day following; as he has done five Sundays in six ever since. This much delighted our gay opponents, who increased their number apace; especially when, shortly after, one of the seniors of the college having been with the Doctor, upon his return from him sent for two young gentlemen severally, who had communicated weekly for some time, and was so successful in his exhortations, that for the future they promised to do it only three times a year. About this time there was a meeting (as one who was present at it informed your son) of several of the officers and seniors of the college, wherein it was consulted what would be the speediest way to stop the progress of enthusiasm in it. The result we know not, only it was soon publicly reported, that Dr. and the censors were going to blow up The Godly Club. This was now our common title; though we were sometimes dignified with that of The Enthusiasts, or The Reforming Club."

Part of the answer I received was as follows:

:

"GOOD SIR," A pretty while after the date, yours came to my hand. I waived my answer till I had an opportunity of consulting your father, who, upon all accounts, is a more proper judge of the affair than I am. But I could never find a fit occasion for it. As to my own sense of the matter, I confess, I cannot but heartily approve of that serious and religious turn of mind that prompts you and your associates to those pious and charitable offices; and can have no notion of that man's religion, or concern for the honour of the University, that opposes you, as far as your design respects the colleges. I should be loath to send a son of mine to any seminary, where his conversing with virtuous young men, whose professed design of meeting together at proper times was to assist each other in forming good resolutions, and encouraging one another to execute them with constancy and steadiness, was inconsistent with any received maxims or rules of life among the members. As to the other branch of your design, as the town is divided into parishes, each of which has its proper incumbent, and as there is probably an ecclesiastic who has the spiritual charge of the prisoners, prudence may direct you to consult them: for though I dare not say you would be too officious, should you of your own mere motion seek out the persons that want your instructions and charitable contributions; yet, should you have the concurrence of their proper pastor, your good offices would be more regular, and less liable to censure."

Your son was now at Holt: however, we continued to meet at our usual times, though our little affairs went on but heavily without him. But at our return from Lincolnshire, in September last, we had the pleasure of seeing him again; when, though he could not be so active with us as formerly, yet we were exceeding glad to spend what time we could in talking and reading with him. It was a little before this time my brother and I were at London, when going into a bookseller's shop, (Mr. Rivington's in St. Paul's Church-yard,) after some other conversation, he asked us whether we lived in town; and upon our answering, “No; at Oxford :"-" Then, gentlemen," said he, "let me earnestly recommend to your acquaintance a friend I have there, Mr. Clayton, of Brazennose." Of this, having small leisure for contracting new acquaintance, we took no notice for the present. But in the spring

following, (April 20,) Mr. Clayton meeting me in the street, and giving Mr. Rivington's service, I desired his company to my room, and then commenced our acquaintance. At the first opportunity I acquainted him with our whole design, which he immediately and heartily closed with : and not long after, Mr. M———— having then left Oxford, we fixed two evenings in a week to meet on, partly to talk upon that subject, and partly to read something in practical divinity.

The two points whereunto, by the blessing of God and your son's help, we had before attained, we endeavoured to hold fast: I mean, the doing what good we can; and, in order thereto, communicating as often as we have opportunity. To these, by the advice of Mr. Clayton, we have added a third, the observing the fasts of the Church; the general neglect of which we can by no means apprehend to be a lawful excuse for neglecting them. And in the resolution to adhere to these and all things else which we are convinced God requires at our hands, we trus* we shall persevere till he calls us to give an account of our stewardship. As for the names of Methodists, Supererogation-men, and so on, with which some of our neighbours are pleased to compliment us, we do not conceive ourselves to be under any obligation to regard them, much less to take them for arguments. "To the law and to the testimony" we appeal, whereby we ought to be judged. If by these it can be proved we are in an error, we will immediately and gladly retract it: if not, we "have not so learned Christ," as to renounce any part of his service, though men should "say all manner of evil against us," with more judgment and as little truth as hitherto. We do, indeed, use all the lawful means we know, to prevent "the good which is in us" from being "evil spoken of;" but if the neglect of known duties be the one condition of securing our reputation, why fare it well;—we know whom we have believed, and what we thus lay out He will pay us again. Your son already stands before the judgment seat of Him who judges righteous judgment; at the brightness of whose presence the clouds remove : His eyes are open, and he sees clearly whether it was "blind zeal, and a thorough mistake of true religion, that hurried him on in the error of his way;" or whether he acted like a faithful and wise servant, who, from a just sense that his time was short, made haste to finish his work before his Lord's coming, that "when laid in the balance" he might not "be found wanting."

I have now largely and plainly laid before you the real ground of all the strange outcry you have heard; and am not without hope that by this fairer representation of it than you probably ever received before, both you and the clergyman you formerly mentioned may have a more favourable opinion of a good cause, though under an ill name. Whether you have or no, I shall ever acknowledge my best services to be due to yourself and your family, both for the generous assistance you have given my father, and for the invaluable advantages your son has (under God) bestowed on,

Sir,

Your ever obliged

and most obedient servant

ON THE DEATH OF

MR. MORGAN, OF CHRIST CHURCH.

BY THE REV. MR. SAMUEL WESLEY.

We fools counted his life madness.

