out, I call it, and it comes, day or night? 4. To my having constantly, for above sixty years, risen at four in the morning? 5. To my constant preaching at five in the morning, for above fifty years? 6. To my having had so little pain in my life, and so little sorrow or anxious care ?-Even now, though I find pain daily in my eye, temple, or arm, yet it is never violent, and seldom lasts many minutes at a time.

"Whether or not this is sent to give me warning that I am shortly to quit this tabernacle, I do not know: but, be it one way or the other, I have only to say,

'My remnant of days

I spend to His praise,

Who died the whole world to redeem :

Be they many or few,

My days are his due,

And they all are devoted to Him!'"

And, referring to some persons in the nation who thought themselves endowed with the gift of prophecy, he adds, "If this is to be the last year of my life, according to some of these prophets, I hope it will be the best. I am not careful about it, but heartily receive the advice of the angel in Milton,—

'How well is thine; how long permit to heaven." "

CHAPTER XIV.

THE brothers, whose affection no differences of opinion, and no conflicts of party, could diminish, were now to be separated by death. Of the last days of Mr. Charles Wesley, Dr. Whitehead gives the following account :— Mr. Charles Wesley had a weak body, and a poor state of health, during the greatest part of his life. I believe he laid the foundation of both at Oxford by too close application to study, and abstinence from food. He rode much on horseback, which probably contributed to

lengthen out life to a good old age. I visited him several times in his last sickness; and his body was indeed reduced to the most extreme state of weakness. He possessed that state of mind which he had been always pleased to see in others,-unaffected humility, and holy resignation to the will of God. He had no transports of joy, but solid hope and unshaken confidence in Christ, which kept his mind in perfect peace. A few days before his death he composed the following lines. Having been silent and quiet for some time, he called Mrs. Wesley to him, and bid her write as he dictated :

"In age and feebleness extreme,

Who shall a sinful worm redeem?
Jesus, my only hope thou art,

Strength of my failing flesh and heart;

O could I catch a smile from thee,

And drop into eternity!'

"He died, March 29th, 1788, aged seventy-nine years and three months; and was buried, April 5th, in Marybone church-yard at his own desire. The pall was supported by eight Clergymen of the Church of England. On his tomb-stone are the following lines, written by himself on the death of one of his friends: they could not be more aptly applied to any person than to Mr. Charles Wesley :"With poverty of spirit bless'd,

Rest, happy saint, in Jesus rest;

A sinner sav'd, through grace forgiven,
Redeem'd from earth to reign in heaven!
Thy labours of unwearied love,

By thee forgot, are crown'd above;
Crown'd, through the mercy of thy Lord,
With a free, full, immense reward!'

Mr. Charles Wesley was of a warm and lively disposition, of great frankness and integrity, and generous and steady in his friendships. In conversation he was pleasing, instructive, and cheerful; and his observations were often seasoned with wit and humour. His religion was genuine

and unaffected. As a Minister, he was familiarly acquainted with every part of divinity; and his mind was furnished with an uncommon knowledge of the Scriptures. His discourses from the pulpit were not dry and systematic, but flowed from the present views and feelings of his own mind. He had a remarkable talent of expressing the most important truths with simplicity and energy; and his discourses were sometimes truly apostolic, forcing conviction on the hearers in spite of the most determined opposition. As a husband, a father, and a friend, his character was amiable. Mrs. Wesley brought him five children, of whom two sons and a daughter are still living. The sons discovered so fine a taste for music,

*

* Miss Wesley, a lady of eminent talents, and great excellence, died September 19, 1828.

