REV. GIDEON OUSELEY
This extraordinary Irish minister and missionary, was born in the town of Dunmore, County of Galway, Ireland, in the year 1762, and was descended from an ancient Irish family of great respectability.
While a boy, being the eldest son, he was not designed by his father for any profession, but being the heir-apparent to his father's estate, he received such an education as was common for gentlemen of respectability to give their eldest sons that is, he received a thorough mathematical and classical education. His younger brother was educated for the army, and was afterward distinguished as Major General, Sir Ralph Ouseley.
At an early age, Gideon was the subject of deep religious feelings, and when he attained to man's estate, his serious impressions, instead of wearing off, gradually increased, until at length his seriousness deepened into pungent conviction for sin, and he would often cry out, "Lord, help me!
What shall I do? Who will teach me? Priest and minister no better than myself — as great fools as I am. We are all a pack of fools together!" While in this state of mind, bordering on skepticism on the one hand, and despair on the other, his native village was visited in 1789, by certain Methodist preachers. From these men of God he received much light in regard to spiritual things, but it was not until 1791, that his convictions assumed a decidedly evangelical character. During the latter year, he attended Methodist preaching one evening, and after sermon, the preacher invited the Society to remain, and also other seriously disposed persons. Mr. Ouseley having been a sincere inquirer after the right way, felt inclined to stay, but feared there might be some secret proceedings, with which he could not concur, if he did remain. "I'll wait," said he to himself, "until I see what they are about;
but if I find any juggling — free-mason's tricks, among them, I'll have nothing to do with them." He did stay, and the fact of his having attended again, and again after that, proves that his fears in the first instance were uncalled for. This means of grace — class-meeting — for such it was, was rendered a peculiar blessing to Mr. Ouseley, as it led him to examine more closely his own heart, and to learn where absolution of sin must be obtained, if obtained at all; and so great was his anxiety of mind increased, that he has frequently been afterward heard to say in reference to that period, "I got such a sight of hell, and of going into it, never, never to be released through all eternity, that I cried from my heart, 'O, Lord, I will submit!' " And when he did thus fully submit, "pardon, and peace, and heaven," were infused into his mind. The fruits of justification were immediately manifested by him, by going from house to house, and from neighbor to neighbor, inviting them to come to Christ.
Rev. Mr. Woodrow was at that time on the circuit where Mr. Ouseley lived, and to that holy and gifted man was he greatly indebted, as an instrument of his conversion to God. At one of the places on the circuit, the Episcopal church was undergoing repairs, and the Church service was held in the Methodist chapel. The late Archdeacon of Tuam, the Hon. and Rev. Dr. Trench, was at that time rector of the parish. Mr. Woodrow would frequently hear the rector at noon, and the rector in turn
would hear Mr. Woodrow in the evening. After hearing the latter preach one evening, on the doctrine of the new birth, he remarked, "If all the Methodist preachers can preach like that good man, it is not surprising that the whole world follow them." This same Dr. Trench, when Archbishop of Tuam, invited the Wesleyan missionaries into his province, and recommended them to some of the leading families in the country, so that Methodism in this part of the country was patronized, and its ministers honored by many of the influential in Church and State.
But to return to our subject. Mr. Ouseley could not long satisfy his conscience with merely warning his neighbors to flee from the wrath to come. He believed that a dispensation of the Gospel was committed to him; yet he felt his own weakness and unworthiness so much, that he scarcely dared to venture on errands of mercy to others. He would exclaim, "Lord, I am a poor ignorant creature; how can I go?" Then it would rush into his mind, "Do you know the disease?" "O yes, Lord, I do!" "And do you not know the cure?" "O yes, glory be to thy name, I do." "Then go and tell them of the disease and the cure." So that with only these two things, as he sometimes said, the knowledge of the disease and the knowledge of the cure, he went forth to preach the Gospel. Mr. Ouseley's first sermon was preached in a church-yard, at a funeral, which was attended of course by another officiating clergyman, and from this time forth, he preached in the streets and church-yard, at fairs and markets, at wakes and funerals, wherever in fact he could find a congregation assembled, whether Protestant or Catholic.
