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The Father of Methodism;

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REV. JOHN WESLEY, M.A

WRITTEN FOR CHILDREN.

NEHEMIAH CURNOCK, Sen.

" God gave the Word, and great hatk been
The preachers' company ;
What wonders have our fathers seen,
What signs their children see ! "
Centenary Hymn.

LONDON
CHARLES H. KELLY, 2, Castle Street, City Road, E.C. ;
AND 66, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1891.

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PREFACE.
MY father vorked throughout his ministry for the children. He
was known far and wide as the " Children's Preacher." His
last service on earth was a children's service.
This little book, which I have been requested to prepare for
republication as the Children's Centenary Life of the Father of
Methodism, was written by him many years ago. He desired that it
should be short and simple. This desire I have scrupulously re
garded In reading the chapters, I have often been tempted, as he
was to enlarge. To have yielded to the temptation would have been
to defeat his purpose ; and, I may add, the purpose of the Book- Room.
The book, substantially, is as it was. Here and there a para
graph has been slightly and reverently touched. More frequently,
by the adoption of a more modern and simple form of punctuation,
sentences have been shortened. The aim has been to make the
story, if possible, still more suitable for children.
My father hoped that those who read his brief life ot f he
Father of Methodism would be allured to read John Wesley's
Tournals. With what joy would he have hailed the publication of
Wesley his Own Biographer! In that richly illustrated volume all

6 PREFACE.
the most interesting portions of the Journals are given in an unusually
attractive form.
Of late years several books on the Wesleys and the history of
Methodism have appeared. As specially suitable for those who have
advanced beyond childhood, I may name the Rev. Dr. Rigg's The
Living Wesley ; the Rev. Richard Green's John Wesley, — a third edition
of which has recently been published by the Book- Room ; — Dr. Lelievre's
John Wesley : His Life and Work; the Rev. John Telford's Lives of
fohn and Charles Wesley ; and, in Welsh, the Rev. John Evans' Life of
Wesley. All these books should have a place in Sunday-school libraries.
For the facts of his little book my father was mainly indebted, of
course, to the Journals and to the then existing Lives of Wesley.
But it will perhaps add to the interest of the volume if I emphasize
a fact to which he alludes in his brief Introduction. His boyhood
was spent at the fountain-head of the best traditions of early Bristol
Methodism. His maternal grandmother knew Mr. Wesley. An aunt
of my mother — Miss Ellison — was one of John Wesley's nieces. My
mother remembers her distinctly : a woman with auburn hair and
beautiful eyes, in face and figure singularly like John Wesley. She
was a remarkably clever woman. Until she quarrelled with him on
the Calvinistic controversy, she was one of her uncle's frequent
travelling companions and helpers in his work. Living as a boy
under the shadow of the first Methodist chapel ever built, in a house
furnished in part from John Wesley's rooms over the chapel, and to
which ancient Methodists resorted, my father's boyhood was saturated
with stories of the Wesleys and their friends.
Another fact may also be noted. My father's first Circuit after
his ordination was Wednesbury. There, and in other towns of the
Black Country, he often saw relics of the " riots " which he so graphi
cally describes. No wonder that he desired to tell the children of
Methodism the stories which had so greatly influenced his own
childhood and early manhood.
That this life of The Father of Methodism may, by God's
blessing, be the means of creating in our Sunday-schools, and in the
homes of " the people called Methodists," a desire for the spread of
true religion throughout the world, is the earnest prayer of those
who now restore it, in a new and brighter form, to the children of
Methodism. NEHEMIAH CURNOCK.
Dalkeith, Woodford Green,
February 189 1.

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epworth rectory.

INTRODUCTION.
MY dear Children, You will find in this book a history of the
life of that great and good man to whose labours, under God,
your parents, your country, and the world, with thousands of happy
saints now in heaven, owe very much of their good and happiness.
We call John Wesley The Father of Methodism. That you may
know his history, this book is written. It is your book. From it you
will learn much which at present you do not know about the man
whom Almighty God raised up in this country, more than one hundred
and fifty years ago, to do so much good ; and to whose labours, with
those of other good men who were his " helpers," you owe your
beautiful chapels, your Sunday-schools, much of the happiness of your
homes, and many other blessings which true religion brings.
I well remember when I was a little boy hearing my aged grand
mother and other good old people, who for many years had known
The Father of Methodism, tell their stories about him : how fond
he was of good children ; how he took them on his knee, or between
his knees, and sweetly talked to them about their Saviour ; how he
taught them to sing some of the hymns now in your hymn-book ; and
how, before leaving, he gave them a bright new sixpence, a few of
which he always had in his waistcoat-pocket for the dear children.
And I should tell you that when these children became men and
women, and even when they were old people, they never forgot John
Wesley, but with pleasure would tell how kindly he treated them when
they were little ones. Now, I shall tell you — much in the same way
in which they used to tell me — all about his life and labours ; and also
something about the Methodism of which we call him The Father.

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VIEW OF EPWORTH CHURCH.

THE FATHER OF METHODISM.

CHAPTER I.
THE FAMILY AT EPWORTH.
" Away with our fears ! The glad morning appears
When an heir of salvation was born !
From Jehovah I came, For His glory I am,
And to Him I with singing return."
IN Lincolnshire there is a quiet little market town called Epworth,
with. an old Church. Here, more than one hundred and eighty
years ago, lived and preached a good clergyman whose name
was Samuel Wesley. His wife, Mrs. Susannah Wesley, was a most
excellent woman. She helped her husband very much in his work for
the people of Epworth. There they laboured for more than forty
years, beloved by all the godly people in the place.
They had a large family, three sons and seven daughters. The
names of their sons were Samuel, John, and Charles. John, their
second son, who became The Father of Methodism, was born at
Epworth, on the 17th day of June, 1703. Mrs. Wesley was a very
kind mother and fond of all her children. She did not send them
out to school, but taught them at home herself. When they were

THE FATHER OF METHOD fSM '.•

five years old, she began to teach them the alphabet, which they
learned in a few hours. She then took the Bible and began at the
first verse in Genesis ; they had to spell the words at first, but they
very soon could read without either spelling or stopping. , In this
way she taught all her children to read, usually spending with them
six hours a day.
On Sabbath-days she talked with them about their souls and
their need of a Saviour. When their father was from home, she read
sermons to them, and invited her neighbours to come in and join with
her and her children and servants in the worship of God.
It was a great blessing to
them to have such a good
mother ; and they all loved,
honoured and obeyed her.
The Father of Metho
dism always said that he
owed very much to his dear
mother's teaching and care ;
and it was her great happi
ness to live to see him and
his brother Charles very holy
and useful men.
Before we leave Epworth,
I must tell you how God in
His goodness once saved
one of the dear children from
being burned to death in the
fire which destroyed .the Par
sonage-house.
One cold winter's night in February, 1 709, the Parsonage-house
took fire. Some have thought that it was set on fire by wicked people
in the town, who did not like Mr. Wesley. It was between eleven
and twelve o'clock in the night, when all the family were fast asleep.
One of the children (Hetty) was awoke by fire falling on her bed
and burning her feet. She ran into her mother's room to give the
alarm. Just then her father was awoke by men in the street crying
" Fire ! " He got up, little thinking that his own house was on fire.
But on opening the door, he found that the house was full of smoke,
and that the roof, which was of thatch, was already burnt through.
There were eight of the children then in the house. Mrs. Wesley was

REV. SAMUEL WESLEY.

THE FAMfLY AT EPWORTH.

very ill at the time, but she escaped from the burning house with her
two eldest girls, having to wade through the flames by which her hands
and face were much scorched. The servant maid went into the room
where the little children were sleeping, caught up the two youngest,
and told the others to follow her. This they all did except one little
boy, who was about six years
old ; and he says, — for he
remembered it all his life :
" Seeing the room was very
light, I called to the maid to
take me up ; and not coming
to me, I put my head out of gggp—
the curtains, and saw sparks
of fire on the top of the room.
I got up, and ran to the door,
but could get no further, for
all the floor beyond was in a
blaze ; then I climbed upon a
chest and stood before the
window." During this time the
father took all the other chil
dren out through the win
dows ; but as he was carrying
them into the garden, he
heard the child who was left
in the house crying for help.
He went back, and tried
several times to get to him,
but he could not, for the
stairs were so burned that
they would not bear his
weight. Finding no hope of
saving him, he gave him up
for lost, and kneeling down in the garden commended his soul to
God. But just at this time a man in the yard saw the dear little
fellow in his night clothes at the window. He was running to get a
ladder, when another man, who saw that the house was about to fall,
cried out: " There is no time for that. Here ! I will fix myself against
the wall, and you lift up a light man, and set him on my shoulders."

MRS. SUSANNAH WESLEY.

12

THE FATHER OF METHODISM:

This they quickly did, and only just in time, for the house fell a
moment or two after they had taken him from the window. They
brought the dear boy to his father and mother, when the good father
cried out : " Come, neighbours, let us kneel down ! let us give thanks
to God ! He has given me all my eight children : let the house go ;
I am rich enough ! "
This little boy
was John Wesley,
and he never forgot
his wonderful escape
from the fire. When
he became a man
and his likeness was
taken, he had a house
in flames drawn under
the portrait, with
these words: "Is not
this a brand plucked
out of the burning?"
What a great
mercy that God saved
his life ! And how
thankful we should
be to the kind man
who put himself
against the wall, risk
ing his life to save
the life of a little
chiid. Ever after this,
his dear mother says,
she " thought more
about him than of her
other children ; " believing that God had some great work for him to
do. She was very careful in teaching him to avoid sin ; to love and
fear God ; and as Hannah of old offered Samuel, so she offered her
little boy to God in earnest prayer.
He lived at home with his parents till he was between eleven and
twelve years old, when he was sent to the Charterhouse School, in
London. Here he remained between four and five years. He was a

JOHN WESLEY RESCUED FROM THE FIRE.

