For some time his labors as a preacher promised to be successful; “and all would have been well,” says Southey, “could he but have remembered the advice of Dr. Burton.”  This was contained in a letter addressed to him a few days before embarking for Georgia.  Among other things, this excellent friend suggested to him that, under the influence of Mr. Oglethorpe, giving weight to his endeavors, much may be effected in the present undertaking; and goes on to remark; “With regard to your behavior and manner of address, these must be determined according to the different circumstances of persons, &c.; but you will always, in the use of means, consider the great end; and, therefore, your applications will of course vary.  You will keep in view the pattern of the Gospel preacher, St. Paul, who ’became all things to all men, that he might save some.’  Here is a nice trial of christian prudence.  Accordingly, in every case you will distinguish between what is indispensable, and what is variable; between what is divine, and what is of human authority.  I mention this, because men are apt to deceive themselves in such cases; and we see the traditions and ordinances of men frequently insisted on with more rigor than the commandments of God, to which they are subordinate.  Singularities of less importance, are often espoused with more zeal than the weighty matters of God’s law.  As in all points we love ourselves, so, especially, in our hypotheses.  Where a man has, as it were, a property in a notion, he is most industrious to improve it, and that in proportion to the labor of thought he has bestowed upon it; and, as its value rises in imagination, he is, in proportion, unwilling to give it up, and dwells upon it more pertinaciously than upon considerations of general necessity and use.  This is a flattering mistake, against which we should guard ourselves.”

Unmindful of such counsel, the eagerness of Wesley to effect reformation was pressed too precipitately and carried too far.  His sermons had such direct reference, not only to the state of affairs, but the conduct of individuals, that they were shrunk from as personal allusions.  His zeal was excessive, and his practice exclusive.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Mr. SOUTHEY has this remark—­“He was accused of making his sermons so many satires upon particular persons; and for this cause his auditors fell off; for though one might have been very well pleased to hear others preached at, no person liked the chance of being made the mark himself.”—­Moreover, “following the rubric, in opposition to the practice of the English church, he insisted upon baptizing children by immersion, and refused to baptize them if the parents did not consent to this rude and perilous method.  Some persons he would not receive as sponsors, because they were not communicants; and when one of the most pious men in the Colony earnestly desired to be admitted to the communion, he refused to admit him because he was a 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.]