site pain (by the stone) for many years; but he was not weary. He was still.

'Patient in bearing ill, and doing well.'

"One thing he had almost peculiar to himself; he had no enemy! So remarkably was that word fulfilled, 'Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.'

"James Barry was for many years a faithful labourer in our Lord's vineyard. And as he laboured much, so he suffered much; but with unwearied patience. In his death he suffered nothing, stealing quietly away in a kind of lethargy.

"Thomas Payne was a bold soldier of Jesus Christ. His temper was uncommonly vehement: but before he went hence, all that vehemence was gone, and the lion was become a lamb. He went away in the full triumph of faith, praising God with his latest breath.

"Robert Naylor, a zealous, active young man, was caught away by a fever in the strength of his years. But it was in a good hour; for he returned to him whom his soul loved, in the full assurance of faith.

"A fall from his horse, which was at first thought of little consequence, occasioned the death of John Livermore; a plain, honest man, much devoted to God, and determined to live and die in the best of services."

“John Prickard, a man thoroughly devoted to God, and an eminent pattern of holiness: and Jacob Rowell, a faithful old soldier, fairly worn out in his master's service."

"Thomas Mitchell, an old soldier of Jesus Christ."

"John Fletcher, [Vicar of Madeley,] a pattern of all holiness, scarce to be paralleled in a century; and J. Peacock, young in years, but old in grace; a pattern of all holiness, full of faith, and love, and zeal for God.

"Jeremiah Robertshaw, who was a good soldier of Jesus Christ, fairly worn out in his master's service. He was a pattern of patience for many years, labouring under sharp and almost continual pain, of meekness and gentleness to all men, and of simplicity and godly sincerity.

"Joshua Keighley, who was a young man deeply devoted to God, and greatly beloved by all that knew him. He was

"About the marriage-state to prove,

But death had swifter wings than love."

"Charles Wesley, who, after spending fourscore years with much sorrow and pain, quietly retired into Abraham's bosom. He had no disease; but after a gradual decay of some months,

'The weary wheels of life stood still at last.'

His least praise was, his talent for poetry; although Dr. Watts did not scruple to say, that 'that single poem, Wrestling Jacob, was worth all the verses he himself had written.'

"John Mayly, worn out in the service of his master: he suffered much in his last illness, and died triumphant in the Lord."

Thus neither his brother Charles, nor Mr. Fletcher, had a longer eulogy than any other preacher ;-so great was Mr. Wesley's love of brevity.

The "care of the churches" now had come upon him, and was increasing; he had a responsibility to man as well as to God, for the right management of a people whom his labours and those of his coadjutors had formed into a body distinct from the national church, and indeed, as to all ecclesiastical control, separate from it, although, in part, the members were attendants on her services. He was most anxious that this people should be raised to the highest state of religious and moral excellence; that they should be exemplary in all the relations of life, civil and domestic; wise in the scriptures; well read in useful books; self-denying in their conduct almost to severity; and liberal in their charities, in order to which they were enjoined to abstain from all unnecessary indulgences, and to be plain and frugal in dress. They were expected to rise early to a religious service at five o'clock, and to attend some evening service, if possible, several times in the week; and, beside their own Sabbath meetings, to be punctual in observing the services of the church. They were to add to all this the most zealous efforts to do good to the bodies and souls of those who were around them; and to persevere in all these things with an ardour and an unweariedness equal to his own. With these great objects so strongly impressed upon his mind, that he should feel compelled to superintend every part of the sys

