in the evening. As his religious feel nected with the rise and progress of 糖 ed rooms, and became a professed and for him at Oxford as he and his his adviser would have wished. While he officiated at Wroote, his brother Charles, a student of Christ's Church, had associated with two or three undergraduates, who met for religious improvement. As they lived by rule, and received the Sacrament t weekly, they y attracted notice, and became objects of ridicule. "They were called in derision the Sacramentarians, Bible-bigots, Bible-moths, the Holy, the Godly Club. One person, with less irreverence and more learning, in reference to their methodical manner of life, that live by rule, and to pick up the very a new sect of Methodists was sprung fragments of his time, that not a moup, alluding ng to the ancient school of ment might be lost." Elisus physicians known by that name." The appellation was not inapt, and though it was first given to Charles Wesley and his companions, it was afterwards adopted by his brother John, and became the appropriate designation of the sect of which he was the founder. Among 912 ong the members of the Metho dist Society ty was Mr Morgan, a man morbidly constituted both in body and m mind. He instructed little children, visited the sick, and prayed with the prisoners. He died young after a long illness, and the Wesleys have commemorated his virtues as they deserve. Two others of them afterwards acquired celebrity, namely, Hervey, the author of Meditations, a book which has become singularly popular; and Whitefield, a man eminently con Wesley's party was now about fifteen in number: at first they met on week nights to study the classics, and on Sunday evenings for divinity; but religion soon became the sole business of their meetings; they visited the prisoners and the sick, communicated once a week, and fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays, after the example of the primitive church. They now rather affected than shunned singularity, and much ridicule and disapprobation were thereby provoked and expressed. Wesley wrote to his father for advice, and was directed to obtain the Bishop's approbation to his proceedings, which, *Supposed to mean scoggers, as sleeves are still called in some parts of England. he said, "I cannot do less than valde probo.' Thus encouraged, he consulted the bishop, who sanctioned the visiting of the prisons. About this time Wesley became personally ac quainted with Law, the author of "Christian Perfection," &c. who, in the frequent interviews which he had with him, did what he could to check the ambitious spirit by which even then he was actuated. 66 Sir," said he, "I perceive you would fain convert the world! but you must wait God's time. Nay, if after all he is pleased to use you only as hewer of wood or a drawer of water, you should submit, nay, you should be thank ful to him who has honoured you so far." The visits to Law were performed on foot to save money to give to the poor; nay, so anxious was he to provide for the poor, that he would not be at the expence of having his hair dressed, but wore it long, and flowing loose upon his shoulders. The report of the singularity, and the austerity of the Wesleys con duct, determined their brother Samuel, a man of great worth and discretion, to go to Oxford, and judge of their demeanour on the spot; and though he approved of the principles by which they were actuated, he saw clearly that they were carried to a great and dangerous excess. And after a severe illness, and the falling off of some of his associates, John was led to the reflection, that the " consequences of his singularity were diminution of fortune, loss of friends and reputation." His family, and especially his father, were anxious that he should obtain the living of Epworth-where he had been born where his father had so long officiated -and where his mother and sisters were settled; but under the pretence of attending to his own well-being in spiritual things," he chose to continue at Oxford. As inducements to him to comply with his desire, his father endeavoured to convince him, that acts of austerity, or a solitary life, were nothing in themselves; that academical studies were merely preparatory to the active duties of life; and that it became us not to fix on one single point of duty, but to take in the complicated view of all the circumstances in every state of life that offers. parent and pastor, "if you are not indifferent whether the labours of an aged father, for above forty years in God's vineyard, be lost, and the fences trodden down and destroyed; if you consider that Mr M. do not; and that the prospect of that must in all probability succeed me if you mighty Nimrod's coming hither shocks my soul, and is in a fair way of bringing down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave; if you have any care for our family, which must be dismally shattered as soon as I am. dropt; if you reflect on the dear love and longing which this poor people have for you, whereby you will be enabled