The Book of Religions Part 51

Founder of the ancient sect of Quietists, was a Spaniard, of a rich and honorable family. He entered into priest's orders young, but would accept no preferment in the church. He possessed great talents, and was ardently pious, without any of the austerities of the Romish religious orders. He went to Rome, where, in 1675, he published his "Spiritual Guide," which gave him universal reputation. The Jesuits and Dominicans, envious at his success, charged him with heresy, and at last succeeded in getting him condemned by the Inquisition. He died of torment in their dungeons, a few years after.

John Wesley.

The great founder of Methodism was born at Epworth, in England, in 1703.

In 1714, he was placed at the Charter House; and two years after he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford. In 1725, he was ordained deacon, and the next year became fellow and tutor of Lincoln College.

Wesley's character, says his biographer, is itself a study. He equalled Luther in energy and courage, and Melancthon in learning and prudence. All the excellences of both the Wittemberg reformers were combined, if not transcended, in his individual character.

He possessed, in an eminent degree, the power of comprehending at once the general outlines and the details of plans, the aggregate and the integrants. It is this power which forms the philosophical genius in science; it is indispensable to the successful commander and the great statesman. It is ill.u.s.trated in the whole economical system of Methodism-a system which, while it fixes itself to the smallest localities with the utmost detail and tenacity, is sufficiently general in its provisions to reach the ends of the world, and still maintain its unity of spirit and discipline.

No man knew better than Wesley the importance of small things. His whole financial system was based on weekly penny collections. It was a rule of his preachers never to omit a single preaching appointment, except when the "risk of limb or life" required. He was the first to apply extensively the plan of tract distribution. He wrote, printed, and scattered over the kingdom, placards on almost every topic of morals and religion. In addition to the usual means of grace, he introduced the band meeting, the cla.s.s meeting, the prayer meeting, the love feast, and the watch night.

Not content with his itinerant laborers, he called into use the less available powers of his people by establishing the new departments of local preachers, exhorters, and leaders. It was, in fine, by gathering together fragments, by combining minutiae, that he formed that stupendous system of spiritual means which is rapidly evangelizing the world.

It was not only in the theoretical construction of plans that he excelled; he was, if possible, still more distinguished by practical energy. The variety and number of his labors would be absolutely incredible with less authentic evidence than that which corroborates them. He was perpetually travelling and preaching, studying and writing, translating and abridging, superintending his societies, and applying his great plans. He travelled usually _five thousand_ miles a year, preaching twice and thrice a day, commencing at five o'clock in the morning. In the midst of all this travelling and preaching, he carried with him the meditative and studious habits of the philosopher. No department of human inquiry was omitted by him. "History, poetry, and philosophy," said he, "I read on horseback."

Like Luther, he knew the importance of the press; he kept it teeming with his publications. His itinerant preachers were good agents for their circulation. "Carry them with you through every round," he would say; "exert yourselves in this; be not ashamed, be not weary, leave no stone unturned." His works, including abridgments and translations, amounted to about two hundred volumes. These comprise treatises on almost every subject of divinity, poetry, music, history,-natural, moral, metaphysical, and political philosophy. He wrote, as he preached, _ad populum_; and his works have given to his people, especially in Great Britain, an elevated tone of intelligence as well as of piety. He may, indeed, be considered the leader in those exertions which are now being made for the popular diffusion of knowledge.

Differing from the usual character of men who are given to various exertions and many plans, he was accurate and profound. He was an adept in cla.s.sical literature and the use of the cla.s.sical tongues; his writings are adorned with their finest pa.s.sages. He was familiar with a number of modern languages; his own style is one of the best examples of strength and perspicuity among English writers. He was ready on every subject of learning and general literature. As a logician, he was considered by his enemies, as well as his friends, to be unrivalled.

He was but little addicted to those exhilarations and contrarieties of frame which characterize imaginative minds. His temperament was warm, but not fiery. His intellect never appears inflamed, but was a glowing, serene radiance. His immense labors were accomplished, not by the impulses of restless enthusiasm, but by the cool calculations of his plans, and the steady self-possession with which he pursued them. "Though always in haste," he said, "I am never in a hurry." He was as economical with his time as a miser could be with his gold; rising at four o'clock in the morning, and allotting to every hour its appropriate work. "Leisure and I have taken leave of each other," said he. And yet such was the happy arrangement of his employments, that, amidst a multiplicity that would distract an ordinary man, he declares that "there are few persons who spend so many hours secluded from all company as myself." "The wonder of his character," said Robert Hall, "is the self-control by which he preserved himself calm, while he kept all in excitement around him. He was the last man to be infected by fanaticism. His writings abound in statements of preternatural circ.u.mstances; but it must be remembered that his faults in these respects were those of his age, while his virtues were peculiarly his own."