One day, Mr. Ouseley, while on a missionary tour, rode up to a Catholic chapel, where a priest was celebrating mass; the large congregation were on their knees; Mr. Ouseley knelt with them, and rendered every Latin word which the priest spoke, into Irish; and when he wished any particular part of the service which was Scriptural impressed on the minds of the people, he would emphatically exclaim, "Listen to that." The people became deeply affected, and the priest not knowing who he was, was thunderstruck. When the service was ended, Mr. Ouseley and the congregation rose on their feet, and before they retired from the house, he delivered a warm-hearted exhortation to them, to repent and forsake their sins, and believe in Christ. When he had finished his exhortation, the people cried out to the priest, "Father, who is that?" "I don't know," he replied; "he is not a man at all, he is an angel; no man could do what he has done." Ouseley mounted his horse, amid the prayers and blessings of the people, and rode off to seek another opportunity of doing good.
In this way he would go from town to town, and from county to county, preaching and exhorting wherever an opportunity offered; and this practice he followed for seven years, prior to his connection with the Irish Methodist Conference. But it was not only by public preaching and exhortation, that he sought to do good. On one occasion, he met a man who had, by orders of the priest, taken a pilgrimage of forty Irish miles, as a penance; "Where have you been?" said Mr.
Ouseley: "At the reek," was the reply. "What were you doing there, poor man?" "Looking for God."
"Where is God?" "Everywhere." "Where would you go to look for the day-light when the sun rose this morning? Would you go forty miles to look for the day-light, when it was shining into your own cabin door?" "O the Lord help us, I would not, sir." "Then would you go on your feet forty miles to look for God, when you could get him at your own door?" "O, then may the Lord pity us, gentleman.
It's true for you! It's true for you!"
Some time after this, while riding along the road, he overtook a countryman, whom he addressed as follows: "My dear man, would you not like to be reconciled to God, have his peace in your heart, and stand clear before the great Judge, when he will come in the clouds of heaven to judge the world?" The man replied: "O glory be to his holy and blessed name! Sir, I have his peace in my heart, and the Lord be praised that I ever saw your face!" "You have! What do you know about this peace?
When did you see me?" "Don't you remember the day when you were at the burying, when the priest was saying mass?" "I do very well, what about that day?" "O, gentleman, you told us then how to get that peace; and I went, blessed be his holy name, to Jesus Christ my Saviour, and got it in my heart;
and have it ever since." Thus Mr. Ouseley began to see the fruit of his labor among the ignorant and debased Catholic population of his own country, for whom his soul, like that of Jeremiah, was "in affliction," and who like the same prophet, would frequently exclaim, "O, that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people."
Previously to Mr. Ouseley's conversion, the Lord had raised up in different parts of Ireland, a number of eminent Methodist missionaries. Among these, may be named Rev. Thomas Walsh, a young man who was so thoroughly acquainted with the original Scriptures, that if he was questioned concerning any Hebrew word in the Old, or Greek word in the New Testament, he would tell how often the word occurred in the Bible, where it might be found, and what it meant. Mr. Wesley pronounced him the greatest master of biblical knowledge that he ever saw, or ever expected to see again. Mr. Walsh was himself the fruit of street preaching, and he, during his short, but useful life, spent much time in preaching to the Irish peasantry in their native tongue, and thousands of these, through his instrumentality, were converted to God.
