Wesley Corpus

self denial, in which none was more exemplary for some years, he sunk lower and lower, till he had neither the power, nor the form of religion left. In the beginning of his illness he was in black despair. But much prayer was made for him. Toward the close of it, it pleased God to restore to him the light of his countenance. So, I trust, his backsliding only cost him his life; and he may yet live with God for ever. I was much affected about this time by a letter sent from a gentleman in Virginia. Part of it runs thus :--- “The poor Negro slaves here never heard of Jesus, or his religion, till they arrived at the land of their slavery in America; whom their masters. generally neglect, as though immortality was not the privilege of their souls, in common with theirown These poor Africans are the principal objects of my compassion; and, . think, the most proper subject of your charity. “ The inhabitants of Virginia are computed to be about three hundred thousand; and the one half of them are supposed to be Negroes. The number of these who attend on my ministry, at particular times, is uncertain; but J think there are about three hundred who give a stated attendance. And never have I been so much struck with the appearance of an assembly, as when I have glanced my eye on one part of the house, adorned (so it has appeared to me) with so many black countenances, eagerly attentive to every word they heard, and some of them covered with tears. A considerable number of them, about a hundred, have been baptized, after they had been fully instructed in the great truths of religion, and had evidenced their sense of them by a life of the strictest virtue. As they are not sufficiently polished to dissemble with a good grace, they express the sensations of their hearts so much in the language of simple nature, and with such genuine indications of artless sincerity, that it is impossible to suspect their professions, especially when attended with a suitable behaviour.