one.

A neat marble monument was erected
in the cathedral of Gloucester.

Dr. Johnson's character of this literary phe-
nomenon is too remarkable to be omitted.
"About this time, 1738, Warburton began to
make his appearance in the first ranks of
learning. He was a man of vigorous faculties;
a mind fervid and vehement; supplied, by in-
cessant and unlimited inquiry, with wonderful
extent and variety of knowledge, which yet
had not oppressed his imagination, nor clouded
his perspicacity. To every work he brought
a memory full fraught, together with a fancy
fertile of original combinations, and at once
exerted the powers of the scholar, the reasoner,
and the wit. But his knowledge was too mul-
tifarious to be always exact, and his pursuits
were too eager to be always cautious. His
abilities gave him a haughty consequence,
which he disdained to conceal or mollify; and
his impatience of opposition disposed him to
treat his adversaries with such contemptuous
superiority, as made his readers commonly
his enemies, and excited against the advocate
the wishes of some who favoured the cause.
He seems to have adopted the Roman em-
peror's determination, oderint dum metuant;
he used no allurements of gentle language,
but wished to compel rather than to persuade.
His style is copious without selection, and
forcible without neatness; he took the words
that presented themselves; his diction is coarse
and impure; and his sentences are unmea-
sured."

"His love of paradox," says Mr. Orme,
"is well known. His levity, dogmatism, and
surliness, have often been exposed. His love
of notoriety and the marvellous was certainly
stronger than his attachment to truth. While
his talents will be always admired, his charac-
ter will never be respected. His services to
theological science are of a very doubtful na-
ture; and, connected with religion, they have
been decidedly injurious. Parts of his system
are true and important, and well supported;
but his main principle is a fallacy, unfounded
in itself, and incapable of demonstrating the
Divine Legation of Moses, were it even true."
The ablest view of the Warburtonian Contro-
versy will be found in the Quarterly Review,
vol. ii. p. 401. See Jones's Christ. Biog.;
Orme's Biblio. Bib.

WATCHERS. See ACOEMETÆ.

God.-2. The fulfilment of the prophecies.-
3. God's time for our deliverance from trou-
bles; Psalm cxxx.-4. We are to watch unto
prayer; Eph. vi. 18.-5. For death and judg-
ment; Mark xiii. 37.

WATERLANDIANS, a sect of Anabaptists in
Holland. They are thus called in distinction
from the Flemingians, or Flandrians; and
likewise because they consisted at first of the
inhabitants of a district in North Holland,
called Waterland. The Flemingians were
called the fine or rigid, and the Waterlandians
the gross or moderate Anabaptists. The for-
mer observe, with the most religious accuracy
and veneration, the ancient doctrine and dis-
cipline of the purer sort of Anabaptists; the
latter depart much more from the primitive
sentiments and manners of their sect, and
approach nearer to the Protestant churches.
These latter, however, are divided into two
distinct sects, the Waterlanders and the Fries-
landers: but this difference, it is said, merely
respects their place of abode. Neither party
have any bishops, but only presbyters and
deacons. Each congregation is independent
of all foreign jurisdiction, having its own
court of government, composed of the pres-
byters and deacons. But the supreme power
being in the hands of the people, nothing of
importance can be transacted without their
consent. The presbyters are generally men
of learning; and they have a public professor
at Amsterdam for instructing their youth in
the different branches of erudition, sacred
and profane. About 1664, the Waterlanders
were split into the two factions of the Galenists
and the Apostoolians. Galen Abraham Haan,
doctor of physic, and pastor of the Mennonites
at Amsterdam, a man of uncommon penetra-
tion and eloquence, inclined towards the Arian
and Socinian tenets, and insisted for the recep-
tion of all such into their church fellowship as
acknowledged the divine authority of the
Scriptures, and led virtuous lives. He and
his followers renounced the designation of the
Mennonites. They were with great zeal op-
posed by Samuel Apostool, another physician
and eminent pastor at Amsterdam, who, with
his followers, admitted none to their commu-
nion but such as professed to believe all the
points of doctrine contained in their public
Confession of Faith.

WATTS, Dr. ISAAC, was born at Southamp-
WATCHFULNESS, vigilance, or care to avoid ton, the 17th of July, 1674. His father, Mr.
surrounding enemies and dangers. We are to Isaac Watts, was the master of a very flourish-
watch against the insinuations of Satan; the ing boarding-school in that town, which was
that_town,
allurements of the world; the deceitfulness of in such reputation, that gentlemen's sons were
our hearts; the doctrines of the erroneous; and sent to it from America and the West Indies
indeed, against every thing that would prove for education. He was a most pious, exem-
inimical to our best interests. We are to ex-plary Christian, and an honourable deacon of
ercise this duty at all times, in all places, and
under all circumstances. 1 Cor. xvi. 13;
Luke xii. 37.

