JOHN WESLEY'S JOURNAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2695, 8 November 1905, Page 81

JOHN WESLEY'S JOURNAL.

Introduction and Appreciation by Hugh Price Hughes and Augustine Birrell.

London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons,

The edition of John Wesley's Journal, now before us, is 1 , save in the matter of coiour-binding, identical with that of Fox's Journal, just noticed. Mr Parker is the abridger in this instanca also ; aai'd the introduction by th© late Rev. Hngli Price Hughes, no less than "tha appreciation'" by Augustine Birrell, do bub add to the charm of the book.

Certainly, from the domestic point of view there is no more deeply interesting part of Wesley's Journal than that which relates to the life and death of his mother, and quotes those Letters from her in "which, to use her own words : "At your d'e&ire I b'ave collected the principal rules I observed in educating my family." What a strange, almost austere, caron of living it seems to our modern laxity and selfindulgence! It is a revelation to the modern woman, this gospel of life in which Susannah Wesley brought up her family. The incidental light thrown upon the morals and manners, no less than the politics and religion, of the long period — 1735 to 1790 — over which the journal extends gives to the journal of John Wesley an historical interest as well as the value which attaches to the work as a religious classic. Can we moderns realise the outlook which speaks from these lines?—

"As soon> as I set foot in Georgia I began preaching at 5 in tho morning ; trad every communicant — that is, every aerious person in the town — constantly attended throughout the year: I mean every morning, winter and summer, unless in the case of sickness. In the year 1738, when God began His .great work in England, I began preaching at the same hour, winter and summer, and never wanted a congregation. If they will not attend now they have lost their zeal, andi then it cannot be denied they are a fallen people " Is any reader optimistic •enough to think that even a John Wesley could fill his church at 5 o'clock, winter and slimmer, in this year iof grace 1905? The well-arranged 1 and copious index makes a most convenient reference to th© contents.