THE FAMILY AT EPWORTH.

13

good, hard-working boy, never spending his time in idleness, but trying
to learn all he could, as well as he could, and as fast as he could.
His brother Samuel, who was then in London, says of him in one of

CHARTERHOUSE SCHOOL IN THE DAYS OF WESLEY.

his letters to his father : " My brother Jack is with me ; a brave boy,
learning Hebrew as fast as he can." He was a great favourite with
the Head Master, and made such improvement in his learning,
that by the time he was little more than sixteen years old he was
thought fit to go to the Oxford University.

LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD.

CHAPTER II.

THE STUDENT AT OXFORD, AND THE RISE OF METHODISM.
" With thanks I rejoice In Thy fatherly choice
Of my state and condition below ;
If of parents I came Who honoured Thy Name,
'Twas Thy wisdom appointed it so."
IN England there are two large Universities, or seats of learning,
one at Oxford, the other at Cambridge. In each of these
Universities there are several Colleges and many learned men. It
is to these Colleges that young men are sent to be educated for the
Ministry and other learned professions. But much of the success of
the students depends on their own efforts. They do not gain honours
without hard work, any more than you gain rewards and prizes at
school without attention and good conduct.
John Wesley was admitted a student into Christ Church
College, Oxford, before he was seventeen years old. That you may
know how hard he worked as a student, and how well he got on, I
will tell you what honours he gained before he was twenty-five years
old. In the year 1720, he entered the college, and soon took his
degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was ordained a Deacon in 1725 ;
elected Fellow of Lincoln College in 1726 ; made Master of Arts in
1727, and ordained Priest in 1728. Now, although you may not
understand all about these honours, yet you will see from this that
John Wesley must have been a very hard-working young man, and

THE STUDENT AT OXFORD, AND THE RISE OF METHODISM. 15
must have conducted himself well, or he would not have gained so
many honours when he was so young.
During the time he was at Oxford he wrote letters to his parents
on every step he took, and often to his mother on the state of his
mind. His success greatly pleased his parents, for his mother in one
of her letters to him says : "I think myself obliged to return thanks to
Almighty God for giving you such good success at Lincoln."
And here I should tell you that he lived by rule. He rose early

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OXFORD, FROM HEADINGTON HILL.

in the morning, and never sat up late at night. He was very
temperate in eating and drinking ; he never spent his money in fine
clothes or foolish things, as other young men did ; he was kind and
•obliging in his behaviour to all, and was thought well of by those in
•Oxford who knew him.
It was at Oxford, in the year 1729, that Methodism first began ;
and we think that Mr. John Wesley ought to be called The Father of
Oxford Methodism, as he was afterwards of Methodism everywhere.
His mother had taught him when he was a child to fear and love God,
and had always told him, that if he would be useful and happy he

i6

THE FATHER OF METHODISM.

must be holy ; and while at Oxford he tried to be so. He read good
books, such as The fmitation of Christ, by Thomas a. Kempis ; and
Bishop Taylor's Rules of Holy Living and Dying ; and especially his
Bible. About this time he with his brother Charles, who also was
an Oxford student, and two other young gentlemen, Mr. Morgan and
Mr. Kirkham, agreed to spend together a few evenings every week
in reading the Greek Testament, and in trying to get good to their
souls. Some time after they had begun to meet, Mr. Ingham, Mr.
Broughton, Mr. Clayton, Mr. Hervey, and then Mr. George White-
field joined them. They all agreed to live by the rules of God's Holy
Word, and to take the Lord's Supper
once every week.
It was soon seen in Oxford that
they were better than most of the other
young men, some of whom called them
" A Godly Club ; " and then, as a nick
name, Methodists, because they lived by
rule or method. It was here in Oxford,
one hundred and sixty years ago, that
this name Methodist was first given to
Mr. John Wesley and 'the few young
gentlemen who joined with him to serve
God. From this time we must think
of him as the Father of Methodism,
for all the members of the Holy Club
looked to Mr. Wesley as their father ;
and in a letter which his father sent
to him and his brother Charles, about
this time, he says : "I hear my son
John has the honour to be called ' The Father of the Holy Club.' If
it be so, I am sure I must be the grandfather of it ; and I need not
say that I had rather any of my sons should be so honoured than
have the title of his Holiness the Pope."
And now, as Methodists, they not only tried to be good, but to do
good. They visited the prisoners in the jail, and preached the Gospel
to them ; they went into the houses of the poor and the sick, and gave
them money and medicine ; they gathered the ignorant children of the
town into a school, taught them to read, and gave them clothes. To
do all this they often had to deny themselves, but this they gladly did
that they might do good to the bodies and souls of the poor people and

JOHN WESLEY AS A STUDENT.

THE HOLY CLUB.

i8

THE FATHER OF METHODISM.

their children. Their labours were much blessed in Oxford, and many
had to thank God for the rise of Methodism there. Although some
made sport of them, and talked of "blowing up the Godly Club,"
these young men returned good for evil, and tried only to serve and
please God, by getting good, and doing good. They asked them
selves, their friends and their enemies, these questions: "Ought
we not to do
^^^^ix^.. good to all
-^jjx-fc*7 "i x men? Can we
^Mffl&IPrfltliniKP ~-'y -- ^:> "-?:-- -5-t^ be happy at all
hereafter un
less we have,
according to
our power, fed
the hungry,
clothed the
naked, visited
the sick and
the prisoner,
and tried to
save souls
from death ? "
About three
years after
they had form
ed their little
society, one of
its members,
Mr. Morgan,
was taken
away from
them by death.
He was the first who joined with John and Charles Wesley. A most
holy, earnest, useful young man, he died very happy in God. We
must think of Mr. Morgan as the first man bearing the new name of
' Methodist " who entered into that heaven of glory, where thousands
bearing the same name have since entered, to join with him and a
great multitude in singing the song of the Lamb Who redeemed them
and washed them in His own most precious blood, and hath made
them kings and priests/ to reign with Him for ever and ever.

BOCARDO PRISON, OXFORD.

LANDING AT SAVANNAH.

CHAPTER III:

THE MISSIONARY TO THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.
" I sing of Thy grace, From my earliest days
Ever near to allure and defend ;
Hitherto Thou hast been My Preserver from sin,
And I trust Thou wilt save to the end."
MR. WESLEY now became more anxious every day to do good.
He might have had his father's church at Epworth, for in the
spring of the year 1 735 his father died ; but he had a large heart
and he wanted a larger parish than Epworth. About this time mission
aries were wanted for Georgia, in North America, to preach the Gospel
in the New Colony, and also to the Indians. Mr. Wesley was asked to
go. After much thought and prayer, and after consulting his mother,
he with his brother Charles and two others agreed to go ; because, as
they said, " they wished to save their own souls and do good."
In the month "of October of the same year, they set sail for
America, with Mr. Ingham and Mr. Delamotte. There were also in
the ship with them twenty-six Germans, members of the Moravian
Church, and very good people. The Moravians were made a great
blessing to Mr. Wesley on the long and stormy voyage.
You will perhaps like to know something about this voyage ; and
you shall, for Mr. Wesley has left us an account of it. He says :
" Our common way of living was this. From four in the morning

zo THE FATHER OF METHODISM.
till five we were engaged in private prayer. From five to seven we
read the Bible together. At seven we breakfasted. At eight were the
public prayers. From nine to eleven I usually learned German, and
Mr. Delamotte Greek ; my brother wrote sermons, and Mr. Ingham
taught the children. At twelve we met together to give an account to
each other of what we had done since our last meeting, and what we
meant to do before our next. About one we dined. The time from
dinner to four we spent in reading to the people on board. At four
were evening prayers, when the lesson was explained, or the children

GERMANS ON BOARD SHIP DURING A STORM.

catechised and instructed. From five tb six we again used private
prayer. From six to seven I read in my cabin to two or three of the
passengers. At seven I joined with the Germans in their public
service, while Mr. Ingham was reading between the decks to as many
as would hear him. At eight we met again to instruct one another.
Between nine and ten we went to bed, where neither the roaring of the
sea nor the motion of the ship could take away the refreshing sleep
which God gave us." It was much in this way that Mr. Wesley, for
more than fifty years after this, filled up every hour of his time, always
having something to do, and a time fixed for doing it.

