usual course of studies. His literary character was now established in the University; he was acknowledged by all parties to be a man of talent, and an excellent critic in the learned languages; his compositions were distinguished by an elegant simplicity of style, and justness of thought; his skill in logic was universally known and admired. The high opinion which was entertained of him in these respects was soon publicly expressed, by his being chosen Greek Lecturer and Moderator of the Classics; though he had only been elected Fellow of the College a few months, and had not yet proceeded Master of Arts.

The elder Wesley was now, from age and infirmity, become unequal to the duty of both his livings, especially as the road was bad, and sometimes dan gerous in winter. John, therefore, at his desire, went to reside at Wroot, and officiated as his curate. Though a native of the county, he did not escape the ague, which was then its endemic malady; and perhaps it was fortunate for him, that after two years, he was summoned to his College, upon the regulation that the junior Fellows, who might be chosen Moderators, should attend in person the duties of their office. In consequence of this summons, he once more took up his abode at Lincoln College, became a tutor there, and presided as Moderator at the disputations which were held six times a week in the Hall; an office which exercised and sharpened his habits of logical discrimination. During his residence at Wroot, his brother Charles, who had been elected from Westminster to Christ Church, meeting with two or three under-graduates whose inclinations and principles were as serious as his own, they associated together for the purposes of religious improvement, lived by rule, and received the sacrament weekly. The great

est prudence could not have saved men from ridicule, who, in such a dissolute age, professed to make religion the great business of their lives: they were called in derision the Sacramentarians, Bible Bigots, Bible Moths, the Holy or the Godly Club; and one person, with less irreverence and more learning, observed, in reference to their methodical method of living, that a new sect of Methodists was sprung up, alluding to the ancient school of physicians known by that name. This became the designation of the sect

of

of which Wesley was the founder and it was to Charles Wesley and his few associates to whom the name was first given. When John Wesley returned to Oxford, they gladly placed themselves under his direction; their meetings acquired more form and regularity, and obtained an accession of numbers. These meetings were continued for some time with no other view than their own benefit, until one of the members, Mr. Morgan, went to see a man in the Castle, who was condemned for killing his wife, and he suggested to the others the good which might arise from occasionally visiting the prisoners, who, with the exception of those condemned to die, were entirely destitute of any spiritual instructor. Having obtained the sanction of the Bishop, they commenced this pious undertaking, and prosecuted it with great diligence. A similar visit, by the same person, to a poor woman in the town who was sick, led to similar exertions, and they spent several hours every week in that species of charity; and that they might have wherewith to relieve distress, they abridged themselves of all the superfluities and of many of the conveniences of life. The outcry, however, against them increasing, they thought proper, by way of self defence, to propose to their friends and opponents the following questions.

Whether it does not concern all men, of all conditions, to imitate Him, as much as they can who went about doing good?

Whether all Christians are not concerned in that command, while we have time let us do good unto all men, especially to those who are of the household of faith?

Whether we shall not be more happy hereafter, the more good we do now?

Whether we may not try to do good to our acquaintance among the young gentlemen of the University?

Particularly, whether we may not endeavour to convince them of the necessity of being christians, and of being scholars?

May we not try to do good to those who are hungry, or naked, or sick? If we know any necessitous family may we may not give them a little food, clothes, or physic as they want?

If they can read, may we not give them a Bible, or a Prayer Book, or a Whole Duty of Man? May we not inquire now and then how they have used them, explain what they do not understand, and enforce what they do? May we not enforce upon them the necessity of private prayer, and of frequenting the church and sacrament?

May we not contribute what we are able towards having their children clothed and taught to read?

May we not try to do good to those who are in prison? May we not release such well-disposed persons as remain in prison for small debts?

May we not lend small sums of money to those who are of any trade, that they may procure themselves tools and materials to work with?

May we not give to them who appear to want it most a little money, or clothes, or physic?

No one who had a spark of religion or humanity could answer these questions in the negative, nor did any one attempt it; but several, when they understood their design, increased their little fund for the relief of the pri soners and the poor by quarterly subscriptions. The fault of Wesley and his associates was, that they carried some of their opinions and principles to excess, and excited injurious suspicions against themselves, by affecting singularity in things which were of no importance.

