Mr. Tyerman has compiled a biography that an examination of the first volume convinces us is infinitely the best yet published, and that promises to be accepted as the standard one. It is very circumstantial, and very calmly and justly appreciative, the greatest care being manifested to present the whole truth and to abstain from any thing like mere eulogy of his subject. Many hitherto unpublished letters of Wesley are given, and in other directions the work has unusual interest.—Philadelphia Inquirer.
Seventeen years of patient labor, the careful study of an immense mass of unpublished original manuscript letters and documents, fidelity to his subject, with an impartiality of judgment that is frequently seen in his strictures upon Wesley’s language and actions, and an enthusiastic love for the venerated man, are among the author’s qualifications for his work. So far as possible he has followed the plan which has made Dr. Hanna’s life of Thomas Chalmers a model of biography. Wesley, for the most part, is here his own biographer. The author, with skill, and in a lucid style, has arranged the facts and shaped the story, without regard to the philosophy of it.... We have been fascinated over his interesting pages, not only with his photographic views of his hero, but with his equally faithful representations of Whitefield and the compeers of these two great ministers of Christ.—Christian Intelligencer, N. Y.
An extremely able and interesting life of John Wesley. It is complete and accurate, written in an agreeable style, full of those reminiscences illustrative of slight traits of character which form the great charm of a biography; a striking and faithful picture of a remarkable man.—English Independent.
The best biography of the great leader of modern active Christianity.—Freeman.
Mr. Tyerman, as his last, and we think his best biographer, has produced a record highly honorable to his subject, fresh and lively in style, copious in information, discriminating and candid in its tone, and worthy of a first rank as a biographical history of early Methodism.—Methodist New Connexion Magazine.
The verdict of his numerous readers will be that he has admirably succeeded; henceforth his production will be pre-eminently the Life of Wesley, and we question whether it will ever be superseded or rivaled by any subsequent biography, certainly not for the amplitude of its information or the impartiality or faithfulness with which facts are given. So fully and vividly is the spiritual and moral condition of the country during Wesley’s lifetime depicted in these pages, that the reader finds the work a most excellent general religious history of the nation for the period, and for this purpose it will have great value as a book of reference.—Methodist Quarterly, London.
Mr. Tyerman especially deserves well of the general public, because his Methodist reverence for the subject of his narrative does not induce him to keep back or cover up any thing. An honest and thorough biography, dealing with naked facts, and chiefly leaving the reader to his own impressions, is a rare thing in religious history; but this, in the main, Mr. Tyerman has given.—Chicago Evening Journal.
Mr. Tyerman has earned a debt of gratitude from his readers by the faithful, painstaking light which he throws on the man and his time, and it may fairly be said that this, the fifth life of Wesley which has been published, is the first which presents him to us both justly and fully.—Christian Register.
There are few biographies more minute, careful, and impartial than “Tyerman’s Wesley.” There is no influence nor incident which in any way had to do with the great preacher’s character and opinions that Mr. Tyerman does not describe with faithful sincerity. The work is not alone a life of Wesley—every relative and friend and disciple is given such generous mention that it seems a perfect nest of biographies, and it is at the same time a profuse and thorough history of the foundation and first forty years of Methodism.... He is at no pains to hide John Wesley’s faults and foibles: he gives us a definite picture of the man exactly as he was.... There could not be a more accurate record of Wesley’s noble life and unselfish labors, of his innumerable publications and most important sermons. The literature of Methodism has no more judicious and valuable work than this.—N. Y. Tribune.