ver be too much afraid of dying before one has learned to live. I mean even in the course of nature. For were I sure that 'the silver cord should not be violently loosed;' that 'the wheel' should not be 'broken at the cistern,' till it was quite worn away by its own motion; yet what a time would this give me for such a work! a moment, to transact the business of eternity! What are forty years in comparison of this? So that were I sure what never man yet was sure of, how little would it alter the case? How justly still might I cry out, 'Downward I hasten to my destined place; There none obtain thy aid, none sing thy praise! It was not, therefore, as it has been hastily stated, that he first learned from the Moravians that he was not a true Christian. He had, at Oxford, a most painful conviction that he was far below the evangelical standard. He had then, as this letter sufficiently shows, a large measure of the "spirit of bondage unto fear;" and that after which his perplexed heart panted, was the "Spirit of adoption," by which he might "cry, Abba, Father." During the summer of this year, 1732, Mr. Wesley visited London, where he formed an acquaintance with several respectable and pious persons. He also made two journeys to Epworth. The latter of these was in order to meet the whole family, which had assembled, upon his father's request, once more before their final separation by death. These and other journeys he performed on foot, partly no doubt, to avoid what he considered needless expense, that he might, according to his rule, have the more to distribute in charity; and partly to accustom himself to fatigue and hardship. "In these excursions, he constantly preached on the Lord's day; so that he might now be called, in some degree, an itinerant preacher." In the following year, he again visited Epworth, Manchester, and some other places; but his occasional absence had a bad effect upon the still persecuted society at Oxford, whose members shrunk from the storm, and took the opportunity of his being away to shake off the strictness of the rules. The five-and-twenty communicants at St. Mary's, he informs his father, had shrunk to five. Still his courage was unshaken, and he exerted himself the more, upon his return, to repair the loss. Towards the end of the year, his exertions of mind and body, with an excess of abstemiousness, greatly affected his health, and induced spitting of blood. His state was such as greatly to alarm his friends; but the vigor of his constitution triumphed; and this attack of disease served to impress him the more deeply with eternal things, and to give renewed ardor to his endeavors after universal holiness, and to his plans for the religious benefit of his fellow-creatures. A considerable trial to his feelings now awaited him. The declining age of his father, who anxiously desired to provide for the special wants of his parishioners in a suitable manner, joined with the wishes of the people of Epworth, and the concerns of the family for which no provision, it seems, had been made, induced him to write to his son, to make interest for the next presentation to the living. Mr. Wesley, from his reluctance to leave Oxford, where he thought he should be far more useful, and where, according to his own convictions, he was placed in circumstances more conducive to his spiritual improvement, refused the proposal; and the most urgent letters of the different branches • Whitehead's Life of the family were insufficient to bend his resolution. His father wrote him a pathetic letter, in which every consideration was urged which might answer his objections, or move his feelings. His brother Samuel addressed him in a sterner mood, urging that he was not at liberty to resolve against undertaking a cure of souls, to which he was solemnly pledged by his ordination; and ridiculed his notion that he could not, so safely to himself, or so usefully to others, take the charge of a parish priest, as remain at Oxford. To all this he reiterates, that his own holiness and usefulness could be promoted nowhere so effectually as in his present station; that his retirement, his friends, and other advantages were essential to his improvement; that he was inadequate to the charge of two thousand parishioners; and that he did not consider his ordination vows in the same light as his brother. On the last point, indeed, he was supported by the opinion of the bishop who ordained him, and whom he consulted on the question. These and other topics run through the correspondence, which, though it is not necessary to give entire, affords considerable insight into the state of Mr. Wesley's mind. His conduct in this matter has been criticised as unfeeling, without considering that the kindness of his general character is a sufficient pledge, that the refusal of the urgent request of a venerable father, and a beloved mother whose widowhood would be unprovided for, must have been to him sufficiently painful. Dr. Southey thinks the correspondence not" creditable to his judgment;" but it would be hard to prove that the leading consideration which influenced him, that he was more usefully employed in doing good at the very "fountain" from which the nation was to be so largely supplied with its clergy, than as a country parish priest, was not a very obvious truth. This conclusion, true or false, was at least a very plausible one, and as such concerned his conscience; and his disregard of his own temporal