It would be improper to withhold, as I have them before me, in the unpublished letters with which I have been favoured, some incidental remarks of the late Miss Wesley, on the character of her father :

"Mr. Moore seems to think that my father preferred rest to going about to do good. He had a rising family, and considered it his duty to confine his labours to Bristol and London, where he laboured most sedulously in ministerial offices; and judged that it was incumbent upon him to watch over the youth of his sons, especially in a profession which nature so strongly pointed out, but which was peculiarly dangerous. He always said his brother was formed to lead, and he to follow. No one ever more rejoiced in another's superiority, or was more willing to confess it. Mr. Moore's statement of his absence of mind in his younger days, was probably correct, as he was born impetuous, and ardent, and sincere. But what a change must have taken place when we were born! For his exactness in his accounts, in his manuscripts, in his bureau, &c., equalled my uncle's. Not in his dress, indeed; for my mother said, if she did not watch over him, he might have put on an old for a new coat, and marched Such was his power of abstraction, that he could read and compose, with his children in the room, and visiters talking around him. He was near forty when he married, and had eight children, of whom we were the youngest. So kind and amiable a

out.

at an early period of life, that they excited general astonishment; and they are now justly admired by the best judges for their talents in that pleasing art. The Methodists are greatly indebted to Charles Wesley for his unwearied labours and great usefulness at the first formation of the societies, when every step was attended with difficulty and danger. And being dead he yet speaketh by his numerous and excellent hymns, written for the use of the societies, which still continue to be the means of daily edification and comfort to thousands." *

For the spiritual advantages which the Methodists have derived from his inestimable hymns, which are in constant use in their congregations, as well as for his early labours, the memory of Mr. Charles Wesley indeed deserves to be had in their everlasting remembrance; and they are not insensible of the value of the gift. Their taste has been formed by this high standard; and, notwith standing all the charges of illiteracy, and want of mental cultivation, which have been often brought against them, we may venture to say, there are few collections of Psalms and Hymns in use in any other congregations, that would, as a whole, be tolerated amongst them;-so powerful has been the effect produced by his superior compositions. The clear and decisive character of the religious experience which they describe; their force, and life, and earnestness ; commended them, at the first, to the piety of the societies, and, through that, insensibly elevated the judgment of thousands, who, otherwise, might have relished, as strongly as others, the rudeness of the

character in domestic life can scarcely be imagined. The tenderness he showed in every weakness, and the sympathy in every pain, would fill sheets to describe. But, I am not writing his eulogy; only I must add, with so warm a temper, he never was heard to speak an angry word to a servant, or known to strike a child in anger, and he knew no guile !"

* Whitehead's Life.

old version of the Psalms, the tameness of the new, and the tinsel metaphors and vapid sentimentalisms which disfigure numerous compositions of different authors, in most collections of hymns in use. It would seem, indeed, from the very small number of really good Psalms and Hymns, which are adapted to public worship and the use of religious societies, that this branch of sacred poetry has not been very successfully cultivated; and that the combination of genius, judgment, and taste, requisite to produce them, is very rarely found. Germany is said to be more abundant in good Hymns than England; and some of the most excellent of the Wesleyan Hymns are imitations of German Hymns admirably versified. But in our language the number is small. Hymns, indeed, abounding in sweet thoughts, though often feebly expressed, and such as may be used profitably in the closet or the family circle, are not so rare. But the true sacred lyric, suited for public worship, and the select assemblies of the devout, is as scarce as it is valuable. From the rustic rhyming of Sternhold and Hopkins, to the Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts, the advance was indeed unspeakably great. A few, however, only of the latter, in comparison of the whole number, are unexceptionable throughout. When they are so, they leave nothing to be desired; but many of Dr. Watts's compositions begin well, often nobly, and then fall off into dulness and puerility; and not a few are utterly worthless, as being poor in thought, and still more so in expression. piety and sweetness of Doddridge's Hymns must be felt; but they are often verbose and languid, and withal faulty and affected in their metaphors. The Olney Collection has many delightful hymns for private use; but they are far from being generally fit for the public services of religion, and are often in bad taste; not even excepting many of Cowper's. This may be spoken without irreverence, for the greatest poets have not proved the best

The