William Black: The Apostle of Methodism in the Maritime Provinces of CanadaMacLean, John
Religion
William Black: The Apostle of Methodism in the Maritime Provinces of Canada
MacLean, John
Black, William, 1760-1834; Wesleyan Methodist Church -- Clergy -- Biography
Whitefield, the prince of orators, stalked through the land
proclaiming salvation for sinners, and not content with conquests won
in the sea-girt isles, he needs must cross the ocean to tell the story
of the ages to wondering thousands. John Berridge, the witty yet
zealous vicar of Everton, itinerated through the country and in one
year saw not less that four thousand awakened. William Grimshaw, the
eccentric curate of Haworth, superintended two Methodist circuits
while attending to his own parish, and Vincent Perronet, vicar of
Shoreham, who was so trusted a counsellor that Charles Wesley called
him the Archbishop of Methodism, gave two sons to the Methodist
ministry, and besides being the author of the hymn, "All Hail the
power of Jesus Name," Wesley dedicated to him the "Plain Account of
the People called Methodists."
The great revival brought into greater prominence Rowland Hill, the
eccentric preacher; Augustus Toplady, the author of the Hymn "Rock of
Ages;" Howell Harris, the famous Welsh orator, and the Countess of
Huntingdon. These and many others were brought into closer touch with
the great spiritual movement, at the period when Nova Scotia was
bidding for settlers, by the famous controversy on Calvinism, which
was full of spleen, and has shown us how good men may retain their
piety, and still say bitter and nasty things, and use gross epithets
in their zeal for religious doctrines.
But Methodism, though treated as a sect composed of ignorant and
illiterate folks, was not lacking in men of culture and force. It had
discovered the secret of picking men from the streets and transforming
them into saints and scholars, and it was successful in its efforts.
It found Thomas Olivers, a drunken Welsh shoemaker, and led him on,
till he became known as a great force in the pulpit, and the author of
that majestic lyric, "The God of Abraham praise" and of the tune
"Helmsley," sung to the hymn, "Lo, He comes with clouds descending."
It laid hands upon Samuel Bradburn, the shoemaker, and developed his
gifts by the grace of God, until his discourses, rich in sublimity,
and pulsating with great thoughts, charmed multitudes, and his
eloquence was so irresistible that Adam Clarke, the famous scholar,
declared that he had never heard his equal, and could give no idea of
his powers as an orator. In its ranks at this period were to be found
able scholars as Joseph Benson, the commentator, Fletcher, the saintly
and acute theologian of the new movement, and Thomas Walsh, whom
Wesley called, "that blessed man," and of whom he said, that, he was
so thoroughly acquainted with the Bible that "if he were questioned
concerning any Hebrew word in the Old, or any Greek in the New
Testament, he would tell after a brief pause, not only how often the
one or the other occurred in the Bible, but what it meant in every
place. Such a master of Biblical knowledge he says he never saw
before, and never expected to see again."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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