those who desired academical learning. Of this school, Wesley said: "Whoever goes through this course will be a better scholar than nine in ten of the graduates at Oxford and Cambridge."

at

Time was assigned for prayer and meditation, and the Christian influence of the school was its strongest feature. In 1768 a remarkable religious awakening occurred among the pupils Kingswood School. One of the masters wrote to Mr. Wesley: "We have no need to exhort them to prayer, for the spirit of prayer runs through the whole school." Another wrote: "The power of God continues to work with almost irresistible force, and there is good. reason to hope it will not be withdrawn till every soul is converted to God."

To enforce the rules of the school, the masters were required to be vigilant and indefatigable, and sometimes the work became irksome and seemed unduly severe and impracticable. Wesley spoke repeatedly of his difficulty in procuring suitable masters. Some have questioned the wisdom of striving

to inculcate such strict discipline, but experience teaches that loose. and easy government is not dictated by a real regard for the highest interest of students.

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Notwithstanding the rigorous government at Kingswood, the students there, as well as children everywhere, revered Wesley as their friend. His very presence was a benediction, and when an octogenarian, it was common for him to find all the street lined Iwith these little ones," waiting to greet him with glad smiles and joyous welcome. He says in his Journals: "Before preaching, they only ran round me and before, but after it a whole troop, boys and girls, closed me in, and would not be content till I shook each of them by the hand."

In time Kingswood School became confined to the sons of itinerant preachers. Because of the rapid increase of preachers the school was filled, and enlarged several times. The results were most gratifying, and many of the students became bright and shining lights in the Methodist ministry.

I

T is said that the secret of Goethe's greatness was discovered in the face of his mother, men and women alike understanding when they looked into her face why the world was SO enriched through her son's life and work. If true of Goethe's mother, how much more of the mother of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism ! If we would learn the secret of his power, we must needs go back to the simple rectory home in Epworth where Susannah Wesley, the wife and mother, ruled her flock so ably and wisely that Dr. Adam Clark, says of her in his notes upon the description of a perfect woman, in the Book of Proverbs: "I know of no one in ancient or modern times who might with such propriety have sat for that portrait as Susannah Wesley."

The full confidence John Wesley reposed in his mother's judgment is clearly mirrored forth in his loyal acceptance of her decision in regard to the employment of lay-preachers. We read how he came hurrying from London to stop the irregularity of the preaching of one Thomas Maxfield. Clear and strong rang out his mother's note of warning, "Take care what you do with respect to that young man: he is as surely called of God to preach as you are." When we think of what Methodism owes to her noble army of local preachers, who so unsel6-hly proclaimed the unsearchable

s of Christ, "without money

and without price," we feel as if we are laid under a heavy contribution of gratitude to the woman, who, with almost prophetic vision, safeguarded for the then infant organization one of the most powerful agencies it has since wielded in behalf of its extension and growth.

We have no doubt that it was the memory of those Sabbath evening. services in Epworth rectory, at which Susannah Wesley read and expounded the Scriptures to the neighbours and friends who gathered there, that made John Wesley cheerfully acquiesce in a woman proclaiming the Wordproviding, of course, she had an extraordinary call" to preach.

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One reading the story of the beloved founder of Methodism “between the lines" cannot but be impressed with the fact that God as surely raised up Susannah Wesley to be the mother and spiritual guide of John Wesley, as He did John Wesley himself to be the dauntless leader and Christian reformer. Her

saintly influence permeated his entire life, her forcefulness and strength became to him a strong tower, to which he could ever turn for support, and her noble and selfsacrificing spirit cheerfully yielded up her son on the altar of missions, in these remarkable words, "Had I twenty sons, I should rejoice were they all so employed, though I should never see them more."

John Wesley on Temperance
Reform.