Though of a feeble const.i.tution, the regularity of his habits, sustained through a life of great exertions and vicissitudes, produced a vigor and equanimity which are seldom the accompaniments of a laborious mind or of a distracted life. "I do not remember," he says, "to have felt lowness of spirits one quarter of an hour since I was born." "Ten thousand cares are no more weight to my mind than ten thousand hairs are to my head." "I have never lost a night's sleep in my life." "His face was remarkably fine, his complexion fresh to the last week of his life, and his eye quick, keen, and active." He ceased not his labors till death. After the eightieth year of his age, he visited Holland twice. At the end of his eighty-second, he says, "I am never tired (such is the goodness of G.o.d) either with writing, preaching, or travelling." He preached under trees which he had planted himself, at Kingswood. He outlived most of his first disciples and preachers, and stood up, mighty in intellect and labors, among the second and third generations of his people. In his later years persecution had subsided; he was every where received as a patriarch, and sometimes excited, by his arrival in towns and cities, an interest "such as the presence of the king himself would produce." He attracted the largest a.s.semblies, perhaps, which were ever congregated for religious instruction, being estimated sometimes at more than _thirty thousand_!

Great intellectually, morally, and physically, he at length died, in the eighty-eighth year of his age and sixty-fifth of his ministry, unquestionably one of the most extraordinary men of any age.

Nearly one hundred and forty thousand members, upward of five hundred itinerant, and more than one thousand local preachers, were connected with him when he died.

George Whitefield.

One of the founders of the sect of the Methodists, born at Gloucester, where his mother kept the Bell inn, 1714. From the Crypt school of his native town, he entered as servitor at Pembroke College, Oxford, and was ordained at the proper age by Benson, bishop of Gloucester. Enthusiasm and the love of singularity now influenced his conduct, and in his eagerness to obtain popularity, he preached not only in prisons, but in the open fields, and by a strong persuasive eloquence, mult.i.tudes regarded him as a man of superior sanct.i.ty. In 1738, he went to America, to increase the number of his converts; but, after laboring for some time as the friend and the a.s.sociate of the Wesleys, he at last was engaged with them in a serious dispute, which produced a separation. While he zealously a.s.serted the doctrine of absolute election and final perseverance, agreeably to the notions of Calvin, his opponents regarded his opinion as unsupported by Scripture, and therefore inadmissible; and in consequence of this arose the two sects of the Calvinistic and the Arminian Methodists. Secure in the good opinion of a great number of adherents, and in the patronage of Lady Huntingdon, to whom he was chaplain, he continued his labors, and built two Tabernacles in the city and in Tottenham Court Road for the commodious reception of his followers. He died at Newburyport, Ma.s.sachusetts, while on a visit to his churches in America, and had the satisfaction to know that his adherents were numerous on both continents.

At Newburyport, the Hon. WILLIAM BARTLETT has erected an elegant marble monument, on which is the following inscription:-

"This Cenotaph is erected, with affectionate veneration, to the memory of the Rev. GEORGE WHITEFIELD, born at Gloucester, England, December 16, 1714; educated at Oxford University; ordained 1736.

In a ministry of thirty-four years, he crossed the Atlantic thirteen times, and preached more than eighteen thousand sermons.

As a soldier of the cross, humble, devoted, ardent, he put on the whole armor of G.o.d; preferring the honor of Christ to his own interest, repose, reputation, and life. As a Christian orator, his deep piety, disinterested zeal, and vivid imagination, gave unexampled energy to his look, utterance, and action. Bold, fervent, pungent, and popular in his eloquence, no other uninspired man ever preached to so large a.s.semblies, or enforced the simple truths of the gospel by motives so persuasive and awful, and with an influence so powerful on the hearts of his hearers. He died of asthma, September 30, 1770, suddenly exchanging his life of unparalleled labors for his eternal rest."

During Mr. Whitefield's visit to Philadelphia, he preached often in the evening from the gallery of the court-house in Market Street. So loud was his voice at that time, that it was distinctly heard on the Jersey sh.o.r.e, and so distinct was his speech, that every word he said was understood at Market Street wharf, a distance of upwards of four hundred feet from the court-house. All the intermediate s.p.a.ce was crowded with his hearers. Mr.

Whitefield was truly remarkable for his uncommon eloquence and fervent zeal. His eloquence was indeed very great, and of the truest kind. He was utterly devoid of all affectation; the importance of his subject, and the regard due to his hearers, engrossed all his concern. Every accent of his voice spoke to the ear, every feature of his face, every motion of his hands, and every gesture, spoke to the eye; so that the most dissipated and thoughtless found their attention arrested, and the dullest and most ignorant could not but understand. He appeared to be devoid of the spirit of sectarianism; his only object seemed to be to "preach Christ and him crucified."

