no less ready than they were to check them when in any case he was convinced of their imposture.  The same spirit led him to attribute to the immediate interposition of Providence events which might have been more reasonably attributed to ordinary causes; this laid him open to the merciless attacks of Bishops Lavington and Warburton.  The same spirit led him to the superstitious and objectionable practice of having recourse to the ‘Sortes Biblicae,’ by which folly he was more than once misled against his own better judgment; the same spirit tempted him to lend far too eager an ear to tales of witchcraft and magic.[742]

But, after all, these weaknesses detract but little from the greatness and nothing from the goodness of John Wesley.  He stands pre-eminent among the worthies who originated and conducted the revival of practical religion which took place in the last century.  In particular points he was surpassed by one or other of his fellow-workers.  In preaching power he was not equal to Whitefield; in saintliness of character he was surpassed by Fletcher; in poetical talent he was inferior to his brother; in solid learning he was, perhaps, not equal to his friend and disciple Adam Clarke.  But no one man combined all these characteristics in so remarkable a degree as John Wesley; and he possessed others besides these which were all his own.  He was a born ruler of men; the powers which under different conditions would have made him ‘a heaven-born statesman’ he dedicated to still nobler and more useful purposes.  Among the poor at least he was always appreciated at his full worth.  And one is thankful to find that towards the end of his life his character began to be better understood and respected by worthy men who could not entirely identify themselves with the Evangelical movement.  There is a pleasing story that Wesley met Bishop Lowth at dinner in 1777, when the learned Bishop refused to sit above Wesley at table, saying, ’Mr. Wesley, may I be found sitting at your feet in another world.’  When Wesley declined to take precedence the Bishop asked him as a favour to sit above him, as he was deaf and desired not to lose a sentence of Mr. Wesley’s conversation.  Wesley, though, as we have seen, he had no partiality for the great, fully appreciated this courtesy, and recorded in his journal, ’Dined with Lowth, Bishop of London.  His whole behaviour was worthy of a Christian bishop—­easy, affable, and courteous—­and yet all his conversation spoke the dignity which was suitable to his character.’[743] In 1782, at Exeter, Wesley dined with the Bishop in his palace, five other clergy being present.[744] In 1784, at Whitehaven, Wesley ’had all the Church ministers to hear him, and most of the gentry of the town.’[745]

Still to the last Wesley had the mortification of seeing his work occasionally thwarted by that Church which he loved so dearly.  One of the last letters which he wrote was a manly appeal to the Bishop of Lincoln on the subject.