Delightful as is the theme of John Wesley's indebtedness to his mother, space forbids further

enlargement, as we wish to speak of his attitude. to one of the most important questions of the present hour-that of temperance reform. To comprehend the advanced position taken by him we must bear in mind the state of society at this period. Intemperance covered the land as with a dark pall. No condition or class was exempt. The priest and rector in the pulpit, and my lord and lady in the pew, were often the slaves of drink. Among the working classes dissipation and degradation ran riot.

Dr. Johnston, in speaking of this period, thus writes: "It is considered quite the correct thing for gentlemen to return from their clubs and dinners in a state of beastly intoxication." Paley, in addressing the young clergymen of his time, found it necessary to exhort them not to get drunk or to frequent ale-houses, and not to be seen at drunken feasts."

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With a heroism sublime, and a courage unsurpassed, this preacher of righteousness gave forth no uncertain sound upon this great and, alas! so prevalent sin. In speaking of the evil of the use of intoxicating liquors, John Wesley said: "There is poison in the cup, and therefore I beg you to throw it away. If you say, 'It is not poison to me, though it be others,' then I say, Throw it away for thy brother's sake, lest thou embolden him to drink also. Why should thy strength occasion thy weak brother to perish?"

In another sermon preached at St. Matthew's, Bethnal Green, in November of 1775, speaking upon the same subject, he said: "Thousands of plain, honest people throughout the land are driven utterly out of their senses by means of the poison which is so diligently spread through every city and town in the kingdom. Nor is it

any better abroad. I learn that in our colonies many are causing the people to drink largely of the same deadly wine; thousands of whom are thereby inflamed more and more, till their heads are utterly turned. Reason is lost in rage, wisdom is fallen in the streets. Here is slavery, real slavery indeed, most properly so called." See also the notable and often-quoted passage in which he speaks of all who deal in liquor as "poisoners general."

"They murder His Majesty's subjects by wholesale, neither does their eye pity or spare. They drive them to hell like sheep; and what is their gain? Is it not the blood of these men? Who then would envy their large estates and sumptuous palaces? A curse is in the midst of them; the curse of God cleaves to the stones, the timber, the furniture of them; the curse of God is in their gardens, their walks, their groves; a fire that burns to the nethermost hell? Blood, blood is there; the foundation, the floor, the walls, the roof, are stained with blood! And canst thou hope, oh, thou man of blood, though thou art clothed in scarlet and fine linen, and farest sumptuously every day,' canst thou hope to deliver down thy fields of blood to the third generation? Not so; for there is a God in heaven; therefore, thy name shall soon be rooted out."

Thus did Wesley, like the Hebrew prophets of old, cry aloud and spare not as he fearlessly and faithfully rebuked sin in the high and low places of the earth.

His hands were ever full of work for humanity's uplift, and his heart so full of love for humanity at large that in very truth "the world was his parish."

"When a great man dies

For years beyond our ken:
The light he leaves behind him lies
Upon the paths of men.'
London, Ont.

T is a matter of devout thanksgiving that the unifying tendencies of our holy religion are becoming more and more dominant. The soldiers who crucified our Lord refused to rend His seamless robe; but too often the warring sects of Christendom have not scrupled to rend His body, which is the Church. But, thank God, the time for polemics and disintegration has passed, the time of irenics and integration has come. As never before the words are being fulfilled: "Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."

In this work for unification our Presbyterian friends in Canada friends in Canada took the lead; and well they might. The typical Scotchman is apt to be a "metapheesical body" and a man of stubborn adherence to principles. This led to a multiplication of a multiplication of Presbyterian sects upon grounds of difference often seemingly of microscopic character, at least upon grounds so slight that only a man of Scottish acuteness would perceive them. As a result of this tendency there were the Auld Kirk and the Secession Kirk, the Burghers and the Anti-Burghers, the Auld Lichts and New Lichts, the Frees and the U.P.'s, and other divisions and subdivisions of that grand old daughter of the Reformation-the Presbyterian Church. A member of one of these sects, so small that it might almost be called an in-sect, was asked if he thought there were any real Christians in the world nowadays. "Well," he said, taking a pinch of snuff, "there's Janet and mysel'; but

whiles I'm doubtfu' about Janet." The Presbyterian Church in Canada had the honour of being the first Church in the world to unite into one Church organization the different branches of Presbyterianism throughout a wide continent. This example was soon after followed by the Methodist Church, an example which has been followed in the far antipodes, and will in the near future, we are confident, be followed also in Great Britain.