advantage, which certainly lay on the side of the Epworth rectory, and his merging all consideration of the interests of the family in the higher question of what he regarded as a duty, might not appear instances of “good judgment" to worldly minds, and yet be so in reality. His leading reason, drawn from his greater usefulness at Oxford, being strong in itself, that he, with his wonted decision of character, should stand firmly upon it, will create no surprise; but that some of his other reasons are less weighty may be granted. They show that he had more confidence in a certain class of means, to secure his religious safety than in the grace of God. This was the natural effect of those notions of the efficacy of retirement, and self-denial, and "the wisdom of flight" from danger, which he had learned from Bishop Taylor; whilst the views he entertained of the necessity of exercising a minute personal superintendence over every individual committed to his charge, as being equally necessary to his own good conscience, and to their salvation, led him to regard a parish, containing two thousand souls, as too formidable and fearful an undertaking. His religious judgment was indeed as yet immature and perplexed; but in reasoning from his own principles, his natu ral judgment showed its usual strength in the conclusions to which it conducted him. Whatever weakness there might be in the case was the result of the imperfect state of his religious experience, and of that dependence upon his own plans of attaining spirituality, to which it gave rise; but connecting him with that great work which he was designed afterwards to effect, we must shut out also the doctrine of providence, if we do not see a higher hand than that of man in this determination; a hand which is not the less certainly employed, when it works its ends through the secret volitions, aversions, inclinations, and even prejudices of the human heart, than when it more sensibly and immediately interposes to hasten or retard our purposes. Mr. Wesley's father died in April, 1735. He had been manifestly ripening for his change; and in his last moments had the consolation of the presence of his two sons, John and Charles. "He had no fear of death; and the peace of God which he enjoyed appeared sometimes to suspend his bodily sufferings, and, when they recurred, to sustain his mind above them. When, as nature seemed spent, and his speech was failing, his son John asked him whether he was not near heaven, he answered, 'Yes, I am,' distinctly, and with a voice of hope and joy. After John had used the commendatory prayer, he said, 'Now you have done all;' these were his last words, and he passed away so peacefully and insensibly, that his children continued over him a considerable time in doubt whether or not the spirit was departed. Mrs. Wesley, who for several days, whenever she entered his chamber, had been carried out of it in a fit, recovered her fortitude now, and said her prayers were heard, for God had granted him an easy death, and had strenghtened her to bear it." Brighter views of the doctrine of faith had opened upon his mind, during his sickness, and shed their influence upon his last hours. This his sons afterwards more clearly understood than at the time.t About the middle of this year, the trustees of the new colony of Georgia, who wished to send out clergymen both to administer to the spiritual wants of the colonists, and also to attempt the conversion of the Indians, directed their attention to Mr. John Wesley, and some of his friends at Oxford, as peculiarly qualified, both by zeal and piety, and their habits of self-denial, for this service. After some delay, and consultation with his family, he accepted the offer; and thus, though Epworth could not draw him from Oxford, an enterprise of a missionary character, and presenting no temptations to ease and sloth, such as he feared in a parish at home, overcame his scruples. This itself is in proof that he had not resolved to remain in Oxford, in preference to accepting the living of Epworth, from selfish motives. In the question of usefulness, the balance before inclined to Oxford; and now that he thought a greater field for doing good opened in America, he yielded to that consideration. This mission was accompanied also with the certainty of great hardships and sufferings, which, according to his then defective, but most sincere views, were necessary to his perfection. His residence at Oxford now terminated, and this portion of his life may be properly concluded by some passages of a Southey's Life. letter written by Mr. Gambold, a man of fine genius, as some of his poems show, and of eminent holiness; who, some years afterwards, left the church of England, and became a Moravian bishop. The letter was addressed to one of Mr. Wesley's relations, and contains a lively description of the character and proceedings of a friend whom he did not then expect to see again on earth: "About the middle of March, 1730, I became acquainted with Mr. Charles Wesley, of Christ Church. After some time he introduced me to his brother John, of Lincoln college. For he is somewhat older,' said he, than I am, and can resolve your doubts better.' I never observed any person have a more real deference for another than he had for his brother; which is the more remarkable, because such near relations, being equals by birth, and conscious to each other of all the little familiar passages of their