CHARLES WESLEY. CHAPTER I. EARLY LIFE OF CHARLES WESLEY. Early Boyhood. the coadjutors of John Wesley, decidedly Othe inst, both in time and in efficiency, was his brother Charles, who was born in 1708. In childhood, he was subject, under his mother's hand, to the admirable discipline we have fully described in the "Life of John Wesley." When he was eight years old, he was sent to the Westminster school, where he was placed under the special care of his brother Samuel, then one of the teachers in that institution. His expenses were defrayed by Samuel for about five years, when he was admitted as one of the King's scholars; and from that time his expenses were borne by the public funds of the seminary. At the age of eighteen, he entered Christ Church College, Oxford. The only incident in the life of Charles, and not related in the "Life" of John, occurring up to Offer of a Nobleman. Singular Decision. the time of his entering, and, in fact, of his leaving the University of Oxford, is a very striking illustration of the control which Providence exerts over the events of human life— events apparently contingent on the decisions of individual minds. While Charles Wesley was a boy at the Westminster school, Mr. Garret Wesley, of Ireland-a gentleman of large fortune-wrote to Samuel Wesley, father of Charles, inquiring if he had a son named Charles, stating that he was desirous of finding some Charles Wesley, to adopt as his heir. Some time after this, a gentleman, unknown to the Wesley family, but supposed to be Mr. Garret Wesley himself, called upon Charles, and held with him long and interesting interviews, which led to a distinct proposition, for him to go to Ireland, and become heir of the wealthy family bearing his own name. Charles wrote to his father for advice. The good man, like a wise father, and a firm believer in Providence, referred the decision of the whole question to his son's own choice, trusting that God would direct him. Charles, after mature reflection, decided, for reasons of which no record is made, to decline the very honorable position and munificent fortune offered him, and to Garret Wesley. Great Results. remain, a poor scholar, at the Westminster Academy. Momentous were the consequences of this decision. Mr. Garret Wesley, on the failure of his cherished hope of Charles, adopted a kinsman-Richard Colley-who took the name of Wesley, and who was the grandfather of the Marquis of Wellesley, the conqueror of India, and of the Duke of Wellington, the conqueror of Napoleon. Had Charles Wesley accepted that offer, the extension of the British empire in the east might never have occurred, the battle of Waterloo might never have been fought, and the Methodist societies might never have been founded. Or, if these grand events had been still essential parts of the plan of Providence, other men than the Marquis of Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, and Charles Wesley would have been the means of accomplishing them. We have related, in the "Life of John Wesley," the principal events of interest in the life of Charles. We have seen that he was, in fact, the founder of the Oxford society of Methodists. We have mentioned him as college tutor, after he received his collegiate degree. He intended to remain through life in the employment of college instruction, and had declined ordination |