when he saw that the movement was becoming revolutionary. When the government executed three of the ringleaders he preached a sermon admonishing his hearers not to become involved in affairs not their own. He was a protector of Huguenot refugees and of Waldenses. (EBERHARD VISCHER.) BIBLIOGRAPHY: The one satisfactory account of Werenfels's life is by A. von Salis, in the Beiträge zur vaterlandischen Geschichte, published by the Historical and Antiquarian Society of Basel, new series, v. 1 sqq., Basel, 1901. WERENFELS, SAMUEL: Swiss theologian: b. at Basel Mar. 1, 1657; d. there June 1, 1740. After finishing his theological and philosophical studies at Basel, he visited the universities at Zurich, Bern, Lausanne, and Geneva. On his return he held, for a short time, the professorship of logic, and in 1685 became professor of Greek at Basel. The next year he undertook an extensive journey through Germany, Belgium, and Holland, one of his companions being Gilbert Burnet (q.v.). In 1687 he was appointed professor of rhetoric, and in 1696 became a member of the theological faculty, occupying successively according to the Basel custom the chairs of dogmatics and polemics, Old Testament, and New Testament. He was thus in a manner compelled to manifest a many-sided activity.

In his De logomachiis eruditorum (Amsterdam, 1688) Werenfels shows how often controversies that divide even Christians are at bottom mere verbal disputes arising from moral deficiencies, especially from pride. He proposed to do away with such disputes by making a universal lexicon of all terms and concepts. In the Oratio de vero et falso theologorum zelo he admonishes those who fight professedly for purity of doctrine but in reality for their own system to show their zeal where the fruits of faith are wanting and Christian love has grown cold. He considers it the duty of the polemist not to combat antiquated heresies and to warm up dead issues, but to overthrow the prevalent enemies of true Christian living. His epigram on the misuse of the Bible is well known: "This is the book in which each both seeks and finds his own dogmas." He had a high conception of his duties as a theological professor, as shown in his address, De scopo doctoris in academia sacras litteras docentis. He believed that it was more important to care for the piety of candidates for the ministry than for their scholarship. It was his belief that a professor of practical theology is as necessary as a professor of practical medicine. He represented a theology that put doctrinal quibbles in the background and laid emphasis upon the pure doctrine which demands a Christian life of purity and love. He stood for the necessity of a special revelation of God, and defended the Biblical miracles as confirmations of the words of the divine evangelists. In his Cogitationes generales de ratione uniendi ecclesias protestantes, quæ vulgo Lutheranarum et Reformatorum nominibus distingui solent, he sought a way of reconciling the two branches of the Protestant Church.

Werenfels's writings went through many editions, as did the sermons he preached in French, which were received with great applause, and were translated into German and Dutch. During the last twenty years of his life he lived in retirement in

order to devote his whole time to the care of his soul's welfare, though his solicitude for students did not cease.

It is all the more surprising, on this account, that he thought proper to issue from his retirement and take part in the proceedings against Johann Jakob Wetstein (q.v.) for heresy, especially as he had himself in 1720 expressed the opinion that fallible man ought not to decide upon the regularity of another's faith. He expressed regret afterward at having become involved in the affair.

His Sylloge dissertationum theologicarum appeared first Basel, 1609; a further collection of his works is Opuscula theologica, philologica, et philosophia (Basel, 1718, new ed., 3 vols., 1782).

(EBERHARD VISCHER.) BIBLIOGRAPHY: Letters by Werenfels are in E. de Budé, Lettres inédites à J. A. Turrettini, vol. iii., Paris and Geneva, 1887, and in Museum Helveticum, part viii., Zurich, 1748. Consult: K. R. Hagenbach, Die theologische Schule Basels und ihre Lehrer, Basel, 1860; A. Schweizer, Die protestantischen_Centraldogmen, ii. 776 sqq., Zurich, 1856; L. Junot, in Le chrétien évangélique, xi (1868), 274 8qq.

WERKMEISTER, vārk'mai"ster, BENEDIKT MARIA VON (LEONHARD): German Roman Catholic reformer; b. at Füssen (57 m. s.w. of Munich) Oct. 22, 1745; d. at Steinbach (near Stutt gart) July 16, 1823. After preliminary education, by 1764 he had decided to become a monk, and that year entered upon his novitiate; but becoming interested in secular literature, especially in the works of Frederick the Great and Pope's Essay on Man, doubts entered his mind. Nevertheless, his first inclination triumphed and in 1765 he entered the order, assuming the name of the prelate Benedikt Maria. He continued his studies in theology and canon law at Neresheim and Benediktbeuren; was ordained priest in 1769; became master of novices and instructor of philosophy at Neresheim in 1770; held a similar position at the episcopal lyceum of Freising, 1772-74; and then returned to Neresheim as secretary to the abbot, keeper of the archives, librarian, and master of novices. Two works belong to this period in which the reforming tendencies of Werkmeister find expression: Unmassgeblicher Vor schlag zur Reformation des niederen katholischen Klerus nebst Materialien zur Reformation des höheren ("Munich," 1782); and Ueber die christliche Toleranz (“Frankfort and Leipsic," 1784). Both works appeared anonymously through the mediation of Protestants.

In 1784 Werkmeister became court chaplain to Karl Eugen, count of Württemberg. The count was filled with enthusiasm for reform and his wishes coincided with those of his chaplain. Soon after Werkmeister's assumption of his office he issued a modified liturgy, Gesangbuch nebst angehängtem öffentlichem Gebete zum Gebrauch der herzoglich württemburgischen Hofkapelle (1784), the hymns in which were borrowed from Protestant sources. This passed through several editions. The Latin vesper service was next altered to resemble the Protestant afternoon service. Werkmeister introduced the use of German in prayers, readings from the New Testament, and sermons. Gradually he worked into use the German mass and communion service. Only

the canon missæ was said in Latin. Werkmeister's reforms were generally approved, but they were subject to an attack in the Mainz Monatschrift von geistlichen Sachen (1786, pp. 699 sqq.). Werkmeister replied anonymously with Ueber die deutschen Mess- und Abendmahlsanstalten in der katholischen Hofkapelle zu Stuttgart (1787). Further criticisms were answered in the Beiträge zur Verbesserung der katholischen Liturgie in Deutschland (Ulm, 1789). The influence of the spirit of the Enlightenment (q.v.) on Werkmeister is further shown by a collection of sermons, Predigten in den Jahren 1784-91 (3 vols., 1812-15). His interest in catechetics appears in Ueber den neuen katholischen Katechismus bei Gelegenheit einer Mainzischen Preisaufgabe (Frankfort, 1789); while his fundamental religious views appeared in Thomas Freykirch, oder jreimütige Untersuchungen über die Unfehlbarkeit der katholischen Kirche (1792), in which he denied the infallibility of that church. His reforms seemed destined to be widely accepted. But the successor of Karl, Count Ludwig Eugen, who had disapproved of Werkmeister's activity in his brother's second marriage, did away with the liturgical reforms and retired Werkmeister on a meager pension. Meanwhile Werkmeister had become secularized; nevertheless, Abbot Michael Dobler gave him asylum in Neresheim. But in 1795 he was recalled by Count Friedrich Eugen, Karl's second brother. The reforms were restored, except the German mass. The services of the court chapel became public in 1806, and Werkmeister obtained the parish of Steinach. In 1807, he was appointed member of the church council; in 1816, chief councilor for schools; and in 1817, leading ecclesiastical councilor.

