{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_32669/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_32669","id":"gutenberg_32669","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32669","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Wesley, John, 1703-1791 -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"Produced by Emmy, Darleen Dove and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images generously made available by The\nInternet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: _Frontispiece._\n\n\"'You seem half starved, dear,' he said.\"--_Page 33._]\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF JOHN WESLEY.\n\nTold to Boys and Girls.\n\nBY\n\nMARIANNE KIRLEW,\n\n_Author of \"The Red Thread of Honour,\" etc., etc._\n\nWITH PREFACE BY REV. DINSDALE T. YOUNG.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n          London:\n          ROBERT CULLEY,\n          2 AND 3 LUDGATE CIRCUS BUILDINGS, FARRINGDON STREET, E.C.;\n          2 CASTLE STREET, CITY ROAD, E.C.\n\n\n\n\n          TO THE SACRED MEMORY\n\n          OF THE\n\n          Dear Mother,\n\n          WHO BY PRECEPT AND EXAMPLE\n\n          SOUGHT TO BRING UP HER CHILDREN\n\n          IN \"THE NURTURE AND ADMONITION OF THE LORD\";\n\n          THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED\n\n          BY HER DAUGHTER.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n          \"_That our sons may be as plants grown up in their\n          youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones,\n          polished after the similitude of a\n          palace._\"--PSALM CXLIV. 12.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nTHE Story of John Wesley is one of which the world does not easily\nweary. There is perennial freshness in it. \"Age cannot wither it.\" We\nmay indeed almost affirm that it has an \"infinite variety.\"\n\nIt is specially important that this remarkable history should be re-told\nfor young people. The youth of England ought to be fully conversant with\nJohn Wesley's unique personality and immortal work.\n\nJohn Wesley's name is far above mere denominationalism. He belongs to\nall the churches, for he belongs to the \"Holy Catholic Church.\" He is a\ngreat national and historic figure. It has ever been claimed by some,\nwhose authority is high, that John Wesley was the saviour of modern\nEngland. Surely there is large truth in this. The great religious leader\nwas indeed one of the most potent political forces England has known. If\nthere be even an approximation towards fact in such a claim, then how\nimportant for young England to know the record of a man so supremely\ndistinguished.\n\nCertainly, on any ground, these pages meet a distinct want; and I think\nit will be the judgment of readers, that they meet it admirably well.\nHere John Wesley's life is traced clearly, even to the point of\nvividness. The style in which the story is told, will be found to add to\nthe intrinsic interest of the recital.\n\nThe author of this life of Wesley is thoroughly imbued with the spirit\nof her subject, nor does she forget to apply the lessons, with which\nthis wonderful life-story is crowded.\n\nIf the _children_ of our land could be fired with enthusiasm for the\ntruths John Wesley taught and lived, what a blessed outlook would there\nbe for England!\n\nWe earnestly pray, that many a young reader may be stirred to the very\ndepths of his being, by the narration here so attractively given. \"'Tis\na consummation devoutly to be wished.\"\n\n                                                DINSDALE T. YOUNG.\n\n  _Manchester,\n        June, 1895._\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n          _Chapter_     _Page_\n\n                I.        1\n\n               II.        6\n\n              III.       10\n\n               IV.       13\n\n                V.       19\n\n               VI.       23\n\n              VII.       28\n\n             VIII.       32\n\n               IX.       35\n\n                X.       38\n\n               XI.       45\n\n              XII.       49\n\n             XIII.       54\n\n              XIV.       59\n\n               XV.       63\n\n              XVI.       68\n\n             XVII.       73\n\n            XVIII.       77\n\n              XIX.       82\n\n               XX.       86\n\n              XXI.       89\n\n             XXII.       92\n\n            XXIII.       98\n\n             XXIV.      102\n\n              XXV.      106\n\n             XXVI.      110\n\n            XXVII.      116\n\n           XXVIII.      120\n\n             XXIX.      123\n\n              XXX.      128\n\n             XXXI.      134\n\n            XXXII.      138\n\n           XXXIII.      142\n\n            XXXIV.      145\n\n             XXXV.      149\n\n            XXXVI.      152\n\n           XXXVII.      156\n\n          XXXVIII.      159\n\n            XXXIX.      163\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF JOHN WESLEY.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n          Jacky.--His brothers and sisters.--His cottage\n          home.--What happened to the little pet-dog.--How\n          Jacky's father forgave the wicked men of\n          Epworth.--\"Fire! Fire!\"\n\n\nLONG, long ago, more than one hundred and fifty years, lived the hero of\nthis book. Because his name was John, everybody called him Jack or\nJacky; and by everybody I mean his dear, good father and mother, and his\neighteen brothers and sisters. Eighteen, did I say? Yes, indeed, they\ncounted eighteen; and seeing there were so many, I will not trouble you\nwith all their names. I will just tell you three. Samuel was the eldest,\nhe was the \"big brother\"; Jacky was number fifteen, and Kitty and\nCharlie came after him.\n\nBut Jacky did not mind all this houseful, I think he rather liked it,\nfor you see he always had plenty of playmates. His home was in a country\nvillage called Epworth, in Lincolnshire. If you look on your map I think\nyou will find it. The house was like a big cottage; the roof had no\nslates on like ours, but was thatched with straw, the same as some of\nthe cottages you have seen in the country; and the windows had tiny\npanes of glass, diamond-shaped, and they opened like little doors. The\nwalls of the cottage were covered with pretty climbing plants, and what\nwas best of all, there was a beautiful big garden where apple and pear\ntrees grew, and where there was lots of room for Jacky and Charlie and\nthe others to run about and play \"hide and seek.\"\n\nBut I must tell you that a great many wicked people lived at Epworth,\nand Jack's father, who was a minister, tried to teach them how wrong it\nwas to steal and fight, and do so many cruel things. But his preaching\nonly made them very angry with good Mr. Wesley, and one of the men, out\nof spite, cut off the legs of his little pet-dog. Was not that a\ndreadfully cruel thing to do?\n\nBut Jack's father, because he loved Jesus so much, loved these wicked\nmen, and always forgave them. He knew if he could get _them_ to love\nJesus, they would soon stop being cruel and unkind.\n\nOne night in winter, when everybody was fast asleep, Kitty woke up\nfeeling something very hot on her feet. Opening her eyes she was\ndreadfully frightened to see the bedroom ceiling all on fire. She was\nonly a very little girl, but she jumped out of bed, and ran to the room\nwhere her mother and two of her sisters were sleeping. Her father, who\nwas in another room, hearing a great noise outside, and people calling\n\"Fire! Fire!\" jumped up and found it was his own house that was in\nflames. Telling the elder girls to be quick and get dressed and to help\ntheir mother, who was very ill, he ran to the nursery, and burst open\nthe door. \"Nurse, nurse!\" he shouted, \"be quick and get the children up,\nthe house is on fire.\"\n\nSnatching up baby Charles in her arms, and calling to the other children\nto follow her, the nurse hurried down-stairs. But there they found the\nhall full of flames and smoke, and to get out of the front-door was\nimpossible. So some of the children got through the windows and some\nthrough the back-door into the garden.\n\nJust as the minister thought he had all his family safe, he heard a cry\ncoming from the nursery, and on looking round, he found Jacky was\nmissing. He rushed into the burning house, and tried to get up the\nstairs, but they were all on fire. What should he do? He didn't know. So\nhe just knelt down in the hall surrounded by the dreadful flames, and\nasked God to take care of little Jack, and if he couldn't be saved to\ntake him to heaven.\n\nNow I must tell you how it was Jack was still in the burning house. He\nhad been fast asleep when the nurse called, and did not hear her and the\nother children go out of the room. All at once he woke up, and seeing a\nbright light in the room, thought it was morning. \"Nursie, nursie!\" he\ncalled, \"take me up; I want to get up.\" Of course there was no answer.\nThen he put his head out of the curtains which surrounded his little\nbed, and saw streaks of fire on the top of the room. Oh, how frightened\nhe was!\n\nJacky was only five years old, but he was a brave boy, and instead of\nlying still and screaming and crying, he jumped up and ran to the door\nin his night-gown. But the floor and the stairs were all on fire. What\nshould he do? He ran back again into the room, and climbed on a big box\nthat stood near the window. Then some one in the yard saw him and\nshouted: \"Fetch a ladder, quick! I see him.\"\n\n\"There's no time,\" called out somebody else; \"the roof is falling in.\nLook here!\" said the same man, \"I'll stand against this wall, and let a\nman that's not very heavy stand on my shoulders, and then we can reach\nthe child.\"\n\nSo the strong man fixed himself against the wall, and another man\nclimbed on his shoulders, and Jacky put out his arms as far as he could,\nand the man lifted him out of the burning room, and he was safe. Two\nminutes afterwards the roof fell in with a big crash.\n\nJack was carried into a neighbour's house, and they all knelt down while\nthe minister thanked God for taking care of them, and so wonderfully\npreserving all their lives.\n\nJack never forgot that terrible night, and all his life afterwards he\nfelt that God had saved him from being burnt to death, in order that he\nmight do a great deal of work for Him.\n\nYou will not be surprised to hear, that it was the wicked people in\nEpworth who had set the minister's house on fire. But as Jesus forgave\nHis enemies, so Mr. Wesley forgave these men, and tried more than ever\nto show them how much Christ loved them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n          Jacky learns his A B C.--A wise mother.--Christ's\n          little soldier.--A chatterbox.--The big brother\n          and the little one.--Jacky poorly.--The bravest of\n          the brave.--A proud father.\n\n\nJACK'S father and mother were not rich people, and they could not afford\nto send all their children to school, so Mrs. Wesley taught them at\nhome, and as there were so many of them it was almost like a proper\nschool. When Jacky was five years old, he became a little scholar. The\nfirst day he learnt his alphabet, and in three months could read quite\nnicely.\n\nMrs. Wesley was a dear, kind mother, and took a great deal of trouble,\nand often put herself to much pain to train her little boys to be\nChristian gentlemen, and her little girls to be Christian ladies. As\nsoon as they could speak, they were taught to say their prayers every\nnight and morning, and to keep the Sabbath day holy. They were never\nallowed to have anything they cried for, and they were always taught to\nspeak kindly and politely to the servants. Bad words were never heard\namong them, and no loud talking or rough play was allowed. This wise\nmother also knew that little people are sometimes tempted to tell\nuntruths to hide a fault for fear of punishment, so she made it a rule\nthat if any of the children did what was naughty, and at once confessed\nand promised not to do it again, they should not be whipped.\n\nOne of the little boys--I'm afraid it was Jacky--did not always follow\nthis rule, and so he sometimes got what he did not like. But Mrs. Wesley\nnever allowed her children to taunt one another with a fault, especially\nwhen they were trying to do better.\n\nAnother thing the children were taught, was to respect the rights of\nproperty; that is, if Jacky wanted Charlie's top, he was not to take it\nwithout Charlie's leave; and if Emily wanted Sukey's brooch, she must\nask her sister's permission before taking it.\n\n\"Oh, how dreadfully strict!\" I fancy I hear some of my readers say. Not\nat all, dears, it was a mother's kindness to her children; for it took\nfar more time, and a great deal more trouble to teach them all these\nthings than it would have done to let them do as they liked. And when\nEmily and Mollie and Jack and Charlie and all the others grew up to be\nmen and women, they thanked God for giving them such a wise mother.\n\nOnce a week Mrs. Wesley used to take each of the children into her room,\nseparately, for a quiet little talk. They each had their own day for\nhaving mother _all to themselves_. Jack had every Thursday, and Saturday\nwas Charlie's day. So helpful were these little talks with mother, that\nyears afterwards when Jack had left home, he wrote and asked his mother\nif she would spare the same time every Thursday to pray for him.\n\nBefore Jacky was eight years old he loved Jesus so much that he wanted\nevery one to know he meant to be one of His faithful soldiers. So he\nasked his father if he might go to the communion, which, you know, is\ndoing what Christ asked all His followers to do, taking bread and\ndrinking wine \"_in remembrance of Him_.\" Though Jack was such a little\nboy, his father knew, by his conduct, that he meant what he said, and so\nhe admitted him to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. I wish all my\nyoung readers could say, as Jacky could:--\n\n          \"I am a little soldier,\n             I'm only eight years old,\n           I mean to fight for Jesus\n             And wear a crown of gold.\n           I know He'll make me happy,\n             And help me every day,\n           I'll be His little soldier,\n             The Bible says I may.\"\n\nMrs. Wesley used to have services in her big kitchen on a Sunday night,\nfor the servants, and the poor people who could not walk all the long\nway to church; and little Jack used to sit and listen so attentively,\nwhile his mother told the people how God's Son was put to death on the\ncruel cross, to save them from sin, and to gain for them a place in\nheaven.\n\nJack, like many another little boy, had rather a long tongue, indeed, he\nwas a regular chatterbox. His big brother Sam did not always like Jack\nputting his word in, and giving his opinion; he would put him down and\nsay: \"Child, don't talk so much, when you're older you'll find that\nnothing much is done in the world by arguing.\" His father used to stand\nup for Jack, and would say: \"There's one thing, our Jack will never do\nanything without giving a good reason for doing it, I know.\"\n\nYou will be sorry to hear that Jacky had a dreadful illness when he was\nnine years old. It was a disease that causes a great deal of pain and\nsuffering. But Jack remembered that a soldier must be brave, and, as\nChrist's little soldier, he must be the bravest of the brave. So Jacky\nwas very patient, and gave his nurse as little trouble as he could. His\nmother wrote to Mr. Wesley, who was in London at the time, and said,\n\"Jack has borne his illness bravely, like a man, and like a little\nChristian, he has never uttered a word of complaint;\" and the father, as\nhe folded the letter and put it into his pocket, felt proud of his\nlittle son.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n          Jacky at boarding school.--Bullying.--Hard\n          lines.--A morning run.--A Christ-like\n          schoolboy.--Charlie at Westminster.--Scotch\n          Jamie.--\"Bravo, Captain Charlie!\"\n\n\nBY and by Jack grew to be a big boy of eleven, and all this time he had\nonly been at the home-school. His parents thought he was now quite old\nenough to go to a proper boys' school, and through the kindness of a\nfriend, he was sent to a big school in London called the Charterhouse.\n\nHere poor Jacky had a very unhappy time for two or three years. The big\nboys took a delight in bullying the little ones, especially the\nnew-comers; and as Jack had never been from home before, their\nunkindness was hard to bear. Every meal-time each boy had to go to the\ncook's house for his allowance of food, and the big boys used to lay\nwait for the little ones as they came out, and snatch away their meat;\nso for a long time Jack had nothing but bread to eat at every meal.\n\nThose of my readers who know what boarding-school life is to-day, will\nthink this a very funny way of getting your food; and so it was, but,\nyou must remember, this was in 1714, one hundred and eighty years ago,\nand every thing then was very different to what it is now.\n\nBefore Jack went to the Charterhouse, his father had said to him: \"Jack,\nI should like you to run round the school garden every morning before\nbreakfast, it will give you an appetite and help to make you grow up a\nstrong man.\" And all the long years Jack was at school he never failed\nto obey his father's wish; and, when he grew up, he said this morning\nrun had helped to make him the healthy, strong man he had always been.\nBut, poor little fellow, it was very hard for him, when, feeling\ndreadfully hungry with the fresh air and exercise, the big boys ran off\nwith his meat, and left him with only some bread for his breakfast.\n\nHowever, by and by, Jack grew old enough to fight for his meat. And when\nthis time came, do you think he took his turn at stealing from the\nlittle boys, and bullying them? Of course you will all say: \"No, indeed,\nJack would never be so mean.\" You are right; instead of treating others\nas others had treated him, he just did what he thought Jesus would have\ndone when he was a boy at school. He stood up for the little fellows,\nand fought the big boys who tried to steal their meat.\n\nJack was so quiet and diligent at school, and so careful to obey rules,\nthat he soon became a favourite with the head-master, Dr. Walker; and\nwhen he grew to be a man, he forgot all about the hard times he had had,\nand never failed to visit the Charterhouse once a year.\n\nWhen Jack had been two years at this school, his brother Charlie was\nsent to a school at Westminster, where his elder brother Samuel was a\nteacher. Charlie was then a bright little boy of nine; he was strong,\nfull of spirit and fun, and afraid of nothing. He became a great\nfavourite, and was soon looked upon as the \"captain\" of the school.\nCharlie was as generous as he was brave; his great dream was to be a\ngood man, and to help others to be good too.\n\nThere was a little Scotch laddie at the school whom all the other boys\nused to tease and mock. The captain wouldn't stand this; he took Jamie\nunder his special protection, shielded him, fought for him, and saved\nhim from what would otherwise have been a life of misery.\n\nI fancy I hear you all say: \"Bravo, Captain Charlie!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n          Jack at Westminster.--At Oxford.--Life at\n          College.--Jack a deserter.--His good angel.--\"He\n          that goes a borrowing, goes a sorrowing.\"--A\n          bitter disappointment.--A letter from\n          \"Mother.\"--Jack's decision.--Father's advice.\n\n\nWHEN Jack was sixteen he left the Charterhouse School, and joined\nCharlie at Westminster. Here too he was so diligent and persevering,\nthat when his brother Samuel wrote home to his father, he said: \"Jack is\na brave boy, and learning Hebrew as fast as he can.\" The next year he\nwent to Oxford, where he got on splendidly. He was very witty and\nlively, and still _very fond of talking_; but his was not foolish talk,\nand he always took care to stand up for the right.\n\nAt first he was much shocked at the drinking and gambling, and\nwickedness of all sorts that went on among the students at the\nuniversity. But when day after day we witness wrong-doing, gradually we\nget less and less shocked, and after a time think little about it. This\nonly happens though when we get down from our watch-tower, and the enemy\nhas a chance to get near to us. Jack's temptations to join his fellow\nstudents were very great, and I am sorry to say, he got \"off his guard,\"\nand yielded. For a time he quite disgraced the colours of his regiment,\nand became a deserter from Christ's army. But it was not for long, he\nremembered what he had learnt at home, and how his dear mother had\nprayed for him. He remembered how he had been saved from the burning\nhouse, and he felt sure that God had not spared his life for him to grow\nup a wicked or a worldly man.\n\nHe had found it hard work to be a Christian at the Charterhouse School,\nnow he found it harder still at Christ Church College. He loved fun and\nmerry company, and this sometimes led him to seek the society of young\nmen who loved their own pleasure better than any thing else; and many\ntimes Jack, following their bad example, did things for which he was\nafterwards very sorry and very much ashamed.\n\nI have somewhere read this line of poetry:\n\n          \"The boy that loves his mother\n             Is every inch a man,\"\n\nand if ever boy loved his mother, Jack did. The memory of her loving,\nholy life was Jack's good angel; and when temptations proved almost too\nstrong for him at Oxford, he wrote and asked her to pray for him, and to\npray on every Thursday. For Thursday had been Jacky's day with mother,\never since a little boy he knelt at her knee; and he felt that his\nmother's prayers on _that_ day could not fail to bring down God's\nblessing upon him, and give him strength to resist the many evil\ninfluences that surrounded his college life--and they did.\n\nI told you before, I think, that Jack's parents were not rich; they had\nnever been able to allow him much pocket-money, and now at Oxford, when\nhis expenses were greater, he somehow could never manage to make his\nmoney last out. I am afraid he was not always as careful as he might\nhave been, and I am sorry to say when he was spent up--which was very\noften--he did what so many boys and young fellows do, borrowed money.\nThis is always foolish, for, of course, it cannot make things any\nbetter, and indeed only makes them worse; because when the allowance\ncomes, the debts have to be paid, and there is little or no money left.\nHowever, neither debt nor being short of money troubled Jack at this\ntime; indeed he said it was just as well to be poor, for there were so\nmany rogues at Oxford, that if you carried anything worth stealing, it\nwas not safe to be out at night.\n\nOne of his friends was once standing at the door of a coffee-house about\nseven o'clock in the evening, and happening to look round, in an instant\nhis hat and his wig--they wore wigs in those days--were snatched off\nhis head by a thief, who managed to get clear off with his booty. Jack\nwriting home about this said: \"I am safe from these rogues, for all my\nbelongings would not be worth their stealing.\"\n\nWhen Jack had been four years at Oxford, and was about twenty-one, his\nbrother Samuel wrote to tell him he had had the misfortune to break his\nleg. He also told him his mother was coming to London, and if he liked\nhe might go and meet her there.\n\nIt was a long, long time since Jack had seen his mother, and you may\nimagine his delight when he got this letter. He wrote back:\n\n          \"DEAR BROTHER SAMUEL,\n\n          \"I am sorry for your misfortune, though glad to\n          hear you are getting better. Have you heard of the\n          Dutch sailor who having broken one of his legs by\n          a fall from the mast, thanked God that he had not\n          broken his neck? I expect you are feeling thankful\n          that you did not break both legs.\n\n          \"I cried for joy at the last part of your letter.\n          The two things I most wished for of almost\n          anything in the world were to see my mother and\n          Westminster again. But I have been so often\n          disappointed when I have set my heart on some\n          great pleasure, that I will never again be sure of\n          anything before it comes.\n\n                                \"Your affectionate brother,\n                                                       \"JACK.\"\n\nPoor Jack! it was well he did not anticipate this treat too much, for\nwhen the time came he hadn't enough money to take him to London, and as\nhe was already in debt he could not borrow any more. It was a bitter\ndisappointment; but when his mother got back home again after her visit\nto London, she wrote one of her bright, loving, encouraging letters,\nwhich did something towards comforting the heart of this \"mother's boy.\"\nThis was the letter:\n\n          \"DEAR JACK,\n\n          \"I am uneasy because I have not heard from you.\n          Don't just write letter for letter, but let me\n          hear from you often, and tell me if you are well,\n          and how much you are still in debt.\n\n          \"Dear Jack, don't be discouraged; do your duty;\n          keep close to your studies, and hope for better\n          days. Perhaps we may be able to send you a few\n          pounds before the end of the year.\n\n          \"Dear Jacky, I pray Almighty God to bless thee!\n\n                                      \"Your mother,\n                                              \"SUSANNA WESLEY.\"\n\nWhen boys get to be fourteen or sixteen, they begin to think and wonder\nwhat they will be when they are men. Very little boys generally mean to\nbe either cab-drivers or engine-drivers; and I did hear of one who meant\nto have a wild beast show when he grew up. Jack reached the age of\ntwenty-one, and had not decided what he would be.\n\nAt last the time came when he must make up his mind. After thinking\nabout it very seriously, he thought he would like to be a minister like\nhis father. So he wrote home and told them his decision.\n\nHis father who had been ill and was unable to use his right hand\nproperly, wrote to him that he must be quite sure that God had called\nhim to this work before he undertook it. \"At present,\" he said, \"I think\nyou are too young.\" Then, referring to his illness, he said: \"You see\nthat time has shaken me by the hand; and death is but a little behind\nhim. My eyes and heart are almost all I have left, and I bless God for\nthem.\"\n\nMrs. Wesley was very glad when she heard that her boy wished to be a\nminister. \"God Almighty direct and bless you,\" she wrote to him.\n\nA few months afterwards, Jack's father wrote, and told him that he had\nchanged his mind about his being too young, and that he would like him\nto \"take Orders,\" that is, to become a minister, the following summer.\n\"But in the first place,\" he said, \"if you love yourself or me, pray\nvery earnestly about it.\"\n\nTo choose to be Christ's minister, a preacher of the gospel, Mr. Wesley\nknew was a very solemn and responsible choice, and he wished Jack to\nthink very seriously, and to pray very earnestly before he took the\nimportant step.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n          Books.--Two books that left impressions on\n          Jack.--Must a Christian boy be miserable?--Jack\n          says \"No.\"--So says Jack's mother.--Father gives\n          his opinion.--\"The Enchanted Rocks;\" a fairy\n          story.\n\n\nI WONDER if any of my readers ever think what the books they read are\ndoing for them, especially the books they are most fond of? Do you know\nevery book you read makes _you_ a little bit different? By _you_, I mean\nthe unseen part of you, your mind and character.\n\nI remember, when I was somewhere about the mischievous age of eight or\nnine, how fond I used to be of getting to the putty round a newly-put-in\nwindow pane. It was lovely to press my thimble on it, and see all the\npretty little holes it left; or to push a naughty finger deep down into\nthe nice soft stuff. Then, when the putty had dried hard, I used to\nlook with great interest on my work, for every impression was there, and\ncould not now be removed.