first stages, it neither appears to have been managed with prudence, nor a proper degree of Christian courtesy. His enemies have sneered at his declaration, that, after he left Georgia, he discovered that he who went out to teach others Christianity was not a Christian himself; but had he been a Christian in that full, evangelical sense which he meant; had he been that which he afterwards became, not only would the exclusion of Mrs. Williamson from the sacrament have been effected in another manner, but his mission to Georgia would probably have had a very different result. His preaching was defective in that one great point, which gives to preaching its real power over the heart, “Christ crucified;" and his spirit, although naturally frank and amiable, was not regenerated by that power from on high," the first and leading fruits of which are meekness and charity.

In the midst of his trials, Mr. Wesley received very consolatory letters from his friends, both in England and in America; and there were many in Georgia itself, who rightly estimated the character and the labours of a man who held five or six public services on the Lord's day, in English, Italian, and French, for the benefit of a mixed population;—who spent his whole time in works of piety and mercy, and who distributed his income so profusely in charity that, for many months together, he had not 66 one shilling in the house." His health, whilst in America continued good; and it is in proof of the natural vigor of his constitution, that he exposed himself to every change of season, frequently slept on the ground, under the dews of the night in summer, and in winter with his hair and clothes frozen to the earth. He arrived in London, February 3d, 1738, and notwithstanding his many exercises, reviewed the result of his American labours with some satisfaction :-" Many reasons I have to bless God for my having been carried into that strange land contrary to all my preceding resolutions. Hereby I trust he hath in some measure 'humbled me, and proved me, and shown me what was in my heart.' Hereby I have been taught to 'beware of men.' Hereby God has given me to know many of his servants, particularly those of the church of Hernhuth. Hereby my passage is open

to the writings of holy men, in the German, Spanish, and Italian tongues. All in Georgia have heard the word of God; some have believed, and began to run well. A few steps have been taken towards publishing the glad tidings both to the African and American heathens. Many children have learned 'how they ought to serve God,' and to be useful to their neighbour. And those whom it most concerns have an opportunity of knowing the state of their infant colony, and laying a firmer foundation of peace and happiness to many generations."

CHAPTER IV.

THE solemn review which Mr. Wesley made of the state of his religious experience, both on his voyage home, and soon after his landing in England, deserves to be particularly noticed, both for general instruction, and because it stands in immediate connexion with a point which has especially perplexed those who have attributed his charges against himself, as to the deficiency of his Christianity at this period, to a strange and fanatical fancy. By the most infallible of proofs, he tells us,—that of his feelings,-he was convinced of his having "no such faith in Christ" as prevented his heart from being troubled; and he earnestly prays to be "saved by such a faith as implies peace in life and death." 66 I went to America to convert the Indians; but O, who shall convert me! Who is he that will deliver me from this evil heart of unbelief? I have a fair summer religion; I can talk well, nay, and believe myself, while no danger is present; but let death look me in the face, and my spirit is troubled, nor can I say, 'To die is gain.'

'I have a sin of fear, that when I've spun

My last thread, I shall perish on the shore.""

He thought therefore that a faith was attainable, which should deliver him entirely from guilty dread, and fill him with peace; but of this faith itself, his notions were still confused. He manifestly regarded it generally, as a

principle of belief in the Gospel, which, by quickening his efforts to self mortification and entire obedience, would raise him, through a renewed state of heart, into acceptance and peace with God. This error is common. It regards faith, not so much as the personal trust of a guilty and helpless sinner upon Christ for salvation and all the gifts of spiritual life, but as working out sanctifying effects in the heart and life, partly by natural, partly by supernatural process, and thus producing peace of conscience. But he goes on with this interesting history of his heart.

"I was early warned against laying too much stress on outward works, as the Papists do, or on a faith without works, which, as it does not include, so it will never lead to, true hope or charity."*

Here he manifestly confounds the faith by which a man is justified, which certainly does not "include" in itself the moral effects of which he speaks, with the faith of a man who is in a justified state, which necessarily produces them because of that vital union into which it brings him with Christ, his Saviour, by whom he is saved from the power and love, as well as from the guilt, of sin.