To watch, is also to wait for and expect:
thus we are,-1. To watch the providence of

the church of protestant dissenters assembling
in that place. He was imprisoned more than
once for his nonconformity; and during his
confinement his wife was known to sit on a
stone near the prison-door suckling her son

accepted the very day King William died, on the 8th of March, 1701-2, notwithstanding the discouraging prospect which that event particularly gave to nonconformist ministers, and the fears with which it filled the hearts of dis

Isaac. He began to learn Latin at four years old, in the knowledge of which, as well as the Greek language, he made such progress, under the care of the Reverend Mr. Pinhorne, a clergyman of the establishment, that he became the delight of his friends, and the admi-senters in general. But he had set his hand to ration of the neighbourhood. In 1690 he was sent to London for academical education, under the Reverend Mr. Thomas Rowe; and, in 1693, in his nineteenth year, he joined in communion with the church under the pastoral care of his tutor. Dr. Watts was early attached to the composition of poetry; and indeed he stated that he had amused himself with verse from fifteen years old to fifty. In his early years he took great pains in the acquisition of knowledge. The works he read he generally abridged, and thus impressed more deeply on his mind the knowledge he attained. His Latin Theses, written when young, were very excellent. After the doctor had finished his academical studies, at the age only of twenty years, he returned to his father's house at Southampton, where he spent two years in reading, meditation, and prayer; in reading, to possess himself of ampler knowledge; in meditation, by which he might take a full survey of useful and sacred subjects, and make what he had acquired by reading his own; and prayer, to engage the divine influences to prepare him for that work to which he was determined to devote his life, and the importance of which greatly affected his mind. Having thus employed two years at his father's, he was invited by Sir John Hartopp, Bart., to reside in his family at Stoke Newington, near London, as tutor to his son, where he continued five years, and by his behaviour procured himself such esteem and respect, as laid the foundation of that friendship which subsisted between him and his pupil during the whole of his life. But while he assisted Mr. Hartopp's studies, he did not neglect his own; for not only did he make further improvement in those parts of learning in which he instructed the young gentleman, but he applied himself to reading the Scriptures in the original tongues, and the best commentators, critical and practical.

the plough, and would not look back: and accordingly, he was solemnly ordained to the pastoral office, on the 18th of March following. But the joy of the church in their happy settlement in so able and excellent a pastor, was quickly after sadly damped by his being seized with a painful and alarming illness, which laid him aside for some time, and from which he recovered but by slow degrees. Upon which the church saw it needful to provide him with a stated assistant; and accordingly, the Rev. Mr. Samuel Price was chosen to that service in July, 1703. But notwithstanding the doctor's public labours were by these means considerably relieved, yet his health remained fluctuating for some years. He went on without any considerable interruption in his work, and with great success and prosperity to the church, till the year 1712, when, in September, he was seized with a violent fever, which injured his constitution, and left such weakness upon his nerves, as continued with him, in some degree, during the remainder of his life. In March, 1713, Mr. Price was chosen by the church to be co-pastor with him, in consequence of the continued indisposition of Dr. Watts. Dr. Watts, some time afterwards, removed into Sir Thomas Abney's family, and continued there till his death, a period of no less than thirty-six years. In the midst of his sacred labours for the glory of God and the good of his generation, he was seized with a most violent and threatening fever, which left him oppressed with great weakness, and put a stop, at least, to his public services, for four years; but here he enjoyed the uninterrupted demonstration of the truest friendship. Though the doctor cultivated every kind of learning, and perhaps was the most universal scholar of his age; and though he possessed extraordinary abilities as a poet; yet not entertainment, but benefit, and that in the most sacred and direct sense, to the church and world, evidently appeared to be the end which he kept constantly in view.

The doctor began to preach on his birthday, 1698, at twenty-four years of age, and was the same year chosen assistant to Dr. Isaac Chauncy, pastor of the church then The far greater part of his works are theomeeting at Mark-lane, London. But his logical, and devoted to the most important and public labours, which met with general accept- useful subjects. Children in early age had no ance, were interrupted by a threatening illness small share of his exertions for their good, as of five months, which was then thought to his songs and catechisms for their particular have originated from the fervour of his zeal service, in the most easy and condescending in preaching the gospel. However, his sick- language, abundantly prove. Those prime ness did not discourage him from renewing and radical constituents of a truly good chahis delightful work, as soon as Providence racter, truth and sincerity, were very conwas pleased to restore him to health. Inspicuous in the doctor. He never discovered, January, 1701-2, the doctor received a call from the church above-mentioned, to succeed Dr. Chauncy in the pastoral office, which he