\n\nSo it is with books, they make an _impression_ on you; and you are\neither a little bit better or a little bit worse for every book you\nread. _Take care only to read those books that will make you better._\n\nThe summer after Jack decided to be a minister, he read two books which\nmade some big impressions on his mind, and left him _better_ than he was\nbefore reading them. One was called \"The Imitation of Christ,\" and the\nother \"Holy Living and Dying.\" They taught him that true religion must\nbe in the heart, and that it is not enough for our words and actions, as\nseen and heard by men, to be right, but our very thoughts must be pure\nand good, such as would be approved of God. He did not at all agree with\nThomas a Kempis, the writer of the first book I mentioned, in\neverything, though, for he made out, according to Jack's idea, that we\nshould always be miserable.\n\nI think Jack would never have persevered in his determination to follow\nChrist, if he had been convinced that \"to be good you must be\nmiserable,\" for he loved fun, and could not help being happy. He felt\nsure Thomas a Kempis was mistaken, especially when he remembered that\nverse in the Bible which says religion's ways \"are ways of\n_pleasantness_\" (Prov. iii. 17). When he wrote home, he asked his\nmother what she thought, for although he was now a young man of\ntwenty-two, he was still the old Jack that thought father and mother\nknew better than anybody else.\n\nHis mother wrote back that she thought Thomas a Kempis _was_ mistaken,\nfor so many texts in the Bible show us that God intends us to be happy\nand full of joy. \"And,\" she said, \"if you want to know what pleasures\nare right and wrong, ask yourself: 'Will it make me love God more, and\nwill it help me to be more like my great example, Jesus Christ?'\"\n\nJack's father wrote: \"I don't altogether agree with Thomas a Kempis; but\nthe world is like a siren, and we must beware of her. If the young man\nwould rejoice in his youth, let him take care that his pleasures are\ninnocent; and in order to do this, remember, my son, that for all these\nthings God will bring us into judgment.\"\n\nSome of my readers will hardly understand what Mr. Wesley meant when he\nsaid the world is \"like a siren.\" Most of you have read fairy tales;\nwell, a kind of Greek fairy story tells of some beautiful maidens,\ncalled sirens, who used to sit on some dangerous rocks, and play\nsweetest music. When sailors saw them and heard their singing, they were\ndrawn by magic nearer and nearer to where they were, until at last their\nboats struck on the rocks, and the poor deluded sailors were dragged by\nthe sirens to the bottom of the sea and were drowned.\n\nNow, do you see why the world is like a siren? Its pleasures all look so\nbeautiful that we are tempted to draw nearer and nearer, until at last\nwe are lost to all that is holy and good.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n          Jack a minister.--A letter from father.--Jack's\n          first sermon.--\"Mr. John.\"--Back at\n          college.--Temptations and persecutions.--\"For\n          Jesus' sake.\"--Mr. John's long hair.--Clever, but\n          not proud.--Young soldiers for Christ.\n\n\nWE all love to get letters, do we not? though some of us are not so fond\nof writing them. It was in the year 1725, when Jack was twenty-two years\nold, that he became a minister; and just about this time he had a\nbeautiful letter from his father. In it Mr. Wesley said:--\n\n          \"God fit you for your great work. Watch and pray;\n          believe, love, endure, and be happy, towards which\n          you shall never want the most ardent prayers of\n\n                                \"Your affectionate father,\n                                                 \"SAMUEL WESLEY.\"\n\nJack's first sermon was preached at a small town near Oxford, and his\nsecond at his dear home-village, Epworth. Mr. Wesley was getting old,\nand as he had now two churches to look after, the one at Epworth and\nanother at a place called Wroote, where he and Mrs. Wesley had gone to\nlive, he was very glad when his son offered to go and help him. And now\nthat Jack has grown up and got to be a proper minister, I think we must\nbegin to call him Mr. John. Well, Mr. John stayed some time helping his\nfather at Wroote and Epworth, and then went back again to Oxford, to\nstudy for a place in a college there--Lincoln College.\n\nThere were several others trying to get this same place, and they didn't\nlike Mr. John because he would not do the wicked things they did, so\nthey made great fun of him, and laughed at him for being good. Nobody\nlikes being laughed at; and Mr. John didn't, but he bore it bravely; and\nhis father comforted him when he wrote: \"Never mind them, Jack; he is a\ncoward that cannot bear being laughed at. Jesus endured a great deal\nmore for us, before He entered glory; and unless we follow His steps we\ncan never hope to share that glory with Him. Bear it patiently, my boy,\nand be sure you never return evil for evil.\" His mother, too, sent\nloving letters to cheer and comfort him.\n\nSo Mr. John worked hard, and bore his persecutions patiently--_for\nJesus' sake_; and in spite of all his enemies he won the coveted place,\nand became Fellow of Lincoln College. Oh, how glad and thankful he was!\nAnd his father and mother were so proud and happy.\n\nIt was just about this time that Mr. Wesley was afraid he would have to\nleave Wroote, and it was a great trouble to him. \"But,\" he said,\nproudly, \"wherever I am, my Jacky is Fellow of Lincoln.\" As for Jack, he\nfelt it was worth everything to give his father and mother such\npleasure.\n\nThough he was properly grown up, twenty-three years old, Mr. and Mrs.\nWesley always thought of him as their \"boy.\" Fathers and mothers always\ndo this. It doesn't matter how old their children grow to be, they love\nto think of them, and speak of them as their \"boys\" and \"girls.\" Dear\nreaders, remember there is no one on earth that loves you, or ever will\nlove you with such a big love as father and mother. No matter how tall,\nor how strong, or how clever you may grow, they will always love you\nwith the same big love they did when you were little boys and girls.\nAnd, oh! whatever you do, never, never grieve these dearest of all dear\nfriends.\n\nMrs. Wesley had been longing to see her \"boy\" again, especially now that\nhe had become Fellow of Lincoln College. At last her wish was granted.\nThere were a great many things that puzzled Jack which he wanted to ask\nhis father and mother about. So he went and spent a long summer at home,\ngetting his hard questions answered, and helping his father with the\nwork that was now almost too much for him. He had such a happy time\nthat he was almost sorry when the autumn came and he had to return to\nOxford.\n\nBeing at school and college costs a great deal of money, and Jack knew\nthat his father was not a rich man, and that he had hard work often to\npay his college expenses. Jack had been very sorry to be such a burden\nto his parents, and tried to be as careful as he could. Have you ever\nseen a picture of Mr. John Wesley? If you have, you will have noticed\nhis long hair. Every one at Oxford wore their hair short; but having it\ncut cost money, and John used to say: \"I've no money to spend on\nhair-dressers.\" So, though his fellow-students made great fun of him, he\nsaved his money and wore his hair long, and in time got so accustomed to\nit, that he wore it long all his life. Now that he was Fellow of Lincoln\nCollege he received enough money to pay his own expenses, and it made\nhim very happy to think he need no longer be an expense to his dear\nfather. But he resolved still to be as careful as he could, and never\nagain to go into debt.\n\nWhen he went back to his new College, after spending the summer at home,\nhe said to himself: \"I will give up all the old friends who have so\noften tempted me to do things that a Christian ought not to do, and I\nwill make new friends of those who will help me on my way to heaven.\"\nSo, though he was always polite to the many worldly young men who\nwanted to make his acquaintance, he would not have them for his friends.\nThis made some of them say very unkind things about him; but Mr. John\nbore it all quietly, and never said unkind things back again. He felt he\nwas only treading the path Jesus had trod before him, the path which all\nHis disciples must follow.\n\nMr. John got to be so clever that soon he was made professor, or teacher\nof Greek. Some boys and girls--yes, and grown-up people, too--become\nproud when they get to be clever, but Mr. John did not. He determined,\nmore than ever, to be a faithful and humble follower of the Lord Jesus.\nHe was very patient with his scholars, and tried not only to make them\nlearned, but to make them Christians. \"I want these young soldiers of\nChrist to be burning and shining lights wherever they may go,\" he said.\n\"If they are not all intended to be clergymen, they are all intended to\nbe Christians.\"\n\nIn the beginning of the next year (1727), Mr. John went home again to\nhelp his father, who was getting very old, and was often ill. He stayed\nat Wroote about two years, and then went back again to Oxford.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n          Charlie goes to Oxford.--Won't have his brother\n          interfere with him.--A change in\n          Charlie.--Somebody's prayers.--Charlie's chums,\n          and how he treated them.--Dividing\n          time.--Nickname.--A nickname honoured.\n\n\nBEFORE I tell you any more about Mr. John, I am sure you would like to\nknow how Charlie has been getting on all this long time. We left him,\nyou remember, captain of the school at Westminster, where his eldest\nbrother Samuel was a teacher. He was so clever and brave, and such a\ngenerous, loving-hearted boy, that he was a favourite with everybody. He\nstayed nine years at Westminster, and then, when he was eighteen, went\nto one of the colleges at Oxford. It was not the one Mr. John was at,\nbut, being in the same town, the two brothers often saw each other.\n\nCharlie was not a Christian, and made companions of the worldly young\nstudents who spent their time in all sorts of wrong-doings. John was\nvery sorry for this, and spoke to him about it; but Charlie became very\nangry at what he called his brother's interference, and said: \"Do you\nwant me to become a saint all at once?\"\n\nHowever, while Mr. John was away at home those two years helping his\nfather, Charlie changed very much. He became steadier and more\nthoughtful, and even wrote to his brother, and asked for the advice he\nwould not have before. \"I don't exactly know how or when I changed,\" he\nsaid in his letter; \"but it was soon after you went away. It is owing, I\nbelieve, to somebody's prayers (my mother's most likely) that I am come\nto think as I do.\"\n\nWhen boys and girls or grown-up people become Christians, those around\nthem soon find it out. Charlie's giddy companions soon saw something was\nwrong with him. He used to be lazy and shirk his studies, spending his\ntime with them in pleasure and amusement, now he was diligent and worked\nhard.\n\nThe next thing they noticed was that he went to church regularly and\ntook the Sacrament. And here I must tell you how he behaved towards\nthese friends, and I know it will make you like Charlie more than ever.\n\nI told you before how loving and genial he was, and now he did not at\nall like to give up his old chums, and yet he knew that if he meant to\ntravel heavenwards he must have companions that were going the same way.\nHe longed for his friends to become Christians, and talked to them so\nlovingly and so wisely that before very long he got two or three of them\nto join him in fighting against the evils of their nature, and\nencouraging and seeking after everything that was good.\n\nYou have all read in your English history how good King Alfred the Great\ndivided his time; well, Charles and his companions divided theirs in a\nsimilar way. So many hours were spent in study, so many in prayer, and\nso many in sleeping and eating. They made other strict rules for\nthemselves, and lived so much by what we call \"method,\" that at last\nthey got to be called \"Methodists.\"\n\nBoys and girls are very fond of giving nicknames to their companions;\nsometimes it is done in fun, and then there is no harm in it,--but often\nspite and ill-nature suggest the nickname, then it is very wrong and\nvery unkind.\n\nMost of the young men at Oxford thought religion and goodness were only\nthings to make fun of, so Charles and his friends were a butt for their\nridicule. Because they read their Bibles a great deal they called them\n\"Bible Bigots,\" and \"Bible Moths,\" and their meetings they called the\n\"Holy Club.\"\n\nBut \"Methodists\" was the name that fastened most firmly to them, and,\nas you know, after all these years, this is the name we call ourselves\nby to-day. Just think; a nickname given to a few young men at Oxford,\nmore than one hundred and fifty years ago, is now held in honour by\nhundreds of thousands of people all over the world.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n          The Christian band at Oxford.--How they spent\n          their time.--Mr. John and the little ragged\n          girl.--A very early bird.--Methodist rules, and\n          the Methodist guide-book.\n\n\nWHEN Mr. John came back to Oxford, of course he joined the Christian\nband, and very soon they made him their leader. He was cleverer and had\nmore experience than the others, and they all looked up to him for help\nand advice. Others joined the club, and soon there were twenty-five\nmembers.\n\nDo you remember a verse in the Bible that, speaking of Jesus, says: \"He\nwent about doing good\"? Well, these young men who were taking Jesus for\ntheir copy, just did the same; all their spare time was spent in \"doing\ngood.\" Some of them tried to rescue their fellow-students from bad\ncompanions and get them to become Christians; others visited and helped\nthe poor. Some taught the children in the workhouse, and some got leave\nto go into the prison and read to the prisoners. Very few of them were\nrich, but they denied themselves things they really wanted in order to\nbuy books, and medicine for the poor. Every night they used to have a\nmeeting to talk over what they had done, and settle their work for the\nnext day.\n\nMr. John started a school for poor little children; he paid a teacher to\nteach them, and bought clothes for the boys and girls whose parents\ncould not afford to buy them. Once a little girl from the school called\nto see Mr. John. It was a cold winter's day, and she was very poorly\nclad.\n\n\"You seem half starved, dear,\" he said; \"have you nothing to wear but\nthat cotton frock?\"\n\n\"No, sir,\" she answered; \"this is the only frock I have.\"\n\nMr. John put his hand into his pocket, but, alas! he found no money\nthere, it had all gone. Just then he caught sight of the pictures on the\nwalls of his room, and he thought: \"How can I allow these beautiful\npictures to hang here while Christ's poor are starving?\"\n\nWe are not told, but I think we can be quite sure that the pictures were\nsold, and that the little girl got a warm winter's frock.\n\nMr. John was just as careful of his time as his money, he never wasted a\nmoment. He believed in the proverb you have often heard: \"Early to bed\nand early to rise.\" Some people say: \"Get up with the lark,\" but I\nthink Mr. John was always up before that little bird even awoke. Every\nmorning when the clock struck four he jumped out of bed, and began his\nwork. Wasn't that early? I wonder which of us would like to get up at\nthat time? And he did not do this only when he was young, he did it all\nhis life, even when he was an old, old man.\n\nI told you these \"Methodists\" made rules for themselves. One of them was\nto set apart special days for special prayer for their friends and\npupils. And another one which we all should copy was: NEVER TO SPEAK\nUNKINDLY OF ANY ONE. The Bible was their Guide Book, and it told them,\nas it will tell us, all they ought to do, and all they ought not to do.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n          A long walk.--More persecutions.--Mr. John's\n          illness.--Not afraid to die.--Mrs. Wesley\n          scolds.--Home again.--A proud father.--Mr.\n          Wesley's opinion about fasting.--At Wroote once\n          more.--Mr. Wesley's \"Good-bye.\"\n\n\nWILL you look on your map of England and find London? Now find Oxford.\nThe two places are a long way apart, are they not?\n\nWell, do you know Mr. John and Mr. Charles Wesley used often to walk all\nthat long way to see a friend. You know there were no railways in those\ndays, and to go by coach cost a great deal of money. This friend's name\nwas Mr. Law; he was a very good man, and encouraged and helped the two\nbrothers very much. He taught them that \"religion is the simplest thing\nin the world.\" He said: \"It is just this, 'We love Jesus, because Jesus\nfirst loved us.'\"\n\nAt Oxford, the Methodists were still called all sorts of names and made\ngreat fun of, not only by the idle, wicked students, but even by clever\nand learned men who ought to have known better. Some of their enemies\nsaid: \"They only make friends with those who are as queer as\nthemselves.\" But Mr. John showed them this was not true, for in every\nway he could he helped and showed kindness to those who said the most\nunkind things.\n\nHard work, close study, and fasting, at last made Mr. John very ill; one\nnight he thought he was going to die. He was not at all afraid, he just\nprayed, \"O God, prepare me for Thy coming.\" But God had a great deal of\nwork for His servant to do, and did not let him die. With care and a\ndoctor's skill he got quite better.\n\nPoor Mrs. Wesley was often anxious about her two Oxford sons, and once\nwrote them quite a scolding letter. \"Unless you take more care of\nyourselves,\" she said, \"you will both be ill. You ought to know better\nthan to do as you are doing.\" Mrs. Wesley did not agree with them\nfasting so much; she believed God meant us to take all the food\nnecessary to support our bodies.\n\nJust about this time, Mr. Samuel--the big brother--got an appointment as\nmaster of a boys' school somewhere in the West of England; but before he\nwent to his new place he thought he would like to go home, and see his\ndear father and mother.\n\nWhen his brothers at Oxford heard this, they thought they would go too,\nso that they might all be together in the old home once more. And, oh,\nwhat a happy time they had! Mr. Wesley was getting very old, and he was\nso proud to have his \"boys\" with him again. He talked very seriously to\nJohn and Charles, and told them he did not at all approve of their way\nof living. He said he was sure God never meant us to fast so much as to\ninjure our health, or to shut ourselves up and be so much alone. Jesus\nsaid: \"Let your light shine _before men_;\" our light should be where\n_everybody_ can see it. I am sure old Mr. Wesley was right.\n\nA few months later, and the brothers were again at Wroote, standing by\nthe bedside of their dying father. \"I am very near heaven,\" he said, as\nthey gathered round him, \"Good-bye!\" And \"father\" went Home.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n          A corner in America.--Wanted a missionary.--Mrs.\n          Wesley gives up her sons to God's work.--At the\n          dock-side.--The good ship \"Simmonds.\"--Life on\n          board.--A terrible storm.--The German Christians\n          who were not afraid.\n\n\nIF you look on your map of the United States, you will see in the\nsouth-east, a little corner called Georgia. It was to this place that a\nnumber of poor people from England had emigrated; people who had been\ncruelly treated in prison, and on being released had no work to do and\nnowhere to go. Some kind Christian gentlemen collected money to help\nthem to get to Georgia, where they could have plenty of work and plenty\nof food. A number of poor Germans, too, who had been persecuted in their\nown country because of their religion, also went out to this place where\nthey could worship God as they chose, without fear of cruel treatment.\n\nWhen people are driven out of their own country like this, they are\ncalled \"exiles,\" and though this little band of exiles found work and\nfood, and freedom to worship God in the new land, they had no minister.\nSo the gentlemen who had raised the money, and who knew what brave, good\nmen Mr. John and Mr. Charles Wesley were, asked them if they would go\nout and minister to these poor people in Georgia. \"You are just the men\nto comfort and teach them,\" they said.\n\nThen, too, a number of Indians lived in Georgia, and they wanted to be\nfriends with the white strangers, and General Oglethorpe and Dr. Burton,\nthe gentlemen I mentioned, thought it would be a good opportunity to\npreach the gospel to them.\n\nWhen Mr. John Wesley was first asked, he said: \"No, I cannot go, I\ncannot leave my mother.\" Then they said: \"Will you go if your mother\ngives her consent?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said John, feeling quite sure she would never give it.\n\nSo he went to Epworth and told his mother all about the matter. Then he\nwaited for her reply. Mrs. Wesley loved her \"boy\" John very, very\ndearly, and if he went to America she might never see him again, and yet\nher answer came: \"If I had twenty sons, I would give them all up for\nsuch a work.\"\n\nEven after obtaining this unexpected consent, John did not decide to go\nuntil he had asked the advice of his brother Samuel and his friend Mr.\nLaw, both of whom advised him to undertake the work. Then both he and\nhis brother sent in their decision to General Oglethorpe, and began\nmaking preparations for their long journey across the Atlantic Ocean.\n\nNow I want us to imagine ourselves at Gravesend, a place on the river\nThames near London. Look at all those ships in the docks! See, there is\none that looks just ready to sail! Can you read the name of it?\n\"S-i-m-m-o-n-d-s\"--\"Simmonds.\" Yes, that is its name. Let us button up\nour coats, as it is a sharp October day, and watch the passengers go on\nboard.\n\nLook at that little man with the nice face, and a lot of colour in his\ncheeks! What long hair he has! and how smooth it is! It looks as if he\nbrushed it a great deal. See, he is looking this way, and we can notice\nhis beautiful forehead and his bright eyes. Why that must be Mr. John\nWesley! And, of course, that is his brother Charles talking to some\ngentlemen on the deck. See, he is holding a book close to his eyes--he\nmust be short-sighted. Listen, how the others are laughing! I expect he\nis making a joke. Now he is walking off arm in arm with one of his\ncompanions. He seems to be still loving-hearted and full of fun, the\nsame Charlie he was at Westminster School only grown big.\n\nA number of Germans were also on board the \"Simmonds,\" all bound for\nGeorgia. Before they had been many days at sea, John Wesley found out\nthat they were earnest Christians, and he began at once to learn German\nin order that he might talk to them.\n\nThe brothers had not taken their father's advice about fasting; they and\nsome other Methodists who were their fellow-passengers still thought\nthey ought to do with as little food as possible, and with as few\ncomforts. They ate nothing but rice, biscuits, and bread, and John\nWesley slept on the floor. He was obliged to do it one night, because\nthe waves got into the ship and wet his bed, and because he slept so\nwell that night, he thought the floor was good enough for him, and\ncontinued to sleep on it.\n\nI expect you wonder how they spent their time during the long, long\nvoyage to Georgia. I will tell you. They made the same strict rules for\nthemselves that they did at Oxford. They got up every morning at four\no'clock, and spent the time in private prayer until five o'clock. Then\nthey all read the Bible together until seven. After that they had\nbreakfast, and then public prayers for everybody on the ship who would\ncome. Then from nine to twelve--just your school-time, little readers,\nis it not?--Mr. John studied his German; somebody else studied Greek,\nanother taught the children on board, and Mr. Charles wrote sermons.\nThen at twelve o'clock they all met and told each other how they had\nbeen getting along, and what they had been doing. At one o'clock they\nhad dinner, and after that they read or preached to those on board until\nfour o'clock. Then they studied and preached and prayed again until\nnine, when they went to bed. Were not these strict rules? I wonder if\nthey ever had the headache? I am afraid we should, if we studied so hard\nand so long.\n\nHave you ever been to Liverpool, and seen one of those beautiful vessels\nthat go to America? They are as nice and as comfortable as the best of\nyour own homes, and you can get to the other side of the Atlantic in\nabout ten days. But at the time of which I write, more than one hundred\nand fifty years ago, travelling was very different. The ships were much\nsmaller, and tossed about a great deal more, and the passengers had to\nput up with a great many discomforts. Then again, it took weeks, instead\nof days, to get across to America.\n\nThe passengers on board the \"Simmonds\" met with some terrible storms;\noften the great waves would dash over their little ship, until it seemed\nas if it must sink and never rise again.\n\nOne of these storms began on a Sunday, about twelve o'clock in the\nmiddle of the day. The wind roared round them, and the waves, rising\nlike mountains, kept washing over and over the decks. Every ten minutes\ncame a shock against the side of the boat, that seemed as if it would\ndash the planks in pieces.\n\nDuring this storm as Mr. Wesley was coming out of the cabin-door, a big\nwave knocked him down. There he lay stunned and bruised, until some one\ncame to his help. When he felt better, he went and comforted the poor\nEnglish passengers, who were dreadfully afraid, and were screaming and\ncrying in their fear. Then he went among the Germans, but they needed no\ncomfort from him. He heard them singing as he got near, and found them\ncalm and quiet, not the least bit frightened.\n\n\"Were you not afraid?\" Mr. Wesley asked them when the storm was over.\n\n\"No,\" they answered, \"we are not afraid to die.\"\n\n\"But were not the children frightened?\" he said.\n\n\"No,\" they said again, \"our children are not afraid to die either.\"\n\nDuring that terrible storm they had remembered how Jesus stilled the\ntempest on the Lake of Galilee, and His voice seemed to say to them now:\n\"Peace, be still.\"\n\nThis reminds me of a piece of poetry, which I dare say some of you have\nread. It is about a little girl whose father was a captain, and once\nwhen there was an awful storm, and even the captain himself was\nfrightened:\n\n              \"----his little daughter\n          Took her father by the hand,\n          And said: 'Is not God upon the water\n          Just the same as on the land?'\"\n\n\"_The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than\nthe mighty waves of the sea:_\" Psa. xciii. 4.\n\n\"_He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still:_\"\nPsa. cvii. 29.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\n          In the Savannah river.--Landed.--A prayer meeting\n          on the top of a hill.--German Christians.--The\n          Indians.--Tomo Chachi and his squaw.--Their\n          welcome to Mr. Wesley.--A jar of milk and a jar of\n          honey.\n\n\nAT last storms and dangers were over, and the good ship \"Simmonds\"\nfloated safely in the smooth waters of the Savannah river. You can find\nthis on your map. They cast anchor near a little island called Tybee\nIsland, where beautiful pine trees grew all along the shore.\n\nThe first thing they did on landing was to go to the top of a hill,\nkneel down together, and thank God for bringing them safely across the\nocean. You remember Noah's first act after leaving the ship that God put\nhim into when the world was drowned, was to offer a sacrifice of\nthankfulness for God's care over him. And when Abraham got safely into\nthe strange land to which God sent him, the first thing he did was to\noffer sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. In the same way the little\nmissionary band from England showed their reverence and gratitude to the\nGod who rules earth, sky, and sea.