use gross epithets
in their zeal for religious doctrines.

But Methodism, though treated as a sect composed of ignorant and
illiterate folks, was not lacking in men of culture and force. It had
discovered the secret of picking men from the streets and transforming
them into saints and scholars, and it was successful in its efforts.
It found Thomas Olivers, a drunken Welsh shoemaker, and led him on,
till he became known as a great force in the pulpit, and the author of
that majestic lyric, "The God of Abraham praise" and of the tune
"Helmsley," sung to the hymn, "Lo, He comes with clouds descending."
It laid hands upon Samuel Bradburn, the shoemaker, and developed his
gifts by the grace of God, until his discourses, rich in sublimity,
and pulsating with great thoughts, charmed multitudes, and his
eloquence was so irresistible that Adam Clarke, the famous scholar,
declared that he had never heard his equal, and could give no idea of
his powers as an orator. In its ranks at this period were to be found
able scholars as Joseph Benson, the commentator, Fletcher, the saintly
and acute theologian of the new movement, and Thomas Walsh, whom
Wesley called, "that blessed man," and of whom he said, that, he was
so thoroughly acquainted with the Bible that "if he were questioned
concerning any Hebrew word in the Old, or any Greek in the New
Testament, he would tell after a brief pause, not only how often the
one or the other occurred in the Bible, but what it meant in every
place. Such a master of Biblical knowledge he says he never saw
before, and never expected to see again."

There were many others possessed of great gifts and culture, whose
hearts were set on fire with a passion for souls, and the revival
started spiritual forces which were felt far beyond the shores of
Great Britain.

Wesley was drawing near to seventy years of age, and while travelling
incessantly, and preaching every day, he was engaged in the
publication of a collected edition of his works, in thirty-two
duodecimo volumes. The Calvinistic controversy was at its height, the
first anniversary of Trevecca College, the pet scheme of the Countess
of Huntingdon, had just been held, and Fletcher was writing his famous
"Checks to Antinomianism," yet, the founder of the Methodist movement
was looking for other worlds to conquer, by the preaching of the
Cross.

Wesley's early associations with America as a missionary to Georgia,
naturally gave him an interest