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¡Hness of one of their companions; and their lodging was little better than their fare. "All that time," says John, "Mr. Wesley and Hay on the floor: he had my great-coat for his pillow, and I had Burkett's Notes on the New Testament for mine. After being here near three weeks, one morning, about three o'clock, Mr. Wesley turned over, and finding me awake, clapped me on the side, saying, 'Brother Nelson, let us be of good cheer, I have one whole side yet; for the skin is off but on one side.'"

It was only at the beginning of his career that he had to complain of inhospitality and indifference. As he became notorious to the world, and known among his own people, it was then considered a blessing and an honour to receive so distinguished a guest and so delightful a companion; a man who, in rank and acquirements, was superior to those by whom he was generally entertained; whose manners were almost irresistibly winning, and whose cheerfulness was like a perpetual sunshine. He had established for himself a dominion in the hearts of his followers,-in that sphere he moved as in a kingdom of his own; and, wherever he went, received the homage of gratitude, implicit confidence, and reverential affection. Few men have ever seen so many affecting instances of the immediate good whereof they were the instruments. A man nearly fourscore years of age, and notorious in his neighbourhood for cursing, swearing, and drunkenness, was one day among his chance hearers, and one of the company, perhaps with a feeling like that of the Pharisee in the parable, was offended at his presence. But, when Wesley had concluded his discourse, the old sinner came up to him, and catching him by the hands, said, "Whether thou art a good or a bad man I know not; but I know the words thou speakest are good! I never heard the like in all my life. Oh that God would set them home upon my poor soul !" And then he burst into tears, so that he could speak no A Cornish man said to him, "Twelve years ago was going over Gulvan Downs, and I saw many people together and I asked what was the matter? They told me, a man going to preach. And I said, to be sure it is some 'mazed man! But when I saw you, I said, nay, this is no 'mazed man. And you preached on God's raising the dry bones; and from that time I could never rest till God was pleased to breathe on me, and raise my dead soul!" A woman, overwhelmed with affliction, went out one night with a determination of throwing herself into the New River. As she was passing the Foundry, she heard the people singing: she stopt, and went in; listened, learnt where to look for consolation and support, and was thereby preserved from suicide.

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Wesley had been disappointed of a room at Grimsby, and when the appointed hour for preaching came, the rain prevented him from preaching at the Cross. In the perplexity which this occasioned, a convenient place was offered him by a woman, "which was a sinuer Of this, however, he was ignorant at the time, and the wo-man listened to him without any apparent emotion. But in the evening he preached eloquently, upon the sins and the faith of her who washed our Lord's feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head; and that discourse, by which the whole congregation were

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affected, touched her to the beart. She followed him to his lodging, crying out, "O, Sir, what must I do to be saved?" Wesley, who now understood that she had forsaken her husband, and was living in adultery, replied, "Escape for your life! Return instantly to your husband!" She said, she knew not how to go; she had just heard from him, and he was at Newcastle, above an hundred miles off. Wesley made answer, that he was going for Newcastle himself the next morning; she might go with him, and his companion should take her behind him. It was late in October; she performed the journey under this protection, and in a state of mind which beseemed her condition. "During our whole journey," he says, “I scarce observed her to smile; nor did she complain of any thing, or appear moved in the least with those trying circumstances which many times occurred in our way. A steady seriousness, or sadness rather, appeared in her whole behaviour and conversation, as became one that felt the burthen of sin, and was groaning after salvation." Glory be to the Friend of sinners!" he exclaims, when he relates the story, "He hath plucked one more brand out of the fire! Thou poor sinner, thou hast received a prophet in the name of a prophet, and thou art found of Him that sent him." The husband did not turn away the penitent; and her reformation appeared to be sincere and permanent. After some time, the husband left Newcastle, and wrote to her to follow him. "She set out," says Wesley, "in a ship bound for Hull. A storm met them by the way; the ship sprung a leak; but though it was near the shore, on which many persons flocked together, yet the sea ran so exceedingly high, that it was impossible to make any help. Mrs. S. was seen standing on the deck, as the ship gradually sunk; and afterwards hanging by her hands on the ropes, till the masts likewise disappeared. Even then, for some moments, they could observe her floating upon the waves, till her clothes, which buoyed her up, being thoroughly wet, she sunk-I trust, into the Ocean of God's mercy!"

