Charlie goes to Oxford.--Won't have his brother
interfere with him.--A change in
Charlie.--Somebody's prayers.--Charlie's chums,
and how he treated them.--Dividing
time.--Nickname.--A nickname honoured.
BEFORE I tell you any more about Mr. John, I am sure you would like to
know how Charlie has been getting on all this long time. We left him,
you remember, captain of the school at Westminster, where his eldest
brother Samuel was a teacher. He was so clever and brave, and such a
generous, loving-hearted boy, that he was a favourite with everybody. He
stayed nine years at Westminster, and then, when he was eighteen, went
to one of the colleges at Oxford. It was not the one Mr. John was at,
but, being in the same town, the two brothers often saw each other.
Charlie was not a Christian, and made companions of the worldly young
students who spent their time in all sorts of wrong-doings. John was
very sorry for this, and spoke to him about it; but Charlie became very
angry at what he called his brother's interference, and said: "Do you
want me to become a saint all at once?"
However, while Mr. John was away at home those two years helping his
father, Charlie changed very much. He became steadier and more
thoughtful, and even wrote to his brother, and asked for the advice he
would not have before. "I don't exactly know how or when I changed," he
said in his letter; "but it was soon after you went away. It is owing, I
believe, to somebody's prayers (my mother's most likely) that I am come
to think as I do."
When boys and girls or grown-up people become Christians, those around
them soon find it out. Charlie's giddy companions soon saw something was
wrong with him. He used to be lazy and shirk his studies, spending his
time with them in pleasure and amusement, now he was diligent and worked
hard.
The next thing they noticed was that he went to church regularly and
took the Sacrament. And here I must tell you how he behaved towards
these friends, and I know it will make you like Charlie more than ever.
I told you before how loving and genial he was, and now he did not at
all like to give up his old chums, and yet he knew that if he meant to
travel heavenwards he must have companions that were going the same way.
He longed for his friends to become Christians, and talked to them so
lovingly and so wisely that before very long he got two or three of them
to join him in fighting against the evils of their nature, and
encouraging and seeking after everything that was good.
You have all read in your English history how good King Alfred the Great
divided his time; well, Charles and his companions divided theirs in a
similar way. So many hours were spent in study, so many in prayer, and
so many in sleeping and eating. They made other strict rules for
themselves, and lived so much by what we call "method," that at last
they got to be called "Methodists."
Boys and girls are very fond of giving nicknames to their companions;
sometimes it is done in fun, and then there is no harm in it,--but often
spite and ill-nature suggest the nickname, then it is very wrong and
very unkind.
Most of the young men at Oxford thought religion and goodness were only
things to make fun of, so Charles and his friends were a butt for their
ridicule. Because they read their Bibles a great deal they called them
"Bible Bigots," and "Bible Moths," and their meetings they called the
"Holy Club."
But "Methodists" was the name that fastened most firmly to them, and,
as you know, after all these years, this is the name we call ourselves
by to-day. Just think; a nickname given to a few young men at Oxford,
more than one hundred and fifty years ago, is now held in honour by
hundreds of thousands of people all over the world.
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