We will conclude with the last paragraph of the Rev. Charles H. Kelly’s sermon at the celebration of the centenary of Wesley’s death in 1891.

“Surely the lesson to the Methodists of to-day is clear enough.  Let us cherish the memory of our forefathers, let us emulate their spirit, let us cling to their God-given doctrines, let us cultivate, as they did, communion with the Master and fellowship with each other.  Let us aim to be one, to do our duty.  Let us strive to make our Church a greater power for evangelism among the people of the earth than ever, let us look to the Holy Spirit for the richer baptism of grace, and Methodism, so blest of the Lord in the past, will yet be blest.  Her mission is not accomplished, her work is not done; long may she live and prosper.  Peace be within her walls, and prosperity within her palaces.  For my brethren and companions’ sake, the faithful living and the sainted dead, I will now say, Peace be within her; peace be within her.”

CONCLUSION.

The last days of the half-century are fleeting fast as we write, and we are yet at peace with Europe, as when Victoria’s reign began.  How long that peace shall last, who shall say? who can say how long it may be ere the elements of internal discord that have threatened to wreck the prosperity of the empire, shall be composed to a lasting peace, and leave the nation free to follow its better destiny?  But foes within and foes without have many times assailed us in vain in past years; many times has the political horizon been shadowed with clouds portending war and strife no less gloomily than those which now darken it, and as yet the Crimean war is the only war on which we have entered that can be called European; many times have grave discontents broken our domestic peace, but wise statesmanship has found a timely remedy.  We need not, if we learn the lessons of the past aright, fear greatly to confront the future.  Not to us the glory or the praise, but to a merciful overruling Providence, ever raising up amongst us noble hearts in time, that we are found to-day

        “A nation yet, the rulers and the ruled,”

not quite bankrupt in heart or hope or faith, but possessing

        “Some sense of duty, something of a faith,
        Some reverence for the laws ourselves have made,
        Some patient force to change them when we will;”

and we may justly acknowledge, in thankfulness not vainglorious, the happier fate that has been ours above many another land, that may still be ours, “if England to itself do rest but true.”