Wesley once received an invitation from a clergyman in the country, whom he describes as a hoary, reverend, and religious man, whose very sight struck him with an awe. The old man said, that,

about nine years ago, his only son had gone to hear Mr. Wesley preach, a youth in the flower of his age, and remarkable for piety, sense, and learning above his years. He came home, ill of the smallpox; but he praised God for the comfort which he derived from the preaching on that day, rejoiced in a full sense of his love, and triumphed in that assurance over sickness, and pain, and death. The old man added, that from that time he had loved Mr. Wesley, and greatly desired to see him; and he now blessed God that this desire had been fulfilled before he followed his dear son into eternity!

One day a post-chaise was sent to carry him from Alnwick to Warkworth, where he had been entreated to preach. "I found in it," says he, "one waiting for me, whom in the bloom of youth, mere anguish of soul had brought to the gates of death. She told me the troubles which held her in on every side, from which she saw no way to escape. I told her, "The way lies straight before you; what you want is the love of God. I believe God will give it you shortly. Perhaps it is his good pleasure to make you, a poor

bruised reed, the first witness here of that great salvation. Look for it just as you are, unfit, unworthy, unholy, by simple faith, every day, every hour." She did feel, the next day, something she could not comprehend, and knew not what to call it. In one of the trials, which used to sink her to the earth, she was all calm, all peace and love; enjoying so deep a communication with God, as nothing external could interrupt. "Ah, thou child of affliction, of sorrow and pain, hath Jesus found out thee also? And he is able to find and bring back thy husband-as far as he is wandered out of the Way!"

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The profligates whom he reclaimed sometimes returned to their evil ways; and the innocent, in whom he had excited the fever or enthusiasm, were sometimes, when the pulse fell, left in a feebler state of faith than they were found; but it was with the afflicted in body or in mind that the good which he produced was deep and permanent. Of this he had repeated instances, but never a more memorable one than when he visited one of his female disciples, whe was ill in bed, and after having buried seven of her family in six months, had just heard that the eighth, her husband, whom she dearly loved, had been cast away at sea. "I asked her," he says, you not fret at any of these things?" She said, with a lovely smile, Oh, no; how can I fret at any thing which is the will of God? Let him take all beside. He has given me himself. I love, I praise Him every moment!"-"Let any," says Wesley, "that doubts of Christian perfection, look on such a spectacle as this!" If it had not become a point of honour with him to vindicate how he could, and whenever he could, a doctrine which was as obnoxious as it is exceptionable and dangerous, he would not have spoken of Christian perfection here. He would have known that resignation, in severe sorrow, is an effort of nature as well as of religion, and therefore not to be estimated too highly as a proof of holiness But of the healing effects of Christianity, the abiding cheerfulness, under unkindly circumstances, which it produces, the strength which it imparts in weakness, and the consolation and support in time of need, he had daily and abundant proofs.

It was said by an old preacher, that they who would go to Heaven must do four sorts of services; hard service, costly service, derided service, and forlorn service. Hard service Wesley performed all his life, with a willing heart; so willing a one, that no service could appear costly to him. He can hardly be said to have been tried with derision, because, before he became the subject of satire and contumely, he had attained a reputation and notoriety which enabled him to disregard them. These very attacks, indeed, proved only that he was a conspicuous mark, and stood upon high ground. Neither was he ever called upon forlorn service; perhaps, if he had, his ardour might have failed him. Marks of impatience sometimes appear when he speaks of careless hearers. "I preached at Pocklington," he says, "with an eye to the death of that lovely woman, Mrs. Cross. A gay young gentleman, with a young lady, stepped in, staid five minutes, and went out again, with as easy an unconcern as if they had been listening to a ballad singer. I mentioned to the congregation the deep folly and ignorance implied in such be

haviour. These pretty fools never thought that, for this very opportunity, they were to give an account before men and angels." Upon another occasion, when the whole congregation had appeared insensible, he says of them, "they hear, but when will they feel? Oh, what can man do toward raising dead bodies or dead souls!"

But it was seldom that he preached to indifferent auditors, and still more seldom that any withdrew from him with marks of contempt. In general, he was heard with deep attention, for his believers listened with devout reverence; and they who were not persuaded, lis tened, nevertheless, from curiosity, and behaved respectfully from the influence of example. "I wonder at those," says he," who talk of the indecency of field-preaching. The highest indecency is in St. Paul's church, where a considerable part of the congregation are asleep, or talking, or looking about, not minding a word the preacher says. On the other hand, there is the highest decency in a church-yard or field, where the whole congregation behave and look as if they saw the Judge of all, and heard Him speaking from Heaven." Sometimes when he had finished the discourse, and pronounced the blessing, not a person offered to move-the charm was upon them still; and every man, woman and child remained where they were, till he set the example of leaving the ground. One day many of his hearers were seated upon a long wall, built, as is common in the northern counties, of loose stones. In the middle of the sermon it fell with them. "I never saw, heard, nor read of such a thing before," he says. "The whole wall, and the persons sitting upon it, sunk down together, none of them screaming out, and very few altering their posture, and not one was hurt at all; but they appeared sitting at the bottom, just as they sate at the top. Nor was there any interruption either of my speaking or of the attention of the hearers."