IF aught beneath them happy souls attend, Let Morgan hear the triumph of a friend, And hear well pleased. Let libertines so gay With careless indolence despise the lay; Let critic wits, and fools for laughter born, Their verdict pass with supercilious scorn; Let jovial crowds, by wine their senses drown'd, Stammer out censure in their frantic round; Let yawning sluggards faint dislike display, Who, while they trust to-morrow, lose to-day ;Let such as these the sacred strains condemn; For 'tis true glory to be hiss'd by them.

Wise in his prime, he waited not for noon;
Convinced, that mortal never lived too soon.
As if foreboding then his little stay,

He made his morning bear the heat of day.
Fix'd, while unfading glory he pursues,
No ill to hazard, and no good to lose :
No fair occasion glides unheeded by ;
Snatching the golden moments as they fly,
He by few fleeting hours ensures eternity.
Friendship's warm beams his artless breast inspire,
And tend'rest reverence for a much-loved sire.
He dared for heaven this flattering world forego,
Ardent to teach, as diligent to know;
Unwarp'd by sensual views, or vulgar aims,
By idle riches, or by idler names;

Fearful of sin in every close disguise;
Unmoved by threatening or by glozing lies.
Seldom indeed the wicked came so far,
Forced by his piety to defensive war;
Whose zeal for other men's salvation shown,
Beyond the reach of hell secured his own.
Gladd'ning the poor, where'er his steps he turn'd;
Where pined the orphan, or the widow mourn'd;
Where prisoners sigh'd beneath guilt's horrid stain
The worst confinement and the heaviest chain;
Where death's sad shade the uninstructed sight
Weil'd with thick darkness in the land of light.

Our Saviour thus fulfill'd his great design,
(If human we may liken to divine,)

Heal'd each disease that bodies frail endure,
And preach'd the' unhoped-for Gospel to the poor.

To means of grace the last respect he show'd, Nor sought new paths, as wiser than his God: Their sacred strength preserved him from extremes Of empty outside or enthusiast dreams;

Whims of Molinos, lost in rapture's mist,
Or Quaker, late-reforming quietist.

He knew that works our faith must here employ,
And that 'tis heaven's great business to enjoy.
Fix'd on that heaven, he death's approaches saw,
Nor vainly murmur'd at our nature's law;
Repined not that his youth so soon should go,
Nor grieved for fleeting pleasures here below.
Of sharpest anguish scorning to complain,
He fills with mirth the intervals of pain.
Not only unappall'd, but joyful, sees

The dark, cold passage that must lead to peace,
Strong with immortal bloom secure to rise,
The tears for ever banish'd from his eyes.

Who now regrets his early youth would spend
The life so nobly that so soon should end?
Who blames the stripling for performing more
Than Doctors grave, and Prelates of threescore?
Who now esteems his fervour indiscreet,

His prayers too frequent, or his alms too great?
Who thinks, where blest he reigns beyond the sky
His crown too radiant, or his throne too high?
Who but the Fiend, who once his course withstood,
And whisper'd," Stay till fifty to be good?"
Sure, if believed to' obtain his hellish aim,
Adjourning to the time that never came.

JOURNAL.

TUESDAY, October 14, 1735.-Mr. Benjamin Ingham, of Queen's College, Oxford, Mr. Charles Delamotte, son of a merchant in London, who had offered himself some days before, my brother Charles Wesley, and myself, took boat for Gravesend, in order to embark for Georgia. Our end in leaving our native country was not to avoid want, (God having given us plenty of temporal blessings,) nor to gain the dung or dross of riches or honour; but singly this,-to save our souls; to live wholly to the glory of God. In the afternoon we found the Simmonds off Gravesend, and immediately went on board.

Wednesday and Thursday we spent with one or two of our friends, partly on board and partly on shore, in exhorting one another "to shake off every weight, and to run with patience the race set before us."

Fri. 17.-I began to learn German, in order to converse with the Germans, six and twenty of whom we had on board. On Sunday, the weather being fair and calm, we had the Morning Service, on quarterdeck. I now first preached extempore, and then administered the Lord's Supper to six or seven communicants. A little flock. May God

increase it!

Mon. 20.-Believing the denying ourselves, even in the smallest instances, might, by the blessing of God, be helpful to us, we wholly left off the use of flesh and wine, and confined ourselves to vegetable food,-chiefly rice and biscuit. In the afternoon, David Nitschman, Bishop of the Germans, and two others, began to learn English. O may we be, not only of one tongue, but of one mind and of one heart! Tues. 21.-We sailed from Gravesend. When we were past about half the Goodwin Sands, the wind suddenly failed. Had the calm continued till ebb, the ship had probably been lost. But the gale sprung up again in an hour, and carried us into the Downs.

We now began to be a little regular. Our common way of living was this:-From four in the morning till five, each of us used private prayer. From five to seven we read the Bible together, carefully comparing it (that we might not lean to our own understandings) with the writings of the earliest ages. At seven we breakfasted. At eight were the public prayers. From nine to twelve I usually learned German, and Mr. Delamotte, Greek My brother writ sermons, and Mr. Ingham instructed the children. At twelve we met to give an account to one another what we had done since our last meeting, and what we designed to do before our next. About one we dined. The time from dinner to four, we spent in reading to those whom each of us had taken in charge, or in speaking to them severally, as need required. At four were the Evening Prayers; when either the Second Lesson was explained, (as it always was in the morning,) or the children were catechised, and instructed before the congregation. From five