\n\nWhen they got to the town of Savannah they found it a very small place.\nThere were only about forty houses, besides a church, a prison built of\nlogs of wood, and a mill where everybody took their corn to be ground.\n\nI told you, if you remember, that besides the poor English exiles there\nwere a number of German Christians. These were called Moravians, and\nthey were so glad to have a minister that they came to meet Mr. Wesley,\nand told him how pleased they were to see him. Mr. Wesley and one of his\nfriends lived with them in Savannah for a long time, and they soon found\nwhat earnest real Christians they were, true followers of the Lord\nJesus. You know it is the people you live with that know you the best,\nand this is what Mr. Wesley wrote about these Moravians. \"We were in the\nsame room with them from morning till night, except when we went out for\na walk. They were never idle, were always happy, and always kind to one\nanother. They were true copies in all things of their Saviour Jesus\nChrist.\" Was not that a splendid character to have, and would it not be\nnice if those whom we live with could say the same of us?\n\nThere was something near Savannah that you would have liked to see,\nespecially the boys, and that was an Indian town. If there was one\nthing more than another that drew Mr. Wesley to Georgia it was the\nIndians. I expect, like you, he had loved to read and hear about them;\nnow he had a chance to see them. But what he longed for most of all was\nto tell them about Jesus, and to get them to become Christians. The\nIndians lived in tents or tepees as they are called, and a number of\nthese tepees all put up close together was called a town; one of these\ntowns was only about twenty minutes' walk from Savannah.\n\nAfter Mr. Wesley had been a week or two in America, who should come to\nsee him but the Indian chief. Think how excited Mr. Wesley would be! The\nchief's name was Tomo Chachi, and he came looking so grand in all his\nwar paint, with his great feather head-dress, and moccasins made of\nbuffalo skin, ornamented with pretty coloured beads, just as you have\nseen them in pictures.\n\nMr. Wesley thought he must dress up too, to receive his distinguished\nvisitor, so he put on his gown and cassock, and down he went to see Tomo\nChachi. Of course Mr. Wesley did not understand the Indian language, but\nthere was a woman who did, and she acted as interpreter. \"I am glad you\nare come,\" said Tomo Chachi. \"I will go up and speak to the wise men of\nour nation, and I hope they will come and hear you preach.\"\n\nThen Tomo Chachi's wife, or squaw as she is called, who had come with\nher husband, presented the missionaries with a jar of milk. She meant by\nthis that she wanted them to make the story of Jesus Christ very plain\nand simple so that they could understand it, for she said \"we are only\nlike children.\" Then she gave them a jar of honey, and by this she meant\nthat she hoped the missionaries would be very sweet and nice to them.\nThen Tomo Chachi and his squaw went back to their tepee.\n\nA few months after, Mr. Wesley had a long talk with another tribe of\nIndians, a very wicked tribe called the Chicasaws; but they would not\nallow him to preach to them. They said: \"We don't want to be Christians,\nand we won't hear about Christ.\" So Mr. Wesley had to leave them and go\nback disappointed to Savannah.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\n          Proud children.--Edie.--Boys in Georgia.--John and\n          Charles Wesley in the wrong.--Signal\n          failure.--Disappointment.--Return to England.--Mr.\n          Wesley finds out something on the voyage home.--An\n          acrostic.\n\n\nI WONDER if my readers know any boys or girls who sneer and look down\nupon their school companions because they are not so well dressed as\nthemselves? It is a cruel, unkind, un-Christ-like thing to do.\n\nI remember seeing a little girl, and it was in a Sunday School too, who\nhad on a new summer frock and a new summer hat; and oh! Edie did think\nshe looked nice. She kept smoothing her frock down and looking at it,\nand then tossing her head. By her side sat a sweet-faced little girl\nabout a year younger than Edie. Annie's dress was of print and quite\nplainly made, but very clean and tidy. After admiring herself a little\nwhile, Edie turned to Annie and thinking, I suppose, that she might be\nwearing a pinafore, and have a frock underneath, she rudely lifted it\nup, and finding it really was her dress, she turned away with a very\nugly, disgusted look on her face, and said, scornfully \"What a frock!\"\nProud, thoughtless boys and girls never know the hurts they give, and\nthe harm they do.\n\nThe boys in Georgia were no better than some boys in England. At a\nschool where one of the Methodists taught there were some poor boys who\nwore neither shoes nor stockings, and their companions who were better\noff taunted them and made their lives miserable. Their teacher did not\nknow what to do, and asked Mr. Wesley for advice. \"I'll tell you what\nwe'll do,\" he said; \"we'll change schools\"--Mr. Wesley taught a school\ntoo--\"and I'll see if I can cure them.\"\n\nSo the two gentlemen changed schools, and when the boys came the next\nmorning they found they had a new teacher, and this new teacher, to\ntheir astonishment, wore neither shoes nor stockings. You can imagine\nhow the boys stared; but Mr. Wesley said nothing, just kept them to\ntheir lessons. This went on for a week, and at the end of that time the\nboys were cured of their pride and vanity.\n\nThough Mr. John and Mr. Charles Wesley were so good, they were not\nperfect. They said and did many unwise things, and only saw their\nmistake when it was too late. One thing was they expected the people to\nlead the same strict lives they did, and to believe everything they\nbelieved. This, of course, the people of Georgia would not do, they\nthought their ways were just as good as Mr. Wesley's, and I dare say in\nsome things they were. Instead of trying to persuade them and explaining\nwhy one way was better than another, Mr. Wesley told them they _must_ do\nthis, and they mustn't do that, until at last they got to dislike him\nvery much. One woman got so angry that she knocked him down.\n\nI am sure you will all feel very sorry when you read this, for Mr.\nWesley was working very hard amongst them, and thought he was doing what\nwas right. Mr. Charles did not get on any better at Frederica, where he\nhad gone to work and preach. Like his brother, he was very strict and\nexpected too much from the people. He tried and tried, not seeing where\nhe was to blame, and at last wearied and disappointed he returned to\nEngland.\n\nAfter he had gone, Mr. John took his place at Frederica, hoping to get\non better than he had done at Savannah. It was of no use; he stayed for\ntwelve weeks, but things only seemed to get worse and worse. At last he\nhad to give up and go back to Savannah. Things, however, were no better\nthere, and before long he too began to see that his mission had been a\nfailure, and he returned to England a sadder and a wiser man.\n\nIn spite of all their mistakes Mr. John and his brother must have done\nsome good in Georgia, for the missionary who went after them wrote and\nsaid: \"Mr. Wesley has done much good here, his name is very dear to many\nof the people.\" It must have made the brothers glad to read this, for it\nis hard when you have been doing what you thought was right, and then\nfind it was all wrong.\n\nOn his return voyage to England Mr. Wesley had time to think about all\nthe things that happened in Georgia. He was feeling dreadfully\ndisappointed and discouraged; he had given up everything at home on\npurpose to do good to the people out there. He had meant to convert the\nIndians and comfort and help the Christian exiles, and he was coming\nback not having done either. Poor Mr. Wesley! And the worst of it was,\nthe more he thought about it all, the more he began to see that the\nfault was his own.\n\nThere was another thing he discovered about himself on that voyage home.\nThey encountered a fearful storm, when every one expected to be drowned.\nDuring those awful hours Mr. Wesley found out, almost to his own\nsurprise, that the very thought of death was a terror to him. He knew\nthen that there was something wrong, for no Christian ought to fear to\ndie. So Mr. Wesley went down on his knees and told God how wrong he had\nbeen, that he had thought too much of his own opinions and trusted too\nmuch in himself. He asked God to give him more faith, more peace, more\nlove.\n\nHe was always glad afterwards that he had gone to Georgia, and thanked\nGod for taking him into that strange land, for his failure there had\nhumbled him and shown him his weakness and his failings.\n\nIt is a grand thing when we get to know ourselves. Let us be always on\nthe look-out for our own faults, and when we see them, fight them.\n\nI would like to close this chapter with an acrostic I once heard on the\nword \"Faith.\" It is a thing little folks, yes, and big folks often find\nhard to understand, perhaps this may help you.\n\nWhat is Faith?\n\n          F ull\n          A ssurance (confidence, having no doubt)\n          I n\n          T rusting\n          H im (Jesus).\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\n          George Whitefield, the \"boy parson.\"--The Wesleys\n          back in England.--Long walks.--Preaching by the\n          way-side.--A talk in a stable.--Sermon in\n          Manchester.--Mr. Charles in London.--Wants\n          something he has not got.--Gets it.--Mr. John\n          wants it too.--A top place in the class.\n\n\nYOU remember the Holy Club which the Methodists started at Oxford? Well,\none of the youngest members was named George Whitefield; he was a pupil\nof Mr. John Wesley's, and when he left Oxford he became a preacher.\nWhile the two Wesleys were in Georgia, he carried on their work in\nEngland. He had learnt to love Jesus very dearly, had felt how wicked\nand sinful he was, and had gone to the Saviour and told Him all, asking\nHim to \"Create in him a clean heart, and to renew within him a right\nspirit.\" Then he was so happy in knowing he was forgiven, that he wanted\nevery one else to be happy and forgiven too. He was so young when he\ncommenced to preach that every one called him the \"boy parson;\" but he\ntalked so earnestly and kindly to the people that crowds everywhere\nflocked to hear him.\n\nWhen he heard that the two Wesleys were leaving Georgia he determined to\ngo and take their place, and see what he could do for the poor exiles.\nBefore he left England he preached a good-bye sermon, and told the\npeople that he was going this long and dangerous voyage, and perhaps\nthey might never see his face again. When they heard this, the children\nand the grown-up people, rich and poor, burst into tears, they loved him\nso much. But as this book is to be about Mr. John Wesley, we must not\nfollow Mr. Whitefield across the Atlantic. Try to remember his name\nthough, for he and the Wesleys were life-long friends, and you will hear\nabout him again further on.\n\nWhen Mr. John and Mr. Charles got back to England they took up George\nWhitefield's work, going from town to town telling the people about\nJesus Christ. As there were no railways they had to walk a great deal,\nand they used to speak to the people they met on the roads and in the\nvillages through which they passed. Once, when Mr. Wesley and a friend\nwere on their way to Manchester, they stayed one night in an inn at\nStafford. Before they went to bed, Mr. Wesley asked the mistress of the\nhouse if they might have family prayer. She was quite willing, and so\nall the servants were called in. Next morning, after breakfast, Mr.\nWesley had a talk with them all again, and even went into the stables\nand spoke to the men there about their sins and about the love of Jesus\nChrist.\n\nHe preached in Manchester the next Sunday, and this was his text: \"If\nany man be in Christ, he is a new creature\" (2 Cor. v. 17). He explained\nto them that when any one begins to love Jesus, and tries to copy His\nlife, they grow more and more like what He was. Then everything becomes\ndifferent; the things they loved to do before cease to be a pleasure to\nthem, and the places they liked to go to they no longer care to visit;\nthey are \"_new creatures_ in Christ Jesus.\"\n\nThe next morning (Monday) Mr. Wesley, and the friend who was with him,\nleft Manchester and went on to Knutsford. Here, too, the people listened\nattentively, while they preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. They\nvisited other towns, and then Mr. Wesley returned to Oxford.\n\nHe had not been long there when he heard that his brother Charles was\nvery ill in London, and went at once to see him. Charles Wesley had been\nliving and working there with some German Christians, or Moravians, as\nthey were called, and before long he found that these people had\nsomething in their lives that he did not possess. Like the Germans he\nmet in Georgia, their religion gave them peace and joy on week-days as\nwell as on Sundays.\n\nWhen he was ill, one of these Moravians, named Peter Boehler, came to see\nhim. During the little talk they had, the visitor said:\n\n\"What makes you hope you are saved?\"\n\n\"Because I have done my best to serve God,\" answered Mr. Charles.\n\nYou see, he was trusting in all the good deeds he had done, and not on\nJesus Christ's suffering and death for him.\n\nMr. Boehler shook his head, and did not say any more then. But he left\nCharles Wesley longing for the something he had not got.\n\nWhen he was a little better, he was carried to the house of a poor\nworking-man named Bray. He was not clever, indeed, he hardly knew how to\nread, but he was a happy believer in Jesus; and he explained to Mr.\nCharles that _doing_ was not enough, that we must believe that Jesus\nChrist died on the cross for us, and that it is only through Him that we\ncan pray to God, and only by His death that we can hope to go to heaven.\n\nThen a poor woman came in, and she made him understand better than any\none; and at last Mr. Charles saw where he had been in the wrong, and\ninstead of trusting in his own goodness and in all the kind things he\nhad done, he just gave up his faith in these, and trusted alone in the\ndying love of his Saviour, and ours.\n\nI expect all my readers have classes in the schools they go to. Some of\nyou are at the top of your class, some of you are in the middle, and\nsome of you are--well--near the bottom. I think this is very much the\nway in Christ's school, the only difference is that in your class at\nschool there can only be _one_ at the top. In Christ's school there can\nbe any number at the top. There are a great number of Christians who are\nonly half-way up in the class, and I am afraid there are a still greater\nnumber at the bottom. That is a place none of us like to be in at\nschool; then don't let us be content to keep that place in Christ's\nschool; let us all seek and obtain top places.\n\nWhen Mr. John Wesley visited his brother, he found he had got above him\nin Christ's school; he had taken a top place in the class, and John\ncould not rest until he had got a top place too. So he prayed very\nearnestly, and got the people that had helped his brother to talk to\nhim, but still he did not seem to understand. Four days after he went to\na little service, and while the preacher was explaining the change that\ncomes in us, when we trust in Jesus alone, John Wesley saw it all, took\na top place in Christ's school, and joyfully went and told his brother.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\n          Methodist rules.--Pulpits closed against Mr.\n          Wesley.--A visit to Germany.--A walk in\n          Holland.--Christian David, the German\n          carpenter.--The Fellow of Lincoln College takes\n          lessons in a cottage.\n\n\nI DARE say many of my readers go to Wesleyan Chapels, and understand\nsome of the Methodist rules. Most of these rules were made by the two\nMr. Wesleys and their friends more than one hundred and fifty years ago,\nand they have been kept by their followers ever since. I want to tell\nyou about a few of them.\n\nThe people who attended the Methodist meetings were divided into little\nbands or companies, no band to have fewer than five persons in it, and\nnone more than ten. They were to meet every week, and each one in turn\nwas to tell the rest what troubles and temptations they had had, and how\nGod, through Jesus Christ, had helped them since the last meeting.\n\nEvery Wednesday evening, at eight o'clock, all the bands joined together\nin one large meeting, which began and ended with hymns and prayer.\nThere were many other rules, some of which I will tell you later on,\nothers you can read about when you are older.\n\nAll this time you must remember that Mr. Wesley was a church clergyman.\nHe loved the Church of England very dearly, though there were a great\nmany things in it with which he did not agree.\n\nWherever he preached he told the people just what he believed, and as\nvery few clergymen thought as he did, they did not like him speaking his\nopinions so freely. At last, first one and then another said he should\nnever preach in their churches again. Yet the message Mr. Wesley gave to\nthe people, was the very same message that Christ spoke long before on\nthe shores of Galilee.\n\nMr. Wesley still longed to understand his Bible better, and to learn\nmore of Jesus Christ, so he determined to go and visit the Moravians at\na place called Herrnhuth in Germany, and see if he could get some help\nfrom them. So one June day, he said good-bye to his mother, and with\neight of his friends set off. One of these friends was an old member of\nthe Holy Club at Oxford. On their way to Herrnhuth, they had to pass\nthrough Holland. This is what Mr. Wesley says about a walk they had in\nthat country:\n\nI never saw such a beautiful road. Walnut trees grow in rows on each\nside, so that it is like walking in a gentleman's garden. We were\nsurprised to find that in this country the people at the inns will not\nalways take in travellers who ask for food and bed. They refused to\nreceive us at several inns. At one of the towns we were asked to go and\nsee their church, and when we went in we took off our hats in reverence,\nas we do in England, but the people were not pleased, they said: \"You\nmust not do so, it is not the custom in this country.\"\n\nAfter a long, long journey through Germany, the little party at last\nreached Herrnhuth.\n\nMr. Wesley had only been a few days there, when he wrote to his brother\nSamuel: \"God has given me my wish, I am with those who follow Christ in\nall things, and who walk as He walked.\"\n\nI must just tell you about one of these Moravians, because he helped Mr.\nWesley more than any of the others. His name was Christian David. He was\nonly an ignorant working-man, and when not preaching was always to be\nfound working at his carpenter's bench. But David was Christian in life\nas well as in name; he \"walked with God,\" and whether he preached and\nprayed, or worked with chisel and plane, he did all \"in the name of the\nLord Jesus.\" He was never tired of telling people about the Saviour he\nloved, and trying to get them to love Him too. He was a man who often\nmade mistakes, but as some one has said, \"the man who never makes\nmistakes never makes anything;\" and Christian David was always ready to\nown his faults when they were pointed out to him.\n\nYou remember to what a high position Mr. Wesley had risen at Oxford, and\nhow clever he was? Yet Christian David knew more than he did about Jesus\nChrist and His love; and the Fellow of Lincoln College was not too proud\nto go and sit in a cottage and be taught by this humble carpenter, who\nso closely followed the Holy Carpenter of Nazareth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\n          Fetter Lane.--Popular preachers.--Old friends meet\n          again.--Love-feasts.--1739--Small beginning of a\n          great gathering.--A crowded church.--A lightning\n          thought.--But a shocking thing.--George\n          Whitefield's welcome at Bristol.--\"You shall not\n          preach in my pulpit.\"--\"Nor mine.\"--\"Nor\n          mine.\"--Poor Mr. Whitefield.\n\n\nWHILE Mr. Wesley was in Germany, his brother Charles had been preaching\nand working in London, and when Mr. John returned he found about\nthirty-two people had joined the society there. They had hired a room in\nFetter Lane, and here they held their meetings. Mr. Wesley had come back\nso full of love to Jesus Christ, and therefore so full of love to\neverybody, and so eager for all to be as happy as he was, that he soon\ngot many others to join them. When he wrote to his German friends, he\nsaid: \"We are trying here, by God's help, to copy you as you copy\nChrist.\"\n\nHe and his brother still preached in any church where they were allowed,\nand wherever they went crowds of poor people followed to hear them. They\nused to go, too, to the prisons, and the hospitals, and preach to the\nsinful and the suffering. They told them how Jesus forgave sins, and how\nHe used to heal the sick; and the sinful were made sorry, and the\nsuffering ones were comforted, and many believed in Jesus and prayed for\nforgiveness.\n\nMr. Wesley had returned from Germany in September; a few months later\nMr. George Whitefield came back from Georgia. He had got on very well\nwith the people there, because he did not try to alter the ways they had\nbeen accustomed to, unless it was really necessary.\n\nMr. Wesley went to meet his old friend, and, oh! how pleased they were\nto see each other again. Mr. Whitefield joined the little society in\nFetter Lane, and they all worked together most happily.\n\nI dare say most of my Methodist readers will have been to a love-feast;\nthose of you who have not, will at any rate have heard of them. Well, it\nwas just about this time that love-feasts were first started. The little\nbands or companies that I told you about used to join together, and have\na special prayer meeting once a month on a Saturday; and the following\nday, which, of course, was Sunday, they all used to meet again between\nseven o'clock and ten in the evening for a love-feast--a meal of bread\nand water eaten altogether and with prayer. It was a custom of the\nMoravians, and it was from them Mr. Wesley copied it.\n\nI have also heard that the love-feast was provided for the people, who\nhad walked a great many miles to hear Mr. Wesley preach, and were tired\nand hungry. If this was the idea of the love-feast, they would have to\ngive the people a great deal more bread than they do now, or they would\nstill be hungry when they had done.\n\nThe year after Mr. Whitefield returned from Georgia, 1739, was a\nwonderful year for the Methodists. It started with a love-feast and\nprayer meeting, which lasted half through the night. Then a few days\nlater, on January 5th, the two Mr. Wesleys and Mr. Whitefield, with four\nother ministers, met together to talk about all they hoped to do during\nthe year, and make rules and plans for their helpers and members.\n\nI told you, if you remember, that first one pulpit and then another was\nclosed against these clergymen. At last there were only two or three\nchurches where they were allowed to preach. One day when Mr. Whitefield\nwas preaching in one of these, the people came in such crowds to hear\nhim, that hundreds could not get into the church. Some of them went\naway, but a great number stood outside.\n\nAll at once there flashed across Mr. Whitefield's mind this thought:\n\"Jesus preached in the open air to the people, why can't I?\" Numbers\nhad often before been turned away when he preached, but he had never\nthought of having a service outside a church, it seemed a most shocking\nthing. However, the message seemed to come straight from God. He dared\nnot act on it at once, for you see he was a clergyman, and had always\nbeen brought up to believe that inside the church was the only place\nwhere people can properly worship God.\n\nWhen he mentioned the matter to his friends, some of them were very much\nshocked, and thought to preach in the open air would be a very wrong\nthing. But some said: \"We will pray about it, and ask God to show us\nwhat we ought to do.\" So they knelt down and prayed to be guided to do\nthe right thing.\n\nSoon after this Mr. Whitefield went to Bristol, where he had been liked\nso much before he went to America. When he got there he was invited to\npreach first in one church and then in another, all were open to him.\nBut before very long the clergymen in the place showed that they\ndisapproved of the plain way in which he spoke to the people, and they\ntold him they would not allow him to preach in their pulpits again.\n\nBy and by all the churches were closed against him, and there was\nnowhere but the prison where he was allowed to preach. Soon the mayor of\nBristol closed that door also.\n\nPoor Mr. Whitefield! what could he do now? I think I know one thing he\nwould do. He would turn to his Bible, and there he would read: \"In all\nthy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.\"\n\nIn the next chapter you shall hear how God fulfilled His promise to\nGeorge Whitefield.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\n          Kingswood.--Grimy colliers.--The shocking thing is\n          done.--A beautiful church.--From 200 to\n          20,000.--John Wesley shocked.--Drawing lots.--To\n          be or not to be.--To be.--Mr. Wesley gets over the\n          shock.--George Whitefield's \"good-bye\" to the\n          colliers.\n\n\nLONG, long ago, before all this happened that I have been telling you,\nthere was a forest near Bristol where the kings of England used to hunt,\nKingswood it was called. But at the time of which I write, most of the\ntrees had been cut down; a great many coal mines had been dug, and the\npeople who lived round about and worked in the mines were a wild and\nwicked lot. They had no churches, and those in Bristol were three or\nfour miles away.\n\nSurely, Mr. Whitefield thought, these people ought to have the gospel of\nJesus Christ preached to them; they have no church, it cannot be wrong\nto preach to them in the open air. So, one Saturday in this year, 1739,\nMr. Whitefield set off to Kingswood. It was a cold winter's day, but his\nheart was warm inside with love for these poor neglected colliers, and\nhe soon got warm outside with his long walk.\n\nWhen he reached Kingswood he found an open space called Rose Green,\nwhich he thought was just the place for a service. Standing on a little\nmound which did for a pulpit, he commenced to preach; and surely that\nwas the grandest church in which a Methodist minister ever held a\nservice. The blue sky of heaven was his roof, the green grass beneath\nhim the floor; and as Mr. Whitefield stood in his FIRST FIELD PULPIT,\nhis thoughts went back, down the ages, to the dear Master whose steps he\nwas seeking to follow--the Preacher of Nazareth, whose pulpit was the\nmountain-side, and whose hearers were the publicans and sinners. Two\nhundred grimy colliers stood and listened to that earnest young\npreacher.\n\nMr. Whitefield continued his visits to Kingswood; the second time,\ninstead of two hundred there were 2,000 eager listeners. The next time\nover 4,000 came to hear; and so the numbers went on increasing until he\nhad a congregation of 20,000.\n\nOnce, after he had been preaching, he wrote this: \"The trees and the\nhedges were all in full leaf, and the sun was shining brightly. All the\npeople were silent and still, and God helped me to speak in such a loud\nvoice that everybody could hear me. All in the surrounding fields were\nthousands and thousands of people, some in coaches and some on\nhorseback, while many had climbed up into the trees to see and hear.\"\n\nAs Mr. Whitefield preached, nearly all were in tears. Many of the men\nhad come straight from the coal-pits, and the tears that trickled down\ntheir cheeks made little white gutters on their grimy faces. Then, in\nthe gathering twilight, they sang the closing hymn, and when the last\nechoes died away in the deepening shadows, Mr. Whitefield felt how\nsolemn it all was, and he, too, could hardly keep back the tears.\n\nMr. Whitefield soon found there was more work at Kingswood than he could\ndo alone, so he wrote and asked Mr. John Wesley to come and help him.