WINTER ASPECTS 



215 



maimed creatures sparrows, wagtails, rock and 

 meadow pipits, and other species painfully hopping 

 on one foot or crawling with the help of their wings 

 over the ground in search of food. Yet the boys and 

 men who do these things every day and are not 

 rebuked by their pastors and masters are, or are sup- 

 posed to be, the spiritual children and descendants of 

 John Wesley, who converted and made them what 

 they are, the most religious people in Britain ! 

 Wesley, the most compassionate of men, who not 

 only loved all creatures but actually believed that 

 they too, like men, were destined to know a future 

 life! 



" One most excellent end may undoubtedly be 

 answered by the present considerations," he said in 

 concluding a sermon on this subject. "They may 

 encourage us to imitate Him whose mercy is over all 

 His works. They may soften our hearts towards 

 the meaner creatures, knowing that the Lord careth 

 for all." 



I think if he could revisit the scene of his greatest 

 triumph of over a century and a half ago ; if he 

 could stand, perched like a cormorant, on the rocky 

 headland above the town on a misty Sunday morning 

 in November or December, and look down on the 

 numerous chapels and the people in their best black 

 clothes thronging into them ; if he could listen to 

 their eager conversation as they went and know that 

 they were greatly concerned about the precise differ- 

 ences between Methodist and Primitive Methodist, 

 between Wesleyans, Bible Christians and the New 