(R. GÜNTHER).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. von Longner, Beiträge zur Geschichte der oberrheinischen Kirchenprovinz, pp. 291 sqq., Tübingen, 1863; H. Brück, Die rationalistischen Bestrebungen im katholischen Deutschland, pp. 21 sqq., Mainz, 1865; J. B. Sågmüller, Die kirchlichen Aufklärung am Hofe des Her2008 Karl Eugen von Württemberg, Freiburg, 1906; KL, xii. 1331-32.

WERNER, ver'ner, JOHANNES: German Protestant; b. at Ohrdruf (9 m. s. of Gotha) Sept. 30, 1864. He was educated at the universities of Heidelberg, Berlin, Jena (Ph.D., 1887), and Marburg (lic. theol., 1889); became privat-docent for church history and systematic theology at Marburg (1889), and professor of church history in 1894. Since 1900 he has resided in Leipsic as a private scholar. In theology he is "liberal." Besides being a collaborator on the Theologische Rundschau since 1898 and on the Theologischer Jahresbericht since 1901, he has written Hegels Offenbarungsbegriff (Leipsic, 1887); Der Paulinismus des Irenæus (1889); Dogmengeschichtliche Tabellen (Gotha, 1893; 3d ed., 1903); and a new edition of K. von Hase's Hutterus Redivius (Leipsic, 1907). Since 1908 he has been one of the editors of Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart.

WERNER, KARL: Roman Catholic; b. at Hafnerbach, Lower Austria, Mar. 8, 1821; d. at Vienna Apr. 4, 1888. He was a student at Melk, Krems, St. Pölten, and at the priests' institute in Vienna, 1842-45, when he gained his doctorate from Vienna

University. He was professor of moral theology in the Episcopal Seminary at St. Pölten, 1847–70, and of New-Testament theology in the University of Vienna, 1871-81; and was ministerial and consistorial councilor at Vienna, 1880-88. His works embrace System der christlichen Ethik (3 vols., Regensburg, 1852); Grundlinien der Philosophie (1855); Der heilige Thomas von Aquino (3 vols., 1858-59); Franz Suarez und die Scholastik der letzten Jahrhunderte (2 vols., 1861); Geschichte der apologetischen und polemischen Literatur der christlichen Theologie (5 vols., Schaffhausen, 1861-67); Gerbert von Aurillac (Vienna, 1878); Giambattista Vico als Philosoph und gelehrter Forscher (1879); Beda der Ehrwürdige (new ed., 1881); Die Scholastik des späteren Mittelalters (7 vols., 1881-87); Die italienische Philosophie des XIX. Jahrhunderts (5 vols., 1884-86).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Kopallik, in Wiener Diocesanblatt, 1897, pp. 145 sqq.; KL, xii. 1332-34.

WERNLE, vārn'le, PAUL: Swiss Protestant; b. in Zurich May 1, 1872. He was educated at the universities of Göttingen, Berlin, and Basel (lic. theol., 1896); became privat-docent for exegesis at Basel (1896), associate professor (1901), and professor of modern church history (1905). He is an advocate of "free theological science and Christocentric religion," and has written Der Christ und die Sünde bei Paulus (Tübingen, 1897); Paulus als Heidenmissionar (1899); Die synoptische Frage (1899); Die Anfänge unserer Religion (1901; Eng. transl. by G. A. Bienemann, The Beginnings of Die Christianity, 2 vols., London, 1903-04); Reichsgotteshoffnung in der ältesten christlichen Dokumenten und bei Jesus (1903); Was haben wir heute an Paulus? (Basel, 1903); Die Renaissance des Christentums im sechzehnten Jahrhundert (Tübingen, 1904); Einführung in das theologische Studium (1908, 2d. ed., 1911), Johann Hinrich Wichern (Basel, 1908); and Renaissance und Reformation (1911).

WERNSDORF, vårns'dorf, ERNST FRIEDRICH: German theologian, second son of Gottlieb Wernsdorf (q.v.); b. at Wittenberg Dec. 18, 1718; d. there May 7, 1782. He studied at the University of Leipsic (M.A., 1742; D.D., 1756); was appointed professor of Christian archeology there (1752); and in 1756 he went to Wittenberg as professor of theology. His writings dealt with matters of Biblical, antiquarian, and Reformation history. His name has come into new prominence as once the owner of a manuscript of Luther's Tischreden, the document mentioned so early as 1769 by J. T. Lingke. It was doubtless through Wernsdorf's widow, who long survived her husband, that this manuscript came into the possession of Politz, with whose collection of books it subsequently found its way to the city library of Leipsic. GEORG MÜLLER.. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. G. Meusel, Lericon der teutschen Schriftsteller xv. 35-37, Leipsic, 1816; M. Hoffmann, Pförtner Stammbuch 1543–1893, p. 222, Berlin, 1893; E. Kroker, Luthers Tischreden in der Mathesischen Sammlung, pp. 17 sqq., Leipsic, 1903; ADB, xlii. 96-98.

WERNSDORF, GOTTLIEB: German theologian; b. at Schönewalde (48 m. s. of Berlin) Feb. 25, 1668; d. at Wittenberg July 1, 1729. He studied

at Wittenberg (M.A., 1689; D.D., 1700); lectured with success on logic, ethics, and history in the philosophical faculty of that university; was transferred, in 1698, as professor extraordinary in the theological faculty, his thesis treating De auctoritate librorum symbolicorum; became regular professor in 1706; in 1710 was appointed provost at the residential church, and, shortly thereafter, general superintendent at Wittenberg. He became, notably in his later years, universally revered among his theological pupils, being affectionately known as Father Wernsdorf." While his lectures were not always distinguished by depth, they were marked by clearness, excellence of form, and especially by great earnestness in the admonitory portions.

His Disputationes academica were published by Christian Heinrich Zeibich (2 vols., 1736). Special mention may be made of his De primordiis emendatæ per Lutherum religionis (new ed., 1735), and of his most extensive production, Gründliche Reformationshistorie (Wittenberg, 1717), which comes down to the Diet of Augsburg, 1530.

Consistently with his theological position, he belonged to the advocates of the more lenient orthodoxy. His anti-Calvinistic arguments appear in the Demonstratio quod juxta Calvini doctrinam Reformati nec sint nec jure haberi possint socii Augustanæ Confessionis. He took part in the contemporary controversies with Pietists and Mystics, as with the leading philosophers of the time. If, on the one hand, he opposed the one-sided emphasis of emotion in religion, on the other hand he strongly emphasized the element of inspiration, which he held to be mediately operative even in the symbolical books of Lutheranism. GEORG MÜLLER. BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Coler, De Wernsdorfii in rem sacram et literariam meritis, Leipsic, 1719; J. A. Gleich, Annales ecclesiastici, i. 369, ii. passim, Dresden, 1730; A. Tholuck, Der Geist der lutherischen Theologen Wittenbergs, pp. 259 sqq., Hamburg, 1852; ADB, xlii. 96–98.

