der the reign of Ferdinand. Opposi- give rise to another struggle, With tion only became more manifest in that of Charles V.; the Cortes of Arragon and Castile presented remonstrances to him, on the intolerable abuses of the Inquisition. Amongst other grievances, it was stated that numbers of people caused themselves to be enrolled amongst the familiars of the holy office, in order that they might be exempted from paying any imposts. The Cortes were, therefore, fortunate enough to prevail on the monarch, who wanted supplies and was going to Germany, to apply for a bull to reform the Inquisition. Even Pope Leo X. complained of the infamous conduct of the inquisitors, and he wrote to the emperor, stating that complaints were addressed to him, from every quarter, of their avarice and their iniquities. But Charles had obtained the money he wanted from the Cortes, and Cardinal Adrien, his first minister, who was also grand inquisitor, persuaded his master that the terror of the holy office was a salutary counterpoise to the spirit of liberty in those assemblies. The result of these intrigues was, that the Inquisition remained unreformed; which, together with the hatred against foreigners and the nobles, contributed much to the general rising that took place throughout Spain during the emperor's absence. The Cortes having possessed themselves of the government, manifested, on the score of public liberty, ideas no less enlightened than those promulgated on a recent occasion; and which are, even at this moment, making their way all over the Peninsula. The efforts of the Cortes were unsuccessful; for they were betrayed by the army, and abandoned by the nobles. Charles V. therefore on his return, placed every thing on its former footing, while the deputies of the Cortes were consigned to the scaffold for their exertions in favour of the nati. After having escaped the danger, the Inquisition adopted the m effectual measures for impeding the progress of knowledge, so as that it should not 2E ATHENEUM VOL. 7. this view, it commenced a violent hos- In latter times the most scrutinizing "that some also declared against pictures, engravings, medals, fans, snuff-boxes, and the furniture of houses, that bore any mythological designs, or other heretical devices. The farther measures taken to prescribe the books which might be read with safety, and the directions given about the efficacy of relics, would occupy a space far beyond our limits, while a recital of them would be scarcely credible, if not authenticated by incontrovertible testimony. By such means has the power of the Inquisition existed till the present days. Can it, therefore, be matter of wonder that the Cortes, and their plan of a constitution promulgated in 1811, should have experienced the same fate as it did under Charles V.,when we consider that those who framed that code were only an isolated party, forming but an inconsiderable portion of the nation in which (thanks to the Inquisition) knowledge had as yet made very little progress ? We ought not, therefore, to be surprised if the Inquisition of 1820 should renew the hecatombs of the fifteenth century, unless the late occurrencesshould arrest its oppressive career. Events in every part of Europe show that, at least amongst the uneducated portion of its inhabitants, the human mind is nearly as prone to religious fanaticism as it was 300 years ago. THIS From the Literary Gazette. THIS work, so full of peculiar interest to a very numerous sect cannot fail to be almost equally acceptable to serious readers of every class. Of Mr. Southey's talent for the able execution of such a work nothing need be said....no man ever united genius and industry in a greater degree, and genius and industry are the prime requisites for producing what is excellent in every species of literature. To these he has added impartiality and candour; and we have no doubt that his publication will prove as little the subject of polemical controversy as any thing of the kind that was ever written. 66 Benjamin Wesley the great grandfather of the founder of the Methodists, studied physic as well as divinity at the university, a practice not unusual at that time he was ejected by the act of nonconformity from the living of Allington, in Dorsetshire; and the medical knowledge which he had acquired from motives of charity, became then the means of his support. John, his son, was educated at New Inn Hall, Oxord,in the time of the Commonwealth; d was distinguished for his acquaintce with oriental languages, as well as his diligence and piety. Had the nwell family retained its power he d have risen to great distinction; but the contrary befalling, he also was was required to bear him through the difficulties which he brought upon himself; for by withdrawing from the academy at which he had been placed, he so far offended his friends, that they lent him no farther support, and in the latter years of Charles II. there was lit tle disposition to encourage proselytes who joined a church which the reigning family were labouring to subvert. But Samuel Wesley was made of good mould: he knew and could depend upon himself: he walked to Oxford, entered himself at Exeter College as a poor scholar, and began his studies there with no larger a fund than two pounds sixteen shillings, and no prospect of any future supply. From that time, till he graduated, a single crown was all he received from his friends. He composed exercises for those who had more money than learning; and he gave instructions to those who wished to profit by his lessons; and thus by great industry, and great frugality, he not only supported himself, but had accumulated the sum