Another of those eminent missionaries, was the Rev Charles Graham, a native of the county of Sligo. Mr. Graham had been educated in the Church of England, but feeling a consciousness of inward depravity, he attempted to find through the instrumentality of the "Church," that peace which his soul panted after. Being disappointed here, he went to a Catholic mass meeting, where there happened to be a funeral service at the time. He learned that the person who was about to be buried had been a poor man, had lost all his cattle by disease, and that through the persuasion of his neighbors, the priest had taken up a collection of five pounds, to assist him in his distress; but asking the priest for the collection next day, the latter said to him, "I made no collection for you; but for myself." The poor man, enraged at such monstrous injustice, swore solemnly that he never would bow his knee before the priest again. This poor man soon after died, and when dying., the hard-hearted priest refused to administer to him the last rites of his religion. He was, however, prevailed upon to attend to the funeral, at which time Mr. Graham was present. The address of the priest on this occasion, was, "This man's soul is in hell, for he did not pay the rent of his soul for the last three years; and you will all be damned likewise, if you do not pay the rent of your souls regularly." These facts, and this address, convinced Mr. Graham that he must seek for light somewhere else, than in the Roman Church. Shortly after, he providentially became acquainted with the preaching and doctrine of the Methodists, and through their instructions, was soon led to the fountain of salvation.
Mr. Graham's first sermon was preached in the streets of the village of Milltown, where he was an entire stranger. Not knowing where to find a lodging for the night, he inquired of a lad if he knew
any one in that town who had the Bible, and read it yes," said the lad, "the clerk of the Church." Mr.
Graham rode up to the door, and told him he had come to find lodging with one who read the Bible.
The man was confounded. I read the Bible, sir! no indeed, 1 never read it, except what I read at Church, on Sunday." He, however, invited Mr. Graham to stay with him, and through the advice of the good missionary, he resolved hence forth to read the Bible, and subsequently became a valuable member of the Methodist Society which was formed in that place. Through the instrumentality of Mr. Graham, many persons of note and respectability were converted to the pure doctrines of the Gospel, from popery and error.
Another missionary of great usefulness, but of entirely different mold from Walsh, Graham, or Ouseley, was Bartholomew Campbell, a simple and uncultivated child of nature, who added to his natural simplicity a degree of strangeness and uncouthness, at once amusing and ludicrous. Campbell had been a Roman Catholic, but becoming burdened on account of sin, and not knowing what to do, he went to the priest, who enjoined penance and pronounced absolution, but still he found no peace to his mind. His mental distress increasing, he went to other priests, but still "hell lay open before him." At length he went a pilgrimage of forty miles, to St. Patrick's Purgatory, at Lough Derg, where he supposed all sin might be remitted, and having gone through with all the prescribed penances, paid all the necessary fees, received absolution from the resident priest, he fondly hoped that peace of mind would be secured; but alas, all these things were found to be unavailing. He returned to the priest with disappointment, and told him of the continued anguish of his spirit. "Did not I give you absolution?" said the priest. You did, father." "And do you deny the authority of the Church?" "By no means, but my soul is in misery; what shall I do?" "Do! why go to bed and sleep." "Sleep! no, father, perhaps I might awake in hell!" The priest exasperated at his stubbornness, as he supposed, threatened to horsewhip him; and poor Campbell went to a retired spot, and despairing to find mercy anywhere else, he with groans and tears, called aloud for Christ to have mercy on him, and He who said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden," gave the poor pilgrim "rest," and his soul was filled with joy unspeakable. He at once returned to the priest, and told what great things the Lord had done for his soul. "O, father," said he, "I am happy, I have found the cure. The ghostly
"father," thinking him mad, again threatened him with the horsewhip. Campbell ran to a number of his fellow-pilgrims, exhorting them to turn from these vanities, and come directly to Christ, who would give them the cure and the jewel. After his return home, he became extremely anxious for the salvation of his wife, and believing that there was truly some virtue in a pilgrimage to Lough Derg, he insisted on her going there. His horse was attached to the cart, and a bed placed upon the latter;
and on the bed, Campbell, his wife, and two children took their seats, and started for the Lough. But Mrs. Campbell did not there find the cure and the jewel, found by her husband, for the reason that she had not as yet felt her need of them. Shortly after, Campbell related to a priest in the neighborhood, what he had experienced at the Lough. The priest was affected even to tears, but charged Campbell not to say a word to the people on the subject. "Father," said he in reply, "they will all go to hell; and you will go thither with them, if you hide the cure from them." The priest, however, reiterated his admonitions. Soon after, the priest was celebrating mass in an old burial ground, and when he had concluded, Campbell stepped up to him and said, "Father, you are to christen a bairn in the village, go, and leave the people to me. The dead souls, you see, are standing over the dead bodies; and I hope the Lord will awaken the uppermost." "Take care," said the priest,
"what you do; make no disturbance, I charge you." After the priest left, Campbell began to exhort the people, and with so much effect, that the ignorant multitude wept and fell on their knees, crying
for mercy so loudly, that the noise was heard in the village. The priest hearing it, came running back.
