Wesel was probably a fertile writer. Jakob Wim- pfeling says, in Flacius, that Wesel had adorned the Erfurt school by his teaching and writings ; and Fla- cius adds that the writings were still preserved at Er- furt. Only the two tracts Adversus Indulgentias and De Potestute Ecdesiastica are now extant. See Ar- gentre, Collectio Judiciorum, I, ii, 291 sq. ; Walch, Mo- num. Medii ^'Evi, I, i, 114 sq. ; Ulmann, Johaiin Wesd, der Vorldiifer Luther'' & ; id. Reformaloren vor der Refor- mation.— Herzog, Real-EncyMop, s. v.
Wesi-Hiisi, in Finnish m3'thology, was a servant of the wicked giant Hiisi (the personification of the wicked principle), who rules over the waters, as others ruled over the mountains, the air, etc. See Lenorraant, Chuhhean Magic, p. 257.
Wesley (originally Wellesley), a name memor- able in English ecclesiastical history, as will be seen from the biographies following. The pedigree on the following page supplies the link connecting all the chief branches of the Wesley family, and extends back- ward for more than five hundred years. It indicates the branches from which descended the late Artliur, Duke of Wellington, and the two sisters Ann and Jane Porter. It also includes the names of nearly twenty members of the family living at the present time, some gf which are now affixed for the first time to add as much completeness as possible to the record. It was prepared by Mr. George J. Stevenson, A.M., of London.
"Wesley, Bartholomew, an Episcopal clergy- man, great-grandfather of John and Charles Wesfey, was born in England about 1595. He received a uni- versity education (probably at Oxford), and took orders in the Church of England. He was rector of Cathers- ton and Charmouth, two villages in Dorset, in 1650, and
was ejected from both by the Act of Uniformity in 1662. After his ejectment he followed the profession of a phy- sician, for which he had prepared while in the univer- sity, and preached among the Nonconformists as oppor- tunity served. He died about 1680.
Wesley, Charles (1), A.M., the hymnist of Meth- odism, and one of " the sweet singers in Israel," was celebrated also as a preacher and a coadjutor of his brother John in the great evangelical and ecclesiastical movement of their lives and times.
I. I'ife. — Charles Wesley was born at the parsonage, Epworth, Lincolnshire, Dec. 18, 1707, being the eigh- teenth child and the j'oungest son of Rev. Samuel Wes- \ey. (All the biographers except one give the date as Dec. 18, 1708; the latest, ]Mr. Geo. J. Stevenson, says that the information now at hand places the date a year earlier. See Memorials of the Wesley Family [Lond. 1876], p. 385). When five j'ears of age he entered his motiier's school, where began that systematic course of mental discipline which laid the groundwork of his after- success in academic pursuits. At eight he was enrolled at Westminster School, where his brother Samuel was usher — an elegant scholar, and who imbued his little charge with his own High-Church notions. Here he became a friend of a Scotch lad, James Murray, after- wards the celebrated lord Mansfield. Young Ciiarles made such progress in his studies that in 1721 he was admitted one of the king's scholars, his expenses being thus henceforth borne by the Foundation. The biog- raphers think it doubtful whether religion would ever have had the services of the great hymnist, or the State those of the administrator of India and the hero of Waterloo, if the student at Westminster had accepted an heirship to the estates of Garrett Wesley, Esq., mem- ber of Parliament for the County of Jleath, at this tjrae (about 1726) pressed upon him by his landed relative. In 1726 he was elected to Christ Church College, Oxford, an institution which his brother John had left a little be- fore. Here he and a few friends became so diligent in study, serious in manner, and observed with such strict- ness the method of study and practice laid down in the statutes of the university, that they won for themselves an epithet first applied to a college of physicians in Rome in the time of Nero, and soon the little band was known by a word that has now in a large measure lost its opprobrious note — Methodist. At the age of twenty- one Charles took his A.B. degree, and became tutor in the college. In November, 1729, the "Methodists" were joined by John Wesley, and through insult and ridicule pursued their devotional and self-den3-ing labors. The brothers remained at the university until the death of their fjithcr, in April, 1735. Having been persuaded to accompany John on the mission to Georgia, primarily as secretary to the managing committee of the colony and private secretarj' to general Oglethorpe, its founder, Charles, at the instance of Dr. Burton, was ordained dea- con in Oxford by Dr. John Potter, bishop of that city, and on the following Sunday he was ordained priest in the metropolis by Dr. Gibson, bishop of London (autumn of 1735). The ship Symmonds sailed up the Savannah Feb. 5, 1736. It is needless to treat the reader with an account of the mishaps, privations, trials, and persecu- | tions which befell our subject in this country. He can read it in Charles Wesley's Journal and Life. Suffice it to saj' that diligently and conscientiously he endured hardship as a good soldier while stationed at Frederica. On the 11th of August, 1736, Charles Wesley, sick and disappointed, embarked for England. The vessel was compelled to put into Boston, where, under kind and hospitable treatment, he quite fully recovered, so as to be able to preach fretpiently in King's Chapel. On Dec, 3, 1736, he arrived at Deal. England. By the desire of the University of Oxford, Charles Wesley was requested to present their address to the king, which he did at Hampton Court, Aug. 29, 1737. He was graciously re- ceived, and dined with the royal household.