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  Pitt and Wesley; Part 2

Pitt and Wesley; Part 2

But Pitt was a great man. As an orator he was superb. "His words", wrote one contemporary, "have sometimes frozen my young blood into stagnation and sometimes made it pace in such a hurry through my veins that I could scarce support it." Another said that you might as soon expect a "No" from an old maid as from the House of Commons when Pitt was in the height of his power (Many stories illustrate the extraordinary power Pitt possessed over the House of Commons. On one occasion a member who was attempting to answer Pitt was overcome either by Pitt's glance or a few words which he spoke, and sat down in fear and confusion. Someone afterwards asked a person who was present " whether the House did not laugh at the ridiculous figure of the poor member". " No, sir," he replied, "we were all too much awed to laugh." On another occasion Pitt began a speech with the words " Sugar, Mr. Speaker ". The combination of Pitt's somewhat theatrical gestures and appearance with such simple words as these caused some members to laugh. Pitt turned round on these members, repeated the word " sugar" three times, and then said, " Who will now dare to laugh at sugar?" And the members sank, we are told, into abashed silence). Absolutely incorruptible himself, he and his son, the younger Pitt, did more than any other two men to raise the standard of English public life. Quite fearless, he had the courage to stand up for unpopular causes-as in the case of Byng- when he saw an injustice was being done. It was of course as a war minister that he was greatest, and of Pitt in that capacity something has already been said. But Pitt was one of those rare statesmen who had great views in all things. Unfortunately for Great Britain he only held high office from 1757 to 1761, and again for a brief period from 1766 to 1767. If he could have stayed in office longer, Ireland might have been pacified, America might not have been lost, our Indian Empire might have been at an earlier date organized, and parliamentary reform sooner accomplished. For not only had he great views himself, but like a prophet of old he could inspire a nation to noble deeds and high thoughts.

John Wesley’s influence in the religious life of the nation was similar to that exercised by Pitt in the political life. Wesley had been educated at Charterhouse and Oxford. After taking orders, he returned to Oxford as a Fellow in 1729, and for the next six years was the leader of a small society for mutual improvement, the members of which, Including his brother Charles, the famous hymn writer, and George Whitefield, were known in the University by the nickname of Methodists. Subsequently Wesley was a minister for two years in Georgia, the newly founded colony in America. On his return to England he began the work which has made him so famous. In 1739 he built the first of his chapels at Bristol, and formed the first of his regular Methodist societies in London. Above all, the year 1739 saw the system of open-air preaching adopted which was to carry the message of the gospel to hundreds of thousands of people.

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