some of whom the Motherland was well rid, whose chief
pursuits were found in the ale-house or in low intrigues
against the parson who denounced rum and slavery. Such
parishioners would doubtless have afforded a more moderate
man a welcome excuse for being cautious in his dealings with
them. But Oglethorpe craved Wesley's aid, and he aban-
doned his mission to the Indians, who showed no propensity
for anything better than tribal wars and the vicious habits
of the white settlers, that he might enforce upon the latter
a meticulous code of ordinances in accordance with the
literal directions of the Book of Common Prayer. His
requirements were so exacting as to suggest that he was not
altogether assured in his own mind of their legitimacy or
usefulness. "He that believeth shall not make haste";
and Wesley's ardor in imposing this regimen, which he
himself observed by going unshod, reading prayers thrice
every day, fasting, communicating, and refusing to bury
Dissenters, or baptize children save by triple immersion,
may have been an indication of the secret longings of a
spirit which found vent but not satisfaction in the minutiæ
of punctilious ecclesiasticism. The Moravians, who were
also in that Apostolical Succession which he held necessary
to faith and order, and upon which he believed the stability
of the Church and the Gospel depended, did not encourage
his sacerdotalism nor make experiments similar to those
which inevitably led to his disappointment. Yet they lived
in the strength of a calm and constant joy, while he, ill at
ease and restless in spirit, "drenched his flock with the
physic of an intolerant discipline." Many rebelled against
his lack of wisdom; others, however, disarmed by his personal
piety and his incessant labors in their behalf, at length
yielded him a reluctant support.

Equally tactless was Charles Wesley's connection with
the mission. During a six months' stay at Frederica, a
small township south of Savannah, he alienated nearly
everybody, and ended by quarreling with Oglethorpe, where-

-216-