lives, commonly stand too close to see the ground there may be for such submission. Indeed he followed his brother entirely; could I describe one of them, I should describe both. I shall therefore say no more of Charles, but that he was a man formed for friendship, who, by his cheerfulness and vivacity, would refresh his friend's heart; with attentive consideration, would enter into, and settle all his concerns as far as he was able; he would do any thing for him, great or small; and, by a habit of mutual openness and freedom would leave no room for misunderstanding. "The Wesleys were already talked of for some religious practices, which were first occasioned by Mr. Morgan, of Christ Church. From these combined friends began a little society. Mr. John Wesley was the chief manager, for which he was very fit; for he had not only more learning and experience than the rest, but he was blessed with such activity as to be always gaining ground, and such steadiness that he lost none. What proposals he made to any were sure to alarm them, because he was so much in earnest; nor could they afterwards slight them, because they saw him always the same. What supported this uniform vigor was the care he took to consider well every affair before he engaged in it, making all his decisions in the fear of God, without passion, humor, or self-confidence. For though he had naturally a very clear apprehension, yet his exact prudence depended more on his hu mility and singleness of heart. He had, I think, something of authority in his countenance, yet he never assumed any thing to himself above his companions; any of them might speak their mind, and their words were as strictly regarded by him as his words were by them. "Their undertaking included these several particulars: to converse with young students; to visit the prisons; to instruct some poor families; to take care of a school, and a parish workhouse. They took great pains with the younger members of the university, to rescue them from bad company, and encourage them in a sober, studious life. They would get them to breakfast, and over a dish of tea endeavor to fasten some good hint upon them. They would bring them acquainted with other well-disposed young men, give them assistance in the difficult parts of their learning, and watch over them with the greatest tenderness. + In some of the biographical notices which have been published of this venerable man, he is represented as of a harsh and stern character. On this point the late Miss Wesley observes, in a MS. letter before me, "I never understood this from any of his children, who idolized his memory, and spoke of his kindness. He certainly never forced his daughter to marry Wright, as it has been suggested." In the same letter, Miss Wesley also corrects the current anecdote respecting the Epworth clerk and the rector's wig. which, though laughable enough, implicates Mr. Wesley in an irreverent act, in "Some or other of then went to the Castle every the house of God, of which he was not capable. The day, and another most commonly to Bocardo. Whoclerk did appear one Sunday, in church, in the ill-befit-ever went to the Castle was to read in the chapel to ting, cast-off wig of his master; and, to the disturbance of the gravity of the congregation, gave out the psalm, "Like to an owl in ivy bush, But Mr. Wesley had no hand in selecting the psalm, as many prisoners as would attend, and to talk apart to the man or men whom he had taken particularly in charge. When a new prisoner come, their conversation with him for four or five times was close and searching. If any one was under sentence of death, or, appeared to have some inten tions of a new life, they came every day to his assistance, and partook in the conflict and suspense of those who should now be found able, or not able, to lay hold on salvation. In order to release those who were confined for small debts, and to purchase books and other necessaries, they raised a little fund, to which many of their acquaintance contributed quarterly. They had prayers at the Castle most Wednesdays and Fridays, a sermon on Sunday, and the sacrament once a month. "When they undertook any poor family, they saw them at least once a-week; sometimes gave them money, admonished them of their vices, read to them and examined their children. The school | was, I think, of Mr. Wesley's own setting up; however, he paid the mistress, and clothed some, if not all the children. When they went thither, they inquired how each child behaved, saw their work, heard them read and say their prayers, or catechism, and explained part of it. In the same manner they taught the children in the workhouse, and read to the old people as they did to the prisoners. "They seldom took any notice of the accusations brought against them for their charitable employments; but if they did make any reply, it was commonly such a plain and simple one, as if there was nothing more in the case, but that they had just heard such doctrines of their Saviour, and had believed, and done accordingly. "I could say a great deal of his private piety, how it was nourished by a continual recourse to God, and preserved by a strict watchfulness in beating down pride, and reducing the craftiness and impetuosity of nature to a childlike simplicity, and a good degree crowned with divine love, and victory over the whole set of earthly passions. He thought prayer to be more his business than any thing else; and I have seen