ists; in 1735 he went on a mission
to Georgia, U.S., and had for fellow-voyagers some members of the
Moravian body, whose simple piety made a deep impression on him; and on
his return in two years after he made acquaintance with a Moravian
missionary in London, and was persuaded to a kindred faith; up to this
time he had been a High Churchman, but from this time he ceased from all
sacerdotalism and became a believer in and a preacher of the immediate
connection of the soul with, and its direct dependence upon, God's grace
in Christ alone; this gospel accordingly he went forth and preached in
disregard of all mere ecclesiastical authority, he riding about from
place to place on horseback, and finding wherever he went the people in
thousands, in the open air generally, eagerly expectant of his approach,
all open-eared to listen to his word; to the working-classes his visits
were specially welcome, and it was among them they bore most fruit; "the
keynote of his ministry he himself gave utterance to when he exclaimed,
'Church or no Church, the people must be saved.'" Saved or Lost? was with
him the one question, and it is the one question of all genuine Methodism
to this hour (1703-1791).

WESSEL, JOHANN, a Reformer before the Reformation, born at
Groeningen; was a man of powerful intellect; taught in the schools, and
was called by his disciples _Lux Mundi_ (1420-1489).

WESSEX, a territory in the SW. of England, inhabited by Saxons who
landed at Southampton in 514, known as the West Saxons, and who gradually
extended their dominion over territory beyond it till, under Egbert,
their king, they became supreme over the other kingdoms of the Heptarchy.

WEST, BENJAMIN, painter, born near Springfield, Pennsylvania, of
Quaker parentage; was self-taught, painted portraits at the age of 16,
went to Italy in 1760, and produced such work there that he was elected
member of several of the Italian academies; visited England on his way
back to America in 1763, where he attracted the attention of George III.,
who patronised him, for whom he painted a goodly number of pictures to
adorn Windsor Castle; he remained in England 40 years, painting hundreds
of pictures, and was in 1792 elected President of the Royal Academy in
succession to Sir Joshua Reynolds; among his paintings were "The Death of
General Wolfe," "Edward III. at Crecy," and "The Black Prince at
Poitiers" (1738-1817).

WEST AFRICA, name given to the region SW. of t