“Wise in his prime, he waited not till noon, Convinced that mortals ‘never lived too soon.’ As if foreboding then his little stay, He made his morning bear the heat of day. Fixed, while unfading glory he pursues, No ill to hazard, and no good to lose; No fair occasion glides unheeded by; Snatching the golden moments as they fly, He, by fleeting hours, ensures eternity. Friendship’s warm beams his artless breast inspire, And tenderest reverence to a much-loved sire. He dared, for heaven, this flattering world forego; Ardent to teach, as diligent to know; Unwarped by sensual ends, or vulgar aims, By idle riches, or by idler names; Fearful of sin in every close disguise; Unmoved by threatening or by glozing lies; Gladdening the poor where’er his steps he turned, Where pined the orphan, or the widow mourned; Where prisoners sighed beneath guilt’s horrid stain, The worst confinement and the heaviest chain; Where death’s sad shade the uninstructed sight Veil’d with thick darkness in the land of light Nor yet the priestly function he invades: ’Tis not his sermon, but his life, persuades. Humble and teachable, to church he flies, Prepared to practise, not to criticise. Then only angry, when a wretch conveys The Deist’s poison in the Gospel phrase. To means of grace the last respect he showed, Nor sought new paths, as wiser than his God; Their sacred strength preserved him from extremes Of empty outside, or enthusiast dreams; Whims of Molinos, lost in rapture’s mist, Or Quaker, late-reforming Quietist.”[3] It was in November, 1729, that the first four of the Oxford Methodists began their sacred meetings. Two months later, William Morgan wrote to Wesley the following, which contains a reference to the interest that the Methodists already took in prisoners, and which, being one of the very few of Morgan’s letters still existing, may not be unacceptable. “_February 5, 1730._ “DEAR SIR,—About seven last night I reached Oxford, and, after having long rested my wearied limbs, went this morning to Bo-Cro, who have exceeded our best wishes. I have just finished my rounds, and perceive it was not for nothing that I came hither before you. Stewart’s papers will not be in London till Monday. He desires you to get the rule of court for him, and let him have it as soon as possible. Coster begs you would call at Mrs. Hannah Ebbins’, upholsterer, in Shadwell Street, near Tower Hill, at the sign of the Flag, and let her know his present condition. She is very rich, he says, and has often told him she would at any time do him whatever service she could. “Fisher desires you to look into the _Gazette_, and see whether the estate of John Davies, of Goldington and Ravensden,[4] is to be sold.