THE MISSIONARY TO THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 21
In the early part of the voyage they had three great storms. In
one of these Mr. Wesley says : " The waves of the sea were mighty,
and raged horribly ; they rose up to heaven above, and went down to
hell beneath." But God in His great mercy heard their prayer, and
saved them and the ship.
In one of these storms, when the sea broke over the ship splitting
the mainsail, and the water pouring in between the decks threatened to
swallow them up, the good Germans were all very calm, singing one of
their psalms. Mr, Wesley afterwards asked one of them :
" Were you not afraid ? "
" I thank God, no," he said.
" But were not your women and children afraid ? "
"No," he mildly said, "our women and children are not afraid
to die." But the English were all afraid and screamed very much. And
Mr. Wesley was afraid. At that time he was not saved from the fear
of death, for he says : " I was then unwilling to die." But in after years
he had no fear of death : he could say with St. Paul : " To die is gain."
On February the 6th, 1736, they landed safe in America. They
all knelt down on a piece of rising ground and heartily thanked God
for His great goodness in bringing them safely to the end of their long
and dangerous voyage.
As Mr. Wesley could not go among the Indians, he began his
ministry in Savannah, on Sunday, March the 7th. He remained nearly
two years in America, where he was made the means of doing much
good. He felt much for the poor Indians, and would most gladly have
spent his life as a missionary amongst them, but God saw that it was
better to send him back again to his own country. He often talked
with the Indians, and you will be pleased to read one of his conversa
tions with the old chief Chicali :
" I asked him what he thought he was made for.
"He said : 'He that is above knows what He made us for. We
know nothing, we are in the dark. But white men know much ; and
yet white men build great houses, as if they were to live for ever. But
white men cannot live for ever ; in a little time white men will be dust
as well as I.'
" I then told him that if red men would learn the good Book they
might know as much as white men ; but that neither we nor they can
know that Book unless we are taught by Him that is above ; and He
will never teach us, unless we avoid what we know is not good.

22

THE FATHER OF METHODISM.

" The Indian said : ' I believe that He will not teach us while our
hearts are not white, and our men do what they know is not good.
They kill their own children ; and our women do what they know is not
^rj«r aMBB»««ac--.rT-Tii-— g°°d, they kill the
.ytm^\,^tk ¦ 3 1 Wt [ I"1'1''1,1 "ij children; and He
Who is above, be
cause of this, will
not send us the good
Book.' "
At another time,
Mr. Wesley asked a
poor negro girl who
came to church,
Whether she knew
that she had a soul ?
She said she did not ;
she had never heard
that before, and
thought that when a
man died he died
altogether, like the
horse. He was very
much pained at the
ignorance and wick
edness of these poor
creatures ; but he
had soon to leave
them, for some of
the people in the
colony treated him
very badly, because
he had been strict
as a minister, and
would not allow people whose conduct was not good to come to the
Lord's Supper, until they had repented of their sins and promised to
do better. For this they persecuted him, and tried to ruin him ; and
he saw that it would be best for him to leave them and return to
England. On December the 22nd, 1737, he took his leave of
America, believing it to be his duty to do so.

MR. WESLEY TALKING TO A YOUNG NEGRESS.

SOUTH LEIGH CHURCH, WHERE MR. WESLEY PREACHED HIS FIKST SERMON

CHAPTER IV.

THE RETURN TO ENGLAND, AND THE STATE OF RELIGION IN THE
NATION AT THE TIME.
" O the infinite cares, And temptations, and snares,
Thy hand hath conducted me through !
O the blessings bestowed By a bountiful God,
And the mercies eternally new ! "
MR. WESLEY arrived in England on the ist day of February,
1738, having been away in all two years and nearly four months,
during which time he had seen much, suffered much, and
learned very much that was made of great use to him all his life after.
He was always glad that he had gone to America ; for by going he
had met with the good Moravians of whom you read in the last chapter,
and from them he gained much knowledge about the things of God.
As soon as he reached England, we find him trying to do good.
He landed at Deal. In the inn where he first lodged, he read prayers
and explained God's Holy Word to as many of the people of the house
as would hear him. From thence he made the best of his way to
London, where, on the 7th day of February, " a day," he says in his
Journal, "much to be remembered," he met with good Peter Bohler:
a minister of the Moravian Church, who, with some others from
Germany, had just come to London. From this good man he learned
what he had long wanted more fully to understand : that sinners were
saved by faith alone in the blood of Christ ; that all who believe in
Jesus Christ as crucified for them have all their sins forgiven for

24

THE FATHER OF METHODISM :

Christ's sake, are received into the favour of God, and become the
children of God ; and that they may know this by having the Holy
Spirit of God, bearing witness with their spirits that they are now His
children. He also learned from him that the blood of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, could cleanse us from all sin, making our hearts holy
by faith in Him, and giving us power to love the Lord our God with all
the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the mind, and with all the
strength ; and that when we do this we are real Christians.
Now, I have been careful to tell you this, because these were the

MR. WESLEY PREACHING AT AN INN.

great doctrines of the Bible which the Father of Methodism himself
fully believed and earnestly preached for more than fifty years. These
are the doctrines which all the Wesleyan ministers now believe and
preach in all parts of the world. This was called a new faith. Some
who heard it thought Mr. Wesley and the other ministers who
preached it were in great error. But many soon believed it, and were
saved ; for when Peter Bohler left London, which he did in the month
of May, Mr. Wesley says : " O what a work hath God begun since
his coming into England ; such an one as shall never come to an end
till heaven and earth pass away ! "

THE RETURN TO ENGLAND, AND THE STATE OF RELIGION. 25
Mr. Wesley was soon enabled to believe with all his heart in the
precious blood of Christ as shed for him. He had no sooner done so,
than he says : " I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust
in Christ, Christ alone for salvation ; and an assurance was given me
that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the
law of sin and death." He began to pray with all his might for all
those who had injured or persecuted him, and told to all in the place

PETER BOHLER.

what he then felt in his heart. This took place on Wednesday even
ing, May the 24th, in a room in Aldersgate-street, London. From
this evening his soul was filled with love to God, and pity for poor
sinners, whom he saw perishing everywhere ; for at this time religion
was in a very low state in this nation. Most of the people were very
ignorant and wicked ; there was much infidelity ; and rich and poor
alike hated or neglected all that was good.
In the churches, there were very few clergymen who cared much

26 THE FATHER OF METHODISM.
about the souls of the people ; and in many of the chapels the divinity
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was denied.
The chapels were very few ; the churches were badly attended.
There were no Sabbath -schools ; and scarcely any of the poor,
either men, women, or children, could read. There was no Bible
Society, no Tract Society. Not one of the great and good Societies
we now have in England had then been formed, except the Society
for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. So that the people might
with truth have said : " No man careth for our souls."
In many of the towns, both large and small, there was the bull-
stake, the cock-pit, and plenty of places where the people could fight,
and dance, and get drunk.
The Sabbath-day was perhaps the very worst day of the seven ;
for the people, especially the poor, caring nothing about either God or
their souls, spent it in all kinds x>f sports and wickedness, while their
children ran about dirty and ragged ; " wild as the untaught Indian's
brood." There are, we are very sorry to know, even now a great number
of ignorant and wicked people and children in our country ; but how
many must there have been then, when tens of thousands did not know
a single letter of the alphabet, and never, perhaps, entered a place of
worship. Mr. Watson, in his life of Mr. Wesley, says, that " till very
lately in some of the villages in this country the only prayer the poor
children were taught by their parents was an old Popish one, which
begins with : 'Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on.
Four corners to my bed,
Four angels round my head, etc'"
From this chapter you will learn something of the very low state
of religion in this country, and of the ignorance and wickedness of the
people, when the Father of Methodism began his work of mercy in the
year 1 738.

PREACHING AT PENSF0RD.

CHAPTER V.

THE FIELD PREACHER, AND THE BEGINNING OF THE METHODIST
SOCIETIES.
" O the goodness of God, Employing a clod
His tribute of glory to raise !
His standard to bear, And with triumph declare
His unspeakable riches of grace."
NOW we shall soon see the Father of Methodism beginning his
great work in this country. But I should tell you that after
his return from America, he went as soon as he could to see his
mother, and then his brother Charles who was then lying very ill at
Oxford. He preached in several churches, and great crowds came to hear
him. But having been so much pleased with the Moravians, he made
up his mind to pay a visit to Germany and see these good people.
For this purpose he went to Herrnhuth, one of their settlements, and
stayed with them for a fortnight. He was very much pleased with
what he saw and heard there, especially with the sermons of Christian
David, a very holy man. " I would gladly," says Mr. Wesley, " have
spent my life here ; but my Master calling me to labour in another

28

THE FATHER OF METHODISM:

part of His vineyard, I was forced to take my leave of this happy
place. O when shall this Christianity cover the earth ' as the waters
cover the sea' ! " He says again, that he " was much blessed and com
forted by his visit to these lovely people." He returned to England
more fully determined to spend his life in preaching the Gospel of the
grace of God.
He arrived in London in September, 1738, and began with all his
soul to preach the Gospel in all the churches that were open to him.

HERRNHUTH.

Great crowds came to hear him. But very soon one church after
another was closed against him, until almost all the London churches
were refused to him and his brother Charles. But he could not be
stopped ; for almost every evening of the week he expounded the
woX hold m rooms about London' to as many PeoPle as they
In the spring of the year 1739, he visited Bristol, and expounded
the bcnptures in a room in Nicholas Street.
On the next day, Monday, April the 2nd, he preached for the first

THE FIELD PREACHER.