him come out of his closet with a serenity of countenance that was next to shining; it discovered what he had been doing, and gave me double hope of receiving wise directions, in the matter about which I came to consult him. In all his motions he attended to the will of God. He had neither the presumption nor the leisure to anticipate things whose season was not now; and would show some uneasiness whenever any of us, by impertinent speculations, were shifting off the appointed improvement of the present minute. Because he required such a regulation of our studies as might devote them all to God, he has been accused as one that discouraged learning, Far from that; for the first thing he struck at, in young men, was that indolence which will not submit to close thinking. He earnestly recommended to them a method and order in all their actions. This letter is honorable to Mr. Gambold's friend. ship; but he was not himself, at that time, of mature spiritual discernment, nor had Mr. Wesley opened the state of his heart to him with the freedom which we have seen in his letters to his mother. The external picture of the man is exact; but he was not inwardly that perfect Christian which Mr. Gambold describes, nor had he that abiding "interior peace." He was struggling with inward corruptions, which made him still cry, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" And he as yet put mortification, retirement, and contempt of the world, too much in the place of thu divine atonement, the virtue of which, when received by simple faith, at once removes the sense of guilt, cheers the spirit by a peaceful sense of acceptance through the merits of Christ, and renews the whole heart after the image of God. He was indeed attempting to work out "his own salvation with fear and trembling;" but not as knowing that "it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure." He had not, in this respect, learned "to be nothing," that he might "possess all things." CHAPTER III. MR. WESLEY now prepared for Georgia, the place where, as he afterwards said, "God humbled me, and proved me, and showed me what was in my heart." But he was not suffered to depart without remonstrances from friends, which he answered calmly and at length, and the scoffs of the profane, to which he made but brief reply. "What is this, Sir?" said one of the latter class to him; turned Quixote, too? Will nothing serve you, but to encounter windmills?" To which he replied, "Sir, if the Bible be not true, I am as very a fool and madman as you can conceive; but if it be of God, I am sober-minded." are you Mr. Charles Wesley, although in opposition to the opinion of his brother Samuel, agreed to accompany him to Georgia, and received holy orders. They were accompanied by Mr. Ingham, of Queen's college, and Mr. Delamotte. That Mr. Wesley considered the sacrifices and hardships of their mission in the light of means of religious edification to themselves, as well as the means of doing good to others, is plain from his own account: "Our end in leaving our native country was not to avoid want; God had given us plenty of temporal blessings; nor to gain the dung and dross of riches and honor; but singly this, to save our souls, to live wholly to the glory of God." These observations are sufficiently indicative of that dependance upon a mortified course of life, and that seclusion from the temptations of the world, which he then thought essential to religious safety. "If any one could have provoked him, I should; for I was very slow in coming into their measures, and very remiss in doing my part. I frequently Georgia is now a flourishing state, and the numcontradicted his assertions; or, which is much the ber of Methodist societies in it very considerable: a same, distinguished upon them. I hardly ever sub-result not then certainly contemplated by the Wesmitted to his advice at the time he gave it, though I relented afterwards. He is now gone to Georgia as a missionary, where there is ignorance that aspires after divine wisdom, but no false learning that is got above it. He is, I confess, still living; and I know that an advantageous character is more decently bestowed on the deceased. But, besides that his condition is very like that of the dead, being unconcerned in all we say, I am not making any attempt on the opinion of the public, but only studying a private edification. A family picture of him his relations may be allowed to keep by them. And this is the idea of Mr. Wesley, which I cherish for the service of my own soul, and which I take the liberty likewise to deposit with you."* Whitehead's Life. leys, who labored there with little success, and quitted it almost in despair. The first settlers from England embarked in 1732, with Mr. James Oglethorpe at their head, who was also one of the trustees under the charter. This gentleman founded Savannah, and concluded a treaty with the Creek Indians. Wars with both Spaniards and Indians, however, subsequently arose, as well as domestic feuds; and in 1752 the trustees surrendered their charter to the king, and it was made a royal government. It was, therefore, in the infancy of the colony that the Wesleys commenced their labors. That they should experience trouble, vexation, and disappointment, was the natural result both of the circumstances in which they were placed, and their own religious habits and views. A small colony, and especially in its infancy, is usually a focus formal and