answer, Wesley thought, "What! are not my endeavors a sufficient ground of
hope? Would he rob me of my endeavors? I have nothing else to trust
to."(369) Such was the dense darkness that had settled down on the church,
hiding the atonement, robbing Christ of His glory, and turning the minds
of men from their only hope of salvation,--the blood of the crucified
Redeemer.

Wesley and his associates were led to see that true religion is seated in
the heart, and that God's law extends to the thoughts as well as to the
words and actions. Convinced of the necessity of holiness of heart, as
well as correctness of outward deportment, they set out in earnest upon a
new life. By the most diligent and prayerful efforts they endeavored to
subdue the evils of the natural heart. They lived a life of self-denial,
charity, and humiliation, observing with great rigor and exactness every
measure which they thought could be helpful to them in obtaining what they
most desired,--that holiness which could secure the favor of God. But they
did not obtain the object which they sought. In vain were their endeavors
to free themselves from the condemnation of sin or to break its power. It
was the same struggle which Luther had experienced in his cell at Erfurt.
It was the same question which had tortured his soul,--"How should man be
just before God?"(370)

The fires of divine truth, well-nigh extinguished upon the altars of
Protestantism, were to be rekindled from the ancient torch handed down the
ages by the Bohemian Christians. After the Reformation, Protestantism in
Bohemia had been trampled out by the hordes of Rome. All who refused to
renounce the truth were forced to flee. Some of these, finding refuge in
Saxony, there maintained the ancient faith. It was from the descendants of
these Christians that light came to Wesley and his associates.

John and Charles Wesley, after being ordained to the ministry, were sent
on a mission to America. On board the ship was a company of Moravians.
Violent storms were encountered on the passage, and John Wesley, brought
face to face with death, felt that he had not the assurance of peace with
God. The Germans, on the contrary, manifested a calmness and trust to
which he was a stranger.

"I had long before," he says, "observed the great seriousness of their
behavior. Of their humility they had given a continual proof, by
performing those servile offices for the other passengers which none of
the English