heard that a member of his society had commenced preaching, he determined to silence him at once, and thus put a stop to such irregularity. Before, however, he carried his determination into execution he heard for himself: and being convinced that Thomas Maxfield was acting in obedience to the call and order of God, he dare not forbid him to speak in the name of Jesus, but received him as a helper in the great work in which he was engaged, as having been provided and fitted for his work by the Master of assemblies.

From this time forth Wesley saw a host coming to his help, not indeed from the ranks of the standing army, but raised up from the mass of the common people. Cast into the spiritual alembic which God had prepared for the refinement and purification of souls, they came forth bearing the heavenly impress, and shining with all the graces of the Spirit, and endowed with an eloquence which confounded their enemies, while it filled their friends with delightful admiration. Accustomed to hardship, understanding the language, the manners, and customs, and knowing the wants of the people, they could labor for their good, accommodate themselves to their condition, and adapt themselves to their peculiar circumstances; and being taught also the things of the kingdom' from their own experience, they could bring forth from the sacred treasury of their hearts, things new and old,' in a language which the people generally understood.

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At the first appearance of this hardy race of bold adventurers in the spiritual warfare, Wesley had to endure much obloquy and reproach, and sometimes not a little persecution. The learned few looked upon them with sneering contempt, calling them beardless boys' the high dignitaries of the Church and their supporters, treated them as interlopers into the fold of which they were the authorized shepherds and patrons; the stiff Presbyterian and scowling Independent viewed them as bungling imitators of their levelling system of Church order; these all united, some in seriousness, and others in sport, to pour contempt upon this new race of 'Lollards,' as some denominated them, while others called them Wesley's ragged legion of scavengers, draymen, and chimney sweepers.* These scurrilous invectives, so unbecoming the lips of those who used them, were heaped upon the men whom the Head of the Church honored with His blessing in turning sinners from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.' All the bitterness of sarcasm, the poignancy of wit and ridicule, as well as the piteous moans of offended and mortified pride and ambition, were alternately used against Wesley for suffering unlearned laymen to help him in the work of the Lord-the work of saving souls. It was in vain that he appealed to primitive usage, or pointed to the salu

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* See Mr. Wesley's reply to Mr. Hill's Imposture Detected.

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tary effects of their ministrations, as a justification of his measures. The ear of prejudice was deaf to his appeals, and the eye of bigotry was blind to the signs of the times. Wesley, however, kept on the even tenor of his way,' fully relying upon the strong One for help, and confidently believing that He would one day make all things plain to him that hath understanding.' And such, indeed, has been the result.

Notwithstanding some who are inattentive to the history of events have questioned the truth of the assertion, yet it is beyond all controversy that the labors of John Wesley, and those who were at first associated with him, were instrumental in beginning that mighty reformation which has since spread over the four quarters of the globe.

He, either personally, or by those whom God raised up under his ministry, preached the Gospel to the English, Scotch, Irish, French, Germans, Hollanders, the Americans, and the Africans. And since that period the pure truths of the Gospel have effected a reform in almost every Protestant Church in Europe and America. Before this event, where were those splendid establishments which now astonish the world by their munificence, by the benevolence of their plans, and the energy by which they are carried into execution? Where were Bible, missionary, tract, and Sunday school societies? beside many other institutions of charity of a more local, but of no less a benevolent character? They were unknown. They have since sprung into existence under the influence of those life-giving principles which were revived and promulgated by Wesley. They are the fruit of that tree of righteousness which God enabled him to plant, and which, being watered by the dew of heaven,' has struck its roots deep, and extended its branches far and wide. Is it, then, vain boasting to affirm that the rise of Wesleyan Methodism makes an epoch in the Christian Church as distinctiy as any period of its history since the apostolic days? So that if Methodism were now struck out of existence, it would stand on the page of history, and be remembered by all future generations as one of the means which God used for the awakening of the world from its spiritual slumbers, and of giving His Church to see the road which leads to glory and immortality. Indeed, every denomination in Christendom has felt its influence, and, we hope, will continue to feel it until the latest generations.

The school of Wesley has educated many a rustic, and made him, not only a devout, warm-hearted Christian, and an able minister of the New Testament, but an eminent scholar. To the truth of this remark even bigotry, pride, and jealousy have had to bow. And among others, whom we might adduce as evidence of its truth, we may select the subject of the biography before us. We do not say, indeed, that Adam Clarke was a rustic. He was, however, of comparatively ob

scure parentage, brought up and educated under many disadvantages, and rose to eminence by the dint of his own intense and well-directed application. He was certainly one of those whom Wesley took by the hand in his youth, trained him under the severe but wholesome discipline which he established for his itinerant preachers, and who succeeded in gaining the summit of human excellence,—and what is of incomparably more worth than all things else, was eminently useful to his fellow beings as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are facts abundantly attested in the memoir before us. And we the more readily call the attention of our readers to it, because that in the lives of such distinguished individuals we behold embodied a cluster of those excellencies which adorn the human character, and render illustrious those virtuous actions which exert such beneficial influence upon mankind. The study of such characters, therefore, must not be considered in the light of a mere idle curiosity, a matter of amusement for the purpose of filling up a vacant hour. A much higher object prompts those who come to the study of the life, the motives and actions, of such personages, if indeed they be actuated from right motives themselves. If the best study of man is man himself, it follows that when we look into the pages of individual biography, if we would profit by the look, we must bring along with us a desire to learn ourselves, to make a just estimate of the human character, and to become imitators of those virtuous actions which rendered them illustrious in their day and generation.

