27* MEMOIRS or JOHN WESLET. Junfi ig^ 



Epworth ; unlefs, corifidered as the prelude to the noife 

 Mr. John Wcfley made on a more ample ftage, it ceaf- 

 ed to foeak when he beg^n to aft." 



" The dawn of Mr. Wefley's public miffion," con- 

 tinues Mr. BEdtfock, " was clouded with Myfticifm — 

 that fpecies of it which affects filence and folitude ; a 

 certain inexplicable introverfion of the mind, which ab- 

 ftrafts the pafRons from all lenfible objects, and, as the 

 French Quietifts exprefs it, perfects itfelf by ah ab- 

 forption of the will and intelle£t, and all the faculties 

 into the Deity." In this " palpable obfcure^^ the excel- 

 lent Fenelon led himfelf when he forfook the fhades of 

 Pindus, to wander in queft of " pure love" with Ma- 

 dam Gayon ! Mr. Wefley purfued, for a while, the 

 fame ignis fatuus with Mr. William Law, and the 

 Ghoft. of De Renty. A flate, however, fo torpid and 

 ignoble, ill luited the a£live genius of this Angular man. 

 His eladic mind gained ftrength by compreffion ; thence 

 hurjling glorious, he palTed (as he himfelf fomewhere 

 fays) " the immenfe chafm, upborne on an eagle's 

 Tvings." 



The reading of the writings of this Mf. William 

 Law, the celebrated author of " Chriftian Perfeftion," 

 and of " A Serious Addrefs to the Chriftian World," 

 contributed, moreover, to lead Mr. John Wefley, and 

 his brother Cliarles, with a few of their young fellow- 

 ftudents, into 2 more than common ftridlnefs of reli- 

 gious life. They received the facrament of the Lord's 

 •Supper every week; obferved all the fads of the church; 

 vifited the prifons , rofe at four in the morning ; and 

 refrained from all amufements. From the exadt me- 

 tiiod in which they difpofed of every hour, they ac- 

 quired the appellation of Methodi/ls, by which their 

 followers have been ever fmce diftinguilhed. 



But a more particular account of the origin of this 

 feft, we {hall give from a celebrated publication : " The 

 Mtthodifts," fays the editor of this work, " form a 

 very confiderable clafs, principally of the lo.wer peo- 