\nBeing very _proper_ sort of clergymen, John and Charles Wesley could not\nhelp thinking it a dreadful, and almost a wrong thing to preach anywhere\nbut in a church, or, at any rate, in a room; and for some time they\ncould not decide what to do.\n\nThey asked the other members at Fetter Lane what they thought about it;\nsome said Mr. John ought to go, and some said he ought not. So at last\nthey decided to draw lots. You know what that is, don't you? If you look\nin your Bible, in Acts i. 26, you will see that the disciples drew lots\nwhen they wanted to make up their number to twelve, after wicked Judas\nhad killed himself. And in John xix. 24, you can read how the soldiers\ncast lots for the coat that had belonged to Jesus, which they took away\nafter they had crucified Him. And in many other places in the Bible we\nread about people casting lots.\n\nSo the society at Fetter Lane cast lots, and it came out that Mr. John\nWesley should go. Everybody was satisfied after this, and even Mr.\nCharles, who more than any of the others had objected, now felt that it\nwas right. So Mr. John set off for Bristol and joined his friend.\n\nThe first Sunday he was there he heard Mr. Whitefield preach in the open\nair, and this is what he wrote about it: \"It seemed such a strange thing\nto preach in the fields, when all my life I had believed in everything\nbeing done properly and according to the rules of the Church. Indeed, I\nshould have thought it almost a sin to preach anywhere else.\"\n\nHowever, because of the lots, he felt it was all right; and he was still\nmore sure of this when he saw the crowds, who would never have gone into\na church, listening so intently to God's Word. He very soon got used to\nopen-air preaching, and by and by Mr. Whitefield left the work at\nKingswood to him.\n\nWhen the people heard that Mr. Whitefield was going to leave them, they\nwere very, very sorry; and the day he rode out of Bristol, a number of\nthem, about twenty, rode on horseback with him, they could not bear to\nsay \"good-bye.\"\n\nAs he passed through Kingswood, the poor colliers, who were so grateful\nfor all he had done for them, came out to meet him, and told him they\nhad a great surprise for him. They had been very busy collecting money\nfor a school for poor children, and now they wanted their dear friend,\nMr. Whitefield, to lay the corner-stone of their new building.\n\nHe was surprised and delighted; and when the ceremony was over, he knelt\ndown and prayed that the school might soon be completed, and that God's\nblessing might ever rest upon it; and all those rough colliers bowed\ntheir heads, and uttered a fervent \"Amen.\"\n\nAt last \"good-bye\" was said to the dear minister who had brought them\nthe glad tidings of salvation, and leaving them in charge of Mr. Wesley,\nGeorge Whitefield rode away.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\n          John Wesley's moral courage.--What some carriage\n          people thought of him.--And why.--The fashionable\n          Beau in the big, white hat.--Interrupts Mr.\n          Wesley.--Gets as good as he gives.--And\n          better.--The King of Bath slinks away.\n\n\nDO you know what \"moral courage\" is, young readers? How shall I explain\nit? I think you will understand it best if I say it is \"courage to do\nwhat is right.\" A boy may have courage to fight a bigger boy than\nhimself, but he may not have the moral courage to own to a fault before\nhis school-fellows, or to side with the right when that side is\nunpopular.\n\nNow, I think John Wesley showed a great deal of moral courage when he\nstarted to preach in the open air. Remember, he was born a gentleman, he\nwas educated as a gentleman, and as Fellow of an Oxford College had\nalways mixed with distinguished gentlemen. Then he was brought up a\nstrict Churchman, and had always believed that the ways and rules of\nthe Church were the only right and proper ways.\n\nFancy this most particular Church clergyman, wearing his gown and bands,\njust as you have seen him in the pictures, and getting upon a table in\nthe open air, or on the stump of a tree, or climbing into a cart and\npreaching to a lot of dirty, ignorant men and women. This was, indeed,\nmoral courage; he did it because he felt it was the right thing to do,\nand that God wanted him to do it.\n\nMr. Wesley was quite as much liked by the people as Mr. Whitefield had\nbeen, and the sight of him preaching was such a wonderful one, that\nladies and gentlemen came in their carriages to see and to hear.\n\nIn his sermons, Mr. Wesley spoke as plainly to the rich as he did to the\npoor. He told them how God hated sin, and that it was impossible for a\nsinner to get to heaven. Some of the ladies and gentlemen did not like\nthis at all, and called Mr. Wesley \"rude and ill-mannered,\" but it made\nthem feel uncomfortable all the same.\n\nYou have heard of a place called Bath, and that it is noted for its\nmineral waters. It is a fashionable place now, but it was a great deal\nmore fashionable in Mr. Wesley's time. Not being far from Bristol, Mr.\nWesley used sometimes to go and preach there. Once when he went, some of\nhis friends said: \"Don't preach to-day, for Beau Nash means to come and\noppose you.\"\n\nBeau Nash was a gambler, and in other ways, too, a very bad man. But,\nsomehow, he always managed to get enough money to make a great show, and\nmany of the people looked up to him as a leader of fashion. Indeed, he\nwas quite popular among most of the visitors to Bath.\n\nOf course when Mr. Wesley heard that this man was coming to oppose him,\ninstead of being frightened, he was all the more determined to preach.\n\nA great number of people had assembled, many of them Nash's friends, who\nhad come to see \"the fun.\" By and by Beau Nash himself came, looking\nvery grand in a big white hat, and riding in a coach drawn by six grey\nhorses, with footmen and coachmen all complete.\n\nSoon after Mr. Wesley had commenced his sermon, Beau Nash interrupted\nhim by asking: \"Who gave you leave to do what you are doing?\"\n\n\"Jesus Christ,\" said Mr. Wesley, \"through the Archbishop of Canterbury,\nwhen he laid his hands upon my head, and said: 'Take thou authority to\npreach the gospel.'\"\n\nThis answer rather settled Beau Nash. Then he accused Mr. Wesley of\nfrightening the people out of their wits.\n\n\"Did you ever hear me preach?\" said Mr. Wesley.\n\n\"No,\" was the reply.\n\n\"Then how do you know I frighten people?\"\n\n\"By what I have heard.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" said Mr. Wesley. \"Then is not your name Nash?\"\n\n\"It is,\" said the Beau.\n\n\"Well, sir, I suppose, then, I must judge you by what I have heard of\nyou.\"\n\nThis reply so confounded the young man that he could not say a word, and\nwhen an old woman in the congregation stood up and told the Beau what\nshe thought about him, the \"King of Bath,\" as he was called, slunk away,\nand took himself off.\n\nThis affair made a great stir in Bath, and when Mr. Wesley went through\nthe town the streets were full of people, hurrying up and down, wanting\nto see him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\n          Good out of evil.--What Mr. Wesley\n          preached.--\"Hurrah!\"--In the prison.--How the\n          wicked Methodists spoiled the woollen\n          trade.--Emilia Wesley says strong things.--In the\n          sunlight.\n\n\nI KNOW you will have thought it very unkind of the clergymen not\nallowing such a good man as Mr. Wesley to preach in their churches; and\nso it was, very unkind, and very wrong. These clergymen thought so\nthemselves after a time; but God often uses the wrong doings of people\nto bring about a great good, and He did so in this case.\n\nPerhaps if the churches had not been closed against Mr. Wesley and Mr.\nWhitefield they would never have preached in the open air, and thousands\nof people, who would not go to a church, might never have heard the\nGospel of Jesus Christ.\n\nYou boys and girls love father and mother and home, do you not? And when\nyou have been away at day-school or boarding-school, oh! how glad you\nalways are to get to them again. Well, in the same way we all come from\nGod; He is our Father, and heaven is our home, and all of us, deep down\ninside of us, have a longing to go home again some day. But Adam and Eve\nhad to be punished for their disobedience; and the punishment was that\nthey and all that were born after them should die, and never go back to\nhome and to God. This was a terrible punishment, was it not? But you\nknow how Jesus Christ, God's Son, in His great love and pity for us said\nHe would come down from heaven, and be a man on earth; that He would go\nthrough life just as we have to do, and at last die. Then God said if\nHis dear Son did this, and lived on earth a life that should be a\nbeautiful copy for men and women and boys and girls to follow; and if\nthe people would believe on Him and follow His example, God would\nforgive them, and they should go back to Him, their Father, and to\nheaven their home.\n\nAll this Mr. Wesley explained to the people, and told them if they\nbelieved this and loved and followed the Saviour that died for them,\nthey would always be happy, and God would give them His own peace, the\npeace He has promised to those that love Him.\n\nOne wonders how the clergymen could disapprove of such preaching, and\nwhy they should shut Mr. Wesley out of their pulpit, for if they did not\npreach this same Gospel they certainly ought to have done.\n\nHowever, Mr. Wesley got much larger congregations outside the churches\nthan they ever got inside, and wherever he went hundreds of people\nbelieved the wonderful story he told them, and became true followers of\nthe Lord Jesus Christ. Strange things happened at his services; some of\nthe people were so overjoyed at what they heard they could not help\nshouting \"Hurrah!\" and \"Hallelujah!\" and they poked each other in the\nribs, as much as to say: \"Isn't that good?\"\n\nThen, when Mr. Wesley told them how Jesus Christ suffered, and how\ncruelly Judas betrayed Him, and that He allowed all this in order that\nwe might be saved, the people would burst into tears, and you could hear\ntheir sobs all over the great congregation. All sorts of people came to\nthe services, thieves and gamblers, poor people and rich people, and all\nheard the same glad tidings of salvation.\n\nMr. Wesley did not remain at Bristol; several times he went up to\nLondon, and wherever he went crowds came to hear him. One day when he\nwas preaching at Newgate, a prison in London, and was telling the people\nwhat would become of them if they did not give up their wicked ways, a\nwoman whom he had known for many years as a very bad character, burst\ninto tears and begged Mr. Wesley to pray for her. Many of the other\nprisoners did the same, and numbers believed in Jesus Christ as their\nSaviour, and became Christian men and we men.\n\nIt was just wonderful; but it is sad to think that if these people had\nonly heard the Gospel before, they might never have been the wicked men\nand women they were. As soon as ever they heard, they believed.\n\nAll the magazines and newspapers that were published were full of the\ndoings of the Methodists. They were still called all sorts of names and\nabused dreadfully. But the good people had got so used to this that they\ndid not mind, indeed, they hardly expected any other treatment. In those\ndays very few of the poor people could read, and one newspaper\ncomplained that nearly every one who went to hear the Methodists wanted\nto learn to read the Bible, and as soon as ever he could spell out a\nchapter he would go and read it to some one who could not read, and then\nthey would talk about it together. This, the paper said, wasted a great\ndeal of time, for the men were so busy talking and reading their Bibles\nthat they could not get on with their work, and the woollen trade in\nYorkshire would soon be ruined. Of course this last was not true, and\nwas only said to stop the Methodists from preaching. It showed, however,\nhow sincere and how much in earnest the people were.\n\nBut amidst all the persecutions of mobs of ignorant and brutal men and\nwomen who knew no better, and of abuse and slander by the rich and the\neducated, who ought to have known better, nothing pained Mr. Wesley so\nmuch as the unkind words of his sister Emilia. She was his favourite\nsister, and he thought a great deal about her opinion. In an angry\nletter she wrote him, she said the Methodists were \"a lot of bad\npeople.\"\n\nHowever, John Wesley and his friends calmly went on doing the work they\nfelt God had called them to do. The peace of God was in their hearts,\nand the sunlight of His love brightened their faces, and made them\ntender and forgiving to all their enemies. As Jesus Christ prayed for\nthe cruel men who crucified Him, so they prayed: \"Father, forgive them,\nfor they know not what they do.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\n          Don't believe all you hear.--Mrs. Wesley finds her\n          \"dear Jack\" true to his colours.--She joins the\n          Methodists.--And thus dreadfully shocks her eldest\n          son.--Death of Mr. Samuel Wesley.--A loving\n          mother's letter to \"her boy.\"\n\n\nI THINK Mr. Wesley's greatest trouble at this time was, that even his\ndear mother, whom he had not seen for a long, long time, believed many\nof the things that people were saying about him, and felt sure he had\nwandered away from the true religion of Jesus Christ.\n\nIt does not do for us to believe all we hear, and when at last Mrs.\nWesley went to London, and saw and talked with her sons, she found all\nthe tales had been untrue, and that her \"dear Jack\" was the same loyal\nsoldier and servant of Jesus Christ that he had ever been.\n\nInstead of going back to where she had been living, Mrs. Wesley, freed\nfrom her fears, remained in London with her \"boys,\" a proud and happy\nmother. She joined the Society in Fetter Lane, went every Sunday to hear\nher sons preach, and helped them in every way she could. Once she stood\nby Mr. Wesley's side when he preached on Kennington Common to a\ncongregation of about 20,000 people, and I don't know which was the\nprouder, mother or son.\n\nYou remember Mr. Samuel Wesley, the eldest brother? He was one who\nstrongly disapproved of open-air preaching, and thought John and Charles\nwere very much in the wrong for not behaving like other clergymen. When\nhe heard that even his mother had joined the Methodists he was more\nindignant than ever, and wrote her what I think was a very rude letter.\n\n\"I was very much surprised and grieved,\" he said, \"when I heard that you\nhad joined the Methodists, and, indeed, become one of Jack's\ncongregation. My brothers are brothers to me no longer, and now, must my\nmother follow too?\"\n\nIt is sad to think that two weeks after Mr. Samuel wrote this he was\ntaken ill and died in a few hours. He was a clever and a sensible man,\nbut he did not understand, or even try to understand, the work his\nbrothers were doing, and, therefore, disapproved of it.\n\nWhen Mr. Wesley heard the news of his brother's death he set off at\nonce to Bristol to Mr. Charles, and together they went to Tiverton to\ncomfort and help their sister-in-law. They forgot all the unkind things\ntheir brother had said against them, and only thought how they could\nbest show their love and sympathy to those that were left.\n\nPoor Mrs. Wesley was very ill when she heard the sad news. She had\nalways dearly-loved her eldest child, and his death was a great sorrow.\nBut she said: \"It is God's will, therefore it is all right.\"\n\nYou can tell what a real comfort Mr. John was to her at this time, by\nthe letter she wrote to Charles at Bristol about a month after Mr.\nSamuel's death. This is what she said:\n\n          \"DEAR CHARLES,\n\n          \"You cannot want to see me more than I want to see\n          you. Your brother Jack, whom I shall call son\n          Wesley, now that my dear Sam is gone home, has\n          just been in to see me, and has cheered me up ever\n          so much. Indeed, he never comes but he does me\n          good; his visits are all too seldom and too short.\n          For this I cannot blame him, for I know he is\n          about his Heavenly Father's business.\n\n          \"But, dear Charles, I do so want one of you, for I\n          feel weak as a little child. I do pray that God\n          will bless you both in your work, and keep you\n          from harm; and that He will give you strength and\n          courage to preach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.\n\n          \"This is the hearty prayer of, dear Charles,\n\n                                      \"Your loving mother,\n                                               \"SUSANNA WESLEY.\"\n\nIs not that a loving letter? No wonder Mr. Charles prized it very much.\nLittle folks generally take care of all the letters they get. I know I\ndid when I was a little girl, indeed I have some of them now. Grown-up\npeople usually tear theirs up, they get so many. But this letter that\nMr. Charles had from his dear old mother was too precious to be so\ntreated; he took great care of it, and after his death it was found\namong his papers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\n          A very old school.--The first Methodist\n          Chapel.--Well done, Bristol!--Empty purses.--How\n          they were filled.--The penny-a-week rule.\n\n\nYOU remember the school at Kingswood, that the colliers collected the\nmoney for and started? Although it is one hundred and fifty years ago\nsince it was opened, there has been a school at Kingswood ever since,\nand it is the very oldest thing we have in connection with Methodism.\n\nIf you will listen at chapel some time--in October I think it generally\nis--you will hear the minister say: \"Collections will be taken to-day,\nmorning and evening, on behalf of the Kingswood Schools.\" When you hear\nthis will you just think, that the money you give is for the same school\nthat was started by those good-hearted colliers near Bristol, more than\none hundred and fifty years ago.\n\nNow I must tell you of the very first Methodist Chapel that was ever\nbuilt; for this, too, we have to thank the Bristol people. Having heard\nabout Jesus Christ themselves, they were eager for their friends and\nneighbours to hear about Him too. They worked very hard, and were so\nmuch in earnest inviting people to come to the services, that at last\nthe room where they held their meeting got far too small for all the\npeople who wanted to come. It was only a tumble-down sort of place, and\nthey were afraid the floor might give way or the roof fall in, and\nsomebody be hurt.\n\nAt last they secured a piece of ground in what was called the Horse Fair\nin Bristol, and one bright May morning, in 1739, the first stone of the\n\n          FIRST METHODIST CHAPEL\n\nwas laid, amidst great shouting of praise and thanksgiving. I have\ncalled it a Chapel, but the Methodists called it a \"Preaching House.\"\n\nYou may think what a great deal of money it took to carry on all the\nwork that the Methodists were doing; sometimes their purses were very\nempty, and they wondered however they should get them filled again. But\nit was God's work they were doing, and of course the money always came.\n\nLike most Methodist Chapels nowadays, the money to pay for the Bristol\nPreaching House was not got all at once; but a plan was adopted which, I\nthink, was a very good one. Every Methodist in Bristol promised to pay\na penny a week until all the money was raised; and as there were some\nhundreds of Methodists, the debt was soon paid off. Some of the people,\nhowever, were too poor to pay even this small amount, so it was arranged\nthat the richer men should each call upon eleven poorer ones every week,\nand collect their pennies, and when they could not give them, the rich\nman was to make it up. This was the beginning of the weekly class money\nwhich your fathers and mothers, if they are Methodists, pay in their\nclass-meetings to-day.\n\nWhen Mr. Wesley told the society in Fetter Lane, London, of the good\nplan the Bristol people had made, they adopted it too, and always after\nthat wherever the Methodists commenced a society, the penny-a-week rule\nwas followed.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\n          An explosion.--A new business at the old\n          Foundry.--Mr. Wesley and his mother at\n          home.--Grand helpers.--Poor little Tom.--The worst\n          man in Bristol.--And one of the best.\n\n\nHOW old would John Wesley be in 1716, if he was born in 1703? Thirteen,\nwould he not? a school-boy at the Charterhouse School. In that year\nthere was a terrible explosion at a cannon foundry, where the guns were\nmade for war. The roof of the building was blown off, and a great many\nworkmen were injured and killed.\n\nAfter this explosion, the machinery and iron were removed to Woolwich,\nwhich, as you will learn in your geography is still the great place for\nmaking cannon and other weapons of war. All the years from 1716 to 1739\nthe old foundry had never been touched, there it was, still in ruins.\n\nOne day in this year, 1739, while Mr. Wesley was in London, two\ngentlemen came and asked him if he would preach in this old tumble-down\nplace. He consented, and one dreary November morning at eight o'clock,\nbefore the grey clouds of night had fled, he preached to about six\nthousand people in the old King's Foundry.\n\nThe following week many of those who had listened to him, came and\nbegged him to buy the old place for a meeting-house. After thinking and\npraying about the matter he consented, and before very long the roof was\nmended, galleries were made, and the first Methodist preaching-place in\nLondon was ready for use.\n\nClass-rooms and a school-room were afterwards built, and a house fitted\nup where Mr. Wesley and his mother could live. At the end of the chapel\nwas another house for his servants and some of his helpers. There was\nalso a coach-house and stable where the travelling preachers could \"put\nup.\"\n\nThough Mr. John and Mr. Charles Wesley were so clever and worked so\nhard, they could never have got on without their earnest, loving\nhelpers. There was Thomas Maxfield, one of those devoted, go-a-head men\nof Bristol; then there was John Nelson, a stone-mason, in Yorkshire,\nwho, when his master wanted him to work on Sunday, refused; and, like\nother Methodists, having become a Christian himself he sought to win\nothers for Christ.\n\nThomas Olivers was another. Poor Thomas, when he was a wee boy, only\nfour years old, both his father and his mother died, and little Tom was\nleft to grow up a wicked boy. He used to swear and gamble and drink,\nand when he became a man was one of the worst characters in Bristol. But\nhe heard Mr. Whitefield preach, and from that time a change came over\nhim. He felt he was too great a sinner ever to be forgiven, and would\nkneel down and pray for hours and hours. God saw how sorry he was for\nall his wickedness, and how much he longed to be different, so He just\nwhispered His forgiveness, bidding him, \"Go and sin no more,\" and Thomas\nOlivers rose up a converted man, and became as brave a Christian as he\nhad been bold a sinner.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\n          Billy and Polly.--A little sunbeam visits\n          Sandgate.--What happened at seven o'clock in the\n          morning.--And at five o'clock in the\n          evening.--\"The Old, Old Story.\"--Newcastle wants\n          to know more.--But Newcastle has to wait.--John\n          Wesley goes back to Bristol.--The Kingswood of the\n          North.\n\n\n\"WHO'S yon man?\"\n\n\"Which man?\"\n\n\"Yon. Him with the long hair, and dressed like a parson.\"\n\n\"I dunno. Why there's two on 'em.\"\n\n\"I say, Polly, let's go and hear 'em, they're singing. Come on, Bob.\"\n\nBob and Billy and Polly were very ragged and very dirty children, and\nthey lived in Newcastle.\n\nThe boys were almost naked, and Polly, though nearly fifteen had no\nclothes on at all, only a dirty bit of blanket wrapped round her. Their\nfathers and mothers worked in the coal mines, and because they had never\nbeen taught different, they were drunken, swearing, wicked people; even\nthe children cursed and swore.\n\nBut Bob and Billy and Polly have got to the top of Sandgate, the street\nwhere their miserable home is; let us follow. Some of their companions\nare with them, children as ragged and dirty as themselves. The women,\ntoo, have come to their doors to listen. What is it these men are\nsinging? Hark!\n\n[Illustration: Music]\n\n          All people that on earth do dwell\n          Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;\n          Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell:\n          Come ye before Him and rejoice.\n\nIt was a lovely May morning, and a kind little sunbeam had left the\ngreen fields and the chirping birdlets to peep into Sandgate. I think it\nmust have heard the singing, and wanted to shine its gladness, that\nGod's praises were at last being sung to those poor people.\n\nIt was quite early, about seven o'clock in the morning, and some of the\nmen and women were still in bed; but little sunbeam went first to one\nand then to another and kissed them awake, and when they had rubbed\ntheir eyes and opened their ears, they heard a strange sound. What could\nit be? They had never heard anything like it before.\n\n[Illustration: \"If you come to yon hill at five o'clock to-night, I'll\ntell you what I mean.\"--_Page 95._]\n\nThey sat up in bed and listened, then they got dressed, and then they\nwent out. The music acted like a magic spell, and drew them to it. One\nman, two men, three men, four men, five men; oh, dear! there are too\nmany to count. Such a number of women too, why, there must be five\nhundred people all together, and still they keep coming. One of the\ngentlemen is now talking. Listen what he is saying! He is preaching a\nsermon, and this is his text: \"_He was wounded for our transgressions,\nHe was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was\nupon Him, and by His stripes we are healed._\" He is telling those poor\nmen and women that it was Jesus, the Son of God, who suffered this for\nthem, _because He loved them_.\n\nThe people, who numbered about twelve hundred, stood gaping and staring,\nthey had never heard anything like this before.\n\n\"Who are you?\" shouted one man.\n\n\"What do you mean?\" called out another.\n\nThe gentleman with the long hair and beautiful face answered them: \"If\nyou want to know who I am, my name is John Wesley, and if you come to\nyon hill at five o'clock to-night, I'll tell you what I mean.\"\n\nAt five o'clock the hill was covered with people from the top to the\nbottom, and as Mr. Wesley stood with that great crowd round him, all\neager to learn about the wonderful Saviour who had died for them, and of\nwhom they had never heard, tears of pity filled his eyes, and a big love\nfor them filled his heart.\n\nOh, so sweetly and tenderly did he read to them God's own words: \"_I\nwill heal their back-sliding, I will love them freely_;\" and then he\ntold them the \"Old, Old Story.\"\n\nHe told it very slowly:\n\n            \"'That they might take it in,\n          That wonderful redemption,\n            God's remedy for sin.'\n\nHe told them the story simply:\n\n            'As to a little child,\n          For they were weak and weary,\n            And helpless and defi'ed.'\n\nHe told them the story softly:\n\n            'With earnest tones and grave,\n          For were they not the sinners\n            Whom Jesus came to save?'\"\n\nWhen the preacher finished, the people stood as if spell-bound, then\nthey all crowded and pressed round him, full of love and kindness\ntowards the man who had brought them such good news. They nearly\ntrampled him down in their eagerness to speak to him, and he had to slip\nround a back way in order to escape. When he got to the inn where he was\nstaying, he found some of the people had got there before him; they had\ncome to beg and pray him to stay among them. No, he could not.\n\n\"Stay a few days,\" said one. No, he could not do that.\n\n\"Just one day more,\" they begged.\n\nPoor Mr. Wesley was very loth to leave these eager hearers, but he had\npromised to be in Bristol on the Tuesday, and this was Sunday night, and\nit would take him all the time to get to his appointment, and he was a\nman that could not break his word. So he was sadly obliged to refuse.