Page:Papers on Literature and Art (Fuller).djvu/361

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METHODISM AT THE FOUNTAIN.
175

with a resolve once taken he showed a steadiness of purpose beyond what the timid scholars of tradition can conceive.

In looking at the character of the two men, and the nature of their doctrine we well understand why their spirit has exercised so vast a sway, especially with the poor, the unlearned and those who had none else to help them. They had truth enough and force enough to uplift the burdens of an army of poor pilgrims and send them on their way rejoicing. We should delight to string together, in our own fashion, a rosary of thoughts and anecdotes illustrative of their career and its consequences, but, since time and our limits in newspaper space forbid, cannot end better than by quoting their own verse, for they are of that select corps, “the forlorn hope of humanity,” to whom shortcoming in deeds has given no occasion to blush for the lofty scope of their words.

“Who but the Holy Ghost can make
 A genuine gospel minister,
A bishop bold to undertake
 Of precious souls the awful care?
The Holy Ghost alone can move
 A sinner sinners to convert,
Infuse the apostolic love
 And bless him with a pastor’s heart.”