y little way out of the {133} fold, the
gates were rudely closed against them, and they might not return. It
was not that Wesley and his associates left the Church of England. The
Church would not have them because they would persist in doing the work
to which she would not even attempt to put a hand.

[Sidenote: 1738--John Wesley's Charity]

John Wesley had been profoundly impressed by William Law's pious and
mystical book, "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life," which was
published in 1729. Law lived in London, and Wesley, who desired to be
in frequent intercourse with him, used to walk to and from the
metropolis for the purpose. The money he thus saved he gave to the
poor. He wore his hair at one time very long in order to save the
expense of cutting and dressing it, and thus have more money to give
away in charity. He and his little band of associates, whose numbers
swelled at one time up to twenty-five, but afterwards dropped down to
five, imposed on themselves rules of discipline almost as harsh as
those of a monastery of the Trappist order. They fasted every
Wednesday and Friday, and they made it a duty to visit the prisons and
hospitals. Wesley's father, who was growing old, was very anxious that
his son should succeed him in the rectory of Epworth. John would not
hear of it. In vain his father pressed and prayed; the son could not
see his way in that direction. John Wesley has been blamed by some of
his biographers for not accepting the task which his father desired and
thought right to impose on him. But no one on earth could understand
John Wesley's mission but John Wesley himself. When it was pressed
upon him that in the living of Epworth he would have the charge of two
thousand souls he said, "I see not how any man can take care of a
hundred." It was pointed out to him that his little band of companions
had been growing smaller and smaller; he only answered that he was
purifying a fountain and not a stream. The illustration was effective
and happy.

The truth is that the tremendous energies of John {134} Wesley could
not possibly find employment within the narrow field of work adopted by
the Established Church of his day. Wesley was a fighter; he had to go
out into the broad living world and do battle there. He had
originality as well as energy; he must do his work his own way; he
could not be a minister of routine. He soon found it borne in upon him
that he must speak to his fellow