\n\nBefore very long, however, Mr. Charles Wesley went to Newcastle, and\nafter a time, Mr. Wesley himself paid a second visit.\n\nIt was a plan of the Methodists always to go to the poorest and most\nuncared-for people. These they generally found among the colliers.\nWherever there were coal mines, the district round them was sure to be\nthe abode of dirt, ignorance, and sin. You remember what a dreadful\nplace Kingswood was when the Methodists first went? Because they found\nNewcastle just as bad, they called it \"The Kingswood of the North.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\n          A magic mirror.--And the picture it shows\n          us.--Billy and Polly again.--Hurrah for\n          Newcastle!--John and Charles Wesley put their\n          heads together.--The result.--Strict\n          Rules.--Circuits in Methodism.\n\n\nHAVE you ever heard of the Magic Mirror? It is a mirror I would like to\nhave. You just think of something you would very much like to see;\nsomething either in the past, the present, or the future, peep into the\nmirror and there it is.\n\nLet us imagine that we have this mirror, and that we want to look at a\nparticular part of Newcastle in the year 1742.\n\nWhat do we see?\n\nA big unfinished building with all the walls standing, but no roof, no\ndoors, and no windows. It is a cold winter's day; but in spite of the\nbiting wind and the frosty air there are hundreds of people crowding\ninside and outside the walls. Right in the middle stands the gentleman\nwith the long hair and the beautiful face.\n\nIt is Mr. Wesley opening the first meeting-house in Newcastle. Oh, how\nhard those poor colliers and their wives, yes, and the children too,\nworked to get money to build their chapel. On this opening day they were\nso proud and happy they could not keep still. They kept shouting\n\"Hallelujah!\" all the time Mr. Wesley was preaching. Three or four times\nhe had to stop in the middle of his sermon on purpose to let them praise\nGod.\n\nBob, and Billy, and Polly were at that opening; they loved Mr. Wesley,\nand always tried to get as near to him as they could. They were not\nragged now, for their fathers and mothers were converted, and their\nmoney was no longer spent in drink. The children, too, had learnt to\nlove Jesus, and were trying to be like Him, and no cursing or swearing\nwas ever heard.\n\nScores of men and women in Newcastle that day, thanked God they had got\nout of bed that Sunday morning in May, and heard Mr. Wesley sing at the\ntop of Sandgate.\n\nThe Methodists had now chapels or meeting-houses in Bristol, London,\nKingswood, and Newcastle, and societies were being formed in a great\nmany other places. When Mr. Wesley found the work was spreading so fast,\nhe saw it was necessary to draw up some general rules for all the\nmembers to follow.\n\nHis brother Charles helped him in this difficult task. These are some of\nthe rules which together they drew up, and which all who joined the\nMethodists had to promise to obey.\n\nMembers of society must not swear.\n\nMust keep the Sabbath Day holy.\n\nMust not buy or sell intoxicating liquor.\n\nMust not drink intoxicating liquor, except as medicine.\n\nMust not fight.\n\nMust not quarrel.\n\nMust return good for evil.\n\nMust not speak evil of any one.\n\nMust do to others as we would have them do to us.\n\nMust not wear a great deal of jewellery or expensive clothes.\n\nMust not go to any place of amusement where they would not like to meet\nJesus.\n\nMust not sing songs or read books that will not help them to love God\nmore.\n\nMust not buy anything unless they are quite sure they will be able to\npay for it.\n\nMust be kind to everybody, and give help to all, as far as they are\nable;\n\n      By feeding the hungry;\n      Clothing the naked;\n      Visiting the sick and those in prison;\n      By \"running with patience the race that is set before them;\"\n      By denying themselves and taking up their cross daily.\n\nThey must go to chapel regularly.\n\nMust take the Sacrament.\n\nAnd, lastly, have family and private prayer every day.\n\nWere not these strict rules? But the people were so much in earnest, and\nhad such trust in their leader, Mr. Wesley, that they were quite willing\nto agree to them.\n\nThe next thing Mr. Wesley did was to send out his helpers, generally two\ntogether, to certain districts where they usually remained for a year.\nThey had to preach in all the places round about, and each particular\ndistrict or tract of country was called a \"circuit.\" This was the\nbeginning of the \"circuits\" which we have in Methodism to-day. I dare\nsay you have often heard father or mother say, \"Oh, Mr. So and So has\ngone to another circuit;\" or, \"Mr. So and So is in our circuit now.\"\n\nLondon and Bristol always remained the chief circuits; but before very\nlong Newcastle became the next in importance.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\n          Another peep into the Magic Mirror.--A pretty\n          picture.--At Epworth.--Mr. Wesley is very unkindly\n          treated.--All for the best.--The curate is\n          \"done.\"--A happy ending to a bad\n          beginning.--\"Good-bye, Epworth.\"\n\n\nSHALL we have another peep into the Magic Mirror? See that pretty\ncountry church, with the square tower. There are some big trees near,\nlooking as if they were tall giants keeping guard; they have no leaves\non them yet, and their bare arms stretch out a long way as if they were\ntrying to reach the church.\n\nIf you look carefully you will see buds coming out on the trees, baby\nbuds they are, waiting for the sun's kisses. Then they will burst out\nand grow into great leaves that will cover up the naked old trees. Ivy\nclimbs up the church wall. I see its dark glossy leaves, for the ivy is\nevergreen.\n\nThere are many graves in the churchyard, but you can hardly see them\nbecause people are sitting on them; such a number of people, hundreds\nmore than could ever have got into the church. They are all looking one\nway, and seem to be listening very attentively. What are they looking\nat? They are looking at a gentleman who is standing all alone on a big\nflat tombstone near the church wall. He wears a gown and white bands\nlike a clergyman, and he has long hair brushed very smoothly, and a\nbeautiful, happy face.\n\nDear me! did I hear a crash then? And did I hear a hundred young voices\nshouting: \"I know who it is, it's Mr. John Wesley\"? Why, you must have\nbroken the mirror with your shouts. You are right, dears, but you\nshouted rather too soon. I wanted to read what it said on the tombstone\non which Mr. Wesley was standing. But, never mind, I think I saw some of\nthe words:\n\n                  \"SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF\n                        SAMUEL WESLEY,\n          FOR THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS RECTOR OF EPWORTH.\"\n\nYes, it was his father's grave on which John Wesley was standing.\n\nOn his way back from one of his visits to Newcastle he thought he would\nlike to see his dear old home once more. It was a long, long time since\nhe had been there, and he was not quite sure whether the people would\nhave anything to do with him now, for, as leader of the Methodists, he\nhad many enemies.\n\nIt was Saturday evening in early spring, when he got to the little inn,\nin the long straggling street that was called Epworth village. He had\nnot been there very long before three or four poor women found him out,\none of them an old servant of his mother's.\n\nNext morning, which was Sunday, he went to the curate of the church and\npolitely offered to help him with the service. The curate, I am sorry to\nsay, was very rude, and refused to let Mr. Wesley take any part in the\nservice or to preach in the church at all.\n\nThis was a great disappointment, for Mr. Wesley loved the people of\nEpworth, and every stone in the old church was dear to him. His father\nhad preached from that pulpit for nearly forty years, and he himself had\nstood there more times than he could count, and it was very hard that he\nwas forbidden to take his place there now.\n\nThe people were longing to hear him, and when the afternoon service was\nover, and all the folks were leaving the church, one of his friends\nstood in the churchyard and gave out this notice:\n\n          \"MR. WESLEY, NOT BEING ALLOWED TO PREACH\n          IN THE CHURCH, INTENDS TO PREACH HERE AT\n                 SIX O'CLOCK THIS EVENING.\"\n\nIt was this picture of Mr. Wesley preaching that the Magic Mirror showed\nus. I expect the curate was very angry at being so \"done;\" but he could\nnot stop Mr. Wesley preaching _outside_ the church.\n\nFor a whole week John Wesley preached every evening from his father's\ntombstone. Crowds came to hear him, and hundreds were converted and\nturned from their evil ways. They saw how sinful they had been and\nprayed aloud for forgiveness. Drunkards became sober men, and those who\ncursed and swore were turned into peace-makers.\n\nSo dear old Mr. Wesley's prayers were answered, and the people who had\ntreated him so unkindly, and whom he had forgiven and loved, now took\nhis Saviour to be their Saviour, and his God to be their God.\n\nIndeed Mr. Wesley's visit to his old home, that began so unpleasantly,\nended very happily, and when his last evening came, both he and his dear\npeople found it hard to say \"Good-bye.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV.\n\n          No one like mother.--Sad days at the\n          Foundry.--Mrs. Wesley goes Home through the\n          Beautiful Gate.--A sorrowing son.--Preaching at\n          the open grave.--At work again.--Satan in\n          opposition.--Fireworks, cows, stones, blood, and\n          broken windows.\n\n\nA GOOD mother is a boy's or a girl's best earthly friend. John Wesley\nknew this, and thought there was no mother like _his_ mother. You\nremember how, as a little boy, he always went to her for advice; and\nwhen he was quite a young man he used to hope that he would die before\nher, for he felt he could not live without his mother. You may think,\nthen, how sad he was when, at last, the message came to him that she was\ndying.\n\nHe was at Bristol when he received the news, and at once set off for\nLondon. Arrived at his home at the Foundry, he found his five sisters\nwatching round the bed of the dear old mother.\n\nThough she was too ill to speak to them, they could see she was quite\nhappy and peaceful, just waiting to be taken Home. Before long the call\ncame: \"Come up higher.\"\n\nA great number of people came to the funeral; and as Mr. Wesley stood at\nthe graveside, he preached one of his most wonderful sermons. His heart\nwas full; he had lost the friend of his life. But he knew it was not for\never, one day he would meet her again; and as he looked on those\nhundreds of people gathered there by the open grave, he longed that they\nshould, as surely, some day pass Home through the Beautiful Gate.\n\nWork is the best cure for sorrow; and after his dear mother's death, Mr.\nWesley began his preaching again. Wherever he went people were\nconverted, and became followers of Jesus Christ; and also wherever he\nwent wicked men and women tried to stop him preaching, and sometimes\neven wanted to kill him. But he was doing God's work, and God took care\nof him.\n\nOnce he was preaching to hundreds of people in an open space somewhere\nin London. In the middle of his sermon, several men tried to drive a\nherd of cows among the listeners. They wanted to frighten them, and\nforce them to go away. But the cows were wiser than their masters, and\nwould not go among the people. Then these bad men started throwing\nstones, and one of them hit Mr. Wesley just between his eyes. What do\nyou think he did? Give up preaching and go home? Indeed he did not; he\njust wiped the blood off his face, and went on telling the people to\nrepent of their sins and believe on the Son of God. Brave John Wesley!\n\nBristol, you remember, was the first place where Mr. Wesley preached out\nof doors, and it was at Bristol where there was the first great\ndisturbance.\n\nI don't quite know how it was, but just about this time, wherever the\nMethodists went, they were abused and ill-treated. I think Satan was\nbeginning to find out how much good the Methodists were doing, and\nthought it was about time he did something to stop it. So, in all the\ntowns where the preachers went, he stirred up the worst men and women to\nmake rows and disturb the services.\n\nAt Chelsea, the rioters threw fireworks into the room; at another place\nthey broke in the roof, and some of the people were nearly killed. At\nBristol, the mob filled the streets, shouting, and cursing, and\nswearing. When the constables caught the ring-leaders and took them\nbefore the mayor, they began to speak against Mr. Wesley, but the mayor\nstopped them. \"Whatever Mr. Wesley is, is nothing to you,\" he said. \"I\nwon't allow any rioting in this city, and you must go to prison.\" This\nwas the first and last disturbance at Bristol. But the worst of it was,\nat most of the places, neither the constables nor the mayor would\ninterfere, and so the people did just as they liked.\n\nAt Wednesbury, in Staffordshire, the Methodists were most cruelly\ntreated. One of the rioters used to blow a horn, and then all the mob\ngathered together. They went to every house where there was a Methodist,\nsmashed the windows, dragged the furniture out and broke it up, and\nburnt the beds. If the men or women interfered, they just knocked them\ndown; even the little children they used to beat. But I think I will\nleave the exciting scenes at Wednesbury for another chapter.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.\n\n          Brave as a lion.--A protecting angel.--God's\n          magic.--Foes become friends.--An unpleasant walk\n          in rain and darkness.--What the mayor said.--A\n          free fight.--\"Knock the parson down! Kill him at\n          once!\"--Magic again.--A butcher to the\n          rescue.--Safe back in Wednesbury.\n\n\nWHEN Mr. Wesley heard how his followers were being treated in\nWednesbury, he went off at once to their help. Though he was only a\nlittle man, he was as brave as a lion; he knew he had God at his back,\nand like David before Goliath, like Daniel before Darius, and like\nShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before Nebuchadnezzar, he did not fear\nwhat man could do unto him.\n\nGod sent His angel to close the lions' mouths so they would not harm\nDaniel; and the same messenger walked in the fiery furnace with the\nthree Hebrew youths. So, when Mr. Wesley went straight into the\nmarket-place in Wednesbury, and fearlessly preached to the hundreds\nassembled there, God's protecting angel breathed silence and calm; not a\nsound of disturbance was heard. In the evening the mob surrounded the\nhouse where Mr. Wesley was staying, shouting out fiercely:\n\n\"Bring out the minister! We will have the minister!\"\n\nMr. Wesley, neither frightened nor excited, quietly asked one of his\nfriends to bring in the ringleader of the mob. The man came in, anger\nand fierceness in his eyes. But, somehow, as soon as he stood in the\npresence of that calm, Christ-like man, all his passion went out of him.\nMr. Wesley then asked him to bring in two or three of his roughest\ncompanions. The angry men came in. They had wanted to get at the\nminister, now they had the chance. But once inside that room, they found\nthey could not touch him. They felt the presence of God's protecting\nangel, and peace took the place of passion, and friendliness the place\nof hatred. Getting Mr. Wesley between them, these strange, new friends\nmade a way for him through the mob outside the house.\n\nThen, standing on a chair, Mr. Wesley spoke to the crowd.\n\n\"You wanted me,\" he said. \"Here I am. Now what do you want me for?\"\n\n\"We want you to go with us to the magistrate,\" they cried.\n\n\"I will go with you with all my heart,\" he replied.\n\nSo away went the brave ambassador for Christ, accompanied by hundreds of\nthe roughest men and women in Wednesbury.\n\nIt was two miles to the magistrate's house, and before they had got\nhalf-way the night came on, and it began to rain very heavily. This made\nmost of the people turn back and hurry home, but two hundred or more\nkept together round Mr. Wesley.\n\nSome of the men ran on first to tell the magistrate they'd got the\nMethodist preacher. Instead of seeming pleased, the magistrate said:\n\n\"What have I to do with Mr. Wesley? Take him back again.\" So he sent\nthem off, and went to bed.\n\nBy and by the crowd came up to the house, and knocked at the door. When\nthe magistrate's son went to them and asked what was the matter, they\nsaid:\n\n\"Why, please, sir, these Methodists sing psalms all day, and make folks\nget up at five o'clock in the morning, and what would your worship\nadvise us to do?\"\n\n\"To go home and be quiet,\" replied the gentleman.\n\nFinding they could get no help from this magistrate, they hurried poor\nMr. Wesley off to another. This gentleman, too, had gone to bed, and so\nthe mob could do nothing else but go home.\n\nHowever, before they had got very far they were joined by another rough\nmob from a neighbouring town; and then, in the rain and the darkness,\nthe two mobs started fighting and knocking each other down. It was no\nuse Mr. Wesley trying to speak, for the shouting and noise was like the\nroaring of the sea. They dragged him along with them until they reached\nthe town, and then, seeing the door of a large house open, Mr. Wesley\ntried to get in. But one of the cruel men got him by the hair and pulled\nhim back into the middle of the mob; and then they dragged him from one\nend of the town to the other.\n\n\"I talked all the time to those that were within hearing,\" said Mr.\nWesley, afterwards, \"and I never felt the least pain or weariness.\"\n\nAt last he saw a shop door half open, and tried to get in, but the\ngentleman to whom the shop belonged would not let him.\n\n\"Why, the people would pull my house down,\" he said, \"if I let you in.\"\n\nHowever, Mr. Wesley stood at the door and shouted to the people: \"Are\nyou willing to hear me speak?\"\n\n\"No, no; knock him down! Kill him at once!\" cried hundreds of voices.\n\n\"Nay, let's hear him first,\" shouted others.\n\n\"What harm have I done any of you?\" exclaimed the fearless preacher.\n\"Which of you have I wronged in word or deed?\"\n\nFor a quarter of an hour he talked to them, then his voice suddenly gave\nway, the strain had been too great.\n\nThen the cruel mob cried out again: \"Bring him away! Bring him away!\"\n\nBut Mr. Wesley's strength had come back, and he began to pray aloud.\n\nThat prayer acted like magic; the man who had just before been the\nleader of that brutal crowd, turning to Mr. Wesley, said: \"Sir, I will\nspend my life for you; follow me, and no one here shall touch a hair of\nyour head.\"\n\nTwo or three of his companions said almost the same, and surrounded Mr.\nWesley to protect him. Then four or five rough men set upon them, and\ntried to drag Mr. Wesley away; but a butcher, who was a little further\noff, shouted, \"Shame! shame!\" and pulled them back one after another.\nSome one else shouted, \"For shame! For shame! let the good man go!\"\n\nThen, just as if they had been struck by magic, all the people drew back\nright and left, and Mr. Wesley was carried safely through.\n\n[Illustration: \"'Knock him down! Kill him at once!' cried hundreds of\nvoices.\"--_Page 114._]\n\nBut the danger was not quite over even yet. On the bridge which they had\nto cross, the mob assembled again; but Mr. Wesley's protectors took him\nacross a mill-dam and then through some fields, and at last brought him\nsafe into Wednesbury, with no other damage than a torn coat and a little\nskin scraped off one of his hands.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII.\n\n          Mr. Wesley's story of the Wednesbury riot.--How he\n          felt.--The right pocket.--Beautiful hair.--The\n          prize-fighter a good protector.--A brick, a stone,\n          and two hard blows.--Daniel vi. 22.\n\n\nAFTER reading the last exciting chapter, you will all exclaim, \"Well,\nMr. Wesley _was_ a brave man!\" and I am sure you will like to hear what\nhe himself said about his adventures. These are the very words he wrote\nafter the Wednesbury riots:\n\n\"From the beginning to the end, I felt as calm as if I had been sitting\nin my study at home. Once it did come into my mind, that if they threw\nme into the river, it would spoil the papers I had in my pocket. I was\nnot afraid for myself, for I did not doubt but I could swim across to\nthe opposite bank.\n\n\"Thinking about it all now, I notice some remarkable circumstances. One\nwas, that though several tried to get hold of me, it seemed as if they\ncould not, and when at last one did get hold of my coat and tore the\npocket off, it was the right pocket for him to get, for it contained\nnothing of importance; whereas if he had torn off the other he would\nhave got a bank-note with it.\n\n\"Another was, a big strong fellow just behind struck at me several times\nwith a large oak stick. One blow had it hit me would have killed me, but\nsomehow every time he struck, the blow was turned aside. I don't know\nhow, for I could not move either to the right hand or to the left.\n\n\"Another man came rushing through the crowd and raised his arm to strike\nme. Suddenly he let his arm drop, and only stroked my hair, saying:\n'What beautiful hair he has!'\n\n\"It was strange too, that the very first men whose hearts were softened\nwere always the leaders of the mob--one of them had been a\nprize-fighter. So that when they took my part I was well protected.\n\n\"Again, from first to last I heard no one give me a reviling word, or\ncall me by any insolent or disgraceful name whatever. The cry of one and\nall was: 'The Preacher! The Preacher! The Parson! The Minister!'\"\n\nAgain Mr. Wesley wrote:\n\n\"By what gentle and gradual steps does God prepare us for His will! Two\nyears ago a brick that was thrown at me grazed my shoulders. Then a year\nafter that, the stone struck me between the eyes when I was preaching in\nLondon. This evening I have received two blows; one man struck me on\nthe chest with all his might, and another on the mouth with such force\nthat the blood gushed out immediately. But both were as nothing, I felt\nno more pain from either of the blows, than if the men had touched me\nwith a straw.\"\n\nBoys and girls, is not this a wonderful story? Get your Bibles, and look\nin the sixth chapter of the book of Daniel and the twenty-second verse.\n\nWicked men had laid a trap for King Darius, and because they were\nenvious of Daniel, they caused the king to order Daniel to be thrown\ninto the lions' den. This made King Darius very unhappy, for he loved\nDaniel. But though he was a heathen king, he had such faith in Daniel's\nGod, that he felt sure the lions would not be allowed to hurt him.\n\nKing Darius could not sleep all night, for thinking of Daniel all alone\nin the den of those wild beasts; so he got up very early in the morning,\nand went to the den and called to Daniel to know if he were alive. And\nfrom inside that dismal den with hungry beasts prowling round and round,\ncame the bright, cheering voice of the God-protected man: \"My God hath\nsent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt\nme.\"\n\nJohn Wesley was as much among wild beasts at Wednesbury, as ever Daniel\nwas in the den of lions, for when men's passions are roused they are no\nbetter than the beasts. But the arm that was raised to strike, gently\nstroked his hair; the blow that was meant to kill, fell upon an\ninvisible head; the leaders of all that was cruel and wicked, were\nstruck tender and quiet, and became personal protectors.\n\nTruly Mr. Wesley could have said with Daniel: \"My God hath sent His\nangel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\n\n          The lion-hearted Wesleys.--And their brave,\n          long-suffering followers.--What Munchin thought of\n          John Wesley.--Hymn 276 and how it came to be\n          written.--The mischievous schoolboy becomes the\n          sweet singer of Methodism.--The wall that sat\n          down.--And the people who sat down with it.\n\n\nTHE troubles in Wednesbury were not yet ended. The very magistrates who\nhad refused to see Mr. Wesley that night when the mob dragged him to the\ndoor, a few days later gave orders for the police to search everywhere\nfor \"those Methodist preachers who go about raising riots.\"\n\nEven this failed to frighten the brave-hearted Wesleys, for when John\nleft Wednesbury his brother Charles took his place. He found the poor\nMethodists still suffering terrible persecutions, but patient and\nforgiving to their enemies. Christ's own words were their help and\ncomfort: \"_Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake:\nfor theirs is the kingdom of heaven_\" (Matt. v. 10).\n\nMunchin, the man who had been one of the leaders of the mob and\nafterwards protected Mr. Wesley, had joined the Methodists and become a\nmember of society. One day Mr. Charles said to him: \"What did you think\nof my brother?\"\n\n\"Think of him?\" said Munchin; \"I think he is a man of God; and God was\nsurely by his side when so many of us could not kill one man.\"\n\nThe persecutions of the Methodists in Wednesbury continued for a long\ntime. The windows of their houses were broken, their tables, chairs, and\nother furniture were smashed to pieces, and their feather-beds were torn\ninto shreds. No craven-hearted man would have dared to go into such a\nplace of danger, and preach to such fiends in human form; but the\nWesleys knew no fear when duty called, and again and again they visited\ntheir poor, persecuted followers. Christ-like men, indeed, they were,\nfor, like their Holy Leader, \"when they were reviled they reviled not\nagain; when they suffered they threatened not.\"\n\nMr. Charles composed a hymn after one of the dreadful rows, which shows\nhow entirely they trusted in Jesus, and how sure they were that no harm\ncould come to them except what He allowed.\n\nLook at number 276 in your Wesley's Hymn-Book, and you will find this\nvery hymn. This is the first verse:--\n\n          \"Worship and thanks and blessing,\n             And strength ascribe to Jesus!\n           Jesus alone defends His own,\n             When earth and hell oppress us.\n\n          \"Jesus with joy we witness\n             Almighty to deliver,\n           Our seals set to, that God is true,\n             And reigns a King for ever.\"\n\nThat reminds me that I must not forget to tell you, by far the greater\nnumber of the hymns we sing every Sunday in chapel were written by Mr.\nCharles Wesley. Yes, the little mischievous Westminster schoolboy became\nthe sweet singer of Methodism. Not only among Methodists are his\nbeautiful hymns sung to-day, but in almost every Christian hymn-book in\nthe world some of his verses will be found.\n\nYou must not think all places were like Wednesbury. Mr. Wesley had often\nvery attentive congregations, and the people listened to him gladly.\nIndeed, at an open-air service he once held, the people behaved better\nthan I fear we should have done. Part of the congregation sat on a low\nwall built of loose stones; all at once, in the middle of the sermon,\ndown came the wall and all the people with it. I think we should have\nburst out laughing, it must have looked so funny. Instead of which,\nthere was no laughing and no screaming; the people just kept their\nplaces, only instead of sitting on the top of the wall they sat at the\nbottom. There was no interruption of the service at all; Mr. Wesley went\non with his sermon, and the people continued reverent and attentive.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX.\n\n          The Magic Mirror again.--Sycamore Farm.--Annie's\n          good news.--A chorister up in a tree.--A long,\n          long journey.--Sixty miles a day on horseback.--A\n          Chapel out of doors.--A hard bed and a funny\n          pillow.--Thanksgiving Street.--Ripe Blackberries.