426
66,833
1848...
61
15,933
IV. Litei-ature. — The literature which belongs to this section of the Methodist Church relates chiefly to the publislied biographies of the ministers who have died in the work : The Life of the Rev. Samuel Leir/h, by Alex- ander Strahan, a small octavo volume of 592 pages, with portrait, is the basis of our historical knowledge of Meth- odism in Australia. \Vm. B. Boyce published in 1850 a Brief Grammar of Ancient Ilistori/, for the use of schools in Sydney (a 12mo of 108 pp.). He has pub- lished other works not relating to Australia. James Buller, Forty Years in New Zealand, including a Person- al Narrative, an A ccount of Jhioridom,and of the Chris- tianization and Colonization of the Country (1878, 8vo, 503 pp.), a work of much and permanent value. Life of J. II. Bumhy, icilh a Brief History of the New Zea- land Mission, by Alfred Barrett (1852, r2nio, 374 pp., with portrait, three editions). James Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, the Mission history, edited by George Stringer liowe (1858, post 8vo, 435 pp.), valuable for facts of his- tory. Mr. Calvert has also printed a Letter, on the Life of John Hunt. David Cargill, A.BI., A Refutation of Chevalier Dillons Attach on the Wesley an Missionaries in the Friendly Islands (1842, 8vo, 40 pp.) ; also Memoirs of Mrs. Maryaret Cargill, including Notices of the Prog- ress of Clu'istianiiy in Tonga and Fiji (1855, 18mo, 348 jip.). Daniel J. JJraper, the Shipioreched Mariner and his Drowning Charge, a sermon hy Kev. Dr. Jobson (186G, crown 8vo, 67 pp.). John Hunt, Memoir of the Rev. W. Cross, Missionary to the Friendly and Fiji Islands (18G8, 18mo, 248 pp.). Life of the Rev. John Hunt, Missionary to the Cannibals (1859, r2rao, 278 pp.). James J. Jobson, D.D., Australia, tvith Notes by the Way (1862, 8vo, 281 ]ip.), an interesting review of the work. Walter Lowry, Journal of a Missionary Visit to the Stations in the South Seas in 1847 (12mo, 303 pp.). A Second Journal of a Missionary Visit to the Friendly and Fiji Islands in 1850, edited bj' the Rev. Elijah Iloole (r2mo, 217 pp.). Letter from the Rev. Jos. II. Fletcher (Auckland, 1851, 8vo, 100 pp.). William Moister, A History of Wesley an Missions from their Commencement to 1870 (small 8vo, 547 pp.). Itobert Young, The Southern lFo?-W, journal of a deputa- tion from the Wesleyan Conference to New Zealand — Polynesia, Australia, and Tasmania (1854, r2mo, 444 pp. ; the same work in 2 pts.). (G. J. S.)
WESLEYAN CONFERENCE, British. See Wes-
I.EYANS.
WESLEYAN CONFERENCE, Fkencii. Under this head we propose to give a statement of the spread of Wesleyanism across the English Channel.
I. Origin and History. — Methodism had to struggle hard and long to obtain a home in France ; but the ef- forts of many j^ears were at length crowned with suc- cess. As early as 1779 Methodism found its way from Newfoundland to Jersey, one of the Channel Islands op- posite France. Some soldiers in a regiment from Eng- land to Jersev, being Methodists, carried their religion with them, and a small society was formed. They ap- plied to Mr. Wesley for a preacher, and Robert Carr Brackenbury, Esq., a wealthy layman who could speak French, was sent by Mr. Wesley to help the cause there. In 1785 Dr. Coke visited the island, and in 178G Adam Clarke was appointed to the Norman Islands to assist Mr. Brackenbury. In 1787 Mr. Wesley spent a fortnight on the islands, preaching and exhorting from house to house. The people assembled in the evenings by hun- dreds to hear him. Mr. Wesley foresaw that Method- ists from those islands, having such frequent intercourse with France, would soon take their religion there also. In 1790 the Rev. John de Quetteville and INIr. John An- gel visited some of the villages in Normandy ; and find- ing small congregations of French Protestants, joined them, and began by giving personal experiences of con- version. This awakened sympathy, and the people de- sired information.
William Mahy, a lay preacher in Guernsey, was sent, and was ordained in 1791 by Dr. Coke to preach. He commenced his labors at Courcelle. Dr. Coke then went on to Paris, taking with him Mr. De Quetteville and Mr. Gibson ; and there hired a room for a month near the Seine. Dr. Coke was then offered a suppressed church in Paris for ,£150, which would hold two thousand per- sons. This will show the low state to which religion had then fallen. Infidelity was rampant, the priests had all been killed or banished, and any pastors remaining did not favor the new religion. The opposition to Mr. Mahy broke down his health, and ended in his prema- ture death. Dr. Coke soon found that Paris was not favorable to Methodism, and retired. Seed was sown in several villages in Normandy, which was not allowed to die; but the Revolution following so quickly on these efforts arrested further progress then.
In the history of Methodism in many places, when one door is closed, Divine Providence opens another. So it was in France. For years religion in every form had been nearly extinguished. The war with Napoleon Bonaparte had resulted in the capture, by England, of thousands of French prisoners; and eleven large ships of war formed the prison-homes of those men in the river Medway. In 1810 the Rev. William Toase be- gan to visit the ships and speak to the soldiers. He was heard gladly; and began to preach and distribute French Bibles, and converts were the result. In 1811 Conference appointed Mr. Toase a missionary to the French ships in the Sledway. These soldiers were ul- timately, after 1815, returned to their homes, and they took their religion and Bibles with tliem; and so the way was prepared for tlie renewed introduction of Meth- odism. This time it was to be permanent ; and although it has had a slow and struggling existence, yet the sta- tistics will show that it has survived, if it has not ex- tended largely.