WESLEY 





WEST 



he began, in conjunction with George White- 

 field, his career as an evangelistic preacher. 



Beginnings of Methodism. Before long the 

 churches were closed against Wesley and his 

 associates, and they spoke in the open air, 

 gaining adherents in great numbers. The first 

 building erected for their use was in the Horse 

 Fair, in Bristol, and the first society formed by 

 - in 17 U). Lay pivachers. or "class 

 : pointed to have charge of lit- 

 tle groups of converts, and the movement 

 spread very rapidly. Wesley himself traveled 

 on horseback fifteen to twenty miles a day, 

 ing three or four times, increasing, as his 

 own faith and zeal grew, in his wonderful mas- 

 ter his audiences. 



Meanwhile, he was an active helper in every 

 worthy charitable or social movement, man- 

 aging the business side of his enterprise and 

 turning out a surprising amount of literary mat- 

 ter. He held the first conference with his help- 

 ers in 1744, but not until 1784 was the confer- 

 ence constituted the governing body of a new 

 church separate from the Church of England. 

 Before his death Wesley's actual followers num- 

 bered 120,000; more than 500 preachers were 

 engaged in carrying on the work. 



In 1750 Wesley married Mrs. Vazeille, a widow 

 with four children; their habits and tempera- 

 ments were wholly different, and Wesley could 

 not reconcile himself to changes which would 

 preserve family relations; hence a separation 

 was agreed upon. Wesley's works numbered 

 thirty-two volumes, published by himself, but 

 he wrote much more which reached millions of 

 readers in his time through other sources. 



Always a man with abundant charm of man- 

 ner, Wesley became as he grew older a more 

 and more delightful companion. His bright- 

 ness, his interest in all about him, his genial 

 humor, never flagging, forced even those who 

 opposed the new doctrines and the sect which 

 grew out of them to respect and admire the 

 man who instituted them. 



Charles Wesley (1707-1788), an English 

 clergyman and brother of John Wesley, was 

 the early song writer of Methodism, and one 

 of the founders of the Methodist Church. He 

 was born at Epworth, in Lincolnshire and 

 studied at Westminster School and Christ 

 Church, Oxford. It seems to have been to him 

 that the name of Methodist was first applied, 

 not because of any religious observances, but be- 

 cause he was himself methodical in his manner 

 of living and studying and was always urging 

 his friends to be likewise. 



In 1735, just after being ordained to the 

 ministry, he sailed with his brother John as a 

 missionary to Georgia, but did not remain long 

 in the colony because the austerity of his life 

 and the severity of the doctrines which he 

 preached made him extremely unpopular. His 

 "conversion" to the views which became his 

 fixed principles and the foundation stones of 

 the Church that was even then in the making 

 dated from 1738, and in the next year he be- 

 came an itinerant preacher, attracting wide at- 

 tention and large audiences by the vigor of hi< 

 message. Before all else, however, he was the 

 song writer of the new Methodist movement, 

 having produced over 6,000 hymns. Many of 

 these are of little merit, but some rank very 

 high and will ever be favorites with Protestant 

 churches. 



Charles Wesley was less extreme in his views 

 than was his brother John, and viewed with dis- 

 favor the desire of the Methodists to separate 

 themselves from the Anglican Church. A.MC c. 



Consult Urlin's Wesley's Place in Church His- 

 tory; Taylor's Wesley in Methodism; Julian's 

 Dictionary of Hymnology. 



WESLEYAN METHODISTS, a sect which 

 retains the Church organization originated by 

 John Wesley. Wesleyans are found principally 

 in the British Isles. After the War of Inde- 

 pendence the Methodists in America adopted 

 the episcopal form of Church government, and 

 the organization became known as the Method- 

 ist Episcopal Church, as distinguished from the 

 Wesleyan Methodist. The growth of the Wes- 

 leyan movement is told in these volumes under 

 the heading METHODISTS. See, also, the article 

 WESLEY, JOHN AND CHARLES. 



WEST, BENJAMIN (1738-1820), an early 

 American painter, remembered especially for 

 his historical canvases. West was practically 

 self-taught in art. His first colors were made 

 from leaves and berries, and his brushes were 

 made of hairs from a cat's tail. His first his- 

 torical painting, The Death of Socrates, was 

 executed when he was sixteen years of age. In 

 1760 he went to Rome, where he attracted much 

 attention with his Cimon and Iphigcnia, and 

 Angelica and Medora. In 1763 he visited Eng- 

 land, where he was received so graciously that 

 he determined to make London his future resi- 

 dence. For King George III, his constant 

 friend and patron for almost forty years, he 

 painted a series of twenty-eight religious paint- 

 ings for Windsor Castle. In 1792 he succeeded 

 Sir Joshua Reynolds as president of the Royal 

 Academy, which he had helped to found. 