tem he had put into operation, and attend to every thing great or little which he conceived to retard or accelerate its motion, was the natural consequence, and became with him matter of imperative conscience. A nobler object man could not propose to himself, than thus to spread the truth and the example of a living and practical Christianity through the land, and to revive the spirit of piety in a fallen church, and among a neglected people; and he had sufficient proofs from the wonderful success which had followed, success too of the most unequivocal kind, because the hearts of "multitudes had been turned to the Lord," that he was in the path of duty, and that the work was of God; but the standard which he set up in his own mind and in his rules, both for his preachers and people, was so high, that, in the midst of all those refreshing joys which the review of the work often brought, feelings of disappointment, and something like vexation, occasionally break forth in the minutes of his conferences. On the preachers in their circuits an activity, an occupation of time, and an attention to various duties, had been enjoined, similar to his own; but the regulations under which they were placed, were often minute, and in minor matters they were often failing, even when in other respects they most faithfully and laboriously fulfilled their ministry. Stewards, leaders, and trustees, come in also occasionally for their share of remonstrance and rebuke on account of inattention; whilst the societies, as being exposed to the various errors of the day, and to the ordinary influences of the temptations of an earthly state, sometimes declined, and then again revived; in some places were negligent, and in others were almost every thing he could wish them to be, so that he could say with an apostle respecting them, "Great is my glorying." To Mr. Wesley's frequent trials of patience were to be added the controversies, often very illiberal, in which he was engaged, and the constant misrepresentations and persecutions to which he and the societies were for many years exposed. When all these things are considered, and when it is also recollected how much every man who himself works by a strict method is apt to be affected by the irregularities and carelessness of others; the full and tranquil flow of his zeal and energy, and the temper, at once so strict and so mild, which breathes in the Mi

nutes of the Conferences, place him in a very admirable point of light. Vexation and disappointment passed over his serene mind like the light clouds over the bright summer field. The principle of an entire devotedness to serve God, and "his generation according to the will of God," in him never relaxed; and the words of one of his own beautiful hymns, to which, in advanced life, in a conversation with a friend, he once alluded, as expressing his own past and habitual experience, were in him finely realized:

THE doctrines and principal branches of the discipline of the body being generally settled, Mr. Wesley desisted from publishing extracts from the minutes of the annual conferences from 1749 to 1765. In the minutes of the latter year we find for the first time a published list of the circuits, and of the preachers.* The circuits were then twenty-five in England, extending from Cornwall to Newcastle-upon-Tyne; in Scotland four; in Wales two; in Ireland eight; in all thirty-nine. The total number of the preachers, given up entirely to the work, and acting under Mr. Wesley's direc

* In the manuscript copy of the first minutes before mentioned, lists of circuits occasionally appear, as in 1746:-" How many circuits are there? Answer.-Seven. 1. London, including Surrey and Kent. 2. Bristol, including Somersetshire, Portland, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire. 3. Cornwall. 4. Evesham, including Shrewsbury, Leominster, Hereford, Stroud, and Wednesbury. 5. York, including Yorkshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire. 6. Newcastle. 7. Wales."

tion, had then risen to ninety-two. But it will be necessary to look back upon the labours of the two brothers during this interval. Instead, however, of tracing Mr. Wesley's journeys into various parts of the kingdom in detail from his journals, which present one uniform and unwearied activity in his high calling, it will be sufficient to notice the principal incidents.

A

Mr. Charles Wesley married in 1749, yet still continued his labours with but little abatement. He was in London at the time of the earthquake, and was preaching at the Foundry early in the morning when the second shock occurred. The entry in his journal presents him in a sublime attitude, and may be given as an instance of what may be truly called the majesty of faith: March 8th, 1750. This morning, a quarter after five, we had another shock of an earthquake far more violent than that of February 8th. I was just repeating my text, when it shook the Foundry so violently, that we all expected it to fall on our heads. great cry followed from the women and children. I immediately called out, 'Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, and the hills be carried into the midst of the sea; for the Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.' He filled my heart with faith, and my mouth with words, shaking their souls as well as their bodies. The earth moved westward, then eastward, then westward again, through all London and Westminister. It was a strong and jarring motion, attended with a rumbling noise like that of thunder. Many houses were much shaken, and some chimneys thrown down, but without any further hurt."*

The impression produced in London by this visitation is thus recorded in a letter from Mr. Briggs to Mr. John Wesley :-"This great city has been, for some days past, under terrible apprehensions of another earthquake. Yesterday, thousands fled out of town, it having been confidently asserted by a dragoon, that he had a revelation that great part of London, and Westminster especially, would be destroyed by an earthquake on the 4th instant, between twelve and one at night. The whole city was under direful apprehensions.

* Journal.