Dissenter, unless he would be rebaptized. And he would not read the
burial service over another for the same reason, or one founded on
the same principle." _Life of_ WESLEY, _by_ ROBERT SOUTHEY, _New York
edition_, 1820. Vol. I. p. 108.--Instances of personal reference
in preaching, and of its alienating effects, are mentioned by Mr.
Stevens, in his Journal, Vol. I. pp. 15, 19, and elsewhere.]

For these and other reasons, and in some respects most unreasonably,
the people at Savannah became prejudiced against him, and so
disaffected that "he perceived that his preaching was not likely to be
attended with beneficial influence. Hence, having in vain sought an
accommodation with his opponents, without in the least relaxing from
the enforcement of his principles, and disappointed in the prime
object of his mission, that of preaching to the Indians, he resolved
to quit the Colony, and return to his native land[1]."

[Footnote 1: _Memoir of the Rev_. John Wesley, prefixed to a volume of
his Sermons, by Samuel Drew, page xvi.]

Another circumstance brought the whole scene of his trials to a
catastrophe. Sophia Hopkins, the niece of Mrs. Causton, wife of Thomas
Causton, Esq., chief magistrate of the place, had been a pupil to him
to learn French, was a professed convert to his ministry, and become a
member of the Church. Her beauty, accomplishments, and manners, were
fascinating; and she appears, by some coquettish advances, to have
won his affections. Delamotte, however, doubting the sincerity of her
pretensions to piety, cautioned his friend Wesley against cherishing a
fond attachment. The Moravian Elders, also, advised him not to think
of a matrimonial connection. In consequence of this, his conduct
towards her became reserved and distant; very naturally, to her
mortification; though her own affections had been preengaged, for she
soon after married a Mr. Williamson. But a hostile feeling had been
excited against him by her friends, for the manifestation of which an
opportunity was afforded about five months after her marriage. Wesley
having discovered in her conduct several things which he thought
blameworthy, with his wonted ingenuousness, frankly mentioned them
to her; intimating that they were not becoming a participant of the
Lord's Supper. She, in return, became angry. For reasons, therefore,
which he stated to her in a letter, he cautioned her not to come to
the ordinance till she could do it in a reconciled temper