defective religion may lull to temporary of faction, discontent, and censoriousness. The colonists are often disappointed, uneasy in their circumstances, frustrated in their hopes, and impatient of authority. This was the case in Georgia: and although Mr. Oglethorpe upon the whole was a worthy governor, he was subject to prejudices, and prone to be misled by designing men. He certainly did not support the Wesleys with that steadiness and uniformity which were due to them; and on the other hand they were not faultless, although their intentions were entirely upright. They had high notions of clerical authority; and their pastoral faithfulness was probably rigid and repulsive; for in spite of the excellence of their own natural temper, an austere cast had been given to their piety. They stood firmly on little things, as well as great; and held the reins of ecclesiastical discipline with a tightness unsuitable to infant colonists especially, and which tended to provoke resistance. Their integrity of heart, and the purity of their intentions, came forth without a stain: they must also be allowed to have proceeded according to the best Mr. Charles Wesley took charge of Frederica, light they had; but they knew not yet "the love of and Mr. John, of Savannah, where, the house not Christ," nor how to sway men's hearts by that all-being ready, he took up his residence with the Gercommanding and controlling motive; and they mans, with whose spirit and conduct he became aimed at making men Christians, in the manner still more favorably impressed, and whose mode of they sought that great attainment themselves-by proceeding in the election and ordination of a a rigid and ascetic discipline. bishop carried him back, he says, to those primitive times" where form and state were not; but Paul he tent-maker, and Peter the fisherman, presided; yet with demonstration of the Spirit, and power." On their passage, an exact plan for the employment of time was arranged, and observed; but the voyage is most remarkable for bringing Mr. Wesley acquainted with the members of the Moravian Mr. Wesley had not been long at Savannah bechurch; for, among the settlers taken out, were fore he heard from Charles of his troubles and optwenty-six Germans of this communion. Mr. position at Frederica. His presence among the fiWesley immediately began to learn German, in centious colonists, and the frequent reproofs he adorder to converse with them; and David Nitchman, ministered, made him an object of great hatred, the Moravian bishop, and two others, received les- and "plots were formed either to ruin him in the sons in English. On the passage they had several opinion of Oglethorpe, or to take him off by viostorms, in which Mr. Wesley felt that the fear of lence." Oglethorpe was for a time successfully death had not been taken away from him, and con- practiced upon, treated him with coldness, and left cluded therefore that he was not fit to die; on the him to endure the greatest privations. He lay contrary, he greatly admired the absence of all upon the ground in the corner of a hut, and was slavish dread in the Germans. He says, "I had denied the luxury of a few boards for a bed. He long before observed the great seriousness of their was out of favor with the governor; even the serbehavior. Of their humility they had given a vants on that account insulted him; and, worn out continual proof, by performing those servile offices with vexation and hardships, he fell into a dangerfor the other passengers which none of the English ous fever. In this state he was visited by his browould undertake; for which they desired and would ther John, who prevailed upon him to break a rereceive no pay; saying, was 'good for their proud solution which "honor and indignation" had inhearts, and their loving Saviour had done more for duced him to form, of "starving rather than ask them.' And every day had given them occasion for necessaries." Soon after this Mr. Oglethorpe of showing a meekness, which no injury could discovered the plots of which he had been the vicmove. If they were pushed, struck, or thrown tim, and was fully reconciled to him. He then down, they rose again and went away; but no com- took charge of Savannah, whilst John supplied his plaint was found in their mouth. There was now place at Frederica; and in July, 1736, he was sent an opportunity of trying whether they were de- to England, charged with despatches from Mr. livered from the spirit of fear, as well as from that Oglethorpe to the trustees and the board of trade, of pride, anger, and revenge. In the midst of the and in December, arrived at Deal; thus terminapsalm wherewith their service began, the sea broke ting a service in which he had preached with great over, split the main-sail in pieces, covered the ship, fidelity and zeal; but had met with very unworthy and poured in between the decks, as if the great returns. deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible Of the two places, Savannah appears to have screaming began among the English. The Ger- been more hopeful than Frederica; and as Mr. mans calmly sung on. I asked one of them after- John Wesley did not find the door open for preachwards, Was you not afraid?' He answered, 'I ing to the Indians, he consulted with his compathank God, No.' I asked, 'But were not your wo- nions, in what manner they might be most useful to men and children afraid?' He replied mildly, 'No; the flock at Savannah. It was agreed, 1. To adour women and children are not afraid to die.""