29

time in the open air, to about three thousand persons. This took place
at four o'clock in the afternoon, on a piece of rising ground then near
the city, but now called Caroline Row, at the top of King's Square
His text was : " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath
anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor ; He hath sent me to
heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and re
covering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to
preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
On the Wednesday he went to Baptist-Mills, about half-a-mile

ROOM OVER MR. WESLEYS FIRST PREACHING HOUSE.

from the city, and preached to above fifteen hundred people, from the
words : " I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely."
And on the following Sunday, at seven o'clock in the morning, he
preached on the Bowling Green, to about a thousand persons ; after
wards to about fifteen hundred, on the top of Hannam Mount, in
Kingswood ; and again in the afternoon at Rose Green, on the other
side of Kingswood, to about five thousand persons ; these were chiefly
colliers. That you may know how very hard Mr. Wesley worked in trying
to do good at this time, I will give you his own account, from his
Journal, of a week's work.

3°

THE FATHER OF METHODISM:

" Every morning I read prayers, and preached at Newgate to the
prisoners." This was the old city jail, but long since taken down.
" Every evening I expounded a portion of Scripture at one or more
of the society-rooms. On Monday, in the afternoon, I preached near
Bristol ; on Tuesday at Bath and Two-Mile- Hill, by turns ; on Wed
nesday at Baptist-Mills ; every other Thursday near Pensford ; every
other Friday in another part of Kingswood ; on Saturday in the
afternoon and Sunday morning in the Bowling Green (which is near
the middle of the city) ; on Sunday, at eleven, near Hannam Mount, at

THE PREACHING ROOM, BRISTOL.

two at Clifton, and at five at Rose Green." " And hitherto," he says,
" as my day, so my strength has been."
Very much good was done in all the places where he preached.
In the city of Bristol many careless sinners were brought to God. The
prisoners in Newgate were so much affected by what they heard, that
all Newgate frequently rang with their cries for mercy. At Kingswood
hundreds of ignorant colliers were converted and made happy in God.
In many places, while he was preaching, men, women, and children
dropped down on the ground, crying out : " What must we do to be
saved?" Among these was a young man called Thomas Maxfield, who
was hearing Mr. Wesley in a room in Nicholas Street, when " he sunk

METHODIST SOCIETIES FORMED. 31
down as one dead ; but he soon began to roar out, and to beat himself
against the ground, so that six men could scarcely hold him." However,
he was soon able to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart,
and was made very happy.
I have named this young man because he was the first person
employed by Mr. Wesley as a Methodist preacher.
After staying some time in Bristol and the neighbourhood, Mr.
Wesley returned to London, when he went with Mr. Whitefield to
Blackheath, and preached to about twelve or fourteen thousand people.
On the following Sunday morning, at seven o'clock, he preached in
Moorfields, to about six or seven thousand people ; and again at five in
the afternoon, on Kennington Common, to about fifteen thousand people.
These were his first labours out of doors in London.
About this time the Methodist Societies were formed. You shall
have Mr. Wesley's own account of their beginning. He says : " The
first rise of Methodism was in November, 1729, when four of us met
together at Oxford. The second was at Savannah, in North America,
in April, 1736, when twenty or thirty persons met at my house. The
third was at London, on this day, (May the 1st, 1738,) when forty or
-fifty of us agreed to meet together every Wednesday evening." The
fourth was in Bristol, in the summer of 1739. Now were formed what
Mr. Wesley called the " United Societies," first in London, either in
November or December, I739,«and very soon afterwards in many other
places. All who joined them professed a desire to save their souls,
and serve and. please God.
Now as these societies were formed, they needed places in which
to meet, where they could worship God, and hear His Holy Word
preached. This led to the building of Methodist chapels.
In Bristol, on Saturday, May the 12th, 1739, the first stone of
the first Methodist chapel was laid by Mr. Wesley, he says : " With
the voice of praise and thanksgiving." This was on " a piece of
ground near to St. James's Churchyard, in the Horse-fair." This
chapel was called for many years : " The New Room ; " and after
that : " The Old Room, Bristol." It was to pay off the debt on this
chapel that the members of the society first began to pay a penny
a week. Mr. Wesley asked : " How shall we pay the debt ? "
Captain Foy stood up and. said : " Let every one in the society
give a penny a week, and it will easily be done."

32

THE FATHER OF METHODISM :

But many of them said : " We have not a penny to give."
" True," said the Captain, " then put ten or twelve of them to me,
let each of these give what they can weekly, and I will supply what is
wanting." Many others made the same offer. Then Mr. Wesley divided
them into Classes of about twelve persons to each Class, and put one
over each called the " Leader," to collect the money, and meet them
once a week.

FIRST METHODIST " CLASS-MEETING " CALLED BY THAT NAME.
In November of this year, Mr. Wesley opened his first chapel
in London. This was called "The Foundery," because it had been used as a
foundry for casting brass cannon for the Government ; but by the
kindness of some gentlemen, Mr. Wesley fitted it up as a chapel, and
used it as such for many years. It was a large brick building, near
where Finsbury Square now stands. Behind it was Mr. Wesley's
house, where he lived when in London, and where his dear mother
died. He could go from his house by a passage into the chapel. On

METHODIST SOCIETIES FORMED.

33

one side of it there was a schoolroom for the children, and on the other
were two rooms, in one of which there was an electrifying machine for
the use of poor sick people, and in the other books were kept for
sale. At the top of the Foundery was a small bell which was rung
every morning before preaching at five o'clock, and before all the other

THE FOUNDERY.

services. There were then no lamps in that part of London, and
during the dark winter mornings and evenings the good people were
seen with their lanterns making their way. to this house of prayer ;
these happy souls have long since gone to that better world where
" they need no candle, neither light of the sun."

JOHN NELSON AND MR. WESLEY GATHERING BLACKBERRIES FOR FOOD.

CHAPTER VI.

THE SPREAD OF METHODISM, AND THE PERSECUTIONS OF ITS FIRST
PREACHERS;
" O the fathomless love, That has deigned to approve,
And prosper the, work of my hands !
With my pastoral crook, I went over the brook,
And, behold, I am spread into bands ! "
METHODISM now began to spread in many parts of the
country.
While . Mr. Wesley was travelling and preaching with all his
might,, his brother Charles with Mr. Whitefield and a few other good
clergymen were preaching. the "new faith," as it was then called, and
many believed and were saved ; so that in many of the towns, both
large and small, societies were formed, all of which Mr. Wesley visited
as soon as he could.
In the year 1742 he paid his first visit to the North of England,
and began his labours in Yorkshire. Here many people had already
been led to seek salvation by the labours of good John- Nelson, the
stonemason. John Nelson "had himself been brought to God' while
working in London, by attending the preaching of Mr. Wesley at the
Foundery chapel. As soon as he was made happy in his own soul he
returned home to Birstal, in Yorkshire, and began preaching to his
townsmen and neighbours. By his pressing wish, Mr. Wesley came

THE SPREAD OF METHODISM, ETC.

35

into Yorkshire and preached on Birstal Hill, to a very large number
of people, and then in other places.
After encouraging John Nelson to go on in his blessed work,
Mr. Wesley went to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and began preaching there
among the colliers, as he had done at Kingswood. In walking through
the town he was very
much pained by what
he saw and heard. He
says : " So much drunk
enness, cursing and
swearing, even from the
mouths of little child
ren, do I never remem
ber to have seen or
heard before, in so
short a time." Here
he preached to many
hundreds, and very
much good was done.
A large society was
formed, and very soon
he built a chapel, which
was called "The Orphan
House." On his way back
from the North of Eng
land, he visited, among
many other places, Ep
worth, where he was
born, and where his dear
father had lived and
laboured for above forty
years. As tl^e clergy
man would not let him
preach in the church, he
stood upon his father's tombstone and preached to a very large congre
gation. This was on the, Sunday, and on the following Wednesday; he
rode over to a neighbouring, town to see a justice of the peace before
whom he was, told a wagon-load of poor Methodists had been, carried.
When the justice asked what they had done, no one had anything to say.

MR. JOHN NELSON.

36

THE FATHER OF METHODISM :

At last one said : " Why they pretend to be better than other
people, and besides they pray from morning till night."
" But," said the justice, "have they done nothing else ?"
" Yes, Sir," said an old man, " an't please your worship they
have convarted my wife : till she went among them she had such
a tongue ; and now she is as quiet as a lamb." " Carry them back !
carry them back ! " cried
the justice, " and let them
convert all the scolds in
the town." On the following
Sunday* he preached for
the last time in Epworth,
and was much pleased by
seeing some of the fruits
of his father's labours
now beginning to appear
after so many years.
From here he went
to Bristol, but was soon
called to London to at
tend the death-bed of his
mother, who died July
23rd, 1742, in the blessed
hope of heaven. She said
to her sons and daughters
while they stood around
her bed : " Children, as
soon as I am released,
sing a psalm of praise to
God." She is buried in
the Bunhill Fields burying ground, and her son Charles, who was
the poet of Methodism, wrote some very beautiful verses whieh are
now on her tombstone. The brothers always loved and honoured
their dear mother, and they felt her loss greatly.
In the year 1743, besides preaching much in London and Bristol,
Mr. Wesley visited and pfeached at many other places. But while
at Bristol he heard that many of the Methodists in Staffordshire
had been very badly used. At Wednesbury, Darlaston, and West

ORPHAN HOUSE, NEWCASTLE.

PERSECUTIONS OF ITS FIRST PREACHERS.

