ment to that station. For a considerable time he hesitated; but after consulting his mother, and other friends, he consented; as did also his brother Charles, who received ordination with an especial reference to this service. They embarked at Gravesend on Tuesday, Oct. 21st, accompanied by Mr. Oglethorpe the Governor, Mr. Benjamin Ingham, of Queen's College, Oxford, and Mr. Charles Delamotte, son of a merchant in London. "Our end in leaving our native country," says Mr. Wesley, 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." *

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Before Mr. Wesley left England he published a single sermon, which he probably intended as a sort of parting memorial, to be distributed among his friends. It displays very deep seriousness of temper, and a solemn conviction of the necessity of holiness; but, at the same time, it proves that his views of Christian truth were as yet very inadequate. He describes the world as a vast hospital; and the afflictions of life as designed to cure the moral maladies of mankind. Yet he states that, to whatever extent the healing process may be carried in this life, it is only in death that the best of men will be saved from all sin, which is conceived to dwell particularly in the earthly frame. The cleansing efficacy of the blood of Christ, and the quickening and purifying energy of the Holy Spirit, upon which the sacred writers lay so much stress, he almost entirely overlooks.† With the most upright intentions, but with these imperfect

* Works, vol. i. p. 17.

This sermon which is entitled, "the Trouble and Rest of Good Men," may be found in his Works, vol. vii. pp. 365-372.

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views of their calling, the brothers sailed for Georgia, in the character of Christian Missionaries. They had more thoroughly digested the powerful and elegant, but unevangelical, writings of Mr. Law, than either the Epistles of St. Paul, or the Homilies of their own Church.

One of the objects contemplated in the formation of the new colony was, to provide an asylum for Protestants who were persecuted on the European continent; and hence Mr. Wesley and his brethren found in the ship with them several members of the Moravian Church, from Germany, with Mr. Nitschman, one of their Bishops. In these strangers the English Methodists beheld Christianity in a light more gentle, attractive, and consoling, than any in which they had ever before seen it. These devout exiles bore every inconvenience, and even insult, with the utmost meekness; they were always ready to render the humblest service to their fellow-voyagers; and in storms and hurricanes, while others were ready to die with fear, they calmly sang the praises of God, expressing a cheerful confidence and resignation in the prospect of being immediately swallowed up in the great deep. With the temper of these people the Wesleys were, at this time, experimentally unacquainted. Neither of them was delivered from the fear of death; and they had no just conception of the holy cheerfulness which is produced by an application of the blood of Christ to the conscience, and the abiding witness and operation of the heavenly Comforter. Theirs was a religion of fear and mortification, rather than of holy peace and joy.

On their arrival in Georgia, the brothers were separated; John taking up his residence at Savannah, and Charles, at Frederica, with the Governor,

"*

to whom he sustained the office of Secretary. They both applied themselves to their clerical duties with a diligence and fidelity of which the world has seen few examples. "As soon as I set foot in Georgia," says John, "I began preaching at five in the morning; and every communicant, that is, every serious person in the town, constantly attended throughout the year: I mean, came every morning, winter and summer, unless in the case of sickness. They did so till I left the province.' In addition to this, he visited the people daily from house to house; and he catechized the children in the school every Saturday afternoon. The following is his own account of his labours on the Sabbath in the latter part of his residence at Savannah :-"The first English prayers lasted from five till half an hour past six. The Italian, which I read to a few Vaudois, began at nine. The second service for the English, including the sermon and the holy communion, continued from half an hour past ten, till about half an hour past twelve. The French service began at one. At two I catechized the children. About three I began the English service. After this was ended, I had the happiness of joining with as many as my largest room would hold, in reading, prayer, and singing praise. And about six the service of the Moravians, so called, began: at which I was glad to be present, not as a teacher, but as a learner." +

These extraordinary labours, and the principles from which they proceeded, were ill appreciated by the great body of the colonists, who hated this incessant application to religious duties, and especially the strict ecclesiastical discipline which the brothers endeavoured to establish. Charles, at Frederica, Works, vol. iv. p. 269. † Ibid. vol. i. p. 60.

was the innocent victim of a foul conspiracy, by means of which the Governor was for a time deceived, and induced to treat his upright Clerical Secretary with a harshness and severity which had nearly proved fatal to his life. The wicked plot was afterwards unravelled; and the Governor, with expressions of the deepest regret for the course which he had pursued, gave to this persecuted man a ring, accompanied with the strongest declarations of his confidence and affection, and a request that it might be preserved as a perpetual token of his love. At the beginning of August, Charles left Georgia, being entrusted with despatches to the Trustees in England; and the Governor himself left in November following.

The situation of John now became increasingly painful. The Trustees had appointed him Minister of Savannah; but to this appointment he had never consented. He had engaged to go to Georgia only for the purpose of instructing the Indians; and because of the unsettled state of the colony, there appeared no probability that he could fulfil this the only object of his mission. He therefore began to entertain serious thoughts of following his brother to England. In the meanwhile a prosecution against him was commenced, for having repelled a lady from the holy communion, the particulars of which he has given in his printed Journal. He attended the Court six or seven times, to answer for himself; but finding that his persecutors determined to defer the trial, and harass him by delay, he gave public notice of his intended departure, and openly embarked for England in the beginning of December, 1737; having served the colony as a Minister one year and nearly nine months.

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Mr. Wesley's mission to Georgia was of the utmost importance to himself, though he failed in the particular object which he had in view. His intercourse with the Moravian Brethren served greatly to discover to him the true nature of Christianity. He admired their spirit during his voyage to Georgia ; and on his arrival there, he was introduced to Mr. Spangenberg, one of their Pastors, whose advice he asked relative to his own conduct. The venerable German said, 'My brother, I must first ask you one or two questions. Have you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit that you are a child of God?" Mr. Wesley says, "I was surprised, and knew not what to answer. He observed it, and asked, 'Do you know Jesus Christ?' I paused, and said, 'I know he is the Saviour of the world.' 6 True,' replied he, but do you know he has saved you?' I answered, 'I hope he has died to save me.' He only added, 'Do you know yourself?' I said, 'I do;' but I fear they were vain words." *

He afterwards took up a temporary residence in. the house of these devout people; and as they all lived in one room, he was with them from morning to night. He says, "They were always employed, always cheerful themselves, and in good humour with one another. They had put away all anger, and strife, and wrath, and bitterness, and clamour, and evil-speaking. They walked worthy of the vocation wherewith they were called, and adorned the Gospel of our Lord in all things."

One day while he remained with them, he says, "They met to consult concerning the affairs of their Church; Mr. Spangenberg being shortly to go to Pennsylvania, and Bishop Nitschman to return to *Works, vol. i. p. 23.