John Wesley having spent about six weeks at Bridgewater, Taunton, and Ilminster, a gentleman who had a house at Preston, near Weymouth, offered to allow him to live in it without paying rent. Thither, therefore, he removed his young wife and their infant child in the beginning of May 1663, and thus avoided imprisonment with his friends whom he left behind. Excepting a temporary absence, shortly to be noticed, he continued to reside at Preston until his death in 1678. At one time he strongly wished to go as a missionary to Surinam, a settlement in Guiana; and at another time, to Maryland, in America—but in neither instance was his wish accomplished. Probably the advice of his friends, and the expense of such a journey, presented difficulties which he found impossible to surmount. For awhile he seems to have been obliged to give up preaching; and as there was no public worship except that of the Church of England, in which the Liturgy was used, he was considerably troubled at being debarred from joining in sanctuary service; but, by reading Mr Philip Nye’s “Arguments for the Lawfulness of hearing Ministers of the Church of England,” his scruples concerning the Liturgy were so far removed that he was able, with a safe conscience, to attend the church service. At length he began to preach in private to a few good people in Preston, and occasionally at Weymouth, and at other places contiguous. After some time, he had a call from a number of serious Christians at Poole to become their pastor. He consented, and continued in that capacity while he lived, administering to them all the ordinances of God as opportunity offered. In consequence, however, of the Oxford Five Mile Act, passed in 1665, he was often put to great inconvenience. Notwithstanding all his prudence in managing his meetings, he was frequently disturbed, several times apprehended, and four times imprisoned—once at Dorchester for three months, and once at Poole for half a year; and once, at least, he was obliged to leave his wife, his family, and his flock, and for a considerable time to hide himself in a place of secrecy. Again and again, the handful of godly people meeting in the house of Henry Saunders, mariner, of Melcombe, were arrested for being present at a conventicle, and were fined, imprisoned, or otherwise punished. Dr Calamy adds, that John Wesley “was in many straits and difficulties, but was wonderfully supported and comforted, and was many times very seasonably and surprisingly relieved and delivered. Nevertheless, the removal of many eminent Christians into another world, who had been his intimate acquaintance and kind friends, the great decay of serious religion among many professors, and the increasing rage of the enemies of real godliness, manifestly seized on and sunk his spirits; and he died, when he had not been much longer an inhabitant here below than his blessed Master was, whom he served with his whole heart, according to