"You rascal," said the latter, to Campbell, "do you oppose the Church?" "No, father, I have found the Church." "You villain, begone," said the now infuriated shepherd, at the same time striking Campbell over the head with a horse-whip. Poor Campbell had yet a portion of the "old Adam" in him, and scarcely knowing what he did, gave the priest a push, who falling over a grave, brought his feet higher than his head. So sudden was the transition from loud lamentation on account of sin, to anger and resentment at seeing God's holy "praste" sticking his heels up in the air, that a general Irish melee was the result, and Campbell was obliged to fly for his life. This unfortunate affair brought poor Campbell into great darkness, in which he remained until he met with some Methodists, who understood his case, and led him back to the fountain for the removal of guilt. He soon after regained his peace of mind, and became a useful member and missionary among the Methodists in Ireland.
Mr. Campbell subsequently became a great admirer of Dr. Coke, and whenever it was announced that the latter was about to pay a visit to the country, Campbell would mount his old white horse and ride off to meet the doctor, and accompany him to the various places of worship whither he was going. His appearance on such occasions, was sufficiently ludicrous to create a smile in the countenance of the most taciturn and serious observers, especially when viewed in contrast with the more grave and respectable appearance of the doctor, who, knowing the man, was not disposed to find fault with his uncouth, yet well-meant attentions.
We have thus far allowed ourselves to digress from the chief subject of the chapter, for the purpose of showing the instruments which God was employing to bring many of the Irish to a knowledge of the faith.
About the time in which Mr. Ouseley joined the Methodist Conference, a deep and extensive rebellion took place in Ireland, known as the "Irish Rebellion." It has been supposed by many, that the only object which the rebels had in view, was the deliverance of Ireland from the unjust rule of the British government. The history of the proceedings of the rebels will, no doubt, convince the impartial reader that this was by no means the only object, if indeed it was the chief object. The only rational ground of belief is, that the rebellion was designed to exterminate the hated name of Protestant from the island; and the subsequent cruelties practiced upon the unoffending Protestants, by the bigoted and blood-thirsty papists, all prove that their object was popery more than liberty — an alliance with the pope more than liberation from England. The history of that period is one of bloodshed, and the most diabolical cruelties inflicted upon unoffending men, women, and even children, that the historian of any nation has ever been called upon to record. It is true, there were a few Protestants at first leagued with the papists in their efforts to throw off their allegiance to the crown of Great Britain, but these were the dupes of the paid agents of popery, and as soon as they discovered the real intentions of the papists, and especially when they saw their fellow-protestants by thousands, murdered in cold blood before their eyes, they could no longer remain the dupes of designing men, but at once forsook the ranks of the rebels, and extinguished the flame of rebellion in the northern portion of the island.
In the year 1799, Mr. Ouseley's name first appeared on the minutes of the Conference. This, it will be perceived, was at a time when that ill-fated country had just passed through the scorching ordeal alluded to in the preceding paragraph — a time when the religious and political elements were still
