"SIR,

Coll. Linc. Dec. 28, 1727.

"YESTERDAY I had the satisfaction of receiving your kind and obliging letter, whereby you have given me a singular instance of that goodness and civility which is essential to your character; and strongly confirmed to me, the many encomiums which are given you in this respect, by all who have the happiness to know you. This makes me infinitely desirous of your acquaintance. And when I consider those shining qualities which I hear daily mentioned in your praise, I cannot but lament the great misfortune we all suffer, in the absence of so agreeable a person from the College. But I please myself with the thought of seeing you here on Chapter-day, and of the happiness we shall have in your company in the summer. In the mean time, I return you my most sincere thanks for this favour, and assure you, that if it should ever lie in my power to serve you, no one will be more ready to do it, than,

“SIR,

"Your most obliged and most humble Servant,

"LEW. FENTON."

Mr. Wesley continued in the country till July 1728, when he returned by way of London, to Oxford, where he arrived on the 27th of this month, with a view to obtain Priests' Orders. No reason is assigned, why he was not ordained Priest sooner: it is evident however, that he had never applied for it, probably on account of his age.-On Sunday, the 22d of September he was ordained Priest, by Dr. Potter, Bishop of Oxford, who had ordained him Deacon in 1725. Mr. Wesley has made a mistake in the date of his Ordination. In

1

the

the first part of his Farther Appeal, he says, “ I was ordained Deacon in 1725, and Priest in the year following. "This only proves, that in giving the dates of things which had taken place, he did not always consult his Diary, but trusted to his memory, which sometimes failed him. To convince the reader, that we have given the true date, we insert below a part of his letter of Priests' Orders.*

October 1st. He set out for Lincolnshire, and did not again visit Oxford till the 16th of June 1729. At this this time his brother Charles, Mr. Morgan, and one or two more, had just formed a little Society, chiefly to assist each other in their studies, and to consult on the best method of employing their time to advantage. During his stay here, he was almost constantly with them in the evenings; but about the middle of August, he returned to his charge at Wroote, where he continued till he received the following letter from Dr. Morley, the Rector of his College, dated the 21st of October.-"At a meeting of the Society, just before I left College, to consider of the proper method to preserve discipline and good government;

TENORE præsentium nos Johannes permissione divinâ Oxon. Episcopus, Notum facimus universis quod nos Episcopus antedictus die Dominico (viz.) Vicesimo secundo die mensis Septembris, Anno Domini Millesimo Septingentesimo Vicesimo octavo in Ecclesia Cathedrali Christi Oxon. Sacros Ordines Dei Omnipotentis præsidio celebrantes; Dilectum nobis in Christo Johannem Wesley, Artis Magistrum, e Coll. Lincoln. Oxon Socium ad Sacrum Presbyteratûs Ordinem juxta morem et ritus Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ admissimus et pro. movimus ipsumque in Presbyterum tunc et ibidem rite et Canonice Ordinavimus. Darum sub Sigillo nostro Episcopali in præmissorum fidem ac testimonium die mensis Annoque Domini supra expressis et nostræ Consecrationis Apno decimo quarto.

Jo. QxON,

ment; among several things agreed on, it was in the opinion of all that were present, judged necessary that the junior Fellows who should be chosen Moderators, shall in person attend the duties of their office, if they do not prevail with some of the Fellows to officiate for them. We all thought it would be a great hardship on Mr. Fenton, to call him from a perpetual Curacy or Donative; yet this we must have done, had not Mr. Hutchins been so kind to him and us, as to free us from the uneasiness of doing a hard thing, by engaging to supply his place in the Hall for the present year. Mr. Robinson would as willingly supply your's, but the serving of two Cures about fourteen miles distant from Oxford, and ten at least as bad as the worst of your roads in the Isle, makes it, he says, impossible for him to discharge the duty constantly. We hope it may be as much for your advantage to reside at College as where you are, if you take pupils, or can get a Curacy in the heighbourhood of Oxon. Your father may certainly have another Curate, though not so much to his satisfaction: yet we are persuaded that this will not move him to hinder your return to College, since the interest of College, and obligation to Statute requires it.”—In consequence of this letter, he quitted his father's Curacy at Wroote, and November 22d, came to reside at Oxford

CHAPTER

CHAPTER II.

Of Mr. Wesley's Residence at Oxford from November 1729, to October 1735; with an Account of the Proceedings of the first Methodist Society, during this period.

HITHERTO

ITHERTO we have viewed Mr. Wesley, as the polite Collegian, rising into notice and esteem for his literary talents; and in the humble station of Curate to his father. The reader will observe, that he did not quit this station from dicontent, or restless ambition, but at the call of the heads of his College. It is manifest, that he had not the least conception of what afterwards followed. In consequence of the order he had received, he now entered upon a new situation : he obtained pupils, and became a Tutor in the College: he presided in the Hall as Moderator in the disputations, held six times a week, and had the chief direction of a religious Society. As Tutor he was singularly diligent and careful of his pupils, considering himself responsible for them, not only to their parents and the community, but to God; and therefore laboured to make them both scholars and christians. Some of them disapproved of his religious severities, and refused to join with him in them, but still continued under his care as pupils, and warmly acknowledged their obligations to him. As Moderator in the disputations, he acquired a facility and expertness in arguing; especially, as he himself observes, "In discerning and pointing out well covered and

plausible

plausible fallacies," which afterwards gave him a great superiority over most of his numerous adversaries. But his endeavours to become religious, will form the chief subject of this chapter. We call all that he did mere endeavours, because he did not attain the end which he aimed at, peace of mind, comfort in God, and a command over all his passions. He was a long time before he was fully convinced that his own endeavours were insufficient to give him the mind that was in Christ. He clearly saw in 1725, what the Gospel was intended to do for him, and for all mankind; to be the means of reconciling him to God, and giving him a title to the heavenly inheritance; of cleansing him from sin, and preparing him for the enjoyment of heaven: and he retained this view of the general design of the Gospel, from that period to the end of his life, without the least variation. But he did not yet understand the method proposed in the Gospel, of putting a sinner in possession of these blessings, nor the order in which the mind is capable of acquiring them. It is true, he read the Scriptures daily, at this time, and in his religious researches was homo unius libri, a man of one book. But his preconceived opinions were as a blind before his mind, and completely hid from his view, the Gospel method of attaining present salvation. This is no reproach to Mr. Wesley, nor any objection against the doctrines he afterwards embraced. It is the common lot of all men, to imbibe in their youth, notions which afterwards hinder them from perceiving the most obvious truths. It is well known that the systems of natural philosophy, which ingenious men have formed and taught to young students, have been the chief hinder.

VOL. I.

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ances