94 RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 



Wesley, and his companions at Oxford. Dr. Burton, at that 

 time President of Corpus Christi College, was one of the trus- 

 tees ; and being well acquainted with Mr. Wesley, introduced 

 him to General Oglethorpe, who at once proposed to him the 

 mission to Georgia. Wesley at first declined the offer, but 

 finally consented to go. With his friends Delamotte and Ing- 

 ham, he embarked at Gravesend on the 14th of October, 1725, 

 and arrived in the Savannah river on the 5th of February, 

 1736. As soon as Wesley entered upon his missionary work, 

 he found a serious obstacle to the conversion of the natives, in 

 the bad examples of his countrymen. With his European 

 congregation, he insisted on an exact compliance with the 

 rubrics. His zeal for the maintenance of ecclesiastical order 

 and authority, was shown about this time, by his taking a voy- 

 age to Charleston, to present a formal complaint to Mr. Gar- 

 den, the Commissary, of some one who had married several of 

 his parishioners, without either banns or license. Having at- 

 tained his object, he returned to Savannah, and devoted him- 

 self to the spiritual welfare of the settlers. Finding a settle- 

 ment of French famihes at the village of Highgate, and one of 

 Germans at Hampstead, he readily undertook to perform di- 

 vine service every Saturday at both places, in the language of 

 the respective settlers. Circumstances which it is no part of 

 our task to investigate, led Wesley, after taking counsel with 

 his friends, to decide upon leaving a country where his power 

 of being useful seemed likely to be diminished. Accordingly, 

 he returned to England, where he was destined to play a more 

 conspicuous and successful part. It is a singular fact, that the 

 ship which brought Wesley into the Downs, passed one out- 

 ward bound, which had on board another remarkable man, 

 just commencing his voyage, for the very mission which Wes- 

 ley had abandoned. The latter, as soon as he knew that 

 Whitefield was on board the vessel which had just set sail, 

 and doubting whether his friend would be so usefully em- 

 ployed in America as in England, found means to send him a 

 note, advising him to return ; but Whitefield was not to be 

 diverted from his settled purpose. He arrived in Georgia in 

 May, 1738, and remained a few months, faithfully discharging 

 his duties. He then returned to London ; after which he set 