WERNZ, FRANZ XAVER: General of the Jesuit order; b. at Rottweil (30 m. s.w. of Tübingen) Dec. 4, 1842. On the completion of his education he became, in 1862, a teacher at the school of Stella Matutina in Feldkirch-im-Breisgau, whence he was later transferred to the seminary at Ditton Hall, Lancashire, as instructor in canon law. In 1883 he was appointed to the faculty of the Collegium Romanum, Rome, of which he was made rector in 1894, being at the same time a professor at the Gregorian University. He was chosen general of the Society of Jesus Apr. 18, 1906. He has written Jus decretalium ad usum prælectionum (4 vols., Rome, 1898-1904; 2d ed., 1905 sqq.).

WERTHEIM BIBLE. See BIBLES, ANNOTATED, AND BIBLE SUMMARIES, I., § 4.

WESEL, vê'zel, JOHN OF: Reformer before the Reformation; b. at Ober-Wesel (26 m. w.n.w. of Mainz) in the early part of the fifteenth century; d. at Mainz after 1479. His family name is variously written Ruchrath or Richrath [Ruchard, Ruchrad, Rucherath], and the family itself was native to the immediate region where John was born. He first appears in history as matriculating at the University of Erfurt (1441-42), where he took the bachelor's degree in 1442, the master's in 1445,

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became licentiate in 1456 and the same year doctor of theology. He was rector of the university in 1456-57, and at the end of 1457 was vice-rector for a time. In his work on the councils Luther declares that John ruled the university with his books, and these Luther himself used in preparing for his mas ter's degree. Bartholomæus Arnoldi of Usingen reports in a work first printed in 1499 that John's reputation still lived at Erfurt; he apologizes also for differing in opinion from John, whose statements, he declares, do not always square with the truth, professes to give an example of this from John's commentary on the Aristotelian physics, and adds a cryptic remark to the effect that everything is not to be told to the public at large, though they may be clear to the learned. This can not be pressed so far as to mean that Arnoldi charged John with teachings contrary to those of the Church. Indeed, Johann von Lutter, many years a colleague of Wesel at Erfurt, reports that Wesel often said from his chair that he would maintain nothing which was dissonant from the teaching of the Roman Church or the doctrines of its approved doctors (N. Paulus, Der Augustiner Bartholomäus Arnoldi von Usingen, pp. 8 sqq., Strasburg, 1893). Yet Wesel may have given utterance to somewhat bold expressions regarding the early Fathers of the Church. Toward the end of 1460 Wesel was canon at Worms; and early in 1461 he became professor at Basel, though only after protracted negotiations. Here, too, his stay was brief, for in 1463 he was preacher at the cathedral at Worms. But his sermons caused offense, now by pedantic and confusing speculation, now by bold attacks upon the Church, its sacraments, teachings, and tendencies. Bishop Reinhard was compelled to depose him, after warning him at Heidelberg in the presence of the theologians. Yet Diether von Isenberg, archbishop of Mainz, called him as pastor to the cathedral. Here, too, he aroused suspicions by relations with a Bohemian adventurer who had been accustomed to meet him at Worms and had followed him to Mainz, to whom he gave a little treatise for his companions in Bohemia. This came by a circuitous route into the hands of the archbishop, and, after it had been submitted to the professors of the university, brought punishment upon the Hussite and upon Wesel. The latter was put upon his defense before a board of theologians from Cologne and Heidelberg; he was then an old man of eighty, but it was reported that his answers before the inquisitors were indifferent, confused, suspicious, and evasive. On Sunday, Feb. 21, 1479, he recanted in the cathedral, his writings were burned, and he was himself condemned to lifelong repentance in the Augus tinian monastery at Mainz, where soon afterward he died.

During the trial Wesel designated as his own four tracts: (1) Super modo obligationis legum humanarum ad quendam Nicolaum de Bohemia; (2) De potestate ecclesiastica; (3) De indulgentiis; and (4) De jejuniis. Of these only one can now be positively identified; the Disputatio adversus indulgentias is extant in a manuscript, in the royal library at Berlin, bearing the date 1478, and has been printed both by C. W. F. Walch in Monumenta medii ævi, i. 1, pp. 111–156

(Göttingen, 1757) and by H. von der Hardt about twenty years earlier in Septem coronamenta supra septem columnas academiæ regiæ Georgia Augustæ, que Goetinga est, pp. 13–23. The central part is contained in the disputation-theses (chaps. 3-10), which belong probably to the year 1475. The secand document acknowledged by Wesel has been sought in the Opusculum de auctoritate, officio et polestate pastorum ecclesiasticorum, which was published without place or date (possibly Zwolle, 1522). But this is in style fundamentally different from the work on indulgences, professes to be by a layman, and can not be by Wesel. From the period of Wesel's teaching at Erfurt there has come down in manuscript Questiones de libris physicorum Aristotelis, the manuscript being at Erfurt, and a commentary on the "Sentences" of Peter Lombard, this being at Berlin. From his period at Basel there is a lecture on logic and a commentary on Aristotelis libros de omnia, the manuscripts having been copied in 1462– 1463 and being found in the Munich library. In the library of the University of Würzburg there is a copy of an exchange of polemical writings between Wesel and John of Lutter, debating the question whether the pope is the vicar of Christ and whether pope or council have authority in case of deadly sin; in both cases Wesel took the negative.

As a source for the teaching of Wesel only the Disputatio adversus indulgentias can be used. His answers during his examination would be pertinent, if only they were clear and consistent. Wesel stood with the general teaching of the Church of the Middle Ages and with Augustine and Thomas Aquinas in his doctrines of sin, grace, forgiveness of sins, and penance. In connection with the sacrament of penance Wesel was a Scotist and nominalist, holding that the priest can not principaliter et effective forgive sin, but only through divine assistance, and the priestly forgiving of sin is only a sacramental ministry to the penitent sinner. The one who alone forgives sin is God, who has called the priest to take part therein; the gift of grace in the sacrament of penance is the remission of guilt and punishment in hell, remission of divine punishment is not an accompaniment. Indulgences are a pious imposture upon the faithful; yet so far as pilgrimages and alms and the like good works are done in love to God, they are in themselves useful and contribute to the obtaining of eternal life. Remission is serviceable only in remitting ecclesiastical penalties. Wesel taught of the Church that it is the aggregate of the faithful joined together in love, known to God alone; it is the bride of Christ, is ruled by the Holy Spirit, and in matters essential to salvation can not err. As to Scripture he held that it alone is to be trusted, and neither Fathers nor general councils. To the test of agreement with Scripture all ecclesiastical dogmas and ceremonies are to be submitted. Contrary to Scripture are the Roman Church's teachings respecting indulgences, original sin, transubstantiation, the filioque, feasts and fasts, long prayers, ceremonies of the mass, holy oil, consecrated water, and the like. A sentence at the end of the Paradoxa sums up the man: "I despise pope, Church, and councils; I love Christ. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." (OTTO CLEMEN.)

