John Wesley Etheridge
John Wesley Etheridge [1]
Ph.D., a Methodist minister and eminent scholar, was born at Grangewoods, Isle of Wight, February 24, 1804, and died at Camborne May 24,1866. His parents were Methodists, and he was brought up with religious care. In 1827 he entered the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and was appointed to the Hull Circuit. In 1838 his health failed, and he became "supernumerary." In 1846 he was able to return to the itinerant ministry, in which service he remained until his death. "He was an eminently holy man. Whether in the pulpit or in the social circle, he appeared clothed with humility, and radiant with Christian benevolence; Constrained by the love of Christ, he lived only to promote the interests of the Church. He was 'a burning and shining light,' and consumed himself in the service of his Lord and Savior" (Minutes, 1867).
Dr. Etheridge's devotion to letters, amid the engrossing labors of the Methodist ministry, was very remarkable. Early in life he showed extraordinary aptitude for languages, and by continued study he learned to read and write Hebrew and Syriac with facility. In the literature of these two languages he became pre-eminent before his death. His published writings include The Syrian Churches, their early History, Liturgies, and Literature (London, 1846, 12mo: this work contains a translation, also, of the four Gospels from the Peschito): — The Apostolical Acts and Epistles from the Peschito, with the remaining Epistles and the Revelation, after a later Syrian Text (London, 1849, 12mo) for a Aramaicae (London, 1843, 12mo: a useful series of Essays on the. Shemitic, Aramaic, and Syriac languages and literature): — Jerusalem and Tiberias, a Survey of the religious and scholastic Learning of the Jews, designed as an Introduction to Hebrew Literature (London, 1856, 12mo): — The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan ben-Uzziel, etc. (London, 1862, 12mo). Besides these he published Misericordia, or Contemplations on the Mercy of God (Lond. 1842): — The Life of Dr. Adam Clarke (London, 1858; N.Y. 1860): — The Life of Dr. Thomas Coke (Lond. 1860): — The Life of the Reverend John Fletcher. — Minutes of Conferences (English) for 1867; Christian Examiner, 64:346.
