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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 121
his acceptance of purely secular work in preference to holy orders is
said to have given offense to John, whose paramount reason for sailing
to Georgia was "to save his soul." But Charles, almost from the out
set, felt himself to be a misfit. It was at the expense of the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts that John embarked
upon the expedition. At first he refused to receive the stipend of £50
per annum, but he afterwards agreed to take it. Another of the Oxford
band who joined the brothers was Benjamin Ingham, a man of parts,
who later joined the Moravian brethren, married a titled lady, and be
came the head of a sect called the Inghamites,
It was late in the fall of the year when two vessels, the Symond
and the London Merchant, each of 220 tons burden, quit the English
docks, bearing 300 emigrants to Georgia. The Wesleys traveled in the
former. Among the passengers were twenty-six Moravians, whose de
meanor during the progress of a somewhat stormy voyage made an
extraordinary impression upon the Oxford men; and such was John
Wesley's eager desire to converse with them that he immediately began
the study of German and acquired no little familiarity with the lan
guage before reaching port. The piety of these devout Moravians moved
him to admiration. Indeed, he questioned the genuineness of his conver
sion prior to meeting them. In his mission to the new world he was
destined to meet with little apparent success, but he needed just the
mental and spiritual discipline which it gave him. To quote Dr. J. W.
Lee:'' The John Wesley who went out to Georgia was still in a chrysallis
condition; he had yet to learn how to expand his wings. It is not true
that his career in Georgia was the utter failure it has been represented
to be in many treatises. It is true, however, that it was hampered by
the uncertain condition of will which is apt to precede some great spir
itual change." On the 14th of February, 1736, which proved to be the
Sabbath, the vessels anchored in one of the coves of an island, probably
Cockspur. The day was calm and beautiful. Early in the morning
the voyagers went ashore, and there, on a rising knoll, with his fellow
voyagers around him, John Wesley lifted his voice in prayer for the
first time in the new world, where the present generation sees his fol
lowers numbered by millions. Soon after reaching Savannah, John
Wesley was designated to succeed Samuel Quincy, in charge of the
religious affairs of the settlement, while Charles, in company with Ogle-
thorpe, journeyed still further to Frederica.
To the west of the main highway and in less than half a mile of Fort
Frederica, on St. Simon's Island, looms an ancient oak, gnarled and
twisted. It rises to a height of some 200 feet, while, over an
area of several acres, its cool shade rests like a benediction. It stands
• at the gateway to the churchyard of Christ Church; and, according to
local tradition, it marks the exact spot on which the Wesleys preached
during the infant days of the settlement. At first, Charles Wesley was
employed in secular work. He engaged himself to Oglethorpe in the
capacity of private secretary, before leaving England, but he afterwards
took orders and devoted much of his time to preaching in the neighbor
hood of Frederica, From time to time he was also joined by his brother
John, who came down from Savannah. Even if the oak in question is
not the identical forest monarch under which the Wesleys preached, its