\n\n\nWHY, I do believe that Magic Mirror has mended itself, for here it is,\nshowing us such a lovely picture--nay, two, I declare. Look at that dear\nold farmhouse; it must surely be called Sycamore Farm, for there are\ngreat sycamore trees all round the front and the side. At the back, and\nonly one field away from the house, are the green slopes of the\nmountain, with a little waterfall tumbling merrily down a crack in its\nside. In front of the farm, shimmering through the leaves of the trees,\nyou can see the sunlit waters of a calm lake. The farm is a low\nwhitewashed building, and we can see the cows in the distant meadows\ncoming home to be milked. No one is with them; but there is a little\ngroup of people standing at the farmyard gate. The farmer and his wife\nand all the family and servants seem to be there.\n\nWhatever is the matter?\n\nOh, see! there is a little girl in the middle of the group, and they are\nall listening to what she is saying. Let us listen too.\n\n\"Yes, it is quite true; Mr. Wesley _is_ coming. I went to the village\nfor mother, and old Downs the cobbler told me, and so did Mrs. Wilson at\nthe shop. Everybody is talking about it.\"\n\n\"Ay, but that's good news, lassie!\" the old farmer says. \"I wonder now\nif he'd come and preach at Sycamore Farm.\"\n\nThe picture has gone.\n\nOh, but here's the other one. Why, it is the same old farmhouse, and the\nsun is shining on the whitewashed walls and funny little windows. There\nis a great crowd gathered under the shade of the leafy sycamores. See,\nthere is the kind-looking farmer, with his sunburnt face, and sitting on\nhis knee is Annie, the little girl that brought the good news from the\nvillage. Right in the midst of the crowd is Mr. Wesley, telling these\ncountry-people the story of the Cross.\n\nNow that picture has gone too.\n\nShould we not have liked to have been at that service?\n\nI will tell you what Mr. Wesley said about it.\n\n[Illustration: \"In the midst of the crowd is Mr. Wesley, telling these\ncountry-people the story of the Cross.\"--_Page 124._]\n\n\"It was a hot summer day, and we could see the blue, blue sky through\nthe leaves of the old sycamores, which shaded us from the heat. Just as\nI began to preach, a little bird perched on a branch close by and began\nto sing. I went on preaching, but its song did not end, it sang on and\non, and not until the service was quite over did it cease. It was the\nbest music for such a church and such a congregation, no harp or organ\never sounded half so sweet.\"\n\nFrom Westmoreland, where this happened, to Cornwall is a long way, but\nnot too far for Mr. Wesley and his horse. He used often to ride sixty\nmiles a day; and most of his reading, and the composing of his sermons\nwas done while he was on horseback. He travelled in this way for more\nthan forty years, and must have gone over 100,000 miles.\n\nIn Gwennap, a place in Cornwall, Mr. Wesley found a lovely out-of-doors\nsort of chapel. Some of my readers will have seen the Happy Valley at\nLlandudno; I think the Gwennap chapel must have been something like\nthat, only a great deal bigger. This is what Mr. Wesley wrote about his\nfirst service there:\n\n\"I stood on a wall, in the calm, still evening, with the setting sun\nbehind, and a great, great multitude before, behind, and on either hand,\nsitting on the hills all round. All could hear quite distinctly, when I\nread to them Christ's own words: 'The disciple is not above his Master,'\nand 'He that taketh not his cross and followeth after Me is not worthy\nof Me.'\"\n\nMust it not have been a wonderful sight?\n\nLike other places, Cornwall did not always give a kind welcome to the\nMethodists; indeed, they had sometimes to put up with very rough\ntreatment. Often they had to go without food, and the hard floor was\ntheir only bed.\n\nOnce, at a place called St. Ives, Mr. Wesley and his helper, Mr. Nelson,\nslept on the floor for a whole fortnight. One of them had an overcoat\nrolled up for a pillow, and the other a big book. They used to get very\nsore, and sometimes could not sleep for the pain in their poor aching\nbones. But these Methodists had never heard of Grumble Corner,--they\nonly knew Thanksgiving Street; and so, instead of murmuring and\ncomplaining, one night, when the floor seemed harder than ever, Mr.\nWesley called out: \"Let us cheer up, Brother Nelson, for the skin is\nonly off one side yet.\"\n\nAnother time, when no one had asked them to dinner or tea, and they were\nriding through a country lane, feeling very hungry, Mr. Wesley stopped\nhis horse to gather some blackberries, saying to his friend: \"Brother\nNelson, we ought to be thankful that there are plenty of blackberries,\nfor this is the best country I ever saw for getting an appetite, but the\nworst for getting food.\"\n\nOn the whole, however, the Cornish people were not unkind to Mr. Wesley.\nAt St. Ives they once gave him a very noisy welcome, shouting, \"Hurrah!\nhurrah!\" and then going under his bedroom window and singing:\n\n          \"John Wesley is come to town,\n           To try if he can pull the churches down.\"\n\nAll this happened during his first visit to Cornwall; and only once\nduring the three weeks he was there did he get really abused, and that\nwas at St. Ives, when the mob burst into his room, and a rough, cruel\nman struck him on the head.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX.\n\n          A fight with the sea.--Poor Peter!--A sail in a\n          fisherman's boat.--The song that the waves\n          accompanied.--A climb on Land's End.--Manchester\n          disgraces itself.--Hull still worse.--Matt. v.\n          39.--A brave servant girl.--John Wesley declines\n          to hide.\n\n\nI TOLD you in the last chapter what a wonderful traveller Mr. Wesley\nwas; he could walk twenty-four miles a day easily, in either hot or cold\nweather, and his adventures on the roads would almost fill a book.\n\nOn one of his later visits to Cornwall, he had a terrible fight with the\nsea; this time he was riding in a coach. He had promised to preach in\nSt. Ives at a certain time, and the only way to get there was by\ncrossing the sands when the tide was out. His own driver being a\nstranger in the country, he engaged a man named Peter Martin to drive\nhim. When they reached the sea-shore they found, to their dismay, that\nthe tide was coming in, and the sands they had to cross were already\npartly covered with water. Peter, the old coachman, stopped the horses,\nand told Mr. Wesley that it was not safe to go. Then an old sea-captain\ntried to prevent them, begging them to go back, or they would surely be\ndrowned.\n\n\"No,\" said Mr. Wesley, \"I've promised to preach at St. Ives, and I must\nkeep my promise. Take the sea! Take the sea!\" he shouted, putting his\nhead out of the carriage window.\n\nIn a moment, Peter whipped the horses, and dashed into the waves. The\nwheels of the carriage kept sinking in the deep pits and hollows in the\nsand, while the horses, swimming in the water, snorted and reared with\nfright, and every moment poor Peter expected to be drowned.\n\nJust at this terrible moment, Mr. Wesley put his head out of the\ncarriage window; his long white hair--for he was an old man when this\nhappened--was dripping with the salt water, which ran down his venerable\nface. He was calm and fearless, unmoved by the roaring of the waves or\nthe danger of the situation.\n\n\"What is your name, driver?\" he shouted.\n\n\"Peter, sir,\" shouted back the man.\n\n\"Peter,\" Mr. Wesley called out again, \"fear not; thou shalt not sink.\"\n\nWith spurring and whipping, the poor frightened, tired horses at last\nbrought them safely over.\n\nWhen they reached St. Ives, Mr. Wesley's first care was to see to the\ncomfort of his horses and driver. He got warm clothing, and refreshments\nat the inn for Peter, and comfortable stabling for his weary horses;\nthen, quite forgetting himself, wet through with the dashing waves, he\nwent off to the chapel to preach.\n\nWhile Mr. Wesley was in Cornwall he paid a flying visit to the Scilly\nIsles. He went over in a fisherman's boat, and sang to the rising and\nfalling of the waves:\n\n          \"When passing through the watery deep,\n             I ask in faith His promised aid;\n           The waves an awful distance keep,\n             And shrink from my devoted head.\n           Fearless, their violence I dare;\n           They cannot harm,--for God is there.\"\n\nIf you look in your Wesley's Hymn-Book, at hymn 272, you will find this\nverse.\n\nYou have all learnt, in your geographies, that Land's End is the most\nsouthern point in England; look at the very south of Cornwall, and you\nwill find it. Mr. Wesley was very fond of this wild, rocky point, with\noceans rolling on either side,--the English Channel on the one, the\nmighty Atlantic on the other. He paid a last visit to it when he was an\nold, old man, eighty years or more. With furrowed cheeks, white hair\nstreaming in the wind, and infirm limbs, he climbed over the steep rocks\nto get a long, last look at his favourite spot, the meeting of the\nwaters. I believe hymn 59 was composed by Mr. Wesley as he stood on\nLand's End; this is one of the verses:\n\n          \"Lo! on a narrow neck of land,\n           'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand,\n               Secure, insensible;\n           A point of time, a moment's space,\n           Removes me to that heavenly place,\n               Or shuts me up in hell.\"\n\nBut we are getting on too fast, and must go back to the days when Mr.\nWesley was _not_ an old man. All his time was spent in preaching up and\ndown the country, starting fresh societies, and encouraging old ones;\nand almost everywhere he and his helpers met with abuse and rough\ntreatment.\n\nIn Manchester, which was even then a large and important town, Mr.\nWesley preached to several thousands of people in the open air. At this\nmeeting, his hearers either got tired of listening or they took offence\nat what he said, for, before he had finished, they threatened to bring\nout the fire-engine and squirt water upon him if he did not stop.\n\nAt Hull, on his first visit in 1752, lumps of earth and stones were\nthrown at him while he was preaching; and when the service was over, the\nmob followed him, shouting, hooting, and throwing stones until he\nreached his lodging.\n\nThough Mr. Wesley could be as brave as a lion when it was necessary, he\ncould also be as gentle as a lamb. Once, when he was preaching at\nDewsbury, a man rushed up to him in a terrible rage, and struck him with\nall his might on the side of his face. It was such a hard blow that poor\nMr. Wesley could not keep the tears from coming into his eyes. Instead\nof striking the man back or using angry words, he just did what Christ\nsaid we should do, he turned his other cheek (Matt. v. 39). The enraged\nman was so surprised at such unexpected gentleness, that he turned away\nand hid his face with shame, and was ever after one of the Methodists'\ngreatest friends. Once he even risked his life to save one of their\nchapels from being destroyed.\n\nAnother time, when Mr. Wesley was at Falmouth in Cornwall, he called to\nsee an invalid lady. The mob heard where he was, and surrounded the\nhouse, shrieking out: \"Bring out the Canorum! Where is the Canorum?\"\nThis was a nickname which the Cornishmen had given the Methodists. With\nsticks and stones the mob tried to break open the front door of the poor\nsick lady's house; and while they were doing this, all the people in the\nhouse escaped by the backway, except Mr. Wesley and a servant girl. The\ngirl did not like to leave Mr. Wesley alone in this great danger, and\nbegged him to get away and hide himself. But John Wesley was not one of\nthe \"hiding\" sort. Instead of that, as soon as they had succeeded in\nbursting the door open, he just walked straight among the mob,\nexclaiming: \"Here I am! What have you got to say to me? To which of you\nhave I done any wrong?\"\n\nHe made his way out into the street bare-headed, talking all the time;\nand before he had finished, the ringleader of the mob declared no one\nshould touch him, he would be his protector. So he reached his lodgings\nin safety.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI.\n\n          Back in London.--Mr. John and Mr. Charles go\n          visiting.--Too much for one.--Talking matters\n          over.--The first Methodist Conference.--No time to\n          be in a hurry.--What early rising can do.--First\n          tract distributors.--A big district.--Boarding\n          schools 150 years ago.--Dreadful rules.\n\n\nWE have been travelling all over England with Mr. Wesley, now I think we\nmust go back to London with him. The society there was still the largest\nin the country: in the year I am writing about (1744), they had one\nthousand nine hundred and fifty members. Mr. Wesley very much wished to\nvisit every one of these members, and asked his brother Charles to go\nwith him. They started their visiting at six o'clock every morning, and\ndid not leave off till six o'clock at night.\n\nSix o'clock a.m. seems a funny time to call and see any one, does it\nnot? But you see people used to get up at four or five in the morning in\nthose days, and used to go to bed at eight, so it was not really such a\nfunny time as it seems.\n\nThough Mr. John and Mr. Charles started so early and worked so late, it\ntook them a long, long time to visit all those 1950 members, and when\nthey had finished, Mr. Wesley realised for the first time how his work\nhad grown. He saw it was impossible, even with his brother's help, to\nmanage all the preachers and all the members scattered over the country,\nwhen even the work in London was more than he could undertake alone. He\nthought about this a great deal, and then he asked four clergymen and\nfour of his helpers, or what we should call local preachers, to meet him\nand his brother at the Foundry, to talk things over and decide what\nought to be done. These gentlemen accepted his invitation, and there, on\nthat eventful Monday in June, 1744, the first Methodist Conference met;\nand from that time up to the present, no year has passed but Methodist\npreachers and helpers have gathered together to make plans and talk\nbusiness.\n\nI am sure you must all have heard of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference,\nwhich is now held every July or August in some one or other of the large\ntowns of England. This first conference was opened with solemn prayer\nand a sermon by Mr. Charles Wesley; then all the difficulties of the\nwork were talked over, and arrangements made for the future. Mr. John\nWesley presided, and for forty-six years after, at every conference,\ntheir beloved leader and head took the chair at this annual gathering.\n\nYou will think that what with travelling and preaching, and looking\nafter his helpers, and visiting the members, Mr. Wesley could not find\ntime for much else. But it is always the busiest people who have the\nmost time. As I told you before, Mr. Wesley began his days very early,\ngetting up at four o'clock; and by doing this every morning for sixty\nyears, he managed not only to preach, and read, and visit, but also to\nwrite a great many books, and thousands of tracts--one of his books was\ncalled \"Lessons for Children.\" Many of the tracts were about swearing\nand Sabbath-breaking, and printed on the outside were the words, \"Not to\nbe sold, but given away\"; and he and his preachers used to carry them in\ntheir pockets and give them to the people they passed on the roads.\n\nAnother reason why Mr. Wesley had more time than most people was,\nbecause he\n\n          NEVER WASTED A MINUTE,\n\nand though he did so much work, he was _never in a hurry_. He used to\nsay, \"I have no time to be in a hurry.\" Hurry you know does not always\nmean speed; when things are done in a hurry they are often only half\ndone, and have to be done all over again.\n\nYou remember how the miners at Kingswood collected money and built a\nschool for their children. Well, about ten years afterwards, another\nschool was built at Kingswood for the children of the travelling\npreachers. These preachers had not much time to look after their\nfamilies themselves, being so much away from home, and they wanted their\nboys and girls to be taught to read their Bibles and to learn to love\nJesus. They had some dreadfully strict rules at this boarding school,\nwhich my readers would not have liked at all, and which I am afraid the\nchildren there did not like either, for I have heard that some of the\nboys ran away. They had to go to bed every night at eight o'clock, and\nwhat was worse, get up every morning at four. Then every little boy and\ngirl, unless they were poorly, had to fast every Friday, that is, they\nwere not allowed to have anything to eat all day until three o'clock.\nBut I had better not tell you any more of these dreadful rules, only you\nmay be very thankful that you are living in these days, when you have\nmuch better times than the boys and girls who lived 150 years ago.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII.\n\n          A visit to Ireland.--The sack that did not contain\n          potatoes.--The bogie man.--What the sack did\n          contain.--The prayer-meeting in the barn.--Mr.\n          Charles Wesley gets married.--And so does Mr.\n          John.--Two niggers who became missionaries.\n\n\nIN 1749 Mr. Wesley paid a visit to Ireland, where already he had many\nfollowers. His brother Charles had visited there two years before, and\nwas a great favourite, for the Irish people love music, and would always\ngo to hear his hymns.\n\nIn many places in Ireland the Methodists were treated quite as badly as\nthey were in our own country; but the same angel of the Lord that\nprotected them in England followed them across the Irish sea.\n\nThere is a funny story told of how they were once saved from a band of\nrough men. The Roman Catholics persecuted them so much at Wexford that\nthey were obliged to hold their meeting secretly in a barn. Once, one of\ntheir persecutors got to know the night they were having a meeting, and\ntold his companions he would hide himself in the barn before the service\nbegan, and then when it commenced he would open the door to them. They\nthought this was a splendid idea. So the man went to the barn, and there\nfound an old sack or bag, big enough for him to get into. Into this he\ncrept, and by and by the people began to come, and the service\ncommenced. First, they sang a hymn; and somehow the man in the bag\nenjoyed it so much, he quite forgot what he had come into the barn for.\n\nHe listened until the hymn was finished, and then he listened to the\nprayer that followed, and after that he could not listen any more. He\ncouldn't get out of the bag, and he couldn't do anything but groan and\ncry. God, through the hymn and the prayer, had touched his heart, and he\nfelt himself to be the greatest sinner in Ireland.\n\nSo he groaned and groaned, and at last some of the congregation heard\nhim. They looked towards the place where the mysterious sound came from,\nbut could see nothing except what looked like a sack of potatoes. Still\nthe groaning went on, and some of the people got frightened, and were\nquite sure there was a bogie in the barn. At last one or two ventured to\ngo nearer to the sack, then some one peeped in, and the poor trembling\nIrishman was discovered. He confessed to his purpose in hiding himself,\ntold them God had stopped him in his evil plan, and begged them to pray\nfor him. So the service was turned into a prayer-meeting, the man was\nconverted, and became one of the best Methodists in Wexford.\n\nSome of my readers will be wondering if Mr. John or Mr. Charles Wesley\nwere ever married, and if they had any boys and girls of their own. Just\nbefore Mr. Wesley went to Ireland in 1749, he married his brother\nCharles to the daughter of a Welsh gentleman, and Mr. Wesley, himself,\nwas married two years later to a lady who was a widow. You will be sorry\nto hear that this lady was not at all nice; she treated her husband most\nunkindly, and made him very unhappy. Though Mr. Wesley was so fond of\nchildren, he never had any of his own. Mr. Charles had eight, but only\nthree lived to grow up. His wife was a good, kind lady, and they were\nvery happy. He did not travel about so much after he was married, but\nspent a great deal of his time writing his beautiful hymns.\n\nThese two brothers always remained the best of friends. In one of his\nletters, Charles wrote to John: \"I wish we could be oftener together; it\nmight be better for us both. Let us be useful in our lives, and at our\ndeath not divided.\"\n\nBefore I close this chapter I want to tell you of the first two black\nmen who were converted through the preaching of a Methodist.\n\nLiving at Wandsworth, a little place near London where Mr. Wesley had\ngone to preach, was a gentleman named Nathaniel Gilbert. He had come\nfrom the West Indies, where he employed a great many negroes. Two of\nthese negroes he had brought over to England with him, and when Mr.\nWesley paid a visit to Mr. Gilbert, and preached in his house, these two\nblack men were converted. When they returned to the West Indies, they,\nalong with Mr. Gilbert, preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the dark\npeople in those far-away islands.\n\n          \"Shall we, whose souls are lighted\n             With wisdom from on high,\n           Shall we to men benighted\n             The lamp of life deny?\n           Salvation, oh, salvation,\n             The joyful sound proclaim,\n           Till earth's remotest nation\n             Has learnt Messiah's name.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII.\n\n          Runaway horses.--Two frightened little girls.--A\n          terrible moment.--Safe.--Psalm xci. 11, 12.--Mr.\n          Wesley has a birthday.--A funny receipt for\n          keeping young.\n\n\nONE more story of how the angel that shut the lions' mouths for Daniel\ntook care of God's dear servant, John Wesley. He was staying at\nNewcastle with a Methodist named Mr. Smith, who had married his\nstep-daughter. One day a party of them drove to a village a few miles\noff. In the carriage there was Mr. Wesley and a friend, Mr. and Mrs.\nSmith and their two little girls. When they had driven about two miles\nand were just at the top of a hill, suddenly the horses took fright, and\ndashed down the steep road. The poor coachman was thrown off the box,\nand the horses tore away at full speed, sometimes swerving to the edge\nof a ditch on one side of the road, then back again to a ditch on the\nother, but never once going over. When a cart came along, instead of\nrunning into it, the carriage passed as if the driver had been on the\nbox.\n\nAt the bottom of the hill was a narrow bridge, which it seemed\nimpossible the panting horses could cross safely. But exactly down the\nmiddle they went, swerving neither to the right or left. Then up the\nhill on the other side they dashed, passing many people on the road, but\nevery one afraid to stop their mad career. Near the top of this hill was\na gate, which led into a farmer's yard. The gate stood open, and turning\nsharp, the horses ran through without even touching gate or post. The\ngate on the other side of the yard was shut, and the terrified people in\nthe carriage thought the horses would now be checked. Instead of that,\nthey rushed through, breaking it up as if it had only been a spider's\nweb, and galloped on through the corn-field.\n\nThe two little girls had been almost too frightened to speak, now they\nclung to Mr. Wesley, crying out: \"Oh grandpapa, save us! save us!\" Mr.\nWesley, who says he felt no more afraid than if he had been sitting in\nhis study, just calmly said to them: \"Nothing will hurt you, dears;\ndon't be afraid.\" The horses galloped madly on, till they came to the\nedge of a steep precipice. Would they go over? What would they do? Oh,\nwhat a terrible moment of suspense.\n\nA gentleman on horseback seeing their danger, just galloped across the\ntrack of the frightened animals. This acted like magic; they stood still\nat once, and every one was safe. A few minutes more and they would have\nbeen dashed to pieces. When they turned back into the road they found\nthe coachman coming to meet them, and no worse for his fall.\n\nDid not God keep His promise to the man who had \"set his love upon Him\"?\n\"_He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy\nways: they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot\nagainst a stone._\"--Psalm xci. 11, 12.\n\nMr. Wesley was an old man when this happened, just seventy-two; it was\nin June, and his birthday was on the 17th. But he was so strong and\nwell, not at all like an old man. Listen to what he says of himself:\n\"This is my birthday, the first day of my seventy-second year, and I am\nwondering how it is that I am just as strong as I was thirty years ago.\nIndeed, I am better than I was then; I can see better, and my nerves are\nfirmer. The grand cause is 'the good pleasure of God.' But three special\nthings have helped to keep me young:\n\n          _First_--Getting up at 4 o'clock every morning for\n          fifty years.\n\n          _Second_--Preaching every morning at five o'clock.\n\n          _Third_--Travelling by sea or land 4,500 miles in\n          every year.\"\n\nThese are funny things to keep any one young, are they not? I am afraid\nif to follow these rules is the only way to keep young, most of my\nreaders will be content to grow old.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV.\n\n          Little Mary and what she did with her\n          money.--Caught on the stairs.--Cheered by the\n          children.--Boys and girls converted.\n\n\nIN the year 1770 the Methodists had grown so numerous that they counted\nforty-nine different circuits or societies in England, Scotland, Ireland\nand Wales. They had one hundred and twenty-two travelling preachers, and\ntwice as many local preachers, who did not travel, and at the covenant\nservice which Mr. Wesley held at the beginning of this year in London,\nthere were eighteen hundred members present.\n\nMr. Wesley, like our ministers nowadays, was often wanting money for\ndifferent purposes, and, like our ministers too, he was always glad of\nthe children's help. Once, when the Foundry wanted repairing, he\nspecially asked for help at an evening service. A little girl named Mary\nheard him, and thought how much she would like to do something. And this\nis how she managed it.\n\nMr. Wesley loved children, and used to keep a number of bright new coins\nin his pocket to give to the little folks he met at his friends' houses.\nMary had always been a great favourite with Mr. Wesley, and a proud\nlittle girl she was when he took her on his knee and gave her a silver\npenny. He had often done this, and she had treasured up his gifts in a\nlittle box. Other friends, too, had sometimes given her money, which,\ninstead of spending she had saved up.\n\nWell, when she got home after that evening service, she counted up her\nmoney, and found she had L3. So she went to her mother and asked if she\nmight give it all to Mr. Wesley. Her mother was quite willing; so the\nnext morning little Mary carried her savings to Mr. Wesley's room. Tears\ncame into his eyes as he thanked his little favourite. Taking her in his\narms, he kissed her very tenderly, and prayed that God's blessing might\nalways rest upon her. And it did, for Mary grew up to be an earnest,\nhappy Christian.\n\nHere is another story that shows how much Mr. Wesley loved the young\nfolks. He was once staying in a house in Bristol where a little boy and\ngirl were visiting. The little girl had long, beautiful hair hanging in\ncurls down her back. She and her brother were running hand in hand down\nthe stairs one day, when Mr. Wesley ran down after them and caught them\non the landing. He jumped the little girl in his arms and kissed her;\nthen putting his hand on the boy's head, he blessed him. Little Robert\ndid not think much about this at the time, I dare say, but when he grew\nup, he felt all his life that the blessing of a good man rested upon\nhim, and his eyes glistened with tears when he told the story. That\nlittle boy was the poet Southey, of whom you will read when you are\nolder.\n\nWhen Mr. Wesley wanted recreation or a kind of holiday, he used to go\noff to Kingswood. A few days among the young folks there always cheered\nhim, and did him good. He loved to hear their lessons and praise their\nwork, and arranged easy grammars and history books for them.