"I fell among some Lutheran and Calvinist authors, whose confused and indigested accounts magnified faith to such an amazing size, that it quite hid all the rest of the commandments."†

This is perhaps a proof that he did not understand these writers, any more than he did the Moravians in Georgia, who failed to enlighten him on the subject of faith, although he saw that they in fact possessed a "peace through believing," which he had not, and yet painfully felt to be necessary. The writers he mentions. probably represented faith only as necessary to justification; whilst he conceived them to teach, that faith only is necessary to final salvation.

"The English writers, such as bishop Beveridge, bishop Taylor, and Mr. Nelson, a little relieved me from these well-meaning, wrong-headed Germans. Their accounts of Christianity I could easily see to be, in the main, con-sistent both with reason and Scripture."‡

Beveridge would have met his case more fully than either Taylor or Nelson, had he been in a state of mind to comprehend him; and still better would he have been instructed by studying, with as much care as he examined Taylor and Law, the Homilies of his own church, and the works of her older divines.

The writings of the fathers then promised to give him further satisfaction; but to them he at length took various exceptions. He finally resorted to the Mystic writers, "whose noble descriptions of union with God, and internal religion, made every thing else appear mean, flat, and insipid. But in truth they made good works appear so too, yea, and faith itself, and what not? These gave me an entire new view of religion, nothing like any I had before. But, alas! it was nothing like that religion which Christ and his apostles lived and taught. I had a plenary dispensation from all the commands of God; the form ran thus, 'Love is all; all the commands beside are only means of love; you must choose those which you feel are means to you, and use them as long as they are so.' Thus were all the bands burst at once. And though I could never fully come into this, nor contentedly omit what God enjoined, yet, I know not how, I fluctuated between obedience and disobedience. I had no heart, no vigour, no zeal in obeying, continually doubting whether I was right or wrong, and never out of perplexities and entanglements. Nor can I at this hour give a distinct account how or when I came a little back toward the right way; only my present sense is this: all the other enemies of Christianity are triflers; the Mystics are the most dangerous of its enemies. They stab it in the vitals; and its most serious professors are most likely to fall by them. May I praise Him who hath snatched me out of this fire likewise, by warning all others that it is set on fire of hell!"*

He was, however, delivered from the errors of the Mystics, only to be brought back to the point from which he set out; but his humble conclusion from the whole shows that the end of this long and painful struggle was about to be accomplished:-he was now brought fully to feel * Journal.

and confess his utter helplessness, and was not "far from the kingdom of God."

"And now," says he, "it is upwards of two years since I left my native country, in order to teach the Georgia Indians the nature of Christianity; but what have I learned myself in the mean time? Why, (what I least of all suspected,) that I who went to America, to convert others, was never converted myself. 'I am not mad,' though I thus speak; but 'speak the words of truth and soberness;' if haply some of those who still dream may awake, and see, that as I am, so are they..

66 Are they read in philosophy? So was I. In ancient or modern tongues? So was I also. Are they versed in the science of divinity? I too have studied it many years. Can they talk fluently upon spiritual things? The very same I could do. Are they plenteous in alms? Behold, I give all my goods to feed the poor.

"Do they give of their labour as well as their substance? I have laboured more abundantly than they all. Are they willing to suffer for their brethren? I have thrown up my friends, reputation, ease, country; I have put my life in my hand, wandering into strange lands; I have given my body to be devoured by the deep, parched up with heat, consumed by toil and weariness, or whatsoever God shall please to bring upon me. But does all this (be it more or less, it matters not) make me acceptable to God? Does all I ever did, or can know, say, give, do, or suffer, justify me in his sight? yea, or the constant use of all the means of grace? (which, nevertheless, is meet, right, and our bounden duty;) or that I know nothing of myself, that I am, as touching outward, moral righteousness, blameless? or, to come closer yet, the having a rational conviction of all the truths of Christianity? Does all this give a claim to the holy, heavenly, divine character of a Christian? By no means. If the oracles of God are true, if we are still to abide by 'the law and the testimony,' all these things, though when ennobled by faith in Christ, they are holy, and just, and good, yet without it are dung and dross."

"This then have I learned in the ends of the earth, that I am fallen short of the glory of God;" that my