Page:Susanna Wesley (Clarke 1886).djvu/28

16 Fathers, but also of every other art that comes within those called liberal. His zeal and ability in giving spiritual directions were great. With invincible power he confirmed the wavering and confuted heretics. Beneath the genial warmth of his wit the most barren subject became fertile and divertive. His style was sweet and manly, soft without satiety, and learned without pedantry. His temper and conversation were affable. His compassion for the sufferings of his fellow-creatures was as great as his learning and his parts. Were it possible for any man to act the part of a universal priest, he would certainly deem it his duty to take care of the spiritual good of all mankind. In all his writings and actions he evinced a deep concern for all that bear the glorious image of their Maker, and was so apostolical in his spirit, that pains, labours, watchings, and prayers were far more delightful to him than honours to the ambitious, wealth to the miser, or pleasure to the voluptuous."

Looking back at this distance of time on Samuel Wesley's literary work, it is evident that he was a learned theologian, and had the gift of fluent versification. His mind and style were narrowed by being continually bent on controversial theology, and he wrote so much and so rapidly in one groove, in order to earn the wherewithal to bring up his large family, that he never attained the high standard of which his youth gave such fair promise. But he was a good man, and a faithful pastor of souls in the obscure corner of Lincolnshire where his lot was afterwards cast; although, had he remained in London, it is probable that he would have come more to the front, and have become one of the shining intellectual lights of his day.