to do God the more service, and the plenteousness of the harvest consisting of near two thousand souls, whereas you have not many haps alter your mind, and bend your will more souls in the University, you may perto His, who has promised, if in all our ways we acknowledge Him, He will direct our steps." p. 67. His brother Samuel pressed upon John the duty of obedience to parental authority. I left Oxford,” said he, " with all its opportunity of good, on a worldly account, at my father's desire. I left my settlement by the same determination, and should have thought I sinned both times if I had not followed it." He reminded him also, that having taken orders, he was 66 solemnly engaged to undertake the cure of souls before God, and his High Priest, and his Church." But Wesley replied to both in a manner characteristic of his peculiar mode of thinking. His own salvation would be rendered impossible by a residence at Epworth-he should be involved in intemperance in sleeping, eating, and drinking, before he had been there a month at Epworth he would be an object of respect, but at Oxford he endured the contempt of the Cross: the schools, too, of the prophets were there, and was it not a more extensive benefit to sweeten the fountain, than to purify a particular stream? charge of two thousand souls! I see not how any man living can take charge of a hundred. As to the love of the people of Epworth-how long will it last? Only till I come, and tell them their deeds are evil.” He seems to have taken no notice of the advantage which his succeeding to his father would have been to his mother and the younger branches of the family. Samuel, though aware of the folly of reasoning with a man pos"If," says the carnest and affectionate sessed of such notions as he had ex The pressed, yet, as he had requested to know his farther thoughts, asked him if more was necessary for the very being of his Christian life, than for the salvation of all the parish priests in England?" What you say of contempt is nothing to the purpose, for, if you go to Epworth, you shall, in a competent time, be despised as much as your heart can wish.' Wesley admitted the force of his ordination oath, but denied that it had the meaning put upon it by his brother; but to put an end to his perplexity on that head, he applied to the Bishop to know the extent of its obligation, The answer was in these words: "It doth not seem to me that, at your ordination, you engaged yourself to undertake the cure of a parish, provided you can, as a clergyman, better serve God and his church in your present or some other station." Wesley believed he had all reasonable evidence that this was the case, and here the discussion ended. Wesley, the father, died the ensuing spring. The mother was left with little or no provision, and was supported chiefly by her eldest son Samuel. Some time after this, Wesley was introduced to Mr Oglethorpe, the founder of the colony of Georgia, who, after some negotiation, engaged both him and his brother Charles to go out as its chaplains. They embarked in 1735, and from that day his printed journals commence. Se veral Moravians, going to join a party of their brethren from Herrnhut, were on board the same vessel. With these companions the Wesleys put their ascetic principles in full practice. They lived on rice or biscuit, left off supper, and slept on the floor. Their mode of life on board was full of labour. They rose at four, and spent the day in religious exercises, and hard study. After a tedious and tempestuous voyage, they anchored in the Savannah river, near the site of the new settlement. On landing the brothers separated. Charles went, with Ingham, one of the English passengers, to Frederica, a settlement on the west side of the island of St Simons. John and Delamotte, also an English passenger, took up their lodging with the Germans at Savannah. These people, says John, were always em ployed, always cheerful, and in good humour with one another. Wesley regarded himself rather as a missionary than a chaplain, and hoped to make many converts among the Indians; but when the subject was mentioned to Tomochici, a chief who had been in England, it appeared that unforeseen obstacles had arisen. "We are all in confusion," said he, " yet I am glad you are come. But we would not be made Christians as the Spaniards make Christians: we would be taught before we are baptized." He seems never to have learned the Indian language, and scarcely to have attempted the conversion of the natives. He and Delamotte taught each a school: the shod scholars of the latter exulted over their unshod companions: and Wesley undertook to humble this feeling of superiority. With that view he went to teach the school of his friend without shoes or stockings. The boys stared, but the unshod party soon felt the comfort of being thus countenanced. In his clerical function he pursued a system of discipline greatly too severe for the spiritual advantage of his people. He insisted upon baptizing children by immersion-would not receive as