wesselus (if the latter is not the former name Latinized) of Groningen; who was once known and honoured as the "forerunner of Luther!" Wesselus was born A. D. 1419, travelled in the east, became Doctor in Divinity, suffered for the "truth," and died 1489. In his day, Wesselus was so

celebrated, as to be known as the "light of the world;" but that which the most distinguished him, was his preparation, by his works and sufferings, of the way for Luther. By this great man some of the works of Wesselus were edited, and he greatly commended him for his learning and worth. By this kindness of Luther, principally if not only, the name of Wesselus has been preserved from perishing; yet assuredly the church owes that man very much, and should cherish his memory, who could be truly spoken of as the forerunner of the great Saxon Reformer. One other fact in reference to Wesselus may be noticed. At the elevation of Sixtus the IV. to the Papal throne, he bade Wesselus ask at his hands some gift. He modestly expressed his wish and prayer, that the pontificate might be to its possessor a great personal and public good. "That," said Sixtus, "is my care: ask something for yourself." "Then, holy father," replied Wesselus, "my request is that from your library you would grant me a copy of the Scriptures." "That," said the Pope, "you shall have; but, foolish man, why do not you ask a bishopric, or something of that sort?" The answer was, "Because I do not want such things." Like the late John Wesley, he was homo unius libri, a man of one book."

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The Reformation, though attended with mighty changes, did not accomplish all that might have been expected, nor long maintain its vigour. With all their faults, we are greatly indebted to the Puritans, and the noble band of Nonconformists, for the preservation of the leading doctrines of the Reformation in Britain. But the children of these men renounced the faith, and departed from the spirit of their fathers. What is known as Methodism (a term by which the religion of Nonconformist Ministers was also known; Mr. Sandercock of Tavistock, in his notice of Richard Saunders, M. A., who was ejected from Kentisbeer, Devon., and who died at Tiverton, reports that he was one of those who were at that time called New Methodists) has during the last century effected a great change in Britain, the direct and indirect operations of which are mighty in our churches; and from us and America, to the most distant parts of the earth. This "second reformation" has placed the name of the late Rev. John Wesley very prominently before the world. "The Centenary of Wesleyan Methodism," by our respected President, directs more especially the Wesleyan body to those names and labours in which they should ever glorify God. But there were other Wesleys, in whom also God should be honoured; less distinguished, yet not to be forgotten. By the world they were dishonoured; but as men of learning and worth, as Christian Ministers, distinguished by piety, the most exemplary patience, and resignation in circumstances of great suffering, they are worthy of lasting remembrance. The writer is favoured by being called to put together some fragments of the elder Wesleys, which he has carefully gleaned; that of these good men a permanent record may be found in the Wesleyan Magazine.