in ushering in the glories of millennial renovation and joy? Religious apathy and ecclesiastical intolerance, on the one hand, and the predominating influence of doctrinal prejudice, on the other, have ever, not merely denied historical justice to the immortal Wesley, his coadjutors and immediate successors, but in many instances treated them with contempt and calumny. Those stars, however, in the Saviour's right hand, are now fast dissipating the clouds that so long dimmed their lustre, and are becoming broader and more refulgent to the view, in proportion as we recede from them. How animating the spectacle we witness at the present moment! Thousands, and tens of thousands, instinct with a hallowed emulation to testify their gratitude to God, for the inestimable blessings of Methodism, are coming forward, and with a liberality unexampled in the annals of the Church, decreeing the MONUMENTAL CELEBRATION of its CENTENARY on a scale commensurate with the greatness of the occasion. Already does the Trea sury of the Lord overflow with princely donations consecrated to this noble object: already does every genuine follower of Wesley, in anticipation, participate in a triumph immeasurably purer and more exalted than that of the vaunting poet. * Exegi monumentum cere perennius, Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens Possit diruere, aut innumerabilis Annorum series, et fuga temporum.-HOR. At such a period, the rise and progress of Methodism must become an object of interesting contemplation to all classes of Christians, save those whose zeal for the salvation of souls glows only on the altar of a party. "Nothing,"-observes the amiable and eloquent Owen-"Nothing is more natural than a desire to investigate the rise, and ascertain the progress of whatever has acquired sufficient importance to excite our astonishment, * I have erected a monument more lasting than brass, and loftier than the imperial elevation of pyramids; which neither the wasting rain, the impotent north wind, nor an innumerable succession of years, and the flight of seasons, shall be able to demolish. CHARACTERISTIC NOTICES OF SEVERAL INDIVIDUALS; WITH COPIOUS EXTRACTS FROM THE UNPUBLISHED CORRESPONDENCE OF THE REV. JOHN WESLEY, REV. DR. COKE, REV. FREEBORN GARRETSON, ETC. BY MATTHEW RICHEY, A. M. Principal of Upper Canada Academy. REMEMBER them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.-ST. PAUL, HALIFAX, PRINTED BY WILLIAM CUNNABELL. MDCCCXXXIX. |