The situations in which he preached sometimes contributed to the impression; and he himself perceived, that natural influences operated upon the multitude, like the pomp and circumstance of Romish worship. Sometimes, in a hot and cloudless summer day, he and his congregation were under cover of the sycamores, which af ford so deep a shade to some of the old farm-houses in Westmoreland and Cumberland. In such a scene, near Brough, he observes, that a bird perched on one of the trees, and sung without intermission from the beginning of the service till the end. No instrumental concert would have accorded with the place and feeling of the hour so well. Sometimes, when his discourse was not concluded till twilight, he saw that the calmness of the evening agreed with the seriousness of the people, and that "they seemed to drink in the word of God, as a thirsty land the refreshing showers." One of his preaching places in Cornwall was in what had once been the court-yard of a rich and honourable man. But he and all his family were in the dust, and his memory had almost perished. "At Gwenap, in the same county," he says, "I stood on the wall, in the calm still evening, with the setting sun behind me, and almost an innumerable multitude before, behind, and on either hand. Many likewise sate on the little hills, at some distance from the bulk of the congregation. But they could all hear distinctly while I read, The disciple is not above his Master,' and the rest of those comfortable words which are

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day by day fulfilled in our ears.' This amphitheatre was one of hist favourite stations. He says of it in his old age, "I think this is one of the most magnificent spectacles which is to be seen on this side heaven. And no music is to be heard upon earth comparable to the sound of many thousand voices, when they are all harmoniously joined together, singing praises to God and the Lamb." At St. Ives, when a high wind prevented him standing where he had intended, he found a little enclosure near, one end of which was native rock, rising ten or twelve feet perpendicular, from which the ground fell with an easy descent. "A jutting out of the rock about four feet from the ground, gave me a very convenient pulpit. Here, well nigh the whole town, high and low, rich and poor, assembled together. Nor was there a word to be heard, nor a s.nile seen, from one end of the congregation to the other. It was just the same the three following evenings. Indeed, I was afraid on Saturday, that the roaring of the sea, raised by the north wind, would have prevented their hearing. But God gave me so clear and strong a voice, that I believe scarce one word was lost." On the next day the storm had ceased, and the clear sky, the setting sun, and the smooth all agreed with the state of the audience.

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There is a beautiful garden at Exeter, under the ruins of the castle and of the old city wall, in what was formerly the moat; it was made under the direction of Jackson, the musician, a man of rare genius in his own art, and eminently gifted in many ways. Before the ground was thus happily appropriated, Wesley preached there to a large assembly, and felt the impressiveness of the situation. He says, "It was an awful sight! So vast a congregation in that solemn amphitheatre, and all silent and still, while I explained at large, and enforced that glorious truth, Happy are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.'" In another place he says, "I rode to Blanchland, about twenty miles from Newcastle. The rough mountains round about were still white with snow. In the midst of them is a small winding valley, through which the Darwent runs. On the edge of this the little town stands, which is indeed little more than a heap of ruins. There seems to have been a large cathedral church, by the vast walls which still remain. I stood in the churchyard, under one side of the building, upon a large tomb-stone, round which, while I was at prayers, all the congregation kneeled down on the grass. They were gathered out of the lead mines, from all parts; many from Allandale, six miles off. A row of children sat under the opposite wall, all quiet and still. The whole congregation drank in every word, with such earnestness in their looks, that I could not but hope that God will make this wilderness sing for joy.' Gawksham he preached "on the side of an enormous mountain. The congregation," he says, "stood and sate, row above row, in the sylvan theatre. I believe nothing in the postdiluvian earth can be more pleasant than the road from hence, between huge steep mountains, clothed with wood to the top, and watered at the bottom by a clear winding stream." Heptenstall Bank, to which he went from hence, was one of his favourite field stations. "The place in which I preached was an oval spot of ground, surrounded with spreading trees, scooped out, as it were, in the side of a hill, which rose round like a

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