\n\nA great many people used to think then, as a few do now, that children\ncould not be converted, and that they ought not to be members of\nsociety. Mr. Wesley never thought so. At Weardale he allowed thirty\nchildren to become members. At another place quite a number of boys and\ngirls came to him after the preaching, wanting him to show them how they\ncould belong to Jesus. Mr. Wesley had both then and always the words of\nJesus Himself, before him, \"Suffer the little children to come unto Me,\nand forbid them not;\" and so he knelt down with those boys and girls and\nled them to the Good Shepherd, who had laid down His life for them.\n\nThe children of Judea loved Jesus, and were glad to be with Him; and Mr.\nWesley was so like Jesus, so loving and so kind, that the children of\nEngland could not help loving him, and were glad to be with him. A whole\ncrowd once waited in the street a long time for him, and when at last he\ncame, they all followed him like so many little lambs after their\nshepherd, as many as could clinging to him. They went to the\nmeeting-house with him, and after the service was over would not leave\nuntil they had all shaken hands with him.\n\n\"In Cornwall, Manchester, and Epworth,\" Mr. Wesley says, \"numbers of\nchildren were converted.\"\n\nThese verses apply to all my readers:\n\n          \"God wants the boys, the merry, merry boys,\n           The noisy boys, the funny boys,\n                 The thoughtless boys.\n           God wants the boys with all their joys,\n           That He, as gold, may make them pure,\n           And teach them trials to endure;\n           His heroes brave He'd have them be,\n           Fighting for truth and purity,\n                 God wants the boys.\n\n          \"God wants the girls, the happy-hearted girls,\n           The loving girls, the best of girls,\n                 The worst of girls.\n           God wants to make the girls His pearls,\n           And so reflect His holy face,\n           And bring to mind His wondrous grace,\n           That beautiful the world may be,\n           And filled with love and purity.\n                 God wants the girls.\"\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXV.\n\n          How Mr. Wesley settled a school-boys'\n          quarrel.--Dr. Watts and little birds.--Mr. Wesley,\n          loved and honoured.--A holiday for the children.\n\n\nHERE is a story of how Mr. Wesley settled a dispute between two\nquarrelsome school-boys. When he was an old man, seventy-three, he was\nstaying with one of his local preachers, a Mr. Bush, who had a\nboarding-school. One day Mrs. Bush brought to him two boys who had been\nfighting.\n\n\"Boys! boys!\" said Mr. Wesley:\n\n          \"'Birds in their little nests agree,\n              And 'tis a shameful sight,\n            When children of one family\n              Fall out, and chide, and fight!'\n\nYou must make it up. Come now, shake hands with each other.\"\n\nMr. Wesley, with his long white hair and beautiful face, looked and\nspoke so lovingly, that the boys did at once what he asked them.\n\n\"Now,\" he said, \"put your arms round each other's necks, and kiss each\nother.\"\n\nAnd the little boys did this too. He was just having his tea when Mrs.\nBush brought in the culprits, and now taking two pieces of bread and\nbutter, he folded them together and told each boy to break a piece off.\nThen he gave each of them a drink of tea out of his own cup.\n\n\"Now,\" he added, \"you have broken bread together, and you have drunk out\nof the same cup, now you must be friends.\" Then he put his hands on the\nboys' heads and blessed them. The next morning at family prayer he\nsought out the boys and blessed them again.\n\nThe two lads never forgot this meeting with Mr. Wesley. One of them\nbecame a magistrate, and when he had children of his own he used to tell\nthem this story of his school-days.\n\nI remember that little verse of Dr. Watts' being recited to my brothers\nand me when we were in the nursery, and as I wrote it down I wondered if\nthe same thoughts came into the heads of those school-boys that came\ninto mine. My dear mother used to look very serious when she said it,\nand it sounded very solemn. But I had often seen little birds\nquarrelling, and I knew that hymn did not tell the truth, and so I felt\nlittle birds were hardly a proper example to follow. Now, though Dr.\nWatts was not quite correct, still little birds do agree very much\nbetter than many children; and if they sometimes quarrel, remember they\nare only guided by instinct, while you have sense, and know the\ndifference between right and wrong.\n\nYou will all be glad to know that before Mr. Wesley died, all the\nill-will and hatred of the people had changed to love and reverence. The\nvery towns where he had been treated most unkindly were now the ones to\ngive him the heartiest welcome. Instead of mobs waiting to abuse him,\ncrowds gathered to do him honour. In many places the children had a\nholiday from school, the tradespeople closed their shops, and everybody\ntried who could best show their love and respect for the man whom before\nthey had treated so unkindly.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI.\n\n          More peeps into the Magic Mirror.--A special\n          picture for Sheffield readers.--Another for young\n          folks in Oldham.--Little Daniel on the pulpit\n          stairs.--Special for Hull.\n\n\nI THINK we must have some more peeps into that Magic Mirror? Will my\nlittle Sheffield readers take a good look? What do we see? A street in a\nbig town, and oh! such crowds and crowds of people on both sides of the\nroad. The windows of the houses, too, are all crowded with people. What\ncan it all mean? See! there are two men coming along, everybody is\nturning to look at them, and we can hear more than one voice saying:\n\"God bless him! God bless him!\" Several of the women are wiping their\neyes with the corner of their aprons; there are tears in many eyes. Look\nat the two men as they come nearer. One is a middle-aged man; the other,\nwho is leaning on his arm, wears a black gown and white bands. He is an\nold man, but how beautiful he looks. He has a splendid face, a clear\nskin and rosy cheeks. His eyes are quick and keen, and he has long,\nshiny hair, white and bright like silver.\n\nSee now how the children are crowding round him! He is smiling down upon\nthem and putting his hands upon their heads as he passes. Now he is\nstretching his hands out towards heaven, and blessing all the people,\nmany of whom are weeping aloud. He has passed down the street, and the\npicture has gone. Sheffield readers, that was how your town welcomed and\nhonoured dear John Wesley a short time before his death.\n\nNow peep again into the Magic Mirror. And this time I would like my\nOldham readers to step to the front. See, there is a little boy about\nsix years old playing at the door of a house. An old clergyman is\npassing, and stops to speak to the child.\n\n\"Where is your father, Daniel?\" he says.\n\n\"Gone to chapel.\"\n\n\"And your mother?\"\n\n\"She's gone too,\" answers Daniel.\n\n\"And you shall go too, my boy. You must not miss seeing this great man,\nJohn Wesley,\" says the clergyman, as he takes the child's hand and fades\naway from our picture.\n\nBut see, there is another coming! It is the inside of a chapel, and\npeople are everywhere; in the galleries, in the aisles, in the communion\nrails, everywhere. On the pulpit-stairs some one has found room for a\nlittle child. Why, it is Daniel, and there is the kind clergyman\nstanding near. See, the preacher has finished, and is coming down from\nthe pulpit, he is lifting up the little child and is kissing him. Now,\nhe has passed into the vestry, and the picture has gone. That, my young\nOldham readers, was the opening of Manchester St. Chapel on Good Friday,\n1790, when Mr. Wesley was nearly ninety years old.\n\nAt Hull, Birmingham, Wednesbury, Chester, Manchester, Liverpool, all\nplaces where the Methodists had been most cruelly treated, Mr. Wesley\nand his followers were now most kindly welcomed. You remember how Mr.\nWesley and his brother had been shut out of the churches, very few\nclergymen allowing them to preach in their pulpits. This, too, was all\nchanged.\n\nThose of you who live in Hull will like to know that John Wesley, when\nhe was eighty-three, was invited by the vicar to preach in your\nbeautiful High Church. If any of you have not been inside--but surely\nall my Hull readers have--pay it a visit, and just fancy you see that\nbright-eyed, silver-haired old man, with a voice that had lost little of\nthe strength of youth, preaching to the crowds that thronged the\nhallowed place. If those old grey walls could speak, we might know John\nWesley's very words. He preached again at night, and though so old, was\nunwearied with his work. He went on to Beverley that same evening, and\nthe next day travelled seventy-six miles, preached at Malton,\nPocklington, and Swinefleet, and went to bed without feeling the least\nbit tired. Wonderful John Wesley! God-blest John Wesley!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVII.\n\n          Beverley friends.--Copy of a letter John Wesley\n          wrote to them.--Mr. Wesley's last visit to\n          Beverley.--What took place in the red-roofed\n          inn.--A race.--A lost ten minutes.\n\n\nYOU, who live in Beverley, will be glad to hear that Mr. Wesley did not\npass by your dear little town. Indeed, there is a house in Norwood where\nhe most probably stayed, and certainly visited; the home of Mr. and Mrs.\nBarton. You shall see an exact copy of a letter he wrote to these\nfriends. It has never been printed before, so you are the first of the\npublic to see it. It is addressed thus:\n\n            \"MRS. JANE BARTON,\n                       \"IN NORWOOD, BEVERLEY,\n                                         \"YORKSHIRE.\"\n\nAnd this is the letter:\n\n[Illustration: Letter]\n\n\n                                                     London\n                                              Nov. 13, 1778\n\n          My Dear Sister\n\n          I am glad Sister Crosby has been at Beverly, &\n          that you had an Opportunity of hearing her. She is\n          useful wheresoever she goes, particularly in\n          exciting Believers to go on to perfection.\n\n          There is frequently something very mysterious in\n          y^e ways of Divine Providence A little of them we\n          may understand; but much more, is beyond our\n          comprehension And we must be content to say, \"What\n          thou dost I know not now. But I shall know\n          hereafter.\" At present, it is sufficient for us to\n          know, That all his ways are many & truth to those\n          that love him.\n\n          Even in these troublous times, there is a very\n          considerable Increase of the Work of God. Cleave\n          to Him with your whole heart, & you will have more\n          & more reason to praise him. I am, My Dear Jenny,\n          Y^r affectionate Brother\n\n                                               JWesley\n\nYou must not make a mistake and think that Mr. Wesley was Mrs. Jenny\nBarton's brother really; but it was the custom among the Methodists for\nthe members of society to address each other as \"Brother So-and-So\" and\n\"Sister So-and-So,\" meaning that they were brothers and sisters in\nhaving the same heavenly Father, and loving the same Saviour.\n\nJohn Wesley preached in a meeting-house in Wood Lane, which you can\nstill see, though it is now turned into cottages; and we may be quite\nsure that the boys and girls who lived in Beverley then, heard his\nloving words, and received his blessing. He once spent two days of his\nbirthday month in your quaint old town. The June sun stole through the\nstained windows of the beautiful Minster, and looked into the jackdaws'\nnests on St. Mary's Tower.\n\nThere is a funny story told of this last visit, which he paid only a few\nmonths before his death. He was going to preach in Hull again, and forty\nfriends from that town had come over to see him. They were all to have\ndinner together in the red-roofed inn where he was staying, and then\ndrive back with him to Hull. Everybody was very merry, and they laughed\nand talked so much that they quite forgot all about the time. Suddenly,\nMr. Wesley looked at his watch, then jumped up from the dinner table,\nshouted good-bye to his friends, stepped into his carriage, which had\nbeen waiting some time for him at the door, and was off before his\nastonished friends could say a word. Their horses and carriages were got\nready with all speed, but it was only by driving very fast that they\nmanaged to overtake Mr. Wesley before he rode into Hull.\n\nPunctuality was one of Mr. Wesley's strongest points. He could never\nbear to be a minute behind time. Once, when his carriage did not come\npunctually, he was heard to say: \"I have lost ten minutes for ever.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII.\n\n          Going to sleep.--How John Wesley missed his\n          brother.--A good man's tears.--Getting old.--Mr.\n          Wesley's text for the children.--Last words in\n          Manchester.--In Colchester.--A dinner-hour\n          meeting.--The old ash tree.\n\n\nNOW I must come to what seems to the young a very sad time. When we are\nstrong and healthy, and can enjoy all the things God has given us to\nenjoy in this beautiful world, death does seem very sad and sorrowful.\nBut think, dear young readers, how you feel when you have been playing\nhard all day, or working at school, and perhaps gone to a party in the\nevening and have not got to bed until 10 o'clock. Is it not very nice\nand very comforting to lay your head on your soft pillow and go to\nsleep? Now this is just how God's people feel when they are tired of\nlife's work, they just close their eyes and fall asleep, \"asleep in\nJesus.\" This is how Mr. Charles Wesley passed away when he was eighty\nyears old. Though four years younger than Mr. John, he seemed the older\nman, for he had been weak and infirm for a long time. The two brothers\nhad loved each other dearly, and Mr. Wesley felt very lonely when\n\"Charlie\" died.\n\nThree weeks afterwards, Mr. Wesley, preaching at Bolton, gave out for\nhis second hymn No. 140, a hymn composed by Mr. Charles. He tried to\nread the first verse, but when he came to the words\n\n          \"My company before is gone,\n           And I am left alone with Thee,\"\n\nhe could get no further, but just burst into tears, and sat down in the\npulpit, burying his face in his hands. The singing ceased, and numbers\nof the congregation wept in sympathy at sight of their dear leader's\nsorrow. At last Mr. Wesley recovered himself, and went on with the\nservice, which was never forgotten by any of those who were present.\n\nVery soon after this, Mr. Wesley began to feel weak and feeble. Again\nhis birthday month came round, the sunny month of June, and on the 17th\nhe wrote: \"I am eighty-six to-day, and I find I grow old. My eyes are so\ndim that no spectacles will help me, and I cannot read small print\nexcept in a very strong light. My strength fails me so that I walk much\nslower than I used to do.\" He was now, for the first time for forty\nyears, obliged to give up his five o'clock morning sermons, and was only\nable to preach twice a day. As the months went by, he grew weaker and\nmore infirm. Once, as the old man tottered up the pulpit stairs, the\nwhole congregation burst into tears.\n\nOn Valentine's Day, in 1790, he preached one of his last sermons to his\n_little_ followers. He chose for his text: \"Come, ye children, hearken\nunto Me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.\" The boys and girls\nflocked from everywhere to hear him, and many who had never loved Jesus\nbefore, heard Him speaking to them through His dear servant; and\nanswering the loving call, came, and from that day became Christ's\nfaithful little soldiers.\n\nIn the same year, when he was eighty-seven years old, he spent a\nweek-end in Manchester, and spoke his last words to his followers there.\nHe preached in the old chapel in Oldham Street on the Saturday night,\nand the next day, which was Easter Sunday (April 4th), he assisted in\ngiving the Sacrament to sixteen hundred members, and preached both night\nand morning without feeling tired.\n\nA few months later he preached at Colchester; but he was so infirm that\na minister had to stand on each side of him, and hold him up. His voice\nwas feeble and low, and many of the congregation could not hear him; but\nhis calm, beautiful face, and long white hair formed a picture that the\nchildren and grown-up people in Colchester never forgot.\n\nIt was in this same year, 1790, that he preached for the last time in\nthe open air. It was in Winchelsea, and the time was October, the month\nwhen nuts and apples are asking to be gathered, and when the leaves put\non their loveliest dress.\n\nAs Mr. Wesley felt his time on earth was drawing to a close, he was all\nthe more eager to \"tell to all around, what a dear Saviour he had\nfound,\" and how they might find Him too. So he preached at twelve\no'clock noon, the dinner hour of the workmen, in order that they too\nmight have a chance of hearing the good news. A large oak dining-table\nwas brought into the churchyard, and there, under the shade of an old\nash tree, John Wesley gave his last message to those working men. \"_The\nkingdom of Heaven is at hand; repent ye, and believe the Gospel_,\" was\nhis text, and as he preached, the tears of the people flowed down their\ncheeks.\n\nLong, long afterwards the old ash tree was known as \"Wesley's Tree,\" and\nthe vicar of Winchelsea had hard work to keep it from being cut to\npieces; for Methodists use to come from all parts to cut a twig in\nremembrance of that last scene in the life of the venerable\nfield-preacher.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIX.\n\n          About his \"Father's business.\"--Last\n          advice.--Singing and dying.--\"The best of all is,\n          God is with us.\"--John Wesley passes through the\n          Golden Gates.\n\n\nMOST people think it is time to stop working long before they are\neighty, but John Wesley at eighty-seven still went about his \"Father's\nbusiness.\" His constant prayer was, \"Lord, let me not live to be\nuseless.\" Every meeting he knew might be his last, and when he visited\nthe different societies, he used to ask the members to take as his last\nadvice: \"To love as brothers, to fear God, and to honour the King.\" He\nclosed nearly all these meetings with his brother's hymn:\n\n          \"O that without a lingering groan,\n             I may the welcome Word receive;\n           My body with my charge lay down,\n             And cease at once to work and live.\"\n\nJohn Wesley's last sermon was preached in a gentleman's dining-room, at\nLeatherhead, a small place about eighteen miles from London. It was on\nFebruary 23rd, 1791, and his text was, \"_Seek ye the Lord while He may\nbe found, call upon Him while He is near._\"--Isa. lv. 6. This was on a\nWednesday, and the day but one after, Friday, he felt very poorly, and\nsaid he would like to lie down. At the end of half an hour, some one\nwent to his bedroom, and found him so ill that they sent for the doctor.\nOn Sunday he seemed better, and got up. He was so cheerful and happy;\nand while sitting in his chair in his bedroom, he repeated a verse from\none of his brother's hymns:\n\n          \"Till glad I lay this body down,\n             Thy servant, Lord, attend;\n           And oh! my life of mercy crown\n             With a triumphant end!\"\n\nOn Monday night he couldn't sleep, and the next day, some one asked him\nif he had any pain.\n\n\"No,\" he answered. And then he began singing:\n\n          \"All glory to God in the sky,\n             And peace upon earth be restored;\n           O, Jesus exalted on high,\n             Appear our omnipotent Lord.\n           Who meanly in Bethlehem born,\n             Didst stoop to redeem a lost race;\n           Once more to Thy people return,\n             And reign in Thy kingdom of grace.\"\n\nWhen he had sung two verses, he lay still. After awhile he said, \"I want\nto write.\"\n\nSo they brought him ink and paper, and put the pen in his hand; but\nJohn Wesley's writing days were over.\n\n\"I cannot,\" he said.\n\n\"Let me write for you,\" said one of his friends, \"tell me what you want\nto say.\"\n\n\"Nothing,\" replied the dying Christian, \"but that God is with us.\"\n\nIn the morning he wanted to get up, and while his friends were bringing\nhim his clothes, he started to sing:\n\n          \"I'll praise my Maker while I've breath,\n           And, when my voice is lost in death,\n             Praise shall employ my nobler powers;\n           My days of praise shall ne'er be past,\n           While life, and thought, and being last,\n             Or immortality endures.\n\n          \"Happy the man, whose hopes rely\n           On Israel's God: He made the sky,\n             And earth and sea, with all their train;\n           His truth for ever stands secure;\n           He saves the opprest, He feeds the poor,\n             And none shall find His promise vain.\"\n                                       _Hymn 224._\n\nWhen he was dressed and seated in his chair, he prayed in a very weak\nvoice: \"Lord, Thou givest strength to those who can speak, and to those\nwho cannot; speak, Lord, to all our hearts.\"\n\nThen he tried to sing again, but his voice failed him.\n\nHe was soon tired of sitting up, and went back to bed. He could not talk\nvery much; but twice he lifted his hand in triumph, and said so gladly:\n\"The best of all is, God is with us.\"\n\nA great many friends were standing round his bed; he took each one by\nthe hand, and lovingly bade them farewell.\n\nAll through Tuesday night, he kept trying to repeat the hymn he had\nsung, but could only say: \"I'll praise, I'll praise.\"\n\nNext morning, about ten o'clock, the Rev. Joseph Bradford, who had been\nhis faithful companion and nurse, knelt down at the bedside and prayed.\nEleven of Mr. Wesley's friends were in the room; they wanted to go with\ntheir dear leader, right up to the gates that divide our life here from\nour life yonder.\n\n\"Farewell,\" said the dying patriarch. And then, as some one repeated,\n\"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting\ndoors; and this Heir of glory shall come in,\" the Golden Gates opened,\nand the soul of John Wesley passed through.\n\nThose who were left outside the gates, still stood round the bed and\nsang to the departing spirit:\n\n          \"Waiting to receive thy spirit,\n             Lo, the Saviour stands above;\n           Shows the purchase of His merit,\n             Reaches out the crown of love.\"\n\nSo died happy John Wesley. Happy in life, happy in death. And the secret\nof his happiness was the secret he proclaimed to thousands of boys and\ngirls, as well as men and women, all over this England of ours.\n\n          \"O boys, be strong in Jesus;\n             Let those around you see\n           How manly, pure, and generous,\n             A Christian boy can be.\n\n          \"O maidens, live for Jesus,\n             Like Him, be kind and true;\n           And let the love from God above\n             Rule all you say and do.\n\n          \"Then all the boys and maidens,\n             When life and work are o'er,\n           Will hear from One, the words 'Well done,'\n             And rest for evermore.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIf ever you go to London, you must visit City Road Chapel, for there\nJohn Wesley was interred, on the 9th of March, 1791, aged nearly\neighty-eight years.\n\nA great deal was put on his tombstone which you could not understand,\nbut it tells how this servant of God laboured to bring men and women to\nknow Jesus Christ, and how the lives and hearts of many thousands were\nchanged by his preaching.\n\nIn Westminster Abbey, too, you will see a marble tablet erected to his\nmemory, and that of his brother Charles. Though churches shut their\ndoors to him in life, his memory is now so lovingly respected, that the\nfinest Cathedral in England has sought to do him honour.\n\nIn one of the topmost rooms in the tower at Kingswood School, John\nWesley's bedstead has recently been discovered. Merely a collection of\npoles and a piece of old sacking, it lay there many a long year, only\nseen by the man who went up the tower to wind the clock. Now it is put\ntogether, and set in a place of honour; and any of us may see the bed on\nwhich John Wesley slept, when he visited the boys and girls at\nKingswood.\n\nHere, too, we may see his chairs and books, and a gown, now torn, which\nhe used to wear. The Governor of New Kingswood still sits in the\nhigh-backed oak chair in which John Wesley sat; and grafted on several\nof the trees in the orchard, are shoots from the very pear tree which\nwas planted in the garden of Old Kingswood by the Founder of Methodism.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n          FLETCHER AND SON, PRINTERS, NORWICH.\n\n\n\n\nCATALOGUE OF ...\n\nPrize and Gift Books.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n            ROBERT CULLEY,\n            2 & 3 Ludgate Circus Buildings, Farringdon Street,\n            LONDON, E.C.\n\n\n5/-\n\n          =Sunday School Record, Annual Volume.= Published\n          Weekly, 1/2d. Expounds International Lessons.\n\n\n4/-\n\n          =By Doctor's Orders.= By A. F. PERRAM. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Churchwarden's Daughter:= A present-day Methodist\n          Story. By J. W. KEYWORTH. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Nathan Plaintalk.= By J. W. KEYWORTH. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =The Golden Shoemaker: or, Cobbler Horn.= By J. W.\n          KEYWORTH. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Willie's Secret.= By J. W. KEYWORTH.\n\n\n3/6\n\n          =Among the Roses:= and other Sermons to Children.\n          By REV. SAMUEL GREGORY.\n\n          =By Doctor's Orders:= A Temperance Story. By A. F.\n          PERRAM.\n\n          =Churchwarden's Daughter:= A present-day Methodist\n          Story. By J. W. KEYWORTH.\n\n          =Dr. Blandford's Conscience.= By SARSON C. J.\n          INGHAM.\n\n          =Mother Freeman.= By J. W. KEYWORTH. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Nathan Plaintalk.= By J. W. KEYWORTH.\n\n          =The Golden Shoemaker: or, Cobbler Horn.= By J. W.\n          KEYWORTH.\n\n          =Two Saxon Maidens.= By ELIZA KERR. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Wild Lottie and Wee Winnie:= or, Led by a Little\n          Child. By ASHTON NEILL. Gilt Edges.\n\n\n3/-\n\n          =From under the Shadow.= By ANNIE BROUGHTON\n          FOSKETT. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Melissa's Victory.= By ASHTON NEILL. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Mother Freeman.= By J. W. KEYWORTH.\n\n          =Two Saxon Maidens.= By ELIZA KERR.\n\n          =Sunday School Magazine, Annual Volume.=\n\n          =The Morrison Family:= or, The Way of Duty is the\n          Way of Safety. By EMILY SPRATLING. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Wild Lottie and Wee Winnie:= or, Led by a Little\n          Child. By ASHTON NEILL.\n\n          =Willie's Secret.= By J. W. KEYWORTH.\n\n\n2/6\n\n          =A Methodist Doctor of Ye Olden Time:= a True\n          Story for Boys. By ARTHUR LINCOLN. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Bernard's Holiday in London, Paris, and Rome.= By\n          WM. J. FORSTER. Gilt Edges. Many Illustrations.\n\n          =Daddy's Darlings.= By EDITH GREEVES. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Duchess Renee:= or, An Episode in the History of\n          the Reformation. By SARSON C. J. INGHAM.\n\n          =Fighting against Fate:= or, Brent Brompton's\n          Delusions. By HELEN BRISTON. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =From under the Shadow.= By ANNIE BROUGHTON\n          FOSKETT.\n\n          =General Betty, Maid-of-all-Work.= By EDITH\n          GREEVES. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Love the Conqueror.= By JEANIE FERRY. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Loyalty Rewarded.= By JEANIE FERRY. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Maggie's Life Work:= a Temperance Story. By\n          JEANIE FERRY. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Melissa's Victory.= By ASHTON NEILL.\n\n          =The Morrison Family:= or, the Way of Duty is the\n          Way of Safety. By EMILY SPRATLING.\n\n          =Touching the Kettle:= with Other Stories and\n          Parables. By JOHN TELFORD, B.A. