GREAT WESLEYAN DEAD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 526, 5 June 1909, Page 9

GREAT WESLEYAN DEAD.

DR. J. H. RIGG, THE LAST OF A--- , ' ,; FAMOUS SCHOOL^;-■•■;■;' Dr. J. Harrison Rigg, ex-president of tho Wesleyan Conference and ex-I'rincipalof tht. Westminster Training Collego fcr"'ljay- School Teachers, whose death svas recently .announced at tho advanced ago of'.Bß,.was the last of a school of Methodist .divines: known', as "tho men of '45"—a groui);of .brilliant, ministers who entered their '-'probationary course that year, many of-whom subse-. quentljr became presidents of conferences or otherwise distinguished themselves in. ministerial or administrative, service.. Further,-by Dr. Higg's death a connecting -link.-with i-tie Methodism of John Wesley's day'has bwn. broken, for in his early ■ days he was in direct association with Richard Recce and John Hiokliug, both' of whom were caljed::to the ministry :byj John ', Wesley, and sorved under him as itinerant preachers. . In 1851 Dr. Rigg v/bs one of the special committee appointed to consider and report on the constituijional basis,of the' Methodist Church. That cominittoo laid the foundation of modern Methodism. In all (the controversies in Wesleyan circles during the last fifty years—and they have been not a few —Dr. Rigg took a share. It is said that ho,was the only Wesleyan who attended fifty consecutive Wesleyan Conferences. Whether this is so or not, it is certain that during the Inst thirty years he never let a Conference pass without making several speeches. Nothing brought him so speedily on his feet as any attempt to improve a constitution which,' in his opinionj had reached finality. It waa because of this conviction that he regarded with, coldness the overtures towards Methodist Union. . Dr. Risg inherited Methodist traditions. He was the son of a Wesleyan minister, and married the daughter of a Wesleyan minister, a ward of tho famous Dr. Clarke, tho commentator. Commencing life as a tutor in si Wesleyan household at the age 'of' twentythreej he was accented on'probation fpr the ministry. While on probation he comihericod to write for "The Biblical Review," and for over fifty yearshis pen was seldom idle. Ho was for'a considerable timo on the staff of tho "London' Quarterly Review," and for fifteen years its editor. Moreovor, he was the chief- writer in Methodist , subjects for tho '-'Encyclopaedia Britaunica," and published over twenty volumes on subjects ranging from Biblical' exposition and Methodist law to "A Comparative View of Church Organisations." As an authority on education matters Dr. Rigg gained a sound reputation. He was a member of tho first London School Board, and held his Beat for six years, when pressure of other duties compelled his retirement. In 1886 he was appointed a member of the Royal Commission on Education. Generally speaking, ho wab out of sympathy with tliu demand of Nor\ conformists in respect to the attitude of the State towards religious education,' and gave warm support to Mr. Balfour's Education Act of 1902. Iu his own denomination, he was nevertheless highly esteemed, and, though ho was , opposed on principlo to tlie representation of laymen in tho administration of the Church, tho fates willed that he should bo called to the presidential chair on tho occasion when laymen first made then appearance in the representative session , n't Bradford, in 1878. Fourteen years later the Conference again elected him to' tho position, he being tlio fourth since the death of Dr. Bunting to be singled out for a second term of office