close of the century it is not unusual to find among writers of different views censures of those ’who have arrogated to themselves the exclusive title of Evangelical,’ as if there were something presumptuous in the claim, and something uncharitable in the tacit assumption that none but those so called were worthy of the designation; but it is very unusual indeed to find the writers of the Evangelical school applying the title to their own party; and when they do it is generally followed by some apology, intimating that they only use it because it has become usual in common parlance.  There is not the slightest evidence to show that the early Evangelicals claimed the title as their own in any spirit of self-glorification.

Thus much of the name.  Let us now turn to the thing itself.  How did this great movement, so fruitful in good to the whole community, first arise?

It is somewhat remarkable that, so far as the revival can be traced to any one individual, the man to whom the credit belongs was never himself an Evangelical. ‘William Law’ (1686-1761) ‘begot Methodism,’ wrote Bishop Warburton; and in one sense the statement was undoubtedly true,[708] but what a curious paradox it suggests!  A distinctly High Churchman was the originator of what afterwards became the Low Church party—­a Nonjuror, of the most decidedly ‘Orange’ element in the Church; a Quietist who scarcely ever quitted his retirement in an obscure Northamptonshire village, of that party which, above all others, was distinguished for its activity, bodily no less than spiritual, a clergyman who rarely preached a sermon, of the party whose great forte was preaching!

As Law had no further share in the Evangelical movement beyond writing the ‘Serious Call,’ there is no need to dwell upon his singular career.  We may pass on at once from the master to one of his most appreciative and distinguished disciples.

If Law was the most effective writer, John Wesley (1703-91) was unquestionably the most effective worker connected with the early phase of the Evangelical revival.  If Law gave the first impulse to the movement, Wesley was the first and the ablest who turned it to practical account.  How he formed at Oxford a little band of High Church ascetics; how he went forth to Georgia on an unsuccessful mission, and returned to England a sadder and a wiser man; how he fell under the influence of the Moravians; how his whole course and habits of mind were changed on one eventful day in 1738; how for more than half a century he went about doing good through evil report and good report; how he encountered with undaunted courage opposition from all quarters from the Church which he loved, and from the people whom he only wished to benefit; how he formed societies, and organised them with marvellous skill; how he travelled thousands of miles, and preached thousands of sermons throughout the length and breadth of England, in Scotland, in Ireland, and in America;