quainted with them. in his parish but he presently knew it, and made himself acWe have a proof of this from a letter he wrote to the Bishop of Lincoln, after being absent from home a very short time. "After my return to Epworth, (says he) and looking a little among my people, I found there were two strangers come hither, both of whom I have discovered to be Papists, though they come to church; and I have hopes of making one or both of them good members of the Church of England." But his conscientious regard to parochial duties, did not divert him from literary pursuits. A man who spends all his time in the most useful manner he can, may diversify his employments, and accomplish by diligence what appears to others impracticable. His favourite study seems to have been the original Scriptures, in which he was indefatigable ; a practice which can never be too much commended in a minister of the Gospel, when joined with a proper attention to practical duties. The following extracts from two of his letters to his son, the late Mr. John Wesley, will give some idea of his diligence in this respect; and the second of them will shew us his opinion of a subject on which learned men have been much divided. "I have some time since designed an edition of the Holy Bible in octavo, in the Hebrew, Chaldee, Septuagint, and the Vulgate; and have made some progress in it. What I desire of you on this article is, 1. That you would immediately fall to work, and read diligently the Hebrew text in the Polyglott, and collate it exactly with the Vulgate, writing all, even the least variations or differences between them. 2. To these I would have you add the Samaritan text in the last column but one; which is the very same with the Hebrew, except in some very few places, differing only in the Samaritan character, which I think is the true old Hebrew. In twelve months' time you will get through the Pentateuch; for I have done it four times the last year, and am going over it the fifth, and collating the two Greek versions, the Alexandrian and the Vatican, with what I can get of Symmachus and Theodotion," &c. Mr. John Wesley was in the twenty-second year of his age, not yet ordained, nor had he attained any preferment in the University, when he received this letter from his father. It gives a pleasing view of his progress in biblical learning at this early period of life, and shews his father's confidence in his critical knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. The following letter was written in 1731, and very clearly states the old gentleman's opinion of the translation of the Seventy, after a most laborious examination of it. "I find in your letter an account of a learned friend you have, who has a great veneration for the Septuagint, and thinks that in some instances it corrects the present Hebrew. I do not wonder that he is of that mind; as it is likely he has read Vossius and other learned men, who magnify this translation so as to depreciate the original. When I first began to study the Scriptures in earnest, and had read it over seve ral times, I was inclined to the same opinion. What then increased my respect for it was, 1. That I thought I found many texts in the Scriptures more happily explained than in our own or other versions. 2. That many words and phrases in the New Testament, can hardly be so well understood without having recourse to this translation. 3. That both our Saviour and his apostles so frequently quote it. These considerations held me in a blind admiration of the Septuagint; and though I did not esteem them absolutely infallible, yet I hardly dared to trust my own eyes, or think they were frequently mistaken. But upon reading this translation over very often, and comparing it verbatim with the Hebrew, I was forced by plain evidence of fact to be of another mind. That which led me to it was, some mistakes (I think not less than a thousand) in places indifferent, either occasioned by the ambiguous sense of some Hebrew words, or by the mistake of some letters, as daleth for resh, and vice versa; which every one knows are very much alike in the old He-brew character. But what fully determined my judgment -was, that I found, or thought I found, very many places which appeared purposely altered for no very justifiable reason. These at last came so thick upon me in my daily reading, that I began to note them down; not a few instances of which you will see in the dissertation I shall send you in my next packet. I would have you communicate it to your learned friend, with my compliments, earnestly desiring him, as well as you, to peruse it with the greatest prejudice you can: and after you have thoroughly weighed the whole, as I think the subject deserves, to make the strongest objections you are able against any article of it, where you are not convinced by my observations. For I should not deserve a friend, if I did not esteem those my best friends who do their endeavours to set me right, where I may possibly be mistaken, especially in a matter of so great moment." Those two extracts give an interesting view of this gentleman's learning, diligent study of the Scriptures, and candour, in each of which he holds forth to us an example highly deserving of imitation. Mr. Wesley was a voluminous writer, which in most cases is a disadvantage to an author, whatever his abilities may be. His Latin commentary on the book of Job is a most elaborate performance; but the subject of this book, and the language in which the commentary is written, are but ill adapted to the generality of modern readers. As a poet he has been censured by Garth and others; though when he failed, it was perhaps as much owing to the difficulty of the subject, as to want of poetical abilities. Of his larger poetical performances, his son Samuel passes the following candid but impartial judgment, in the elegy above-mentioned. "Whate'er his strains, still glorious was his end, Faith to assert, and virtue to defend. He sung, how God the Saviour deign'd to' expire, Deduc'd his Maker's praise from age to age, Through the long annals of the sacred page." Most of his smaller pieces are excellent.. We shall insert the following, both for its intrinsic beauty, and as a specimen of his poetical talents. EUPOLIS'S HYMN TO THE CREATOR. THE OCCASION. Part of a (new) Dialogue, between Plato, and Eupolis* the Poet.—The rest not extant. Eupolis. But is it not a little hard, that you should banish all our fraternity from your new Commonwealth ? What hurt has father Homer done, that you dismiss him among the rest? Plato. Certainly the blind old gentleman lies with the best grace in the world. But a lie handsomely told, debauches the taste and morals of a people. Besides, his tales of the gods are intolerable, and derogate, in the highest degree, from the dignity of the Divine nature. Eupolis. But do you really think that these faults are inseparable from poetry? May not the One Supreme be sung, without any intermixture of them! Plato. I must own I hardly ever saw any thing of that nature. But I shall be glad to see you, or any other, attempt and succeed in it. On that condition, I will gladly exempt you from the fate of your brother poets. Eupolis. I am far from pretending to be a standard; but I will do the best I can. THE HYMN. AUTHOR of Being, Source of Light, * Eupolis was an Athenian. He is mentioned several times by Horace, and once by Perseus; and was in high estimation at Athens for his poetical compositions, though he severely lashed the vices of the age he lived in. He was killed in an engagement at sea, between the Athenians and Lacedemonians; and his death was so much lamented at Athens, that they made a law, that no poet should go to battle. He lived about 400 years before Christ, Thee, when sweet declining day Sinks in purple waves away; Yonder azure vault on high; Thou shak'st all nature with thy nod; Yet does thy powerful hand sustain Both earth and heav'n, both firm and main To thy pavilion in the skies ; The bliss, the joy, the rapture there. Ever joying in thy sight: (For thee their silver harps are strung) Ever beauteous, ever young, Angelic forms their voices raise, And through heaven's arch resound thy praise. The feather'd fowls that swim the air: And bathe in liquid ether there; |