Mr. Wesley preached to a crowded congregation on Sunday, and afterward we had a long conversation in the garden. I cannot repeat all the good advice he gave us, though I am sure I have profited by it all my life. I have never been one of his blind worshipers—to think every thing was right because he did it. On the contrary, I think he made some mistakes. But I do say that a nobler, purer minded, more unselfish person never lived, or one better fitted to be a spiritual guide. To him, the unseen and eternal things were the real things, and all others were but shadows, or at best but means to one great end. He was far from being the morose, severe man that some people have pictured him. On the contrary, I have never seen any one who enjoyed life more, or carried on his face more clearly the imprint of cheerfulness, and even gaiety. Mr. Wesley rejoiced greatly over the change which had taken place in St. Anne's Church and its pastor, but he warned Mr. Cheriton that he must make ready to take up the cross, since it surely awaited him, if he persevered in the course he had begun. "He that would live godly in Jesus Christ must suffer persecution," said Mr. Wesley. "Unhappily, religion is just now at a very low ebb in this our beloved country and Church. Those who should be sentinels are sleeping on their posts, if not going over to the enemy outright, and he who strives to awaken them must expect their enmity, aye, though he prove every word he says to be in agreement with the standards of that very Church he is accused of striving to pull down." "True," said Mr. Cheriton, "I am taken to task severely for teaching that a man may know his sins forgiven, and that by those who read the Absolution every day. But I dare not condemn my brethren, seeing what mine own life has been," said Mr. Cheriton, sadly. "I am sometimes all but ready to despair when I think of the company I have kept and the scenes I have frequented. But I trust I shall have strength given me to face whatever comes to me in the way of my duty." [Illustration] CHAPTER XIV. NEWS. MR. WESLEY was right in saying that Mr. Cheriton might make up his mind to suffer persecution. He was also right in saying that religion was at a low ebb in the Church of England at that time. With some most honorable exceptions, pastors seemed to content themselves with a perfunctory performance of such duties as they could not get rid of. They read prayers on a Sunday, when they could not afford a curate at less than a man-cook's wages to do it for them, preached now and then a moral essay, of which the substance was pretty much poor little Betty's—that it was pretty to be good and naughty to be bad—and too often spent the rest of the Lord's day in idle amusements, especially in card playing and light reading.