37

Bromwich, men broke into their houses, spoiled or carried away
their goods, and beat the women and children most cruelly, pelting
them with stones and mud. Some of the great grandchildren of
these persecuted Methodists now show a cupboard, or a clock, or an

MR. WESLEY PREACHING ON HIS FATHER S TOMBSTONE.
old chest of drawers that was then broken by the mobs. Mr. Wesley
made all the haste he could to go and comfort and advise them
Reaching Wednesbury, he preached at noon from the horse block
in what was then called the bull-ring. In the afternoon, while he was
sitting in Francis Ward's, writing, the mob beset the house. He
prayed to God to send them away, and He answered his prayers, for in
half an hour not a man was left. He then told the people who were

38

THE FATHER OF METHODISM :

with him in the house, that it was time for him to go ; but they all
pressed him to stay, and that he might not offend them he sat
down. Before five o'clock the mob came again in greater numbers
than ever, and the cry of one and all was : " Bring out the minister J "
" We will have the minis
ter!" Mr. Wesley told
one of them to go out and
take the leader of the
mob by the hand and
bring him into the house,
which he did ; and after
he had spoken a few
words to him, the liori
became quiet as a lamb;
He then wished him to
go and bring in two or
three of his most angry
companions. When they
came they were fit to eat
the ground with rage, but in
a few minutes they became
as calm as their leader.
Mr. Wesley then told
them to make way, that
he might go out among.
the people. As soon as
he was in the midst of
them he called for a chair,
and standing upon it said ;
" What do any. of you
want with me ? "
Some said : " We'
want you to go to the
justice."
He said : "I will go with all my heart."
He then spoke a few kind words to them, which God blessed, so
that they all cried out with might and main : " The gentleman is
an honest gentleman ; we will spill our blood for him ! "
He then asked them : " Shall we go to-night or to-morrow
morning ? "

THE GRAVE OF MRS. S. WESLEY.

PERSECUTIONS OF ITS FIRST PREACHERS.

39

Most of them cried out : " To-night, to-night ! "
So he walked on before two or three hundred of them, the rest
going home. Before they had got a mile out of the town, the night
became dark with heavy rain. However, they got on to Bentley Hall,
about two miles from Wednesbury. One or two ran before to tell
Mr. Lane, the justice, that they had brought 'Mr. Wesley before his
worship. Mr. Lane said: "What have I to do with Mr. Wesley? Carry
him back again."

THE RIOT AT WEDNESBURY.

By this time the main body of the mob came up, and began
knocking at the door, when the servant came and said that Mr. Lane
was in bed. Then his son came and asked :
" What is the matter ? "
One of the mob said : " Why, an't please you, they sing psalms all
day and make folks rise at five in the morning ; and what would your
worship advise us to do ? "
" Why, to go home and be quiet."
Here they were all at a standstill, and knew not what to do, when
one of them said : " We will go to Justice Persehouse, at Walsall." :1

All

40 THE FATHER OF METHODISM :
agreed to this, and so they hastened on to Walsall, and got there about
seven o'clock. But Justice Persehouse sent to say that he was in bed.
Now they were fast again. At last they all thought it best to go
home ; and about fifty of them offered to take Mr. Wesley back to
Wednesbury. Before they had gone many yards, the mob from
Walsall came running down upon them, knocking them down, till most
of them ran away, and left Mr. Wesley in their hands. He tried to
speak, but they roared and made such a noise that he could not be
heard. Dragging him along, they came to the town of Darlaston,
where, seeing the door of a large house open, he tried to go in, but
a man caught him by his hair, and pulled him back again into the
middle of the mob. Then they carried him through the main street,
from one end of the town to the other. " All this time," he says, he
" felt neither pain nor weariness." At the west end of the town, seeing
a door half open, he tried to go in, but a gentleman in the shop would
not ,let him do so, saying if he did, the mob would pull- the house
down. However he stood at the door, and asked them if they would
hear him speak. Many cried out : " No, no ! " " Knock his brains
out ! " " Down with him ! " " Kill him at once ! " Others said :
" Nay ; but we will hear him first." He then began to ask them what
harm he had done them. " Which of you have I wronged in word or
deed ? " and kept on " speaking for above a quarter of an hour," till
his voice failed him.
Then the mob began to roar again — many crying out : " Bring him
away ! bring him away ! " In the meantime his voice and strength
came back, and he cried aloud to God in prayer, when the man who
had just before headed the mob, turned to him and said : "Sir, I will
spend my life for you ; follow me, and not one soul here shall touch a
hair of your head." Two or three more of them said the same, and
got close to him, and the gentleman in the shop cried out, " For
shame ! for shame ! let him go." An honest butcher then came up, and
said it was a shame to use him so, at the same time driving back four or
five of the mob who were running at him. The mob soon stood back,
while three or four men took him between them, and carried him away
from them. When they reached the bridge, the mob came again,
but they got clear of them by going on one side, over the mill dam
and through the meadows ; and at a little before ten o'clock at night
they brought him to Wednesbury, where he found a number of the
people praying for him, and joined them in praising God for his
wonderful deliverance.

PERSECUTIONS OF ITS FIRST PREACHERS. 41
" In all this," he says, " I only lost one flap of my waistcoat, and
a little skin from one of my hands. . . . From the beginning to the
end I found the same presence of mind, as if I had been sitting
in my own study." He had no fear, for God took care of him.
He never fell nor made any stumble ; had he fallen he might not
have been able to get up again. A stout man tried to strike him
over the head many times with a large oak stick, but was never able
to touch him. Another man came up to strike him, but just when he
was going to do so, he dropped his hand, and only stroked him on his
head, saying : " What soft hair he has." The very men who at the
first were the worst, at last became his friends. A woman who had
headed the mob at Darlaston came to him and said none should touch
him, whereupon she was knocked down on the ground, and would have
been killed, had not a man called out to them, " Hold, Tom, it is
honest Murchin ! " so they stopped beating her, and she got up and
went away. How wicked these people must have been to have treated
him so ; but how merciful God was in sparing his life and delivering
him out of their hands.
The next morning, when he rode out of Wednesbury on horse
back, everybody appeared kind to him. He went on from there to
Nottingham, where he met his brother Charles, who says : " My
brother came delivered out of the mouths of the lions! His clothes
were torn to tatters ; he looked like a soldier of Christ. The mob
of Wednesbury, Darlaston, and Walsall carried him about for several
hours with a full intent to murder him ; but his work was not done,
or he had now been with ' the souls under the altar.' "
Soon after the time that Mr. Wesley had suffered so much from
the mobs in Staffordshire, John Nelson in Yorkshire, and Thomas
Beard in Newcastle, were seized and sent for soldiers, for no_ other
crime than preaching the Gospel. Thomas Beard was taken ill and
lodged in the Newcastle Hospital, praising God without ceasing. His
fever was very bad, and they bled him in the arm. The wound
festered and mortified, and the arm was cut off. Two or three days
after God signed his discharge, and took him to his eternal home.
Thomas Beard was the first Methodist preacher that died, and we may
look upon him as a martyr for Christ. These are only a few of the
persecutions which Mr. Wesley and the first preachers met with.

LANDS END.

CHAPTER VII.

THE FIRST CONFERENCE, AND THE LABOURS AND SUCCESSES OF
THE FATHER OF METHODISM AND HIS PREACHERS.
" Who, I ask in amaze, Hath begotten me these ?
And enquire from what quarter they came?
My full heart it replies, They are born from the skies,
And gives glory to God and the Lamb."
IN the spring of the year 1744, Mr. Wesley paid his first visit to
Cornwall, where he spent three weeks preaching in most of the
towns. His brother Charles had been there before him, and much
good was done by their labours. Although they suffered much per
secution, Methodism took fast hold in the western parts of Cornwall,
and has ever since been very prosperous. Mr. Wesley often visited
Cornwall after this ; nor did the Cornish people ever forget him.
When he paid them his last visit, forty years after, Mr. Watson says :
" The man who had slept on the ground for want of a lodging, and

THE FIRST CONFERENCE.

43

picked blackberries to satisfy his riunger, and narrowly escaped with
his life from the mob at Falmouth, now, when passing through the

REV. CHARLES WESLEY.

towns and villages, the windows were crowded with people all wishful
to get a sight of him, and to pour their blessings on his aged head."
On Monday, June the 25th, 1744, the first Methodist Conference
met at the Foundery chapel, in London. There were present at it six
clergymen and a few lay preachers (as they were then called). The

44 THE FATHER OF METHODISM :
names of the clergymen were John and Charles Wesley, John Hodges,
Henry Piers, Samuel Taylor, and John Meriton ; and of the lay
preachers, Thomas Richards, Thomas Maxfield, John Bennet, and
John Downes.
After they had spent some time in prayer, they began by asking
these three questions : I. " What to teach ? "
II. " How to teach ?"
III. "What to do?"
This was the beginning of the Wesleyan Conference. Mr.
Wesley lived to attend forty-seven Conferences, at all of which he
acted as " President ; " for all the preachers looked upon him as their
" Father " in the Gospel, and honoured him as such ; and now, when
ever they speak of him in Conference, they call him " our venerable
father." This is one reason why I have given your book the title
The Father of Methodism.
In the August of this year, Mr. Wesley preached for the last time
before the University at Oxford. His brother Charles says : " I never
saw a more attentive congregation, and he has delivered his soul."
Here they would not allow him to preach again, because he had become
a Methodist ; but he was happy to know, that although they had shut
their doors against him, God had opened many doors in all parts of
England and Wales, where he could preach, and where he did preach
with very great success. But to follow the Father of Methodism for
the next forty-seven years through all his journeys, his labours, his
sufferings^ and his successes ; to tell you all the places he visited, and
all the things which took place in his wonderful history, would make
this book much too large. My hope is, that when you have read this
book, you will all want to read h\s Journals* in which you will find an
account of most of the places he visited, and the good that was done.
Perhaps no man, except St. Paul, ever travelled so many miles, or
preached so many sermons as Mr. Wesley.
I shall now only be able to tell you a very few of the many things
you will read in the Journals, for he was travelling every year through
most parts of England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland ; preaching every
where three or four times a day, forming societies, building chapels, and
* Wesley's fournals are now being published in monthly Illustrated Parts, uniform with
this book. — Ed.