The following anecdote respecting his manner of preaching will serve to ill.u.s.trate this part of his character. One day, while preaching from the balcony of the court-house, in Philadelphia, he cried out, "Father Abraham, who have you got in heaven; any _Episcopalians_?" "No!" "Any _Presbyterians_?" "No!" "Any _Baptists_?" "No!" "Have you any _Methodists_ there?" "No!" "Have you any _Independents_ or _Seceders_?" "No! No!" "Why, who have you, then?" "We don't know those names here; all that are here are _Christians_-believers in Christ-men who have overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of his testimony!" "O, is this the case? then G.o.d help me-G.o.d help us all-to forget party names, and to become Christians in deed and in truth."

Selina Huntingdon.

Countess, second daughter of Washington, earl Ferrers, born 1707, and married Lord Huntingdon, by whom she had four sons and three daughters.

From habits of gayety and scenes of dissipation, she became all at once, after a serious illness, grave, reserved, and melancholy. Her thoughts were wholly absorbed by religion, and she employed the ample resources which she possessed in disseminating her principles by the popular arts of Whitefield, Romaine, and others. Not only her house in Park Street was thrown open for the frequent a.s.sembling of these pious reformers, but chapels were built in various parts of the kingdom, and a college erected in Wales for the education of young persons in the future labors of the ministry. After many acts of extensive charity, and with the best intentions, this enthusiastic lady died in 1791.

Robert Sandeman.

The founder of the sect called _Sandemanians_, born at Perth, in Scotland, about the year 1718, and was educated at St. Andrews. Instead of entering into the church, for which he was intended, he became a linen manufacturer, and afterwards turned preacher. He came to America in October, 1764, and from Boston he went to Danbury, Connecticut. In that town he gathered a church the following year. He afterwards established several societies in New England. Individuals are still found who adhere to his peculiarities, and are known by the name of his sect. He wrote an answer to Hervey's "Theron and Aspasio," said to be a work of talent, but exhibiting great asperity.

The following is copied from the monument of Mr. Sandeman, in the burying-ground at Danbury:-

"Here lies, until the resurrection, the body of ROBERT SANDEMAN, a native of Perth, North Britain, who, in the face of continual opposition from all sorts of men, long boldly contended for the ancient faith, that the bare word of Jesus Christ, without a deed or thought on the part of man, is sufficient to present the chief of sinners spotless before G.o.d. To declare this blessed truth, as testified in the holy Scriptures, he left his country, he left his friends, and, after much patient suffering, finished his labors at Danbury, April 2, 1771, ae. 53 years.

Deigned Christ to come so nigh to us, As not to count it shame To call us brethren, should we blush At aught that bears his name?

Nay, let us boast in his reproach, And glory in his cross; When he appears, one smile from him Would far o'erpay our loss."

Samuel Hopkins.

An American divine, who, in his sermons and tracts, has made several additions to the sentiments first advanced by the celebrated Jonathan Edwards, late president of New Jersey College. Dr. Hopkins was born at Waterbury, in Connecticut, 1721, and graduated at Yale College, in 1741.

Soon after, he engaged in theological studies, at Northampton, Ma.s.sachusetts, under the superintendence of Jonathan Edwards, and, in 1743, was ordained at Housatonic, now Great Barrington, Ma.s.sachusetts, where he continued till he removed to Newport, Rhode Island, in consequence of the diminution of his congregation, and his want of support. When he had resided some time in this place, the people became dissatisfied with his sentiments, and resolved, at a meeting, to intimate to him their disinclination to his continuance among them. On the ensuing Sabbath, he preached his farewell discourse, which was so interesting and impressive that they besought him to remain, which he did till his death, in 1803. He was a pious and zealous man, of considerable talents, and almost incredible powers of application. He is said to have been sometimes engaged during eighteen hours in his studies. His doctrinal views are contained in his "System of Divinity," published in a second edition at Boston, in 1811, in two volumes, octavo.

Jonathan Mayhew.

A divine of Boston, was born in Martha's Vineyard, in 1720 and educated at Harvard College. In 1747, he was ordained pastor of the West Church, in Boston, and continued in this station the remainder of his life. He possessed a mind of great acuteness and energy, and in his principles was a determined republican. He had no little influence in producing the American revolution. His sermons and controversial tracts obtained for him a high reputation; and many of them were republished several times in England. He died in 1766.

Samuel Seabury.