It is in the mission fields and in the presence of the great heathen world that the need of union and co-operation is most strongly felt. Hence the allotment of special fields of labour to the different Churches to prevent overlapping and conflict of effort. The opening of our own great North-West has emphasized this need in Canada. Many years ago the late Principal Grant, writing in this Magazine, pleaded strongly for union and cooperation, and committees were appointed to carry out, where practicable, this object.

The sentiment has grown with the passing years. At the General Conference in Toronto of 1898 the Rev. Dr. Torrance, Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly, spoke of the grand results of union. Principal Caven emphasized those remarks and asked, "Shall there be no further union?" and strongly advocated still closer relations of these kindred Churches. The applause of the Conference showed that the thought was neither a novel nor an unwelcome conception. In his address at the Methodist banquet shortly after Sir Oliver Mowat heartily endorsed this sentiment.

The most hearty co-operation in temperance, Sabbath observance, and evangelistic effort has marked

the passing years. At the last General Conference, in Winnipeg, the fraternal delegates of the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches were received with warmest cordiality. Principal Patrick, of the Presbyterian College, Winnipeg, strongly reiterated the sentiments previously expressed by Principal Caven, that it was the will of God that these kindred Churches should be brought together in bonds of closer Christian fellowship and union. To these sentiments the Conference warmly responded. It not only issued a strong pronouncement on this important subject, but took steps which can hardly fail to secure practical results. It was felt that in the far west, with its vast areas and sparse population, it was a waste of the Lord's money to indulge in denominational rivalries or overlapping of labour, and arrangements were made for the avoidance of these evils. The Conference also appointed a large and influential committee to negotiate with representatives of the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches in Canada, with a view to ultimate organic union with these bodies, which are already led by Providence into close fraternal relations.

Committees of these two Churches have already met to facilitate co-operation and to prevent the waste and friction of overlapping in the same fields. The admirable inaugural lecture on John Wesley's Journals, recently printed in this Magazine, by Principal Gordon, of Queen's University, then of the Presbyterian College, Halifax, is another illustration of the drawing together of the bonds of Christian fellowship. Dr. Chown's recent article on Church Federation still further emphasizes this conception. To still further call attention to this important subject we requested Principal Patrick to give more in detail his views on the question of

the union of these kindred Churches. This he has kindly consented to do in an interview, which we have pleasure in reproducing as follows:

The Union of the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches.....

AN INTERVIEW WITH PRINCIPAL PATRICK, OF THE PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE, WINNIPEG. REPORTED BY THE REV. R. P. BOWLES,

M.A

I called on Principal Patrick and was cordially received. The Doctor being very much interested in the question of the union of the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, we were soon eagerly engaged in a conversation on a theme in which the more one discusses it the deeper becomes his interest. Who knows how soon it may be in this Western Canada the one overshadowing question?

"What reasons," I asked, "do you think make this question of Church union specially urgent at the present time?"

Well, of course, the chief reason," replied the Doctor, "is the rapid growth and great increase of population now taking place. It calls for more men and greater expenditure of money than at any former period. Since no One Church has sufficient means or enough men to meet this great need, and since union would effect a great saving of both, it seems indispensable that we should effect a union of our forces. Where two men are now doing the work which one could do there is waste.

"Indeed, these urgent conditions turn the question into another form and put the burden on him who opposes union, for the question now is, How justify disunion? It is not Why unite? but Why not unite? It is separation which needs vindication. Who can justify it in the present stress of our work?

"But," continued the Principal,