LABOURS AND SUCCESSES. 4S
doing all he could to bring poor sinners to Christ. Neither cold nor rain,
snow nor wind, could stop him. In the coldest weather he took some
of his longest journeys, and often preached out of doors in the winter
as well as in the summer. Sometimes he was treated very badly ; but
he was always happy wherever he was, or in whatever he had to suffer.
In Manchester, when the mob brought out the fire engine to play upon
him after he had done preaching; at Plymouth, when the whole dock was

MR. BLACKWELLS HOUSE, LEWISHAM.

in a very great uproar ; or in Ireland, where the people were much set
against him, you find him calm, never afraid, never returning evil for
evil, but always good for evil to everybody.
In the autumn of the year 1 753, from hard work and bad colds,
Mr. Wesley became very ill. The doctor feared he would die of con
sumption. He stayed some time at Mr. Blackwell's at Lewisham, and
then he removed to Hotwells, Bristol, where, by the blessing of God,
and in answer to the prayers of thousands of good people, he got
better. During this time he was not idle, though he could not preach.

46 THE FATHER OF METHODISM :
He began to write the Notes on the New Testament, a book I should
like you all to have.
At one time in his illness he thought himself about to die, and
wrote these words to be put on his tombstone, fearing lest his friends
should say too much about him :
HERE LIETH
THE BODY OF JOHN WESLEY,
A BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF THE BURNING;
WHO DIED OF A CONSUMPTION, IN THE FIFTY-
FIRST YEAR OF HIS AGE,
NOT LEAVING, AFTER HIS DEBTS ARE PAID,
TEN POUNDS BEHIND HIM.
PRAYING,
" GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME AN UNPROFITABLE SERVANT ! "
But he was mercifully raised up to labour and to preach for thirty-seven
years after this.
You will perhaps wonder what is the meaning of this epitaph.
He remembered the fire ; and also he knew that as a sinner he had
deserved the fire of hell, from both of which God had saved him.
As to the ten pounds, he gave away all he possibly could to the poor,
and spent much in trying to do good to the bodies and souls of men.
As soon as he recovered, he began his work again, never tiring
nor resting till the year 1775, when in the North of Ireland he had
a very bad fever, and lay some days without knowing anything or
anybody. This fever was brought on from his having slept on the
ground in an orchard. He had done so many a time before this,
but had not been injured by it. However, God was pleased again to
restore him, and he was soon as well as ever, and went on with his
work. Some time after this, the officers of the Board of Taxes, thinking
that he must be a very rich man, and therefore have a great deal of
plate, — that is, gold and silver, — a return of which he had not made in
the paper which they had sent to him, wrote a letter to him wishing
him to do so. He took up his pen and wrote back to them this
letter :

LABOURS AND SUCCESSES.

47

" Sirs, I have two silver tea spoons at London, and two at
Bristol. This is all the plate which I have at present ; and I shall not
buy any more while so many around me want bread.
" I am, Sirs, your humble servant,
" John Wesley."
He fed the hungry
and clothed the naked
instead of spending his
money upon himself.
In the year 1778,
Mr. Wesley opened the
City-road chapel, the old
Foundery chapel having
become too small. By this
time Methodism had
greatly increased. It had
for some time been spread
ing in America, and also
among the poor negroes
in the West Indies, as
well as in other parts of-
the world.
In this year also, Mr.
Wesley published the first
number of the Arminian,
or, as it . is now called,
The Wesleyan-Methodist
Magazine, which has been
published ever since. In
its volumes you. will find
many pleasing /things
about early Methodism
and the first preachers, and
the good old Methodists.
And perhaps here b should tell you that the Father of Methodism
was much helped in his great aM' blessed work by several clergymen
of the Church of England. There was the Rev. George Whitefield,
who began^with him and his brother CharlesF -the Rev. .Vincent
Perronet.of ;Shoreha:m, in : Kent; to whom he and his brother looked
up as, their father. Then there- was the good Mr. Grimshaw, qf

MR.. WESLEY HELPING A POOR WOMAN.

43

THE FATHER OF METHODISM :

Ha worth, in Yorkshire ; one of the most hard working ministers in the
world, who for many years preached sometimes twenty times in a

REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD.

week, and sometimes thirty, and died a Methodist preacher. And the
holy Mr. Fletcher, of Madeley, in Shropshire, who by his writings and
preaching was a very great help to Mr. Wesley. And the excellent

LABOURS AND SUCCESSES.

49

Dr. Coke, whom we must not forget ; he should be called The Father
of Wesleyan Missions, for he crossed the Atlantic Ocean eighteen

REV. JOHN FLETCHER.

times, and died when on his way with six missionaries to the East
Indies, in the month of May, 1814. His remains were committed to
the great deep, where they rest until the sea shall give up her dead.
There were a few other clergymen who also helped Mr. Wesley,
4

50 THE FATHER OF METHODISM.
with many great and good men, who have long since joined him in

DR. COKE, AND THE MEMORIAL SCHOOLS AT BRECON.
that better world, where "they rest from their labours ; and their works
do follow them."

f^SmmmSf

*3S=sa

^^m^^Fm3^SBWc^m^Wir i.ymf: "-yt^u^^^^m-

iSM*^R

ELIZABF.TH CASTLE, JERSEY.

CHAPTER VIII.
'THE AGED MINISTER STILL AT HIS WORK.
" In a rapture of joy. My life I employ.
The God of my life to proclaim ;
'Tis worth living for this, To administer bliss
And salvation in Jesus' name."
IN the year 1783, Mr. Wesley paid a visit to Holland. And very
delightful it is to see the aged minister travelling by land and by
sea, just like a young man, and preaching with as much strength
as ever. He spent his eightieth birthday in Holland. He writes :
" I have this day lived fourscore years ; and, by the mercy of God,
my eyes are not waxed dim ; and what little strength of body or
mind I had thirty years ago, just the same I have now. God grant
I may never live to be useless ; rather may I
'My body with my charge lay down,
And cease at once to work and live.' "
The late Rev. Henry Moore, who knew him well, says that
during the last years of his life he was " a wonder to many." Al
though upwards of eighty years of age, he travelled, wrote, preached,
and worked, just as though he had been a young man : rising at four
o'clock every morning, preaching at five, riding thirty, sixty or seventy
miles, besides preaching three, four, and sometimes five times in a day.

52 THE FATHER OF METHODISM :
Soon after his return from Holland, he visited Ireland again,
where he preached, often out of doors, to very large congregations,
and much good was done. From Dublin, where he was joined by
Dr. Coke, who had just come back from America, he came on to
Manchester, and then to Bolton, where he says : " Here are eight hun
dred poor children taught in our Sunday-schools, by about eighty masters
(teachers) who receive no pay but what they receive from their great
Master. About a hundred of them, part boys and part girls, are taught
to sing ; and they sang so true, that, all singing together, they seemed
to be but one voice." In the evening many of the children came
round him, when he wished them to come into the house and sing
"Vital spark of heavenly flame,"
which they did ; but many of them could not sing for weeping. Mr.
Wesley was much delighted with them, and said that he " believed
their singing could not be equalled in the King's chapel." With what
pleasure would he have listened to you in your schools when you sing,
had he been living now !
After this he visited the islands of Guernsey and Jersey ; then
Cornwall, where he preached in the fields and market-places, and in
the great amphitheatre, or pit, of Gwennap, to many thousands, who
could all hear him although he was so aged.
When he was eighty-five years old, he writes : " I this day enter
on my eighty-fifth year. And what cause have I to praise God, as
for a thousand spiritual blessings, so for bodily blessings also ! How
little have I suffered yet by ' the rush of numerous years !' ... I do
not run or walk so fast as I did ; my sight is a little decayed ; . . . I
do not feel any such thing as weariness either in travelling or preaching.
I can write sermons as readily and correctly, I believe, as ever. To
what cause can I impute this ? First, to the power of God fitting me
for the work to which I am called. And next to the prayers of His
children. And also to inferior means :
"i. To my constant exercise and change of air.
" 2. To my never having lost a night's sleep, sick or well, at land
or sea, since I was born.
" 3. To my having sleep at command ; so that whenever I feel
myself almost worn out, I call it and it comes, day or
night.
" 4. To my having constantly, for above sixty years, risen at four
in the morning.

THE AGED MINISTER STILL AT HIS WORK.

