“Mr. Whitefield is dead; some of his forlorn congregation have already been blessed under the ministry of the students; who is more proper to head them than he whom the religious world begins to call the young Whitefield, Mr. Rowland Hill? His remarkable sufferings for Christ’s sake, entitle him to the honour of presiding over this work; and I hope the Lord will make him willing to accept an office for which he seems to be so well fitted by his popularity and success. “If it be objected that he is young, I reply, he is older than Mr. Whitefield was when he set out upon his great errand, and that the warmth of his heart, the ripeness of his zeal, and the amazing steadiness of his conduct for years, under the greatest difficulty both at home and abroad, together with the many seals God has already given to His ministry in various parts of the kingdom, ought greatly to turn the scale in his favour. And, indeed, what is an old Saul to a young David? And who deserves most the name and honour of a father? He, or myself? Without hesitating, I answer Mr. Rowland Hill, who has perhaps begotten more children to God in one discourse than I have in all my poor labour these fourteen years.” Footnote 224: After many unhappy contentions, and much forbearance on Wesley’s part, Thomas Maxfield seceded from Wesley in 1763. Maxfield has been far more highly honoured in Methodist histories and biographies than his merits warranted. Footnote 225: I have failed in my endeavour to ascertain what is meant by the “Brecknock division.” There can be no doubt, however, that Wesley met with great annoyance in that part of Wales. Previous to the opening of Trevecca College, he wrote:— “1767. September 2.—I found the work of God in Pembrokeshire had been exceedingly hindered, chiefly by Mr. Davies’s preachers, who had continually inveighed against ours, and thereby frightened abundance of people from hearing or coming near them. This had sometimes provoked them to retort, which always made a bad matter worse. The advice, therefore, which I gave them was:—1. Let all the people sacredly abstain from backbiting, tale-bearing, evil-speaking. 2. Let all our preachers abstain from returning railing for railing, either in public or in private, as well as from disputing. 3. Let them never preach controversy, but plain, practical, and experimental religion.” A year and a half after Fletcher left Trevecca, Wesley wrote again in his journal:—