In what Mr Morgan endeavours to say, he offends greatly against right feeling and good taste, by omitting all reference to the weak points in John Elias's character. Such there are in all men, and in men of strong minds they are frequently very apparent. If Mr Elias were indeed the good man which Mr Morgan attempts to describe him, and had no neutralizing qualities, in addition to and dissimilarity from those attributed to him in this book, he was the 'faultless monster' so often described as existing only in imagination amongst the sons of men. There is in these pages no hint of any defect in temper, in discretion, or in spirit. The fair inference from these premises would be, that as far as human cognizance went, there actually was no blemish in him. Now we would not record with invidious care a long catalogue of the weaknesses of good men, who are departed, and are now faultless before the throne; but we would, if there be any biographical delineation of a departed servant of God, have briefly indicated the leading features of his entire character; and therefore the respects in which he was most liable to failure should have their place — not a prominent one, indeed, but an actual place. We would have it so for the truth's sake, and for the sake of the real and abiding utility of biographic writings. In the present instance, it is not in the spirit of depreciation we say that we are sorry Mr. Morgan did not, even in his way, tell us more than he has, and did not give us some few things of a different character to those he has communicated. John Elias was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist, formed by their system of church government into a most devoted admirer of his own connexion, and a most determined oppouent of every change or innovation. He did not (and no Welsh Methodist in existence who is forty years of age will say he did) always conduct himself in matters coming into this department with any very eminent exemplification of the milder and more benignant qualities. His opposition to the Catholic Relief Bill was, we doubt not, quite honest, but it was very vehement and denunciatory; and woe to the wight in his denomination who dared to avow any friendship to it. Some members of the Welsh church at Jewin Crescent petitioning parliament in favour of the measure were most unceremoniously, not to say crudely, excluded from membership; and this extreme step John Elias afterwards elaborately defended. His fear of Fullerism was very great, and his attacks on those whom he suspected of favouring it amongst his brethren, at the B_____ and other associations, were not eminent for candour or kindness. ['People now say, yes, Welsh Methodist preachers say, that man can believe the Gospel,' was his indignant complaint at the Bala Association not many years before his death. An excellent minister still living, observed, that probably such a statement might not be altogether erroneous. 'I say he cannot, as a sinner' thundered out the mighty orator. 'I beg to say,' was the shrewd rejoiner, 'that God did not make man a sinner, and man is answerable to him as a creature, irrespective of his self-acquired sinfulness.'] We are far from wondering at these things; we can revere the good man's memory, while we distinctly remember them; we can, in our own way and to our own satisfaction, account for them. We only tell Mr Morgan he ought to have let us know something of them.
We are sorry to have another objection to make. There is no proportionate place given in this volume to John Elias's contemporaries. Has Mr Morgan never read Orme's Life of Dr Owen, or Milner's Life of Watts? How adroitly these biographers bring in as a fitting and coherent part of the narrative, so many bewitching sketches of contemporary biography! How necessary this seems to be to the completeness of these works and how commandingly interesting it makes them! It escapes, our ingenuity to devise how Mr Morgan has avoided all reference to John Elias's contemporaries in and out of his own denomination. In a country like Wales, so isolated, in consequence of its language, so united in religious creed, and so unsophisticated as to the general character of its people; a preacher, of Elias's celebrity, must in the course of his long life, have had much acquaintance and intercourse with other eminent men, engaged in similar pursuits. With the exception of some utterly uniuteresting references to a few ministers who aided him in his youth, and a few allusions to Mr Charles, we have nothing of the kind in the whole book. Out of his own connexion, a considerable number of names occurs to us with whom he was more or less, directly, or indirectly acquainted. Joseph Harris amongst the Welsh Baptists, the reviver of Welsh literature, and the first editor of Seren Gomer, a periodical in which some of John Elias's most characteristic productions appeared :—Christmas Evans, the Welsh Demosthenes, in the same denomination, and for many years resident contemporaneously with John Elias, in the island of Anglesea; William Williams, that profoundly metaphysical preacher, one of the noblest men of our day, and one of the principal ornaments of the Welsh Independents. John Roberts labouring in the same ranks, once engaged in friendly controversy with the subject of these Memoirs, 'pure as a seraph, and gentle as a lamb' :— these must have come so often in his way, and he in theirs, that we incline to think the biographer has designedly avoided all allusion to them. This, however, astonishes us less than his silence, with regard to Elias's excellent contemporaries in his own religious body. According to Mr Morgan's account almost every thing great and good amongst the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, is to be attributed to his hero. How little must he have really known of them, or how unthinkingly has he written this work! That John Elias was their greatest preacher, as far as mere popular effect was concerned, we readily admit; but as to the actual management of their affairs, and thorough and pervading influence on their general mind, he was by no means predominant. We certainly expected in this connexion some reference to Ebenezer Morris, that man of apostolic energy of character, of personal presence and power, and of such severe taste in the composition of his sermons, that we once heard a masterly Welsh scholar say of him, 'I never heard him use a word which did not seem to me to be the only proper one.' [Ebenezer Morris's voice was stentorian, yet perfectly manageable. An English traveller hearing him at Bridgend, in Glamorganshire, as he passed through the town, inserted in a small book he afterwards published, this remark, "It was as though he had received the rudiments of his elocutionary education at the mouth of a speaking trumpet."] Ebenezer Richard, that cool, self-possessed, and sagacious mind, made to govern without exciting envy, and to warn without inspiring anger. David Charles, whose sermons were a series of apothegms, and from whose lips in dry language, and with dryer manner, concentrated wisdom fell; these, (we refer not to those still living) were inferior to John Elias only in the article of popular oratory, while in other respects they were his equals, and in the actual controul of connexional matters his superiors. They arrogated less power and had more, they were less dogmatic, but not less apostolic.
With regard to the peculiar character of John Elias's preaching, we look in vain for information in these pages. What was the source of his power? Was it principally natural or artificial? What was the distinctive modification of his mind? Was it strength of faculty, clearness of apprehension, or vividness and variety of fancy? Read the book again and again, and you cannot answer these inquiries. How did he deport himself in the pulpit? Was he quiet or animated? Had he any remarkable intonations of voice, or emphasis? On all these matters 'this deponent sayeth nought.'
We are sorry for this, for Mr Morgan's own sake. We regret that a man so evidently Christian-minded, and so catholic in spirit, should do himself so little credit. We are still more sorry for it on public grounds. A great occasion has been thrown away, and an opportunity for extensive usefulness has been lost. 'The Life and Times of John Elias,' present a rich and inviting theme, to an ordinarily practised pen. They supply much, very much of most interesting detail, connected with the man, his connexions, and the history of religion in his country, and might have been made the medium of conveying to the English public a more accurate view of Welsh ecclesiastical affairs, than is commonly possessed. But this opportunity has been lost, and we part with Mr Morgan, thanking him for his intentions; while we regret we can thank him for nothing else. We must add, that the Life of John Elias is unwritten; and let us also add, that we shall anxiously look to Bala, or Trevecca for it. We earnestly hope we shall not look in vain.
[A subject to which this volume strongly tempts us to refer, is the relation between the Welsh Methodists and the Established Church. It contains some strange statements, which we should much like to dwell upon at large, but our limits forbid it at the present moment. It will come in our way in an article we contemplate on the History and Character of Welsh Nonconformity.]
At this point the review switches to something more positive which we will include next.
No comments:
Post a Comment