53

"5. To my constant preaching at five in the morning for above
fifty years.
" 6. To my having had so little pain in my life ; and so little
sorrow, or anxious care.
" Even now, though I find pain daily in my eye or temple, it
seldom lasts many minutes at a time."
Some people had pre
tended to say that this would ~^Mt^Om^^:
be the last year of his life, of
which he says : "I am not
careful about it ; I hope it
will be the best."
On March 29th, 1788,
his dear brother, the Rev.
Charles Wesley, died, aged
seventy-nine years. He
had long laboured with his
brother; and although very
weak and poorly in his body,
he was peaceful and happy
in his soul, and died in the
blessed hope of eternal glory
through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Mr. Charles Wesley
wrote most of the hymns
in our Hymn-Book. After
the death of his brother,
Mr. Wesley still worked as
hard as ever he had done.
When entering on his
eighty-seventh year he was
in Ireland, and he writes :
" This day I enter on my
eighty-seventh year. I now find I grow old. My sight is decayed ;
so that I cannot read small print, unless in a strong light. My
strength is decayed ; so that I walk much slower than I did some
years since. My memory of names is decayed ; till I stop a little to
recollect them." Yet still he was ever about his " Father's business."
After holding the Conference in Ireland, and then in Leeds, he
returned to London ; from thence he set out for Bristol ; and then

REV. CHARLES WESLEYS GRAVE.

54 THE FATHER OF METHODfSM.
through the West of England to Cornwall. At Falmouth, where he
preached, among many other places in Cornwall, he says : " The last time
I was here, above forty years ago, I was taken prisoner by an immense
mob, gaping and roaring like lions ; but how is the tide turned ! High
and low now lined the street, from one end of the town to the other, out
of stark love and kindness, gaping and staring as if the king were going
by." In the evening he preached on the top of a hill near the sea " to
the largest congregation " he had ever preached to in Cornwall.
In the early part of the next year, 1790, we find him again at
Bristol, Birmingham, Wednesbury, and Madeley, at which place he
says : " I finished my sermon on the Wedding Garment ; perhaps the
last that I shall write. My eyes are now waxed dim ; my natural
force is abated. However, while I can, I would fain do a little for
God before I drop into the dust."
After this he visited Cheshire, Lancashire, Newcastle, and Hull,
with many other places in Yorkshire, and then Epworth once more.
At Newcastle, the Orphan House was very much crowded, so that he
would have preached out of doors but the rain would not allow of it.
In the evening of Tuesday, June 8th, he preached, for the last time
in his favourite Orphan House, to about six or seven hundred of the
Sunday-school children, from the words : " Come ye, children, hearken
unto me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord." How delightful
to see the dear aged minister " feeding the lambs ! " And they could all
understand him, for he was so simple and talked so sweetly to them.
Surely they would never forget it !
He travelled and preached till he came to Bristol, to be present at
the Conference of 1 790. This was the last that he attended, making
the forty-seventh. After having visited as usual many places, he
returned to London, preaching till February, 1791, as much as ever,
and praying : " Lord, let me not live to be useless."
An account of his last days you will find in the next chapter.
Perhaps you would like to know what kind of a man he was to look
at? He was a little man, but very active ; he had a very fine face, and
though he was so old, it was beautifully smooth and clear : his eyes
were very bright, and he was always cheerful. His dress was neat ; and
he was always very clean. He had in his house a place for everything,
and he put everything in its proper place. His bedroom and his study
were always in order. He was never in a hurry; and was always ready
to leave his home at any time for the longest journey. He never
wasted a moment's time. He lived and worked by rule ; and this is the
reason he was able to do so very much good. Try and be like him.

MR. WESLEY PREACHING HIS LAST SERMON.

MR. WESLEY WRITING HIS LAST LETTER.

CHAPTER IX.

THE LAST DAYS OF THE FATHER OF METHODISM
METHODISM AT HIS DEATH.

AND THE STATE OF

"My remnant of days I spend in His praise,
Who died the whole world to redeem ;
Be they many or few, My days are His due,
And they all are devoted to Him."
THIS was really true, for the last days of his life, as well as the first,
were fully devoted to the service of God. He preached as usual
in many places in London and the neighbourhood, meeting the
societies after preaching in every place, and exhorting them "to love as
brethren ; to fear God, and honour the king ; " and closed each meeting
by giving out these lines :
" O that without a lingering groan,
I may the welcome word receive ;
My body with my charge lay down,
And cease at once to work and live."
In this way he went on till the time came for him to leave London
and take his usual journey through Ireland or Scotland. He sent his
chaise and horses before him to Bristol, and took places for himself and
his friend, Mr. Bradford (who travelled with him), in the Bath coach ;
but his strength was gone, and he was obliged to give up the hope of
taking the journey.
On Thursday, February 17th, 1791, he preached at Lambeth, but

56 THE FATHER OF METHODISM:
on his return seemed to have taken cold. The next day he read and
wrote as usual, and preached in the evening at Chelsea, from : " The
king's business requireth haste ; " but he had to stop two or three times
owing to his cold. On Saturday he was better ; but on the Sunday he
was unable to do his Sabbath day's work, though he rose early as usual.
On the Tuesday he went on with his work, and preached in the
evening in City-road chapel, and was much better than he had been
for some days.
On Wednesday, February 23rd, he went to Leatherhead, and
preached from these words : " Seek ye the Lord while He may be
found ; call ye upon Him while He is near." And this was his last
sermon. Here ended the public labours of that great and good man
who had preached so many thousands of times.
Thursday he spent with some friends at Balham, and appeared
nearly as cheerful and as well as usual.
On Friday he returned home, but was so feeble that his friends
began to be afraid for him. When Dr. Whitehead came to see him,
he said in a cheerful voice : " Doctor, they are more afraid than hurt."
On Sunday morning he seemed much better, got up and took a
cup of tea. While sitting in his chair he looked quite cheerful, and
repeated a part of one of his brother Charles' hymns :
"Till glad I lay this body down,
Thy servant, Lord, attend !
And O ! my life of mercy crown
With a triumphant end."
Soon after, he said, with much feeling : " Our friend Lazarus sleepeth."
He tried to say more, but was obliged to lie down. After having been
quiet for some time, he said : " Speak to me ; I cannot speak." When
one in the room said : " Shall we pray with you, Sir ? " he said : " Yes ; "
and while they prayed, he with all his soul said : " Amen." Soon after
this he said : " There is no need of more ; when at Bristol my words
were : ' I the chief of sinners am,
But jesus died for me!'"
One said to him : " Do you feel now as you felt then ? "
He said : " Yes ; " and while sitting up in the evening, he
repeated the same lines again.
On Monday, February 28th, he was much weaker ; he spoke
but little, and slept most of the day. Once he said : " There is no way

THE LAST DAYS OF THE FATHER OF METHODISM. 57
into the holiest, but by the blood of Jesus." He had but a restless
night. But on Tuesday morning he began singing :
" All glory to God in the sky ! "
And after singing two verses his strength failed ; then lying still as if
to recover, he called for a pen and ink ; but on trying to write he could
not. A person in the room said :
" Let me write for you, Sir ; tell me what you would say."
" Nothing, but that God is with us."
In the forenoon he said : "I will get up ; " and while they were
getting his clothes ready, he broke out singing in a way which
astonished all present :
" I'll praise my Maker while I've breath,
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers;
My days of praise shall ne'er be past,
While life, and thought, and being last,
Or immortality endures ! "
While he was sitting in his chair, he said : " Lord, Thou givest strength
to those that can speak, and to those who cannot. Speak, Lord, to
all our hearts, and let them know that Thou loosest our tongues."
He then sang : " To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Who sweetly all agree."
Here his voice failed, and after gasping for breath a little, he said :
" We have done all." He was then laid in bed, from which he rose
no more. He then gave orders about his funeral. While one of the
preachers was praying with him, and beseeching God that when their
father was taken to his eternal rest Methodism might be preserved,
increased, and become a greater blessing than ever to the world, he
with much fervour said : " Amen." On their rising from their knees,
he took them all by the hand, and with much sweetness said to each of
them : " Farewell ! Farewell ! "
A little after this, a person coming into the room, he tried to
speak, but could not. In a short time after, he cried out with all his
strength, " The best of all is, God is with us ! " then lifting up his
dying arm in token of victory, and raising his feeble voice with holy
triumph, he again said : " The best of all is, God is with us."

58

THE FATHER OF METHODISM :

When his parched lips were wetted, he said: "We thank Thee,
O Lord, for these and all Thy mercies ; bless the Church and King ;
and grant us truth and peace through Jesus Christ our Lord, for ever
and ever ! " At another time he said : "He causeth His servants to
lie down in peace ; " and stopping a little he cried : " The clouds drop
fatness;" and soon after: "The Lord is with us; the God of Jacob
is our Refuge."

MR. WESLEYS DEATH-BED.

During the night he tried many times to sing the hymn :
" I'll praise my Maker while I've breath ! "
but could only utter " I'll praise— I'll praise ! "
On Wednesday morning, March 2nd, the time came that he must
die. Mr. Bradford, his faithful friend, prayed with him ; and the last
word he was heard to say was : " Farewell ! " A few minutes before
ten o'clock, while his friends were all kneeling around his bed, without

THE LAST DAYS OF THE FATHER OF METHODISM.