+ vise the more serious among them, to form themThus he had the first glimpse of a religious ex-selves into a little society, and to meet once or twice perience which keeps the mind at peace in all cir-a-week, in order to reprove, instruct, and exhort cumstances, and vanquishes that feeling which a one another. 2. To select out of these a smaller number for a more intimate union with each other; Oglethorpe's good opinion of the brothers was, how-which might be forwarded partly by their convers ever, shown by his anxiety to persuade Charles to returning singly with each, and inviting them all to Mr. again to the colony, after he had visited England; and by the marked respect and even reverence with which Wesley's house: and this accordingly they deterat a future period he treated John. ↑ Journal. • Journal. +Whitehead's Life. mined to do every Sunday in the afternoon. "Here," | ally to her mortification, and perhaps pain. An ble struggle with his own feelings, and that his entry in his journal shows that he had a consideraIn this respect he probably learned something sense of duty had exacted a great sacrifice from his from the Moravians, and the whole plan fell in heart. The lady soon afterwards married a Mr. with his previous views of discipline and method. Williamson; but a hostile feeling towards him had The character of his mind was eminently practi- been left in the minds of her friends, which the cal; he was in earnest, and he valued things just gossiping and censorious habits of a small colony as they appeared to be adapted to promote the edi- would not fail to keep alive. Though Mr. Wesley fication and salvation of those committed to his did not certainly see her married to another with charge. A school was also established; and the perfect philosophy, it was not in his generous nature children regularly catechised by Mr. Wesley, both to allow his former affection to turn into resentin private and in the church. Evening meetings for ment, which was the fault subsequently charged the more serious were also held at his house: so upon him; and as he soon saw many things in her actively did he apply himself not only to the public to reprove, it is probable that he thought his escape services of the sanctuary, but to every kind of en- a fortunate one. Perhaps, considering the singugagement by which he might make "full proof of larity of his habits at that time, it was well for the He in a passage of a letter of his brother Samuel to his ministry." The religious state of his own lady also; which seems, indeed, jocosely intimated mind, however, remained much the same. saw another striking instance of the power of faith, him on the occasion-"I am sorry you are disapin the peaceful and edifying death of one of the pointed in one match, because you are unlikely to Moravians; and had another proof that he himself find another." was not saved from "the fear which hath torment," in a severe storm of thunder and lightning. Both indicated to him that he had not attained the state of "the sons of God;" but his views were still perplexed and obscure. From a conversation which he had with some Indians who had visited Savannah, he concluded that the way was opened for him to preach among the Choctaws, and this he was desirous of attempting; but as Savannah would have been left without a minister, the governor objected; and his friends were also of opinion, that he could not then be spared from the colony. There was however nothing new in this. Mr. Wesley had doubtless heard, in his visits to London, of the religious societies described by Dr. Woodward, which were encouraged by the more serious clergy, and held weekly private meetings for religious edification. It is probable that he had even attended such meetings in the metropolis. Wherever indeed a revival of serious religion has taken place, and ministers have been in earnest to promote it, we see similar means adopted, as by Baxter at Kidderminster, during his eminently successful ministry there. +Incorrectly called Miss Causton by Mr. Wesley's biographers. "And if any of these-have done any wrong to his neighbor by word or deed, so that the congregation be thereby offended, the curate shall advertise him, that in anywise he presume not to come to the Lord's table, until he hath openly declared himself to have truly repented.' "If you offer yourself at the Lord's table on Sunday, I will advertise you, as I have done more than. once, wherein you have done wrong: and when you have openly declared yourself to have truly repentThe storm now broke forth upon him. A wared, I will administer to you the mysteries of God."* rant was issued, and he was brought before the recorder and magistrates, on the charge of Mr. Williamson, 1. That he had defamed his wife. 2. That he had causelessly repelled her from the holy communion. Mr. Wesley denied the first charge; and not acknowledge the authority of the magistrate to the second being wholly ecclesiastical, he would decide upon it. He was however told that he must The Causton family became now most active in appear before the next court, holden at Savannah their efforts to injure him. By them, the reason why Mr. Wesley had repelled Mrs. Williamson from the Lord's table was stated to be his resentment against her for having refused to marry him; which they knew to be contrary to the fact. Garbled extracts of his letters were read by Causton to |