sponsors persons who were not communicants-would not admit a pious dis senter to the communion, unless he would submit to be re-baptized-nor would read the funeral service over another for the same reason. He was accused also of making his sermons satires upon particular persons. Yet with his rigid adherence to the letter of the rubric, his disposition to innovate began to manifest itself. He divided the public prayers, performing the morning service at five o'clock, the communion office, with a sermon, at eleven, and the evening service at three. These, and a number of other novelties, made a plain speaker tell him, " The people say they are Protestants, but as for you, they cannot tell what religion you are of." Charles, too, set "Frederica in an uproar." He tried to reform the conduct of some of the lady colonists, and the still more hopeless task of reconciling their jealousies and hatreds, and succeeded in forming them into a cabal against himself. He was shot at, and almost murdered. Before he had been six days at Frederica, he was so deeply involved in disputes of various kinds, that he declared he would not spend six days more in the same man ner for all Georgia. But he was constrained to " dwell in Meshech." He also incurred Oglethorpe's displeasure, and the people having discovered that he was in disgrace, set no bounds to their outrageous abuse. "I some times pitied them," says Charles, "and sometimes diverted myself with the odd expressions of their contempt; but I found the benefit of having un dergone a much lower degree of obloquy at Oxford." He lay down at last in what he called a friendly fe ver. In this state he was visited by his brother John, from the moment of whose arrival he began to recover, and a reconciliation was effected between him and the Governor. About three months afterward Mr Ogle thorpe sent him to England with dispatches, and followed him thither in the autumn of the same year. During his residence in America, Wesley showed some disposition to form a matrimonial connection. So phia Causton, the niece of the chief magistrate of Savannah, had fixed her eyes on him. She was a woman of fine person, polished manners, and cultivated mind; and it is said the Governor wished to bring about a marriage between this lady and the chap, lain, with the view of curing him of his eccentricities. She easily entered into a design which had for its object the cure of an excellent man's extra vagancies, and the acquisition of a good husband for herself. She became his pupil, like another Heloisa. She dressed always in white, and with the utmost simplicity, to please his taste. She nursed him in his sick ness, night and day, with incessant solicitude; and he felt her attentions, as it was designed he should feel them. She paid, however, a visit to Frederiea, where she did not live so strictly according to Wesley's rules as she had done under the vigilant inspection of his own eye. "I found her," he says, scarce the shadow of what she was when I last left her." His remonstrances excited some spirit and some pride, and, in her resentment, she threatened to return to England. He earnestly dissuaded her from this, which he called a fatal resolution.He writes," I advised Miss Sophy to sup earlier, and not immediately before she went to bed. She did so, and on this little circumstance what an inconceivable train of consequences depend! not only all the colour of remaining life to her, but perhaps my happiness too." Delamotte suspected her obedience and devotion were merely assumed for the occasion, and told Wesley what he thought of her artfulness and his simplicity, and plainly asked him if he intended to marry her. This intention had been formed, but not declared; the question embarrassed him, and he made no de cisive answer. The matter was propounded to the elders of the Moravian Church, and, Wesley having a greed to abide by their decision, the Bishop said, "We advise you to proceed no farther in this business." He now avoided the lady's company; but his diary shows what pain the deci sion of the elders cost him. Sophia, not aware that a consultation had been held upon her case, after wondering a while at the change which had taken place in her lover's conduct, put an end to the matter, by taking to herself another husband. "The 12th of March was the day," says Wesley, "on which Sophia married Mr Williamson, being the day which completed the year from my first speaking to her. What thou doest, O God! I know not now, but I shall know hereafter." Acting on his high notions of clerical duty, he afterwards refused to admit this lady to the communion, because, he said, he disapproved of some things in her conduct. This step involved him in a quarrel with her friends, who prosecuted him for defamation. The indictment contained ten counts. As nine of them related to ecclesiastical matters, he said they were not within the cognizance of the court; but, as to what regarded writing and speaking to Mrs Williamson, he was ready to be tried upon the spot. In vain did he demand a