on a new life; that is to say, he had fresh duties and
a wider sphere. He probably had a good voice, and
some knowledge of music, or he would not have been
chosen for a King's Scholar, as boys occupying that
position are almost always choristers at the Chapel
Royal. This brings them into notice, and they receive
many invitations into musical and aristocratic society.
Mrs. Wesley was terribly afraid that her son might
become of the world, worldly, and wrote to warn and
exhort him:—
“Prithee how do you do in the midst of so much company and business, to preserve your mind in any temper fit for the service of God? I am sadly afraid lest you should neglect your duty towards Him. Take care of the world, lest it unawares steal away your heart, and so make you prove false to those vows and obligations which you have laid upon your- self, in the covenant you personally made with the ever blessed Trinity, before your reception of the Holy Communion. Have you ever received the Sacrament at London? If not, consider what has been the cause of your neglect, and embrace the next opportunity.
In October Mrs. Wesley's motherly sympathies were called forth by hearing that her boy was laid up with rheumatism; but by the end of November he had recovered, and she wrote him a very long letter, chiefly theological, but containing some plain words on the temptations likely to assail a youth on the threshold of manhood. The opening and closing paragraphs are alone suited to these pages:—