in his behaviour or conversation, any thing like a high opinion of himself. He by no means treated his inferiors with disdain; there

was nothing overbearing or dogmatical in his discourse. His aspect, motion, and manner of speech betrayed no consciousness of his superior abilities. Great as his talents were as a poet, and extraordinary as the approval of his works was in the world, he spoke concerning his compositions in verse in the humblest language:"I make no pretences," says he. "to the name of a poet, or a polite writer, in an age wherein so many superior souls shine, in their works, through the nation." When he appeared in the pulpit he had a very respectable and serious auditory. Though he had little or no action, yet there was such a rich vein of good sense and profitable instruction; there was such propriety, ease, and beauty in his language; such a freedom, and at the same time, correctness in his pronunciation, accompanied with an unaffected solemnity in the delivery of the most sacred and momentous truths, that his ministry was much attended: and he had a considerable church, and crowded congregation.

The prose writings of Dr. Watts are various and superior. His work "On the Improvement of the Mind" is one of the first publications in the English or any other language; and his Catechisms and Sermons have ever been extensively read and most generally admired. The doctor's poetical writings are numerous, and all of them have considerable merit. They are numerous, as appears from his large collection of Lyric Poems, his Book of Hymns, his Imitation of the Psalms, his Songs for Children, and several pieces of poetry in his Miscellaneous Thoughts. Few poets have so habitually made improvement their aim as Dr. Watts. To benefit whilst he pleased was his constant object; and the cause of morality and religion he habitually defended or extended. Many of the lyric poems were written in 1694, when the doctor was only twenty years of age; and some of them bear even a prior date. In time they increased, till they amounted to a considerable number, which were printed in 1706, when he was at the age of thirty-two. In the year 1728, the universities both of Edinburgh and Aberdeen, in a most respectful manner, without his knowledge, conferred the degree of doctor of divinity upon him.

In 1748, the life of Dr. Watts appeared to be drawing to a close. In his last illness he proved the excellence of his principles, and the greatness of his piety, by his patience and serenity of mind, and by the evident satisfaction with which he contemplated his approaching dissolution. The doctor was interred in a very handsome manner, amidst a vast concourse of people, in the burial-ground in Bunhill Fields, London.

Since his decease his numerous publications have been collected and printed in six volumes quarto, and also in seven volumes royal octavo. | WEDNESDAY, ASH. The first day of Lent,

when, in the primitive church, notorious sinners were put to open penance thus:-They appeared at the church-door barefooted, and clothed in sackcloth, where, being examined, their discipline was proportioned according to their offences; after which, being brought into the church, the bishop singing the seven penitential psalms, they prostrated themselves, and with tears begged absolution; the whole congregation having ashes on their heads, to signify that they were both mortal, and deserved to be burnt to ashes for their sins.

WESLEY, JOHN, the founder of the sect called the Wesleyan Methodists, was born at Epworth, in Lincolnshire, on the 17th of June, 1703. His father, Samuel Wesley, was a cler| gyman of the Church of England, and held the living of Epworth. His parishioners were very profligate, and the zeal with which he discharged his duties excited in them a spirit of hatred so violent, that they set his house on fire. Mr. Wesley was then roused by a cry of fire from the street: but little imagining that it was in his own house, he opened the door, and found it full of smoke, and that the roof was burnt through. Directing his wife and the two eldest girls to rise and shift for their lives, he burst open the nursery-door, where the maid was sleeping with five children. She snatched up the youngest, and bade the others follow her: the three eldest did so; but John, the subject of the present memoir, who was then six years old, was not awakened, and, in the alarm, was forgotten. The rest of the family escaped; some through the windows, some by the garden-door; and Mrs. Wesley, to use her own expression, "waded through the fire." At this time, John, who had not been remembered till that moment, was heard crying in the nursery. The father ran to the stairs, but they were so nearly consumed that they would not bear his weight; and being utterly in despair, he fell upon his knees in the hall, and in agony commended the soul of the child to God. John had been awakened by the light, and finding it impossible to escape by the door, climbed upon a chest which stood near the window, and he was then seen from the yard. There was no time for procuring a ladder, but one man was hoisted on the shoulders of another, and thus he was taken A moment after, the whole roof fell in. When the child was carried out to the house where his parents were, the father cried out, "Come, neighbours, let us kneel down; let us give thanks to God! he has given me all my eight children: let the house go, I am rich enough." John Wesley remembered this providential deliverance through life with the deepest gratitude.

out.