hearing on this charge, and, at length wearied out, he signified his intention of returning to England. He was, however, told, that he could not quit the province till he had answered the allegations brought against him; and, for that end, a bond and bail were required of him, a demand to which he resolutely replied, that he would neither give bond nor bail, saying, "You know your business, and I know mine." The magistrates, it is said, wanted nothing more than to make him withdraw, and to stigmatize his departure. They succeeded, if such was their intention; for he went to Charlestown, and embarked for England. On the voyage he began to think he was no Christian. "I went to America," he says, "to convert the Indians; but oh! who shall convert me? Who will deliver me from this heart of unbelief?" On landing at Deal, the missionary solemnly recorded his own self-condemnation. He had left his native country, to teach the Indians Christianity, and learned, what he least of all suspected, that his own faith was no better than that of devils. And then, in comparing himself with those in the same state, he proceeds, in a parody on the 11th chapter of second Corinthians. "If," says he, "haply some of those who still dream may awake, and see that as I am, so are they. Are they read in philosophy? so am I. In ancient or modern tongues? so am I. Are they versed in the science of divinity? I too have studied it many years. Can they talk fluently on spiritual things? the very same could I do. Are they plenteous in alms? behold I gave all my goods to feed the poor. Do they give their labour as well as their substance? I have laboured more abundantly than them all. Are they willing to suffer for their brethren? I have thrown up my friends, reputation, and my country. I have put my life in my hand, wandering in strange lands. I have given my body to be devoured by the deep, parched up with heat, consumed by toil and weariness, or whatsoever God shall please to bring upon me. But does all this (be it more or less, it matters not) make me ac'ceptable to God ?" Vol. I. p. 133. Soon after Wesley's return, he met with Peter Boehler, a Moravian, who, with others, had just arrived in England, with the view of going to America. This man gained a great ascendancy over him, and became his teacher in religion. He clearly convinced him of unbelief, but advised him to preach faith till he had it. In consequence of Wesley's intercourse with Boehler, he resolved to visit the Moravians in Germany. There he had many interviews and much conversation with Count Zinzendorf, the head of that singular sect. The Count delivered his doctrines in rather too dictatorial a style for Wesley's taste; and, after some stay at Herrnhut, the original settlement of the sect, he returned to England. During his absence, Charles had prayed with some condemned criminals in Newgate, and accompanied them with other clergymen to Tyburn. In this work he was now joined by John, and by their efforts the poor creatures became exceedingly willing to die. Wesley had now fairly assumed the apostolical character; and as he met with encouragement on the one hand, he disregarded opposition on the other. Both the brothers waited on Gibson the Bishop of London, to justify their conduct, and the conversahonour on that excellent prelate. The tion which took place reflects much doctrine of assurance at this time notoriously characterized their preaching, and in reference to it the bishop said, "If, by assurance, you mean an inward persuasion, whereby a man is conscious to himself, after examining Whitefield had just sailed for A- his life by the law of God, and weighmerica, as Wesley, in this distressed ing his own sincerity, that he is in a state of mind, arrived in England. state of salvation, and acceptable to He had practised a course of severe God, I do not see how any good-Chrisausterities, undergone innumerable tian can be without such an assurbuffetings of Satan," and preached ance." But this was not the assurwith amazing success. He was well ance for which they contended; they educated, had a pleasing aspect, a me- required an enthusiastic confidence, lodious voice, and graceful action-all preceded by a no less outrageous selfgreat recommendations to a public condemnation. They spoke also of speaker. At Bristol he preached five re-baptizing dissenters; and the Bitimes a-week to vast multitudes. shop told them he wholly disapprovWhen he preached his farewell ser- ed it. They waited also on the Primon, and said to the people, that, per- mate, of whom Charles thus speaks: haps, they might see his face no more," He showed us great affection, and high and low, young and old, burst into tears. The same flood of popularity followed him to London. He had, however, agreed to go to Georgia, and, therefore, took leave of his English audiences. 66 - cautioned us to give no more umbrage than was necessary for our own defence; to forbear exceptionable phrases, and to keep to the doctrines of the Church." This Archbishop Potter, whom Wesley deservedly |