of ten pounds fifteen shillings, when he went to London to be ordained. Having served a curacy there one year, and as chaplain during another on board a king's ship, he set tled upon a curacy in the metropolis, and married Susannah, daughter of Dr. Annesley, one of the ejected ministers. No man was ever more suitably mated than the elder Wesley. The wife whom he chose was, like himself, the .. child of a man eminent among the nonconformists, and, like himself, in early youth she had chosen her own path: she had examined the controversy between the Dissenters and the Church of England with conscientious diligence, and satisfied herself that the schismatics were in the wrong. The dispute, it must be remembered, related wholly to discipline; but her enquiries had not stopt there, and she had reasoned herself into Socinianism, from which she was reclaimed by her hus band. She was an admirable woman, of highly improved mind, and of a strong and masculine understanding, an obedient wife, an exemplary mother, a fervent Christian. The marriage was blest in all its circumstances: it was contracted in the prime of their youth: it was fruitful; and death did not divide them till they were both full of days. They had no less than nineteen children: but only three sons and three daughters seem to have grown up; and it is probably to the loss of the others that the father refers in one of his letters, where he says, that he had suffered things more grievous than death. The manner in which these children were taught to read is remarkable: the mother never began with them till they were five years old, and then she made them learn the alphabet perfectly in one day: on the next they were put to spell and to read one line, and then a verse, never leaving it till they were perfect in the lesson.” From Queen Mary, Mr. Wesley received the living of Epworth, in Lin'colnshire, for his defence of the revolu tion; and in the reign of Queen Anne, was rewarded with the chaplaincy of a regiment, for a poem on the battle of Blenheim. He was, however, persecuted by the dissenters, who could not forgive his abandoning them. John, his second son, the subject of this memoir, was born at Epworth on the 17th of June, 1703. At six years of age he narrowly escaped being burnt to death when his father's house was destroyed by the flames, and he “remembered this providential deliverance through life with the deepest gratitude. In reference to it he had a house in flames engraved as an emblem under one of his portraits, with these words for the motto, Is not this a brand plucked out of the burning?' The third son, Charles, the zealous and able associate of his brother in his future labours, was at this time scarcely two months old." From their mother the Wesleys imbibed the principles of Jacobitism, and also a devotional temperament which seems to have been common to them all. John was a favourite at the Charter-house, where he was educated, and at the age of seventeen, carried habits of quiet and regularity to Christ-church, Oxford, where he pursued his studies with all diligence. In his youth he was an expert versifier, but he forbore to cultivate this talent, and his brother Charles became the "sweet singer of methodism." While he was an undergraduate, his manners were free and cheerful; and that activity of disposition which bore him afterwards through such uninterrupted labour, displayed itself in wit and vivacity. But when the time of life arrived at which he might have taken orders, he, who was not a man to act lightly upon any occasion, and least of all upon so solemn a one, began to reflect seriously upon the importance of the priestly office, and to feel some scruples concerning the motives by which the person ought to be influenced who determines to take upon himself so awful a charge. These scruples he communicated to his father, who answered them sensibly; but agreed with him in not liking a "callow clergyman;" and hinting that he thought it too soon for him to be ordained, exhorted him to work while he could. The letter was written with a trembling pen: "You see," said the old man, "Time has shaken me by the hand, and Death is but a little way behind him. My eyes and heart are now almost all I have left, and I bless God for them." The mother, however, was of opinion that the sooner he entered into deacon's orders the better, because it might be an inducement to greater application in the study of practical divinity, "And now," said she, "in good earnest resolve to make religion the business of your life for, after all, that is the one thing that, strictly speaking, is necessary; all things beside are comparatively little to the purposes of life." His theological studies, including the Treatise de imitatione Christi, and Jeremy Taylor's Rules of Holy Living and Dying, produced a great change in young Wesley's frame of mind and conduct. He began a new course of life, communicated every week, and prayed much: thus prepared he was, in the autumn of 1725, ordained by Dr. Potter, bishop of Oxford. In March, 1726, he was elected a fellow of Lincoln College. From this period he kept a diary, which contains a lively picture of his eventful life. In 1727, he was appointed Greek lecturer, and moderator of the classes, from which his powers of reasoning acquired much strength, while his other studies generally enriched his mind. Mondays and Tuesdays were allotted to the classics; Wednesdays to logic and ethics; Thursdays to Hebrew and Arabic; Fridays to metaphysics and natural philosophy; Saturdays to oratory and poetry, but chiefly to composition in those arts; and the Sabbath to Divinity. He also gave great attention to mathemat