The hand of Providence

by J. H. Ward

For a long time he would not permit his co-workers to administer the sacrament of the Lord's supper; as he considered they did not possess the requisite authority. Wesley saw with wonderful clearness a fact that no one of that age perceived or, if he did, had not the moral courage to declare. He perceived the universal as well as the total apostasy of the so-called Christian church. In his 94th sermon he says; "The real cause why the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer to be found in the Christian church was because the Christians were turned heathens again, and had only a dead form left." In another place he says: "A string of opinions is no more Christian faith, than a string of beads is Christian holiness." The justifying faith which he considered so essential and taught so earnestly, implied a personal revelation—an inward evidence of Christianity. Thus he unconsciously yet logically taught the insufficiency of the ancient scriptures as a guide to salvation. It also implied the need of new and continuous revelation as necessary for the vitality and growth of the church. Wesley continued his labors for upwards of fifty-two years, traveling and preaching until within a short time of his death, which occurred in his eighty-eighth year. At the time of his death, his followers numbered more than one hundred thousand. Now they are estimated at nearly eight millions.

John Wesley.

It was the teachings and practices of the Puritans, the Quakers and the Methodists that gave to England that great moral impulse which led to the establishment of Sunday schools by Robert Raikes of Gloucester, the reforming of prisons by John Howard, and the abolition of the slave trade by William Wilberforce. The ardor and perseverance which these men showed in behalf of the poor, the wronged and the afflicted, excited a wave of human sympathy throughout the length and breadth of the civilized world. It is from this time that may be dated the commencement of charity schools, foundling hospitals, insane asylums and other institutions of benevolence for which English-speaking people are now so famous.

While the moral and religious movements were in progress, others of a political or scientific nature, were pressing forward with rapid strides. Amid the tumult of these times, James Brindley was quietly making England a net work of canals. Watt was silently perfecting his invention of the steam-engine and Adam Smith was working out the great problem of political and industrial economy, which has made England and her colonies the leading commercial and manufacturing countries of the world.

Meanwhile John Hargreaves, Richard Arkwright and Samuel Crompton, by their inventions were revolutionizing the art of spinning and weaving. However, these ingenious devices would have done but little had it not been for the new and inexhaustible labor force of the steam-engine which had then come into general use. One of the first effects was to develop the iron manufactures of England. Previous to 1750, England and her colonies imported four-fifths of their iron goods from Sweden; now they produce more than four-fifths of all the iron used in the world.

The influence of the steam-engine and spinning jenny on the civilization of England is beyond human calculation. Mines were developed, manufactories established and the whole national industry so increased that the population of England was twice doubled in less than fifty years. At the same time agriculture was so improved that one-sixth of the people raised food for the remainder.

While these events were transpiring in England they had their due influence in the colonies. Europe saw for the first time a state growing up amidst the forests of the west, where religious freedom had become complete. Religious tolerance had been brought about by strange circumstances—a medley of religious sects such as the world had never seen before. New England was the stronghold of the Puritans. In some of the southern colonies the Episcopal church was established by law and the bulk of the settlers clung to it. The Roman Catholics formed a large majority in Maryland. Pennsylvania was a state of Quakers. Presbyterians and Baptists fled from persecution to colonize New Jersey; Lutherans and Moravians from Germany abounded among the settlers of Georgia, and the persecuted Huguenots of France had fled from their native land to the forests of Carolina. In such a chaos of creeds, religious persecution was well nigh impossible.

As there were but few large fortunes among the colonists, so nearly all had the same social standing and privileges. Education was general. It was the proud boast of many of the colonies that every man and woman could read and write.

Such was the condition of the colonies in 1748, when Montesquieu, the wisest and most reflecting statesman of France, declared that a free, prosperous and great people were forming in the forests of America. The hereditary dynasties of the old world were all unconscious of the rapid growth of this power, which was soon to involve them in its new and prevailing influence. The hour of revolution was at hand, promising freedom to conscience and dominion to intelligence. From the fragments of European society—fragments that in some instances had been considered worthless—humanity in the providence of God was building up a self-governing and democratic dominion.