XII.-20

Wesley

BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Ullmann, Reformers Before the Reformation, i. 277-374, Edinburgh, 1874, cf. his Johann Wessel, ein Vorgänger Luthers, Hamburg, 1834 (comprehensive, includes in the treatment the entire environment, and discusses the principal personages with whom Wesel was connected); N. Serrarius, in Moguntiarum rerum scriptores, ed. G. C. Joannis, i. 107 sqq., Frankfort, 1722 (for selection of "heretical" declarations of Wesel); G. Schadé, Essai sur Jean de Wesel, Strasburg, 1856; J. C. L. Gieseler, TextBook on Church History, ed. H. B. Smith, iii. 461–465, New York, 1868 (quotes extensively from documents); N. Paulus, in Der Katholik, 1898, i. 44–57; idem, in Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie, xxiv (1900), 646–656, xxvii (1903), 601-602; J. Falk, Bibelstudien, Bibelhandschriften und Bibeldrucke zu Mainz, pp. 60 sqq., Mainz, 1901; F. Kropatschek, Das Schriftprinzip der lutherischen Kirche, i. 407 sqq., Leipsic, 1904; O. Clemen, in Historische Vierteljahrschrift, iii. 521–523; Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, new series, ii. 143-173 (by 0. Clemen), 344-348 (by J. Haussleiter); Schaff, Christian Church, v. 2, pp. 681-682; Harnack, Dogma, vi. 170, 199, 222, 262, 268–269, vii. 16; ADB, xxix. 439–444; KL, vi. 1786–89.

sen

For accounts of the trial consult: C. Du Plessis d'Argentré, Collectio de novis erroribus, vol. i., Paris, 1728 "" heretical (contains the Paradoxa—a collection of tences abstracted from Wesel's writings, Examen magistrale an account of the trial, and the author's survey, by one of the Heidelberg representatives); this is found also in Æneas Sylvius' Commentariorum de concilio Basiteœ libri duo, n.p., n.d.; Ortuinus Gratius, Fasciculus rerum expetendarum et fugiendarum, pp. clxiii. sqq., Cologne, 1535.

"

WESLEY, CHARLES: One of the founders of Methodism; b. at Epworth (23 m. n.w. of Lincoln) Dec. 18, 1708, O. S. (Dec. 29, N. S.); d. in London Mar. 29, 1788. He was the son of Samuel Wesley, Sr., and brother of Charles Wesley (qq.v.). In childhood he declined an offer of adoption by a wealthy namesake in Ireland; and the person taken in his stead became an earl, and grandfather to the duke of Wellington. He was educated at Westminster School, London, under his brother Samuel, 1716; at St. Peter's College, Westminster, London, 1721; and at Christ Church, Oxford, 1726, where, with his brother John and one or two others, he received the nickname of "Methodist" in consequence of the method they employed in prayer and daily life. In 1735 he was ordained, and went with John Wesley to Georgia, returning 1736. May 21, 1738, he experienced the witness of adoption," and at once joined his brother's evangelistic work, traveling much, and preaching with great zeal and success. He never held ecclesiastical preferment, and bore his share of the persecutions which beset the early Methodists. Apr. 8, 1749, he married Sarah Gwynne: by her he had eight children, two of whom became eminent musicians. John Wesley's expression, "his least praise was his talent for poetry," is unmeaning: whatever his other gifts and graces, it is because he was "the poet of Methodism " and one of the most gifted and voluminous of English hymn-writers that his fame and influence live. The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, as reprinted by the Wesleyan Conference (London, 1868-72), fill thirteen volumes, or near 6,000 pages. Of the original publications, the earlier ones bore the names of both brothers, but most were the work of Charles alone. While in the books of joint authorship it is not always possible to distinguish with absolute certainty between the two, it is generally agreed that John wrote only the translations (almost wholly from the German, some forty in all) and a

very few originals. Their style is the same, save for a little more severity and dignity on John's part. Their first volume (or perhaps John's alone, for it bears no name), possibly also the first English Collection of Psalms and Hymns, appeared at Charleston, S. C., 1737 (cf. C. Evans, American Bibliography, vol. ii., no. 4207, Chicago, 1904; there is a copy in the Public Library, New York). A single copy was found in London, 1879, and reprinted 1882. The original contains some pieces by John, but apparently none by Charles, who perhaps had not then begun to write. Another small Collection was published in London, 1738; and in 1739 began the long series of original works in verse. The more extensive of these were Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739, 1740, 1742; three separate books); the same (2 vols., 1749); Hymns on God's Everlasting Love (1741); On the Lord's Supper (1745); For those that Seek and those that have Redemption (1747); Funeral Hymns (1746–59); Short Hymns on Select Passages of Holy Scripture (2 vols., 1762; 2,348 pieces); Hymns for Children (1763); For Families (1767); On the Trinity (1767). Besides these there are some twenty tracts, minor in size, but containing some of Charles Wesley's most effective lyrics, and a few elegies and epistles. The work of publication went on, though less vigorously in later years, till 1785, and that of composition till his death, at which he left in manuscript a quantity of verse, chiefly on Bible texts, equal to one-third of that printed in his lifetime. His huge fecundity hindered his fame; had he written less, he might be read more; but he had not the gift of condensing. His thoughts, or at least his feelings, flowed more readily in verse than in prose; he wrote on horseback, in a stage-coach, almost in "the article of death." His fifty-six Hymns for Christian Friends, some of them continuously and widely used, were dedicated to Miss Gwynne; and his last verse, taken down by her "when he could scarcely articulate," preserves something of the old fire. Nearly every occasion and condition of external life are provided for in the vast range of his productions, which have more "variety of matter and manner" than critics have commonly supposed; and, as to feelings and experiences, he has celebrated them with an affluence of diction and a splendor of coloring never surpassed and rarely equaled." Temperament and belief alike inclined him to subjective themes, and, guiding his unique lyrical talent, made him preeminently “ the poet of Methodism." To the wonderful growth and success of that system his hymns were no less essential than his brother's government. They are the main element in most Wesleyan collections, both English and American. In the newest official hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, no fewer than 121 of the 748 hymns are Charles Wesley's. The most widely used, in America at least, are "Oh for a thousand tongues to sing," "Jesus, lover of my soul," and "Love divine all loves excelling.' " Probably no school or system in any age or land has owned so mighty an implement in the way of sacred song, and no other hymn-writer has succeeded in voicing so felicitously the varied states of religious feeling. His productions are still esteemed as among

the most choice and helpful devotional literature, and many of them seem to be wholly unaffected by the marked changes in religious thought and in the emphasis placed upon various doctrines. Nor Methodists long suspected and shunned this poetry, and still need to exercise discrimination in making selections from it. Its author was given not only to extravagances of expression (which were some times pared down by his brother's severer taste), but to unrestrained and often violent emotion Withal he is too fluent, too rhetorical; his mannerism at times involves a lack of simplicity; his "fatal facility of strong words" is a fault both literary and religious. Yet his intensely sin cere and fervent piety, his intellectual strength and acuteness, his unmistakably high culture, and the matchless spontaneity of his eloquence, place him easily near the head of British sacred lyrists. No collection is complete probably for a century none has been formed--without his hymns; and they are now perhaps more generally and widely used than of old. He is entitled to rank not merely as a hymn. writer, but among Christian poets. Many of his pieces which are not adapted to public worship, and very little known, possess much literary and human interest; his autobiographic and polemic verses, e.g., are probably unequaled. He can not be adequately judged by his fragmentary appearances in the hymnals, not even by John Wesley's Collection for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780; supplement 1830); though that presents a considerable fraction of his writings, with much less abridgment and alteration than any other, and has nearly all the qualities claimed by its editor in his vigorous and memorable preface.