We confess we have sometimes feared that this character of writing would be brought into disrepute, by the many puerile performances which have of late flooded the world. When an indifferent individual falls into the hands of an indifferent writer, who is very likely to exalt foibles into excellencies, and to denounce real virtues as censurable faults, the reader is not in a way of deriving any benefit from the production, however verbose and eulogical it may be. That many such have been palmed upon the public, and emblazoned in an advertisement for the charitable purpose of benefiting the printer and vendor, is what no one at all acquainted with these subjects will attempt to deny. Where nine tenths of the persons, whose deaths are recorded, were born, where was their residence, what their occupation, &c, are matters of no more importance to one person in ten thousand, than it is for them to know who invented the story of Tom Thumb. Nor is there any thing in their lives which can be safely commended to the imitation of others. Such records may, indeed, gratify the wishes and feelings of a few fond and partial relatives and friends, but they can never edify the public, nor indemnify the reader for the loss of his money in the purchase, or his time in perusing the books.

After, however, the mind has been surfeited with such dull perform

ances, which, by a misnomer, are called biographies, it is gratifying to turn one's attention to those of a different class, where we behold mind developing its lofty powers in grasping subjects calculated to afford it a feast of marrow and fat things,' where the fire of genius is enkindled at the altar of truth, and before whose prowess error lies prostrate, overcome and vanquished by the power of that intellectual strength which was guided and directed by Him who is the author of truth. To trace a man from infancy to manhood, struggling against adverse fortune, and yet gradually rising in the midst of circumstances naturally calculated to press him down, until he arrives to an eminence which but few of his competitors dare presume to occupy, is one of those gratifying employments in which it is extremely pleasurable to be engaged. But to see this same person mounting by gradual and sure steps from the vale of obscurity to the summit of human excellence, aided only by his own native genius and such providential helps as were thrown in his way, commands our admiration, and at the same time affords to the humble student, who may be in similar circumstances, a lesson of encouragement which should stimulate him to persevere in faith and hope in his difficult but commendable undertaking. Yet, more than all this-when we behold this same person acknowledging himself a debtor to Divine grace for all his attainments, living, as a little child, in daily dependence upon the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, we lose sight, in some measure, of the man and his acquirements, and lift our grateful hearts in humble adoration to the God of all grace,' 'from whom cometh every good and perfect gift,' and joyfully praise Him for having deposited such a treasure in an earthen vessel.'

Such was the man whose biography is now before us. We do not say, indeed, that we are entirely pleased with every part of it, and yet we very much doubt whether a better one, on the whole, could have been produced. It was one of Dr. Clarke's peculiarities to be atten tive to what are called little things,' as well as to those which may be considered great. And those who object to his biography because those little occurrences are noticed with a particularity which they may think monotonous and tiresome, should remember that these were parts of the man, and therefore were essential to the completion of the narrative of his life. They were, beside, facts, which, had they been omitted out of regard to the general greatness of his character, would have left chasms which the mind of the reader must have either filled up with conjecture, or left vacant for want of suitable materials. Every chain must be connected by its several links; and though some may be of such a structure as to detract from its beauty and strength, yet they are no less essential to make it complete.

It should, moreover, be remembered that the same almighty Being

who displayed His perfections in the creation of the heavens and the earth, as a mighty whole, no less perspicuously manifested His crea ting skill in forming the minutest parts-in making the birds of the air, with all their variety of plumage-the fish of the sea, with all their mingled beauty of fins and seales-the numberless plants which beautify the garden of flowers, with all their variegated tints of exquisitely fine colors, as well as the innumerable animalcule which float unseen in the atmosphere, swim in the water, burrow in the rock, or incorporate themselves in the human system. Though these things may appear small, and even insignificant in the eye of a superficial observer of nature, yet, in the estimation of the Christian philosopher, they no less bespeak the wisdom and beneficence of the Creator than do those magnificent objects which decorate the heavens over our heads. And in attempting a perfect description of nature, in all its varied ramifications, these minute parts would engage the attention of the philosopher equally with those ponderous globes of light which roll through the expanse of the heavens, and astonish us with their magnificence. They all contribute to make up one complete whole, in which nothing is defective, nothing superfluous.

Now, if we may compare great things to small,' we would say that a mind accustomed to roam at large through the immense fields of literature and science, manifests none of its weakness in stooping to converse with children, or to notice those circumstances respecting itself which, viewed as mere insulated facts, might appear trivial and unimportant, but when viewed in connection with the whole thread of his life, are considered as only so many parts which make up the entire history of his pilgrimage.

There is yet another point of light in which we would notice those particulars, to which we have heard some take exceptions, in the life of Dr. Clarke. Are not all the facts therein related strictly true ?— This none will be disposed to doubt. Whether, therefore, they detract from, or add to his reputation, they were necessary to the perfection of the narrative. And they are related with all that scrupulous fidelity which indicates a sacred regard to truth, and, at the same time, a suitable disregard to the effect they may have upon the reputation of the distinguished individual of whom they are told. Viewed in this light, therefore, they greatly enhance the worth, and add much to the interest of the biography.

These apologies, if they may be called such, take for granted that the particulars, to which we have alluded, do in reality deteriorate the character of Dr. Clarke. But even this may admit of an honest doubt. It may, perhaps, have been to his prejudice that many had formed too high an opinion of his talents, of his acquirements, and excellences. From the fame of his character, which had been spread VOL. V.-April, 1834.

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