John was educated at the Charter-house, where, for his quietness, regularity, and application, he became a favourite with the master, Dr. Walker. At the age of seventeen he was

removed from the Charter-house to Christ Church, Oxford. Before he went to the university, he had acquired some knowledge of Hebrew, under his brother Samuel's tuition. At college he continued his studies with great diligence, and was noticed there for his attainments, and especially for his skill in logic. He was ordained in the autumn of the year 1725, by Dr. Potter, then bishop of Oxford, and afterwards primate. In the ensuing spring, he offered himself for a fellowship at Lincoln College. The strictness of his religious principles was now sufficiently remarkable to afford subject for satire, and his opponents hoped to prevent his success, by making him ridiculous. Notwithstanding this kind of opposition, he attained the object in view, and was elected fellow in March, 1726.

From this time Mr. Wesley began to keep a diary, and during a life of incessant occupation, he found time to register, not only his proceedings, but his thoughts, his studies, and his occasional remarks upon men and books, and not unfrequently upon miscellaneous subjects, with a vivacity which characterized him to the last. Eight months after his election to a fellowship, he was appointed Greek lecturer and moderator of the classes. At that time disputations were held six times a week at Lincoln College. He now formed for himself a scheme of studies.-Mondays and Tuesdays were allotted for the classics; Wednesdays, to logic and ethics; Thursdays, to Hebrew and Arabic; Fridays, to metaphysics and natural philosophy; Saturdays, to oratory and poetry; but chiefly to composition in those arts; and the Sabbath to divinity. It appears by his diary, also, that he gave great attention to mathematics.

The elder Mr. Wesley was now, from age and infirmity, become unequal to the duty of both his livings: John, therefore, went to Wroote, and officiated there as his curate; but, after two years, was summoned to his college, upon a regulation that the junior fellows, who might be chosen moderators, should attend in person the duties of their office. It was while he held this curacy that he obtained priest's orders.

On his return to college, Mr. Wesley began to prosecute his studies with extraordinary application, and also prevailed upon two or three under-graduates, whose inclinations and principles coincided with his own, to form an association, not so much for the purposes of study, as for religious improvement. To carry this into effect, they lived by rule, and held meetings for devotional purposes. This, in process of time, drew on them the observation of their fellow students, and excited their ridicule; and finally issued in their obtaining the name of Methodists.

Two of the early members of this society afterwards acquired celebrity; James Hervey, the author of the Meditations; and George

|

Whitefield, who subsequently seceded from Wesley, on Calvinistic grounds. They were now about fifteen in number: when first they began to meet, they read divinity on Sunday evenings only, and pursued their classical studies on other nights; but religion soon became the sole business of their meetings: they now regularly visited the prisoners and the sick, communicated once a week, and fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays.

The elder Mr. Wesley, for some years, had been declining; and he was very solicitous that the cure in which he had faithfully laboured should be obtained for his son John, from an anxious desire that the good which he had effected might not be lost through the carelessness of a lukewarm successor; and that his wife and daughters might not be dispossessed of their home. John, however, would not consent to this arrangement: more good, he averred, was to be done to others by his continuance at Oxford; the schools of the prophets were there: was it not a more extensive benefit to sweeten the fountain, than to purify a particular stream? Besides, the parish contained two thousand souls; and he said, "I see not how any man can take care of a hundred." The latter opinion, however, he greatly changed.

In 1735 the elder Wesley died; one of his latest desires was, that he might complete his work on Job. This wish seems to have been nearly, if not wholly accomplished; and John was charged to present the volume to Queen Caroline. Going to London on this commission, he found that the trustees of the new colony of Georgia were in search of persons who would preach the gospel there to the settlers and the Indians, and that they had fixed their eyes upon him and his associates. At first he peremptorily refused to go upon this mission, but at last determined to refer the case to his mother, thinking she would not consent: in this he was mistaken. On the 14th of October, 1735, John and Charles Wesley, in company with Mr. Oglethorpe, the founder of the colony, embarked for Georgia. On board the same vessel there were twentysix Moravians, going to join a party of their brethren, from Herrnhut, who had gone out the preceding year, under the sanction of the British government. On their arrival at the Savannah the brothers separated. Charles went with Benjamin Ingham (one of the Oxford society) to Frederica; John took up his lodging with the Germans, at Savannah, who had emigrated from Herrnhut.

The commencement of his ministry was pleasing; the people crowded to hear him, and the congregation, which was at first very gay, dressed plainly in conformity to his exhortations. Those favourable appearances would probably have increased, had Mr. Wesley been less attached to rigid and impracticable discipline; but his extraordinary rigour