[A somewhat higher estimate than the above of the poetry and hymns of Charles Wesley is furnished by Canon Overton (Julian, Hymnology, p. 1258): "As a hymn-writer Charles Wesley was unique. He is said to have written 6,500 hymns, and though . . . in so vast a number some are of unequal merit, it is marvelous how many there are which rise to the highest degree of excellence. His feelings on every occasion of importance

found their best expression in a hymn. Nor must we forget his hymns for little children, a branch of sacred poetry in which the mantle of Dr. Watts seems to have fallen upon him. . . The saying that a really good hymn is as rare an appearance as that of a comet is falsified by the work of Charles Wesley."]

(FREDERIC M. BIRD†.) Revised by H. K. CARROLL. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Besides the preface to John Wesley's Collection for the Use of the People Called Methodists, ut sup, and The Early Journal of 1786–39, London, 1910, consult: T. Jackson, Life of Rev. Charles Wesley, 2 vols., London and New York, 1842 (the authoritative work); D. Creamer, Methodist Hymnology, New York, 1848; C. Adams, Memorials of Charles Wesley, ib. 1859; F. A. Archibald, Methodism and Literature, Cincinnati, 1883; S. W. Duffield, English Hymns, pp. 346–351, New York, 1887; J. Telford, Life of the Rev. Charles Wesley, enlarged ed., London, 1900; N. Smith, Hymns historically Famous, pp. 69-83, Chicago, 1901; Julian, Hymnology, pp. 726–729, 1255-66; the literature dealing with the early history of METHODISTS, and that under WESLEY, John; and R. Green, The Works of John and Charles Wesley. A Bib liography containing an exact Account of all the Publications issued by the Wesley Brothers. in chronological Order, London, 1896.

John Wesley, the father of the doctrinal and practical system of Methodism, was born at Epworth (23 m. n.w. of Lincoln) June 28, 1703, and died in London Mar. 2, 1791. The Wesleys were of ancient Saxon lineage, the family history being

1. Youth. traced backward to the time of Athelstan the Saxon, when Guy Wesley, or Wellesley, was created a thane or member of parliament. John Wesley was the son of Samuel Wesley (q.v.), a graduate of Oxford, and a minister of the Church of England, who had married in 1689 Susannah, the twenty-fifth child of Dr. Samuel Annesley, and herself became the mother of nineteen children; in 1696 he was appointed rector of Epworth, where John, the fifteenth child, was born. He was christened John Benjamin, but he never used the second name. An incident of his childhood was his rescue, at the age of six, from the burning rectory. The manner of his escape made a deep impression on his mind; and he spoke of himself as a “brand plucked from the burning," and as a child of Providence. The early education of all the children was given by Mrs. Wesley, a woman of remarkable intelligence and deep piety, apt in teaching, and wise and firm in governing. In 1713 John was admitted to the Charterhouse School, London, where he lived the studious, methodical, and (for a while) religious life in which he had been trained at home. In 1720 he entered Christ Church College, Oxford (M.A., 1727), was ordained deacon in 1725 and elected fellow of Lincoln College in the following year. He served his father as curate two years, and then returned to Oxford to fulfil his functions as fellow.

The year of his return to Oxford (1729) marks the beginning of the rise of Methodism. The famous “holy club was formed; and its members, including John and Charles Wesley, were derisively called "Methodists," because of their methodical habits. John had enjoyed during his early years 2. In a deep religious experience. He went, Oxford and says one of his best biographers, Georgia. Tyerman, to Charterhouse a saint; but he became negligent of his religious duties, and left a sinner. In the year of his ordination he read Thomas à Kempis and Jeremy Taylor, and began to grope after those religious truths which underlay the great revival of the eighteenth century. The reading of Law's Christian Perfection and Serious Call gave him, he said, a sublimer view of the law of God; and he resolved to keep it, inwardly and outwardly, as sacredly as possible, believing that in this obedience he should find salvation. He pursued a rigidly methodical and abstemious life; studied the Scriptures, and performed his religious duties with great diligence; deprived himself that he might have alms to give; and gave his heart, mind, and soul to the effort to live a godly life. When, in 1735, a clergyman "inured to contempt of the ornaments and conveniences of life, to bodily austerities, and to serious thoughts," was wanted

Doctrines (§ 8).
Personality and Activities (§ 9).
Literary Work (§ 10).

by Governor Oglethorpe to go to Georgia, Wesley responded, and remained in the colony two years, returning to England in 1738, feeling that his mission, which was to convert the Indians and deepen and regulate the religious life of the colonists, had been a failure. His High-church notions, his strict enforcement of the regulations of the church, especially concerning the administration of the holy communion, were not agreeable to the colonists; and he left Georgia with several indictments pending against him (largely due to malice) for alleged violation of church law.

As Wesley's spiritual state is the key to his whole career, an account of his conversion in the year of his return from Georgia may not be omitted. For ten years he had fought against sin, 3. Conver- striven to fulfil the law of the Gospel, sion; Open-endeavored to manifest his righteousair ness; but he had not, he wrote, obPreaching. tained freedom from sin, nor the wit

as

ness of the Spirit, because he sought it, not by faith, but "by the works of the law." He had learned from the Moravians that true faith was inseparably connected with dominion over sin and constant peace proceeding from a sense of forgiveness, and that saving faith is given in a moment. This saving faith he obtained May 24, 1737–38, at a Moravian meeting in Aldersgate Street, London, while listening to the reading of Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans, in which explanation of faith and the doctrine of justification by faith is given. "I felt," he wrote, "my I felt I did trust in heart strangely warmed. Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an surance was given me that he had taken away my sins." Two or three weeks later he preached a remarkable sermon, enforcing the doctrine of present personal salvation by faith, which was followed by another, on God's grace "free in all, and free for all." He never ceased in his whole subsequent career to preach this doctrine and that of the witness of the Spirit. He allied himself with the Moravian society in Fetter Lane, and in 1738 went to Herrnhut, the Moravian headquarters in Germany, to learn more of a people to whom he felt deeply indebted. On his return to England he drew up rules for the bands into which the Fetter Lane Society was divided, and published a collection of hymns for them. He met frequently with this and other religious societies in London, but did not preach often in 1738, because most of the parish churches were closed to him. His friend, George Whitefield (q.v.), the great evangelist, upon his return from America, was likewise excluded from the churches of Bristol; and, going to the neighboring village of Kingswood, he there preached in the open air, Feb., 1739, to a company of miners. This was a bold step, and Wesley hesitated to accept Whitefield's earnest request to follow him in this innovation, But he overcame his scru

