Kessen, Andrew, Lld

Kessen, Andrew, LL.D.

a Wesleyan preacher, the on of a minister of the Established Church of Scotland, was born in Glasgow in 1814. He was educated at the university of that city, from which he received his degree, early united with the Methodists, began to exhort at the age of fifteen, was received by the British Wesleyan Conference in 1840, and devoted all his attainments to the missionary cause. For fifteen years he was principal of the Government Normal Training Institution in Colombo, Ceylon, for native Christian schoolmasters. He was eminently fitted for such work by his scholarly attainments, his gift of teaching, and his interest in the work. On his return to England he devoted several years to the training of missionary students. His pastoral labors were unwearied; his unassuming kindness made him the true friend of the poor, and his genial disposition won the love of all. His life was pure and upright, and his piety was beautiful in its unaffected meekness, its implicit trustfulness, and its ardent catholicity. He resided in London during the latter part of his life. Kessen died while on a visit to Jersey, July 19, 1879. See Minutes of the British Conference, 1879, page 40.