ics. To this course of general attainment succeeded that religious enthusiasm which soon engrossed him entirely, and caused him to sacrifice all the rest to spiritual things." He went to Wroote, and officiated as curate to his father for two years, during which he obtained priest's orders. His next movement was a return to Lincoln College, where he became a tutor. His brother Charles had by this time, been entered of Christ-church, and formed an association with some other undergraduates, for the purpose of religious improvement. They lived by rule, and speedily attracting notice, did not escape the derision of a lax era. They were called the Sacramentarians, from taking the sacrament weekly; Biblebigots, Bible-moths, the holy or the godly club; and one person, with less irreverence and more learning, observed in reference to their methodical manner of life, that a new sect of Methodists was sprung up, alluding to the ancient school of physicians, known by that name. This appellative fastened upon them, and became the appropriate designation of the sect of which J. Wesley was the founder, though it was to Charles* and his friends that it was first given. When John returned to Oxford, the society gladly put themselves under the direction of one of such character and standing, and master of • This Charles refused to accompany a gentleman to Ireland, with the view of being made his heir; and the consequence was, that he adopted another name. other than Wellesley, the first Earl of Mornington, sake, to whom he left his fortune, and this was no the father of the Duke of Wellington. a At "From four in the morning till five they used private prayer; from five till seven they read the bible together, carefully comparing it with the writings of the earliest ages, that they might not lean to their own understandings. seven they breakfasted, and they had public prayers at eight. From nine till twelve John Wesley was employed in learning German, Delamotte pursued his Greek studies, Charles wrote sermons, and Ingham instructed the children and at twelve they met to give an account to one another of what they had done since their last meeting, and of what they intended to do before their next. They dined about one, and from dinner till four the time was spent in reading to those of whom each had ta ken especial charge, or in exhorting them severally, as the case might require. There were evening prayers at four, when the second lesson was explained, or the children were catechised and instructed before the congregation. From six to seven each read in his cabin to a few of the passengers. At seven Wesley joined with the Germans in their public service, and Ingham read between the decks to as many as desired to hear. At eight they met again to instruct and exhort. By this time they were pretty well wearied with exhortation and instruction; and between nine and ten they went to bed, where, as Wesley says, neither the waving of the sea, nor the motion of the ship, could take away the refreshing sleep which God gave them. so much erudition and eloquence. Mr. the missionaries-they abstained from Morgan, one of the members, died supper-they lay on the floor-their young, a victim to the austerities which classic studies were declared to be rethey practised. Hervey, the author of prehensible, and at length they lived on the Meditations, was another of their bread alone.— body; and the celebrated Whitfield, born in Gloucester in 1714, a third.His early talent for elocution had almost directed him to the stage, and several years of his youth were passed as a common drawer in the public-house kept by his mother. At eighteen, however, he was admitted a Servitor at Oxford, joined the Methodists, then about fifteen in number, and thence rose to distinction in the pulpit. The new sect now regularly visited the prisoners and sick, fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays, the days on which Christ was betrayed and crucified and drew up scheme of self-examination, which, except that it speaks of obeying the laws of the Church of England, might fitly be appended to the spiritual exercises of Loyola. William Law, about this period, helped much to confirm Wesley in bis enthusiasm and longing after perfectibility. John Wesley and his associates running fast towards fanaticism, the seniors of Christ Church set themselves to check the evil which had sprung up; and discussions rather than events fill up the time from 1728 to 1735. In the April of the latter year old Mr. Wesley died, and John having refused to accept his church preferment, even if it could be obtained, was induced to undertake a mission to preach the gospel in Georgia. He was ac companied by his brother Charles, who went in the capacity of secretary to Mr. Oglethorpe, the founder of the colony; Charles Delamotte, the son of a London merchant; and Benjamin Ingham, one of the little community at Oxford. In the same vessel a party of Moravians sailed; and from the connexion with these brethren, much of the economy of the Methodists was derived. The singularities which had been in some degree restrained while in England, were now unlimitedly indulged, and the ascetic principles of the sect were put in full practice. Vegetables and rice and biscuit became at first the sole food of 66 A 'It was a rough season, their passage was tempestuous; and, during the storm, Wesley felt that he was unfit, because he was unwilling to die. shamed of this unwillingness, he reproached himself as if he had no faith, and he admired the impassable tranquillity to which the Moravians had attained." On the 5th of February, 1736, they anchored in the Savannah river, in the |