ples, and in April preached his first sermon in the open air, near Bristol. He said he could hardly reconcile himself to field-preaching, and would have thought, "till very lately," such a method of saving souls as (( almost a sin." These open-air services were very successful; and he never again hesitated to preach in any place where an assembly could be got together, more than once using his father's tombstone at Epworth as a pulpit. He spent upward of fifty years in field-preaching-entering churches when he was invited, taking his stand in the fields, in halls, cottages, and chapels, when the churches would not receive him. Late in 1739 a rupture with the Moravians in London occurred. Wesley had helped them organize in May, 1738, the Fetter Lane Society; and the converts of the preaching of himself, his brother, and Whitefield, had become members of their bands. But finding, as he said, that they had fallen into heresies, especially quietism, a separation took place; and so, at the close of 1739, Wesley was led to form his followers into a separate society. CC Thus,"

he wrote, "without any previous plan, began the Methodist Society in England." Similar societies were soon formed in Bristol and Kingswood, and wherever Wesley and his coadjutors made converts.

From 1739 onward Wesley and the Methodists were persecuted by clergymen and magistrates, attacked in sermon, tract, and book, 4. Persecu- mobbed by the populace, often in contions; Lay troversy, always at work among the Preaching. neglected and needy, and ever increas

ing. They were denounced as promulgators of strange doctrines, fomenters of religious disturbances; as blind fanatics, leading the people astray, claiming miraculous gifts, inveighing against the clergy of the Church of England, and endeavoring to reestablish popery. Wesley was frequently mobbed, and great violence was done both to the persons and property of Methodists. Seeing, however, that the church failed in its duty to call sinners to repentance, that its clergymen were worldly minded, and that souls were perishing in their sins, he regarded himself as commissioned of God to warn men to flee from the wrath to come; and no opposition, or persecution, or obstacles were permitted by him to prevail against the divine urgency and authority of his commission. The prejudices of his Highchurch training, his strict notions of the methods and proprieties of public worship, his views of the apostolic succession and the prerogatives of the priest, even his most cherished convictions, were not allowed to stand in the way in which Providence seemed to lead. Unwilling that ungodly men should perish in their sins and unable to reach them from the pulpits of the Church, he began field-preaching. Seeing that he and the few clergymen cooperating with him could not do the work that needed to be done, he was led, as early as 1739, to approve tacitly, soon after openly, of lay preaching; and men who were not episcopally ordained were permitted to preach and do pastoral work. Thus one of the great features of Methodism, to which it has largely owed its success, was adopted by Wesley in answer to a necessity.

308

As his societies must have houses to worship in, he began in 1739 to provide chapels, first in Bristol, and

then in London and elsewhere. The 5. Chapels Bristol chapel was at first in the hands and Organ- of trustees; but as a large debt was izations. contracted, and Wesley's friends urged

him to keep its pulpit under his own control, the deed was cancelled, and the trust be came vested in himself. Following this precedent, all Methodist chapels were committed in trust to him until by a deed of declaration" (see METHODISTS, I., 1, § 6) all his interests in them were transferred to a body of preachers called the "Legal Hundred." When disorderly persons began to manifest themselves among the members of the societies, he adopted the plan of giving tickets to members, with their names written thereon by his own hand. These were renewed every three months. Those who proved to be unworthy did not receive new tickets, and thus dropped out of the society without disturbance. The tickets were regarded as commendatory letters. When the debt on a chapel became burdensome, it was proposed that one in every twelve of the members should collect offerings for it regularly from the eleven allotted to him. Out of this, under Wesley's care, grew, in 1742, the Methodist class-meeting system (see METHODISTS, I., 1, § 3). In order more effectually to keep the disorderly out of the societies, he established a probationary system, and resolved to visit each society once in three months. Thus arose the quarterly visitation, or conference. As the societies increased, he could not continue his practise of oral instruction; so he drew up in 1743 a set of "General Rules " for the "United Societies," which were the nucleus of the Methodist Discipline, and are still preserved intact and observed by most Methodist bodies. As the number of preachers and preaching-places increased, it was desirable that doctrinal matters should be discussed, difficulties considered, and that an understanding should be had as to the distribution of fields; so the two Wesleys, with four other clergymen and four lay preachers, met for consultation in London in 1744. This was the first Methodist conference (see METHODISTS, I., 1, § 5). Two years later, in order that the preachers might work more systematically, and the societies receive their services more regularly, Wesley appointed his "helpers" to definitive circuits, each of which included at least thirty appointments a month. Believing that their usefulness and efficiency were promoted by being changed from one circuit to another every year or two, he established the itinerancy, and ever insisted that his preachers should submit to its rules. When, in 1788, some persons objected to the frequent changes, he wrote, "For fifty years God has been pleased to bless the itinerant plan, the last year most of all. It must not be altered till I am removed, and I hope it will remain till our Lord comes to reign on earth." As his societies multiplied, and all these elements of an ecclesiastical system were, one after another, adopted, the breach between Wesley and the Church of England gradually widened. The question of separation from that church, urged, on the one side, by some of his preachers and societies, and most strenuously opposed on the other by his brother

Charles and others, was constantly before him, but was not settled. In 1745 he wrote that he and

his coadjutors would make any conces

6. Ordina- sion which their conscience would tion of permit, in order to live in harmony with Ministers. the clergy; but they could not give up the doctrine of an inward and present salvation by faith alone, nor cease to preach in private houses and the open air, nor dissolve the societies, nor suppress lay preaching. Further than this, however, he refused then to go. We dare not," he said, "administer baptism or the Lord's Supper without a commission from a bishop in the apostolic succession." But the next year he read Lord King on the Primitive Church, and was convinced by it that apostolic succession was a figment, and that he [Wesley] was a scriptural episcopos as much as any man in England." Some years later Stillingfleet's Irenicon led him to renounce the opinion that Christ or his apostles prescribed any form of church government, and to declare ordination valid when performed by a presbyter. It was not until about forty years after this that he ordained by the imposition of hands; but he considered his appointment of his preachers an act of ordination. The conference of 1746 declared that the reason more solemnity in receiving new laborers was not employed was because it savored of stateliness and of haste. 'We desire barely to follow Providence as it gradually opens." When, however, he deemed that Providence had opened the way, and the bishop of London had definitely declined to ordain a minister for the American Methodists who were without the ordinances, he ordained by imposition of hands preachers for Scotland and England and America, with power to administer the sacraments. He consecrated, also, by laying on of hands, Dr. Thomas Coke (q.v.), a presbyter of the Church of England, to be superintendent or bishop in America, and a preacher, Alexander Mather, to the same office in England. He designed that both Coke and Mather should ordain others. This act alarmed his brother Charles, who besought him to stop and consider before he had " quite broken down the bridge,' and not embitter his [Charles'] last moments on earth, nor "leave an indelible blot on our memory.' Wesley declared, in reply, that he had not separated from the church, nor did he intend to, but he must and would save as many souls as he could while alive, "without being careful about what may possibly be when I die." Thus, though he rejoiced that the Methodists in America were freed from entanglements with both Church and State, he counseled his English followers to remain in the established church; and he himself died in that communion.