Wesley's mind seems at this time to have been in a turbid and restless state, and he began to doubt the utility, and even the lawfulness of carnal studies. "I once desired," says he, in a letter to his mother, "to make a fair show in languages and philosophy, but it is past: there is a more excellent way; and if I cannot attain to any progress in the one, without throwing up all thoughts of the other, why fare it well. Yet a little while and we shall all be equal in knowledge if we are in virtue." He would not be at the expense of having his hair dressed; and in order that the money which would otherwise have been employed in that vile passion might be given to the poor, he wore it remarkably long, and flowing loose upon his shoulders. During the last two years (1732 and 1733), Mr. Wesley made frequent excursions to London and different parts of the country; besides his jour

nies to Epworth, and the places he visited on his way thither and back, all of which he performed on foot. In these excursions he constantly preached on the Lord's Day, if he had an opportunity; so that he might now be called in some sort an itinerant preacher, though on a plan very different from that which he afterwards adopted, and of which he could not at this time have the most distant conception. His father's health had been on the decline for several years, and he now seemed fast approaching towards the close of life. The old gentleman, conscious of his situation, and desirous that the living of Epworth should remain in the family, wrote to his son, John, requesting him to apply for the next presentation. This, however, he refused, not so much on the ground of his utility, but on the evil which he feared would arise to his own spiritual state in that situation. He argued as if his own salvation would have been rendered impossible at Epworth: he said, "he could not stand his ground there for a month against intemperance in sleeping, eating, and drinking; his spirits would thus be dissolved; the cares and desires of the world would roll back upon him, and while he preached to others he himself should be a cast-a-way." Uninterrupted freedom from trifling acquaintance was necessary for him : he dreaded as the bane of piety the company of good sort of men, lukewarm christians. "They undermine, says he, "insensibly all my resolutions, and quite steal from me the little fervour which I have. I never come from among these saints of the world, as John Valdesso calls them, faint, dissipated, and shorn of all my strength, but I say, God deliver me from a half christian." And for the argument which had been suggested to him, that Epworth was a wider sphere of action, where he would have the charge of two thousand souls. "Two thousands souls!" he exclaimed, "I see not how any man living can take care of a hundred." If any stress be laid upon the love of the people of Epworth, which his father had mentioned as a motive to induce him to uudertake the care of their souls, "I ask how long will it last? Only till I come to tell them plainly that their deeds are evil; and to make a particular application of that general sentence, to say to each, thou art the man.' On the other hand, Wesley having given as a reason for his staying at Oxford, that, from

the

the ridicule poured out upon him, he endured that contempt, which is a part of the cross that every man who would follow his Saviour must bear; his brother, Samuel, shrewdly observed, that "it was nothing to the purpose; for if you will go to Epworth, I will answer for it you shall in a competent time be despised as much as your heart can wish." His father died in April, 1735, and the living was given away to another.

Wesley, whatever might have been his piety, was totally unfit for the situation of a parish priest in a small country town: his boundless zeal, his extensive views, his wonderful activity and exertion and love of enterprise, would have rendered the quiet life of a country clergyman perfectly intol erable: he would have been like a lion shut up in a cage, or an eagle chained to a post. The prospect held out by settling at Epworth had nothing congenial in it to his disposition, although it was pressed upon him as a scene of extended usefulness: for he had not then entered on that part of his career for which he was by nature and education so admirably adapted, when he should count the people who followed his ministry, and who were called by the same name with which he was designated, not by thousands, but by tens of thousands,-an event of which he, at that time, had not the least conception :-"I see not," says he, "how any man living can take care of a hundred souls."

Soon after this, a new scene of action was proposed to him. The trustees of the new colony of Georgia were greatly in want of proper persons to in-. struct the inhabitants in christian knowledge. They fixed upon Mr. John Wesley and some of his friends as the most proper persons to send there, on account of their strict piety. Mr. Wesley accepted the proposal, conceiving it a good opportunity of being useful to mankind. On his return from America, after an absence of two years, he commenced field preacher; and itinerancy followed as a natural consequence. On his return from Newcastle, after his first appearance in that town, he came to Epworth. Many years had elapsed since he had been in his native place; and not knowing whether there were any persons left in it who would not be ashamed of his acquaintance,