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Words of the Wise:= Daily Reading. By DR. T.\n          BOWMAN STEPHENSON.\n\n\n2-\n\n          =A Methodist Doctor of Ye Olden Time:= a True\n          Story for Boys. By ARTHUR LINCOLN.\n\n          =A Noble Revenge:= or, Thomas Gladwin's Example.\n          By J. W. KEYWORTH. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Arrows for Temperance Bows= (Dialogues). By\n          OLIVER PACIS.\n\n          =A Victory and its Cost:= a Tale of the War of\n          1812. By W. H. WITHROW, M.A.\n\n          =A Woman's Dilemma.= By EDITH CORNFORTH. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =Banners and Battlefields.= By EDITH CORNFORTH.\n          Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Bernard's Holiday in London, Paris, and Rome.= By\n          WM. J. FORSTER. Many Illustrations.\n\n          =Bertha Wynchester.= By EDITH CORNFORTH. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =Bessie's Ministry.= By ALICE J. BRIGGS. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =Beyond the Boundary.= By JENNIE PERRETT. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =Bird Minstrels:= Their Ways and Wanderings. By R.\n          CORLETT COWELL. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Conquering:= or, Bernard's Burden. A Temperance\n          Story. By JEANIE FERRY. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Daddy's Darlings.= By EDITH GREEVES.\n\n          =\"Doe no Yll\":= or, The Brandon Family Motto. By\n          ANNIE M. YOUNG.\n\n          =Fairy:= a Little Cornish Maid. By ALICE J.\n          BRIGGS.\n\n          =Fettered or Free.= By JEANIE FERRY. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Fifine's Charge:= or, The Little Mother. By WM.\n          J. FORSTER.\n\n          =Fighting against Fate:= or, Brent Brompton's\n          Delusion. By HELEN BRISTON.\n\n          =For John's Sake.= By ANNIE F. PERRAM. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =General Betty, Maid-of-all-Work.= By EDITH\n          GREEVES.\n\n          =Gold and Glitter:= a Temperance Tale. By JEANIE\n          FERRY.\n\n          =Hagar's Reparation.= By EDITH CORNFORTH.\n\n          =Hazel Haldene.= By ELIZA KERR.\n\n          =Her Heart's Desire.= By JEANIE FERRY. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =How Mrs. Hewitt's House was turned out of\n          Window.= By CAROLINE RIGG. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =In Pawn:= a Story of a Pledge. By ANNIE M. YOUNG.\n          Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Ivy Chimneys.= By EDITH CORNFORTH. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Jackalent:= An Epic of the Streets. By ANNIE M.\n          YOUNG. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Kavanagh Major.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Kilkee.= By ELIZA KERR.\n\n          =Leighton Family.= By EDITH E. RHODES. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Leonard's Temptation:= a Story of Gambling. By\n          BESSIE MARCHANT. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Life in Malin's Lea.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =Lottie, Servant and Heroine.= By HELEN BRISTON.\n          Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Love the Conqueror:= or, The Rival Cousins. By\n          JEANIE FERRY.\n\n          =Loyalty Rewarded.= By JEANIE FERRY.\n\n          =Maggie's Life Work.= By JEANIE FERRY.\n\n          =Margaret Wattford:= a Story of the 17th Century.\n          By ALICE J. BRIGGS. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Marjory Flint's Latchkey:= and Other Stories. By\n          W. H. BOOTH, F.R.G.S. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Millie's Experiences:= or Chequered Ways. By\n          NELLIE L. ROYLE. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Mighty Men and their Daring Deeds.= By J. J.\n          ELLIS. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Mystery of Grange Drayton.= By ELIZA KERR. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =Patsy O'Hara, the Child of the Ocean.= By RUTH B.\n          YATES. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Rescued:= or, Kenneth Cresswell's Transformation.\n          By EMILY SPRATLING.\n\n          =Roger's Quest:= a Story of the Days of Queen\n          Elizabeth. By ALICE J. BRIGGS. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Runnelbrook Valley:= a Temperance Story. By MRS.\n          HAYCRAFT. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Scaramouch:= and Other Stories. By ANNIE M.\n          YOUNG. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Secret of Ashton Manor House.= By ELIZA KERR.\n          Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Sire and Son:= A Startling Contrast. By AMOS\n          WHITE.\n\n          =Soul Echoes:= or, Reflected Influence. By SARSON\n          C. J. INGHAM.\n\n          =Stories without Names:= for Young Bible\n          Searchers, with Answers. By ELSIE.\n\n          =Story of John Wesley:= for Boys and Girls. By\n          MARIANNE KIRLEW.\n\n          =Story Weavers:= Writers for the Young. By ISABEL\n          S. ROBSON. Gilt Edges.\n\n[Illustration: (From \"General Betty, Maid-of-all-Work.\")]\n\n          =Sunrise Corner:= Illustrating Psalm 103. By MRS.\n          HAYCRAFT. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Talks on the Catechism:= Easy Lessons for Young\n          Scholars. By ANNA M. HELLIER.\n\n          =Tents of Kedar:= Bible Talks with Children. By\n          WM. J. FORSTER. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =That Boy Mick.= By ANNIE F. PERRAM. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =The Price She Paid:= a Temperance Tale. By J. W.\n          KEYWORTH. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =The Fortunes of Sir Richard de Thorn, Knight of\n          Kent.= By ALICE J. BRIGGS. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =The Knights of the Tempest:= a Tale of the\n          Lifeboat. By H. PRATER. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =The Scotch Girl's Exile:= a Story of Olden Times.\n          By ALICE J. BRIGGS. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Touching the Kettle:= with Other Stories and\n          Parables. By JOHN TELFORD, B.A.\n\n          =Twelve Famous Girls.= By MARIANNE KIRLEW. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =Two Little Sisters and Humphrey.= By ISABEL S.\n          ROBSON. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Winsome Winnie.= By EMILY SPRATLING. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Yuppie.= By BESSIE MARCHANT. Gilt Edges.\n\n\n\n\n\"CONQUERING\" SERIES. 1/6\n\n\n          =A Noble Revenge:= or, Thomas Gladwin's Example.\n          By J. W. KEYWORTH.\n\n          =A Woman's Dilemma.= By EDITH CORNFORTH.\n\n          =Banners and Battlefields.= By EDITH GREEVES.\n\n          =Bertha Wynchester.= By EDITH CORNFORTH.\n\n          =Bessie's Ministry.= By ALICE J. BRIGGS.\n\n          =Beyond the Boundary.= By JENNIE PERRETT.\n\n          =Bird Minstrels:= Their Ways and Wanderings. By R.\n          CORLETT COWELL.\n\n          =Broken Purposes:= or, The Good Time Coming. By\n          LILLIE MONTFORT.\n\n          =Blind Olive:= or, Dr. Greyville's Infatuation. By\n          SARSON C. J. INGHAM.\n\n          =Chips from a Temperance Workshop= (Recitation,\n          &c.). By OLIVER PACIS.\n\n          =Conquering:= or, Bernard's Burden. A Temperance\n          Tale. By JEANIE FERRY.\n\n          =\"Doe no Yll\":= or, The Brandon Family Motto. By\n          ANNIE M. YOUNG.\n\n          =Eleanor's Ambition.= By SARSON C. J. INGHAM.\n\n          =Fairy:= a Little Cornish Maid. By ALICE J.\n          BRIGGS.\n\n          =Fifine's Charge:= or, The Little Mother. By WM.\n          J. FORSTER.\n\n          =Fettered or Free.= By JEANIE FERRY.\n\n          =For John's Sake.= By ANNIE F. PERRAM.\n\n          =Frank Heaton's Dilemma:= and Other Stories. By\n          WM. J. FORSTER. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Gold and Glitter:= a Temperance Tale. By JEANIE\n          FERRY.\n\n          =Harold and his Sisters in Norway.= By HENRY H.\n          M'CULLAGH, B.A.\n\n          =Her Heart's Desire.= By JEANIE FERRY.\n\n          =How Mrs. Hewitt's House was turned out of\n          Window:= Temperance Stories. By CAROLINE RIGG.\n\n          =How to Steer a Ship:= and Other Stories. By REV.\n          SAMUEL GREGORY.\n\n          =In Pawn:= a Story of a Pledge. By ANNIE M. YOUNG.\n\n          =Ivy Chimneys.= By EDITH CORNFORTH.\n\n          =Jackalent:= an Epic of the Streets. By ANNIE M.\n          YOUNG.\n\n          =Kavanagh Major.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON.\n\n          =Leigh on Family.= By EDITH E. RHODES.\n\n          =Leonard's Temptation:= a Story of Gambling. By\n          BESSIE MARCHANT.\n\n          =Life in Malin's Lea.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON.\n\n          =Lottie, Servant and Heroine.= By HELEN BRISTON.\n\n          =Margaret Wattford:= a Story of the 17th Century.\n          By ALICE J. BRIGGS.\n\n          =Marjory Flint's Latchkey:= and Other Stories. By\n          W. H. BOOTH, F.R.G.S.\n\n          =Mighty Men and their Daring Deeds.= By J. J.\n          ELLIS.\n\n          =Mystery of Grange Drayton.= By ELIZA KERR.\n\n          =Our Martha:= or, Careful Without Care. By EDITH\n          GREEVES.\n\n          =Patsy O'Hara, the Child of the Ocean.= By RUTH B.\n          YATES.\n\n          =Rescued:= or, Kenneth Cresswell's Transformation.\n          By EMILY SPRATLING.\n\n          =Roger's Quest:= a Story of the Days of Queen\n          Elizabeth. By ALICE J. BRIGGS.\n\n          =Runnelbrook Valley:= a Temperance Story. By MRS.\n          HAYCRAFT.\n\n          =Scaramouch:= and Other Stories. By ANNIE M.\n          YOUNG.\n\n          =Secret of Ashton Manor House.= By ELIZA KERR.\n\n          =Story of Christian:= Life Pictures from\n          \"Pilgrim's Progress.\" By SAMUEL GREGORY.\n\n          =Story of John Wesley:= for Boys and Girls. By\n          MARIANNE KIRLEW.\n\n          =Story Weavers:= Writers for the Young. By ISABEL\n          S. ROBSON.\n\n          =Sunrise Corner:= Illustrating Psalm 103. By MRS.\n          HAYCRAFT.\n\n          =Tatters and Jennie's Schooldays.= By LILLIE\n          PETHYBRIDGE.\n\n          =That Boy Mick.= By ANNIE F. PERRAM.\n\n          =The Fortunes of Sir Richard de Thorn, Knight of\n          Kent.= By ALICE J. BRIGGS.\n\n          =The Knights of the Tempest:= a Tale of the\n          Lifeboat. By H. PRATER.\n\n          =The Price She Paid:= a Temperance Tale. By J. W.\n          KEYWORTH.\n\n          =The Scotch Girl's Exile:= a Story of Olden Times.\n          By ALICE J. BRIGGS.\n\n          =Twelve Famous Girls.= By MARIANNE KIRLEW.\n\n          =Two Little Sisters and Humphrey.= By ISABEL S.\n          ROBSON.\n\n          =Two Snowy Christmas Eves.= By ELIZA KERR.\n\n          =Winsome Winnie.= By EMILY SPRATLING.\n\n          =Yuppie.= By BESSIE MARCHANT.\n\n    =2 & 3 Ludgate Circus Buildings, Farringdon Street, London, E.C.=\n\n\n\n\n\"SUNDAY AFTERNOON\" SERIES. 1/6\n\n\n          =A Comet for a Night.= By WM. J. FORSTER. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =A Terrible Fix:= and Other Stories. By WM. J.\n          FORSTER. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Dr. Brown's Bill:= and Other Stories. By ANNIE\n          CRAIG. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Eelin's New Home.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =Florrie's Telegram:= and Other Stories. By WM. J.\n          FORSTER. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Frank Heaton's Dilemma:= and Other Stories. By\n          WM. J. FORSTER. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Gerald's Adventure:= or, Only a Drummer Boy. By\n          ALICE J. BRIGGS. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Ida Graham:= and How She Overcame Her\n          Difficulties. By EMILY SPRATLING. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =In Solomon's Porch:= Bible Talks with Children.\n          By WM. J. FORSTER. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Isabelle's Story.= By ALICE J. BRIGGS. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =It's My Nature.= By HELEN BRISTON. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =John Fletcher, Farmer.= By F. SPENSER. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =Leslie's Revenge.= By WM. J. FORSTER. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Mabel's Three Keys.= By R. SINCLAIR. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Master Piers.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Millie's Experiences:= or Chequered Ways. By\n          NELLIE L. ROYLE.\n\n          =Minnie's Curiosity:= and Other Stories. By WM. J.\n          FORSTER. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Nora's Queer Lesson Book.= By ANNIE CRAIG. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =Notes on the New Brief Catechism:= with\n          Introduction by Rev. R. Culley. By ELSIE.\n\n          =Our Chris.= BY OLD CORNISH. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Our Silver Collection.= By WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =Raymond's Magpie.= By WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =Reggie's Dream:= and Other Stories. By WM. J.\n          FORSTER.\n\n          =Shad and Shady.= By J. W. KEYWORTH. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Sir Godfrey's Bride.= By RUTH B. YATES.\n\n          =Tell-Tale-Tit.= By BESSIE MARCHANT. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =That Dreadful Boy.= By BESSIE MARCHANT. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =The Fun o' the Fair.= By BESSIE MARCHANT. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =The Old House at Rungate.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON.\n          Gilt Edges.\n\n          =The Owner of Rushcote.= By BESSIE MARCHANT.\n\n          =Those Queer Neighbours:= and Other Stories. By\n          WM. J. FORSTER. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Three Little Vagrants.= By F. SPENSER. Gilt\n          Edges.\n\n          =Through Deep Waters:= a Temperance Story. By S.\n          SPENSER. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Tom and His Chum:= and Other Stories. By ANNIE\n          CRAIG. Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Twelve Famous Boys.= By WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n    =2 & 3 Ludgate Circus Buildings, Farringdon Street, London, E.C.=\n\n[Illustration: (From \"Millie's Experiences.\")]\n\n\n\n\nBOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS. 1/6\n\n\n\n          =Animals in Council.= By WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =A Royal Letter:= Bible Talks. By WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =Our Boys and Girls, Yearly Volume.=\n\n          =Pictures and Stories for Little Folks.= Bevelled\n          Boards, Gilt Edges.\n\n          =Carlo's Visitors.= By WM. J. FORSTER. Bevelled\n          Boards, Gilt Edges.\n\n\n\n\nBOOKS FOR TEACHERS AND WORKERS. 1/6\n\n\n          =A String of Pearls:= Suggestions for Bible Work.\n          By REV. SAMUEL GREGORY.\n\n          =How to Steer a Ship:= and Other Sermons. By REV.\n          SAMUEL GREGORY.\n\n          =Notes on the New Brief Catechism:= with\n          Introduction by Rev. R. Culley. By ELSIE.\n\n          =Sunday School Teaching:= A Manual of Method in\n          Class Instruction, Management, and Discipline, for\n          Sunday School Teachers. By JAMES BAILEY.\n\n          =Sunday School Infant Class Teaching:= A First\n          Year's Course of Lessons for the Infant Class of\n          the Sunday School. By JAMES BAILEY.\n\n          =The Story of the Sunday School:= Genesis and\n          Evolution. By J. HENRY HARRIS.\n\n          =The Tents of Kedar:= and Other Bible Talks. By\n          WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =The Wonderful Book:= Twelve Reasons why the Bible\n          is the most Wonderful Book in the World. By G. T.\n          SEYMOUR.\n\n\n\n\n\"DOUBLE VOLUME\" SERIES. 1/4\n\n\n        =Uncle Jock's Little Girl= }\n        =The Tempest Cousins=      } Two Books in One Volume.\n\n        =Weazel Tim=      }\n        =A Royal Mandate= } Two Books in One Volume.\n\n        =The Children's King=    }\n        =Into the King's Palace= } Two Books in One Volume.\n\n    =2 & 3 Ludgate Circus Buildings, Farringdon Street, London, E.C.=\n\n\n\n\n\"LUDGATE\" SERIES. 1/-\n\n\n          =A Comet for a Night.= By WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =A Royal Mandate.= By EMILY SPRATLING.\n\n          =A Terrible Fix:= and Other Stories. By WM. J.\n          FORSTER.\n\n          =Chrissie's Faults:= or, Fettered by Custom. By\n          JEANIE FERRY.\n\n          =Cousin Jack's Umbrella:= and Other Tales. By WM.\n          J. FORSTER.\n\n          =Donald's Ambition.= By ALICE J. BRIGGS.\n\n          =Dr. Brown's Bill:= and Other Stories. By ANNIE\n          CRAIG.\n\n          =Eelin's New Home.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON.\n\n          =Elise Fontaine:= a Story of Life in Belgium. By\n          ALICE J. BRIGGS.\n\n          =Eric's Hymn:= and Other Stories. By EDITH\n          GREEVES.\n\n          =Esther's Craze:= and Other Life Sketches. By A.\n          F. PERRAM.\n\n          =Florrie's Telegram:= and Other Stories. By WM. J.\n          FORSTER.\n\n          =Frank Heaton's Dilemma:= and Other Stories. By\n          WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =Gerald's Adventure:= or, Only a Drummer Boy. By\n          ALICE J. BRIGGS.\n\n          =Grannie's Darling.= By ALICE J. BRIGGS.\n\n          =Ida Graham:= and How She Overcame Her\n          Difficulties. By EMILY SPRATLING.\n\n          =Isabelle's Story.= By ALICE J. BRIGGS.\n\n          =It's My Nature.= By HELEN BRISTON.\n\n          =John Fletcher, Farmer.= By F. SPENSER.\n\n          =Leslie's Revenge.= By WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =Little Folks at Kelverton Grange.= By WM. J.\n          FORSTER.\n\n          =Little Jim's Rescue.= By ANNIE F. PERRAM.\n\n          =Lots of Time:= or, Pictures and Stories for Boys\n          and Girls. By ANNIE F. PERRAM.\n\n          =Love and Victory:= Dialogues for Temperance\n          Gatherings.\n\n          =Lucy's Temptation:= a Temperance Story for Young\n          Men and Women. By F. SPENSER.\n\n          =Luther Miller's Ambition:= and How it was\n          Gratified. By LILLIE MONTFORT.\n\n          =Mabel's Three Keys:= and Other Stories. By R.\n          SINCLAIR.\n\n          =Master Piers.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON.\n\n          =Mignon's Message.= By ELIZA KERR.\n\n          =Minnie's Curiosity:= and Other Stories. By WM. J.\n          FORSTER.\n\n          =Nora's Queer Lesson Books.= By ANNIE CRAIG.\n\n          =Our Chris:= and Other Stories. By OLD CORNISH.\n\n          =Our Silver Collection.= By WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =Raymond's Magpie.= By WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =Recitations for Missionary Meetings, &c.= By F.\n          M. L.\n\n          =Reggie's Dream:= and Other Stories. By WM. J.\n          FORSTER.\n\n          =Ruby Necklet:= Rosie's Temptation. By BETH\n          RICHARDSON.\n\n          =Sir Godfrey's Bride.= By RUTH B. YATES.\n\n          =Songs of Living Things:= for Boys and Girls. By\n          A. H. VINE.\n\n          =Stephen Blakemore's Problem.= By EDITH CORNFORTH.\n\n          =Shad and Shady.= By J. W. KEYWORTH.\n\n          =Tell-Tale-Tit.= By BESSIE MARCHANT.\n\n          =That Dreadful Boy.= By BESSIE MARCHANT.\n\n          =The Fun o' the Fair.= By BESSIE MARCHANT.\n\n          =The Old House at Rungate.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON.\n\n          =The Owner of Rushcote.= By BESSIE MARCHANT.\n\n          =The Tempest Cousins.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON.\n\n          =Those Queer Neighbours:= and Other Stories. By\n          WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =Three Little Vagrants.= By F. SPENSER.\n\n          =Three School-Girls:= or, Brenda's Purpose. By F.\n          SPENSER.\n\n          =Through Deep Waters:= a Temperance Story. By F.\n          SPENSER.\n\n          =Tom and His Chum:= and Other Tales. By ANNIE\n          CRAIG.\n\n          =Twelve Famous Boys.= By WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =Twentieth Century Book of Dialogues.= Compiled by\n          J. K. TOMALIN.\n\n          =Twentieth Century Reciter.= Compiled by J. K.\n          TOMALIN. Second Edition.\n\n          =Uncle Jock's Little Girl.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON.\n\n          =Weasel Tim.= By BESSIE MARCHANT.\n\n          =Wonderful Half-crown:= and Other Stories. By WM.\n          J. FORSTER.\n\n\n\n\nBOOKS WITH PICTURES FOR INFANTS. 1/-\n\n\n          =A Royal Letter:= Bible Stories. By WM. J.\n          FORSTER.\n\n          =Carlo's Visitors:= and Other Stories. By WM. J.\n          FORSTER.\n\n          =Our Boys and Girls.=\n\n          =Pictures and Stories for Little Folks.= By WM. J.\n          FORSTER.\n\n    =2 & 3 Ludgate Circus Buildings, Farringdon Street, London, E.C.=\n\n[Illustration: (From \"The Owner of Rushcote.\")]\n\n\n\n\nBOOKS FOR TEACHERS AND WORKERS. 1/-\n\n\n          =In Solomon's Porch:= Bible Talks with Children.\n          By WM. J. FORSTER.\n\n          =In the Sunday School.= Thoughts and Suggestions\n          for Young Teachers. By ANNA M. HELLIER.\n\n          =Into the King's Palace.= By ANNIE M. YOUNG.\n\n          =Junior Society Class Prize Essays.= By REVS. W.\n          B. FITZGERALD, W. H. CHAMINGS, J. SURMAN COOKE.\n\n          =Our Sunday Schools:= A Series of Papers. By REV.\n          C. H. KELLY, &c.\n\n          =Papers Read at London Sunday School Convention.=\n\n          =Take Fast Hold:= Addresses to Children. By J. J.\n          ELLIS.\n\n          =The Children's King:= Bible Talks. By EDITH M.\n          EDWARDS.\n\n          =The Firm Foundation of the Christian Faith:= A\n          Handbook of Christian Evidences. By PROFESSOR J.\n          A. BEET, D.D.\n\n          =Unframed Pictures:= Addresses to Children. By J.\n          J. ELLIS.\n\n\n\n\n\"GOLDEN DEEDS\" SERIES OF NINEPENNY BOOKS.\n\n\n          =A Heroine in the Strife.= By EMILY SPRATLING.\n\n          =Aunt Chrissie.= By EMILY SPRATLING.\n\n          =Bertram and Gerald:= or, The Gold and the\n          Glitter. By KATE MCCULLAGH.\n\n          =Chappie's Charge Angel:= and Other Stories. By\n          ANNIE M. YOUNG.\n\n          =Effie's Bargain.= By ANNIE CRAIG.\n\n          =Fabian and Phil:= a Story of Two Little Boys. By\n          ISABEL S. ROBSON.\n\n          =Fritz: the Young Swiss Guide.= By ALICE J.\n          BRIGGS.\n\n          =Golden Deeds Told Anew.= By ANNIE CRAIG.\n\n          =Little Barbara's Dream.= By EDITH GREEVES.\n\n          =Little Black Rover:= and Other Stories. By\n          CAROLINE RIGG.\n\n          =Little Miss Pry:= and Other Stories. By ANNIE F.\n          PERRAM.\n\n          =Little Parables for Little Folk.= By EDITH E.\n          RHODES.\n\n          =Marjorie's Stranger.= By ISABEL S. ROBSON.\n\n          =Mattie's Rescue.= By ANNIE CRAIG.\n\n          =Ned's Victory and Dick's Enemy.= By ALICE J.\n          BRIGGS.\n\n          =Nuttie:= or, The Silver Thread of Love. By ISABEL\n          S. ROBSON.\n\n          =Our Cousin Noel:= and Other Stories. By ANNIE\n          CRAIG.\n\n          =Out of the Dark:= a Tale for Girls. By EMILY\n          SPRATLING.\n\n          =Pranks and Prattles.= By EDITH GREEVES.\n\n          =Tony the Cripple:= or, The Child of a King. By\n          RUTH B. YATES.\n\n          =That Odd Little Pair:= or, The Sayings and Doings\n          of Molly and Larry. By ISABEL S. ROBSON.\n\n          =Theodora:= or, Golden Opportunities. By ISABEL S.\n          ROBSON.\n\n          =Alice:= or, The Early Crown.\n\n          =Archer's Chance Shot.= By SARSON C. J. INGHAM.\n\n          =Junior Society Class Prize Essays.= By REVS. W.\n          B. FITZGERALD, W. H. CHAMINGS, J. SURMAN COOKE.\n\n          =In the Sunday School:= Thoughts and Suggestions\n          for Young Teachers. By ANNA M. HELLIER.\n\n          =Meadow Daisy.= By LILLIE MONTFORT.\n\n          =Waiting:= An Allegorical Story. By SARSON C. J.\n          INGHAM.\n\n\n\n\n\"GILT SUNSHINE\" SERIES OF EIGHTPENNY BOOKS.\n\n\n          =Alice:= or, The Early Crown.\n          =Broughton Manor.=\n          =Carrie's Self Denial.=\n          =Christmas at Rexby Hall.=\n          =Crossing the Rainbow Bridge.=\n          =Dash and His Master.=\n          =David Watson:= or, The Good Pays.\n          =Elsa's Holiday.=\n          =Favourite Recitations for Boys and Girls.=\n          =Fine Herbs.=\n          =For Love's Sweet Sake.=\n          =Jim and His Charges.=\n          =Ladyboy's Story.=\n          =Little Mother and Her Christmas.=\n          =Mop and Meg.=\n          =Ned's Helper.=\n          =Nellie's Promise.=\n          =Oscar's Rebellion.=\n          =Ruth, the Little Hop-picker.=\n          =Sam, the African Boy.=\n          =Schoolroom Stories for Boys.=\n          =Schoolroom Stories for Girls.=\n          =Something to Do, Please.=\n          =Stanley's Pony.=\n          =Sunshine After Rain.=\n          =Tarbarrel Tim.=\n          =The Auto-Biography of Chow.=\n          =The Bite of the Serpent.=\n          =The Seven Edwards.=\n          =Tom Burton's Mistake.=\n          =Wanted a Boy.=\n          =William Tyndale.=\n\n\n\n\n\"UNCLE FORSTER'S\" EIGHTPENNY BOOKS.\n\n\n          =A Knotty Point.=\n          =Ella's Christmas Letter.=\n          =Harry's Rescue.=\n          =Lucky Carlo.=\n          =Nelson Farm.=\n          =Pitch and Toss.=\n          =The Old Plate's Story.=\n          =The White Mouse.=\n          =The Young Conspirators.=\n          =Twelve Bible Children.=\n          =Voices from a Money Box.=\n\n    =2 & 3 Ludgate Circus Buildings, Farringdon Street, London, E.C.=\n\n\n\n\n\"SUNSHINE\" SERIES OF SIXPENNY BOOKS.\n\n\n          =Broughton Manor.=\n          =Carrie's Self Denial.=\n          =Christmas at Rexby Hall.=\n          =Crossing the Rainbow Bridge.=\n          =Dash and His Master.=\n          =David Watson:= or, The Good Pays.\n          =Elsa's Holiday.=\n          =Favourite Recitations for Boys and Girls.=\n          =Fine Herbs.=\n          =First Readings:= Scripture for Children.\n          =For Love's Sweet Sake.=\n          =Frank Armstrong.=\n          =Jim and His Charges.=\n          =Ladyboy's Story.=\n          =Little Mother and Her Christmas.=\n          =Mop and Meg.=\n          =Ned's Helper.=\n          =Nellie's Promise.=\n          =Oscar's Rebellion.=\n          =Ruth, the Little Hop-picker.=\n          =Sam, the African Boy.=\n          =Schoolroom Stories for Boys.=\n          =Schoolroom Stories for Girls.=\n          =Something to Do, Please.=\n          =Stanley's Pony.=\n          =Sunshine after Rain.=\n          =William Tyndale.=\n          =Wanted a Boy.=\n          =Tom Burton's Mistake.=\n          =The Seven Edwards.=\n          =The Bite of the Serpent.=\n          =The Auto-Biography of Chow.=\n          =Tarbarrel Tim.=\n\n\n6d.\n\n          =Self Improvement.= A Book for Young Men.\n\n          =Philip Phillips, the Singing Evangelist.= Paper\n          Covers.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n              _Also_\n\n          SUNDAY SCHOOL BUILDINGS:\n              A Book of Plans of S. S. Buildings, 6d.\n\n          SUNDAY SCHOOL REFORM:\n              Two Prize Essays, 1s. net.\n\n    =2 & 3 Ludgate Circus Buildings, Farringdon Street, London, E.C.=\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\nThe transcription of the letter was done as well as possible. All\nspelling and punctuation anamolies have been retained for the letter\nonly. An image is available in the HTML version of this text.\n\nObvious punctuation errors in the rest of the text repaired.\n\nPage 40, hyphens were added to \"S-i-m-m-o-n-d-s\" to keep the spaces\nbetween letters.\n\nAdvertising page 6, \"Winnnie\" changed to \"Winnie\" (Winsome Winnie)","title":"The Story of John Wesley, Told to Boys and Girls","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":37877}