Wesley was a strong controversialist. The most notable of his controversies was that on Calvinism. His father was of the Arminian school in the church; but John settled the question for him

7. Advocacy self while in college, and expressed of Armin-. himself strongly against the doctrines ianism. of election and reprobation. Whitefield inclined to Calvinism. In his first tour in America, he embraced the views of the New England school of Calvinism; and when Wesley

preached a sermon on Free Grace, attacking predes tination as blasphemous, as representing "God a worse than the devil," Whitefield besought him (1739) not to repeat or publish the discourse. He deprecated a dispute or discussion. "Let us," he said, "offer salvation freely to all," but be silent about election. Wesley's sermon was published and among the many replies to it was one by White field. Separation followed in 1741. Wesley wrote of it, that those who held universal redemption did not desire separation, but "those who held particu lar redemption would not hear of any accommodation." Whitefield, Harris, Cennick, and others, became the founders of Calvinistic Methodism (see PRESBYTERIANS, IV., VIII., 8). Whitefield and Wesley, however, were soon again on very friendly terms, and their friendship remained thenceforth unbroken, though they traveled different paths. Occasional publications appeared on Calvinistic doctrines, by Wesley and others; but in 1770 the controversy broke out anew with violence and bitterness. Toplady, Berridge, Rowland, Richard Hill and others were engaged on the one side, and Wesley and Fletcher chiefly on the other side. Toplady was editor of The Gospel Magazine, which was filled with the controversy. Wesley in 1778 began the publication of The Arminian Magazine, not, he said, to convince Calvinists, but to preserve Methodists; not to notice opponents, but to teach the truth that " God willeth all men to be saved." A "lasting peace" he thought could be secured in nc other way.

The doctrines which Wesley revived, restated. and emphasized in his sermons and writings, are

present personal salvation by faith, the

8. Doctrines. witness of the Spirit, and sanctification The second he defined thus: "the testimony of the Spirit is an inward impression on the soul of believers, whereby the spirit of God directly testifies to their spirit that they are the children of God." Sanctification he spoke of (1790) as the "grand depositum which God has lodged with the people called 'Methodists'; and, for the sake of propagating this chiefly, he appears to have raised them up." He taught that sanctification was ob tainable instantaneously by faith, between justifi cation and death. It was not " sinless perfection that he contended for; but he believed that those who are perfect in love" feel no sin, feel nothing but love. He was very anxious that this doctrine should be constantly preached for the system of Wesleyan Arminianism, the foundations of which were laid by Wesley and Fletcher (see ARMINIUS JACOBUS, AND ARMINIANISM).

Wesley was the busiest man in England. He traveled almost constantly, generally on horseback preaching twice or thrice a day. He 9. Person- formed societies, opened chapels, ex ality and amined and commissioned preachers Activities. administered discipline, raised fund for schools, chapels, and charities, pre scribed for the sick, superintended schools and or phanages, prepared commentaries and a vast amount of other religious literature, replied to attacks or Methodism, conducted controversies, and carried on a prodigious correspondence. He is believed to

have traveled in the course of his itinerant ministry more than 250,000 miles, and to have preached more than 40,000 times. The number of works he wrote, translated, or edited, exceeds 200. The list includes sermons, commentaries, hymns, a Christian library of fifty volumes, and other religious literature grammars, dictionaries, and other textbooks, as well as political tracts. He is said to have received not less than £20,000 for his publications, but he used little of it for himself. His charities were limited only by his means. He died poor. He rose at four in the morning, lived simply and methodically, and was never idle, unless by compulsion. In person he was rather under the medium height, well proportioned, strong, with a bright eye, a clear complexion, and a saintly, intellectual face. He married very unhappily, at the age of forty-eight, a widow, and had no children. He died, after a short illness in which he had great spiritual peace and joy, leaving as the result of his life-work 135,000 members, and 541 itinerant preachers, owning the name "Methodist."

Wesley's mind was of a logical cast. His conceptions were clear, his perceptions quick. His thought clothed itself easily and naturally in 10. Literary pure, terse, vigorous language. Work.

His

logical acuteness, self-control, and scholarly acquirements made him a strong controversialist. He wrote with a ready pen. His written sermons are characterized by spiritual earnestness and by simplicity. They are doctrinal, but not dogmatic; expository, argumentative, practical. His Notes on the New Testament (1755) are luminous and suggestive. Both the Sermons (of which there are about 140) and the Notes are in the Methodist course of study, and are doctrinal standards (see METHODISTS, V., §§ 1-2). He was a fluent, impressive, persuasive, powerful preacher, producing striking effects. He preached generally extemporaneously and briefly, though occasionally at great length, using manuscript only for special occasions. As an organizer, an ecclesiastical general, and a statesman he was eminent. He knew well how to marshal and control men, how to achieve He had in his hands the powers of a purposes. despot; yet he so used them as not only not to provoke rebellion, but to inspire love. His mission was to spread Scriptural holiness"; his means and plans were such as Providence indicated. The course thus marked out for him he pursued with a determination, a fidelity, from which nothing could swerve him. Wesley's prose Works were first collected by himself (32 vols., Bristol, 1771-74, frequently reprinted in editions varying greatly in the number of volumes). His chief prose works are a standard publication in seven octavo volumes of the Methodist Book Concern, New York. The Poetical Works of John and Charles, ed. G. Osborn, appeared 13 vols., London, 1868-72. Besides his Sermons and Notes already referred to, are his Journals (originally published in twenty parts, London, 1740-89; new ed. by N. Curnock, is to contain notes from unpublished diaries, 6 vols., vols. i.-ii., London and New York, 1909-11, which are of great interest; The Doctrine of Original Sin (Bristol, 1757; in reply to Dr. John Taylor of Norwich); an Appeal

to Men of Reason and Religion (originally published in three parts; 2d ed., Bristol, 1743), an elaborate defense of Methodism, describing with great vigor the evils of the times in society and the church; a Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1766).

H. K. CARROLL, BIBLIOGRAPHY: A considerable amount of pertinent literature will be found under METHODISTS, especially that dealing with the early history of the movement. For a bibliography of the works of John and Charles, consult the work of R. Green named under WESLEY, CHARLES; also note the same author's Books against John Wesley, London, 1902. The best biography of John is that by Luke Tyerman, 3 vols., London, 1870, often reissued (full, impartial); the earliest, aside from mere pamphlets, is by J. Hampson, 3 vols, ib. 1791. Others are: T. Coke and H. Moore, London, 1792 (popular); J. Whitehead, 2 vols., ib. 1793-96 (deficient); R. Southey, 2 vols., ib. 1820, ed. Curry, New York, 1847 (inadequate and misleading); Adam Clarke, The Wesley Family, London, 1823; H. Moore, 2 vols., ib. 1824 (faithful, trustworthy); R. Watson, ib. 1831 (clear and compact, intended for general readers); W. Jones, ib. 1833 (from the Calvinistic point of view); T. Jackson, ib. 1839 (unsatisfactory); I. Taylor, Wesley and Methodism, ib. 1851 (may be disregarded); R. Bickersteth, ib. 1856 (acceptable, from the Anglican point of view); M. Lelièvre, Paris, 1868, 3d ed., 1891, Eng. transl., London, 1871 (reliable, but lacking in breadth); Julia Wedgwood, London, 1870 (Unitarian); R. D. Urlin, ib. 1870; G. J. Stevenson, Memorials of the Wesley Family, ib. 1876 (excellent in abundance of materials); J. H. Rigg, The Churchmanship of John Wesley, ib. 1879 and 1887; F. Bevan, ib. 1891; J. Telford, ib. 1899; G. H. Pike. ib, 1903; F. Banfield, ib. 1900; R. Green, new ed., ib. 1905; John Wesley, the Methodist, New York, 1903 (useful and condensed); W. H. Fitchett, Wesley and his Century, London, 1906 (discriminating, luminous); E. Miller, ib. 1906; C. T. Winchester, New York, 1906 (impartial and judicial). Excellent sketches will be found in W. Walker, Greatest Men of the Christian Church, Chicago, 1908; H. M. Butler, Ten Great and Good Men, New York, 1909; L. P. Powell, Heavenly Heretics, ib. 1909; A. Leger, L'Angleterre religieuse et les origines du Méthodisme .. Le Jeunesse de Wesley, Paris, 1910; DNB, lx. 303-314; and his work is estimated in Cambridge Modern History, vi. 81 sqq., 1909.

WESLEY, SAMUEL, SR.: Father of John and Charles Wesley; b. at Winterbourne-Whitchurch (28 m. w. of Southampton) Nov. (baptized Dec. 17), 1662; d. at Epworth (23 m. n.w. of Lincoln) Apr. 22, 1735. His early education was received among the dissenters; but in 1683 he renounced non-conformity, and entered Exeter College, Oxford (B.A., 1688). He was ordained deacon that year, and priest Feb. 24, 1689-90, and held various preferments, including a chaplaincy on a man-of-war, and the rectory of South Ormsby, Lincolnshire (1690), until Queen Mary gave him the living of Epworth in Lincolnshire (1695), in return for the compliment of his dedication to her of his Life of our Blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, an Heroic Poem (1693; ed. T. Coke, 2 vols., 1809). He was a man of learning, benevolence, devotional habits, and liberal sentiments. He wrote largely, and by this means eked out his salary, which was insufficient to support his large family. He had nineteen children, of whom, however, nine died in infancy. Of his poetical works mention may be made of: The History of the New Testament Attempted in Verse, 1701; The History of the Old Testament in Verse, 1704. His learned Latin Commentary on the Book of Job, Dissertationes in librum Jobi, in which he was, however, aided by others, appeared posthumously (1736). Other prose works are: The Pious Communicant rightly Prepared

(1700); and the posthumous Letter to a Curate (1735; an excellent statement of clerical duties). His hymn, "Behold the Saviour of Mankind," written in 1709, has been widely used. H. K. CARROLL. BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Tyerman, Life and Times of the Rev. Samuel Wesley, London, 1866 (a painstaking study; includes letters, and others are given in the same author's life of John Wesley); A. à Wood, Athena Oxonienses, ed. P. Bliss, iv. 503, and Fasti, ii. 403, 4 vols., ib. 181320; J. Dove, Biographical Hist. of the Wesley Family, ib. 1833; W. Beal, Fathers of the Wesley Family, 2d ed., ib. 1862; G. J. Stevenson, Memorials of the Wesley Family, ib. 1876; S. W. Duffield, English Hymns, pp. 64-65, New York, 1886; Julian, Hymnology, pp. 1255-56; and the literature under the articles on Charles, John, and Susannah Wesley.

WESLEY, SAMUEL JR.: Eldest son of Samuel Wesley, Sr.; b. in London Feb. 10, 1690; d. at Tiverton (55 m. s.w. of Bristol) Nov. 6, 1739. He was educated at Westminster and Christ Church College, Oxford (B.A., 1715; M.A., 1718); became head usher at Westminster School, 1713, and was ordained soon after; became head master of the Free School at Tiverton, 1733. He was a man of considerable learning, great talent, high character, and decidedly philanthropic in disposition and action. As an old-fashioned churchman, he had no sympathy with the new faith" of his brothers, but

he contributed generously for their education. His Poems on Several Occasions (1736; reprinted, with additions and Life, 1862) have much merit, and include one or two of our best epigrams, besides hymns to the Trinity, for Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter, and on the death of a young lady. These are of a high order, and show much of Charles Wesley's splendor of diction; they have been largely used in church hymn-books.

F. M. BIRD. Revised by H. K. CARROLL. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Besides the Life in the Poems (ut sup.), and the literature under the articles on the other Wesleys, consult: Julian, Hymnology, pp. 1256-57.

WESLEY, SUSANNAH: Mother of John and Charles Wesley; b. in London Jan. 20, 1669; d. there July 23, 1742. Her father, Samuel Annesley, was a prominent non-conformist divine, but she renounced non-conformity in her thirteenth year, and joined the Church of England. In 1689 she married

Samuel Wesley (q.v.), and bore him nineteen children, of whom nine, however, died in infancy. She was a remarkable woman. Tyerman gives this account of her home discipline: "When the child was one year old, he was taught to fear the rod, and, if he cried at all, to cry in softened tones. The children were limited to three meals a day. Eating and drinking between meals was strictly prohibited. All the children were washed and put to bed by eight o'clock, and on no account was a servant to sit by a child till it fell asleep. The children were taught the Lord's Prayer as soon as they could speak, and repeated it every morning and every night. They were on no account allowed to call each other by their proper name without the addition of brother or sister, as the case might be. Six hours a day were spent at school, the parents being the teachers. They were not taught to read till five years old, and then only a single day was allowed wherein to learn the letters of the alphabet, great and small. Psalms were sung every morning, when school was opened, and also every night, when the duties of the day were ended. In addition to this, at the commencement and close of every day, each of the elder children took one of the younger, and read the psalms appointed for the day, and a chapter in the Bible, after which they severally went to their private devotions (Life of Wesley, i. 17-18). It would be unjust to infer from this statement that Mrs. Wesley was a martinet. She was methodical in her ways, but she was a woman of lovely character, a tender mother, quick in perception, wise in judgment, and ever ready to extend the hand of helpfulness. She was very influential with her son John and her impress was made on early Methodism.