59

a lingering groan, this man of God, this beloved minister of thousands,
the Father of Methodism, entered into the joy of his Lord.
He was in the eighty-eighth year of his age, and had been
sixty-five years a minister of the Gospel.
At the earnest wish of many of his friends, the body was placed
in the City-road chapel. Crowds came to see it, and all were struck
with the beauty of the face,
and with the heavenly smile
which was even then upon it.
Wednesday, March the
9th, was the day appointed
for his funeral, but his friends
feared that there would be
such crowds at it, that they
buried him between five and
six o'clock in the morning,
in a vault in the burying-
ground of City-road chapel.
But, though it was so early,
some hundreds were pre
sent. When Mr. Richard
son, who read the funeral
service (he now lies with
him in the same vault), came
to " Forasmuch as it hath
pleased Almighty God to
take unto Himself the soul
of our dear brother," he
Said, "OUR DEAR FATHER,"
and the whole congregation
burst into loud weeping.
They had indeed lost A
FATHER. In the City-road chapel
there is a marble tablet to his memory. The tomb in the graveyard
was built by the subscriptions of the Wesleyan ministers, at the
celebration of the Centenary in the year 1839. Both of these I
hope all of you may live to see for yourselves. And also the Wesley
Memorial in Westminster Abbey.
I have now told you something about the life and labours of The

MR. WESLEYS TOME.

<5o THE FATHER OF METHOD ISM:
Father of Methodism. Very much more I could have told you about
him but I feared making your book too large. Some years before his
death, the Methodism which he had the honour to begin had spread
through all Great Britain and Ireland, then to America, through the
whole continent into Canada, the Leeward Islands and Newfoundland ;
and now to Australia and New Zealand. To know all his labours for
between fifty and sixty years we must wait till the day of Judgment
shall make them fully known.
It is supposed that he travelled between four and five thousand
miles every year for more than fifty-two years, which will make nearly
three hundred thousand miles ; and preached between forty and fifty
thousand sermons ; besides all the addresses he gave, the hundreds of
letters he wrote, and the many books he published.
You may ask, how did he do all this ? The answer is this : He was
never idle. When riding on horseback or in his carriage he always
had a book in his hand. He made the most of his time at each place
where he stayed. His rule was : Never be unemployed ; never be
triflingly employed. Surely, you will say : " He must have been a. good
man, as well as a great man, or he could not have done so very much
good." When Mr. Wesley died there were five hundred and eleven
preachers, and one hundred and twenty thousand members in the
Society. And at the Centenary, in 1839, when Methodism was just one
hundred years old, there were three thousand four hundred and twelve
preachers ; and one million one hundred and twelve thousand, five
hundred and nineteen members in all the world, and perhaps one
million and a half of children in our Sunday-schools. " What hath
God wrought ! "
Now, in 1 89 1, at the Centenary of Mr. Wesley's death, the
following are the latest procurable returns.
GENERAL STATISTICS OF METHODISM.
Wesleyan Methodists- MlNISTER^ncludinf S^n trial).
Great Britain  2,004 5I2>44°
Ireland  232 25i976
Foreign Missions  366 39, 144
French Conference ....... 36 i,5°4
South African Conference . , . , . . 171 43, 5 10
West Indian Conferences ...... 90 48,378
Australasian Conferences  618 89,206
Methodist New Connexion —
England  186 32,893
Ireland  . . 10 1,076
Missions  6 1,806

GENERAL STATISTICS OF METHODISM. 61
Bible Christians — Ministers. Members
(including those on trial).
England . . . . iSQi 26,466
Australia, China, etc. . . . 91 5,869
Primitive Methodists — England, etc. . . 1,049 193,658
United Methodist Free Churches —
Home Districts ... ... 345 73 7? 2
Foreign Districts . . . . .72 11700
Wesleyan Reform Union ... 19 8,096
Independent Methodists . • ¦ • 335 6606
United States —
Episcopal Churches.
Methodist Episcopal Church . . . . 14,135 2,219,062
Methodist Episcopal Church, South ... ' 4,687 i)i32,'48o
African Methodist Episcopal Church . . . .2,550 405,000 ?
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church . . .2,110 3 14,000 z
Colrd. Methodist Episcopal Church of America . 1,729 165,000 ''
Evangelical Association  1,121 137697
United Brethren Church  1,566 195,278
Union American Methodist Episcopal (Church) . 40 3,660
Non-Episcopal Churches  4,072 201,264
Canada— ¦
Methodist Church in Canada . . . . 1,588 227,034
Totals . . 39,408 6,122,564
Total of Ministers and Members, 6,161,972.

Inclusive of Supernumeraries in Australia.

Estimated, but the official returns.

N.B. — Members of Junior Society and other similar Classes are included where such Classes exist.
These Statistics do hot include the numbers of worshippers and hearers in Methodism.

Let us be thankful to God for raising up John Wesley to be
" The Father of Methodism;" and let me earnestly hope that every one
of you, my dear children, will now say with all your hearts : " This
PEOPLE SHALL BE MY PEOPLE, AND THEIR GOD SHALL BE MY GOD."
1 Do so — for Methodism has been a blessing to your parents, to
your country, to the world, and to thousands of happy saints now
around the throne of God in heaven. And we earnestly hope and pray
that it may be made a blessing to you, and to millions yet unborn.

CHAPTER X.
THE FATHER OF METHODISM WORTHY OUR IMITATION.
" All honour and praise To the Father of grace,
To the Spirit, and Son, I return ;
The business pursue He hath made me to do,
And rejoice that I ever was born."
MY dear young readers, you have now read something about the
sayings and doings of the Father of Methodism, and I almost
think I hear you saying : We will try our best to be like him. The
life of such a man ought to be carefully read and prayerfully studied by
all our young people ; because from the lives of good men we learn
what great care God takes of those who love Him ; and we learn also
what we ought to be.
If you have attentively read and will try to remember what I have
told you about Mr. Wesley, you will never be at a loss to know what
to do to please God.
And to help you in this, ask your parents or your friends to buy
you a few maps of England, America, and other places ; and then it will
be a very delightful task to place your finger upon the different roads
which Mr. Wesley travelled, in his journeys from London to Bristol ;
from Bristol to Cornwall ; and from Cornwall to Yorkshire. You will
find Leeds, and near to it the place where good John Nelson was born.
Then you may go on to Newcastle, where the Orphan House was built,
and where Mr. Wesley preached to the dear children. You will also
find Epworth, where he was born ; and Oxford, where Methodism had
its rise. Then you may look at Ireland, and Scotland, and Wales ; and
you will scarcely be able to point to a single road, on any of these maps,

THE FATHER OF METHODISM WORTHY OUR IMITATION. 63
over which he did not travel again and again in trying to do good.
And you must remember that in those days there were neither
railways nor steamboats ; but only slow sailing ships, saddle horses
and stage coaches.
Then you will find Germany, and think of Peter Bohler, and the
good Moravians at Herrnhuth. And then America, where he safely
landed after the storm at sea, and talked with the poor Indians, very
ignorant of Jesus Christ and His blessed Gospel.
When you look at other maps, you will see great countries which
Mr. Wesley never visited : but Methodism has found its way to most
of them. There is Africa, India, China, Australia, and Fiji ; and surely
you will pray that soon every country in the world may have the Gospel,
and you will do all in your power to send it to them.
But I must tell you in what things I wish you to imitate Mr.
Wesley. He feared the Lord from his youth. Imitate him in this ; begin
now and God will bless you. He loved, honoured, and obeyed his
parents. Imitate him in this. You know that God says : " Honour
thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Mr. Wesley did so ; and was
always careful to ask their advice, and to do all in his power to please
them. He obeyed the command ; and " his days were long upon the
land." And what is more lovely than for young people to be obedient
and affectionate to their best earthly friends ? Pray that you may be so.
Mr. Wesley was always attentive to his books ; and this was one
reason why he knew so much, and was so well able to teach others.
But his greatness was not his learning alone. It was his
goodness ; this made him able to do so much good, and rendered him
such a great blessing to others. In this try to- be like him. Try to
be holy, and then you will be happy and useful. He prayed much for
this; and God listened to his prayers, and sent His good Spirit to teach
him what to do ; and in this way God will listen to you and bless you,
if like him you pray to be made holy.
And after he became pious, by giving God his heart, he never
forsook God, but spent the whole of his long life in His service and
for His glory. O that you may try to imitate him in this also ! For,
" Why should I say, ' 'Tis yet too soon
To seek for heaven, or think of death ? '
A flower may fade before 'tis noon,
And I this day may lose my breath."

64 THE FATHER OF METHODISM .
You may not live as long as Mr. Wesley did, but you may be as holy
and as happy as he was, if you fear and love God. Then say :
" Now, now, while my strength and my youth are in bloom,
Let me think what will serve me when sickness shall come,
And pray that my sins be forgiven ;
Let me read in good books, and believe and obey,
That when death turns me out of this palace of clay,
I may dwell in a palace in heaven."
All this Mr. Wesley did, and now he is gone to live in the
" palace in heaven." And there are palaces waiting for you also. You
have seen that he was quite ready to die, and very long before he died
he was prepared if God had called him away ; and when called, how
peaceful, how happy was his end. God was with him, and he is now
with God.
Now in all Mr. Wesley said and did he aimed at God's glory. It
was for this he rose so early, wrote so much, travelled so far, and
preached so often. He only wanted to save souls, and to spread
Scriptural Christianity all over the earth. He could always say :
"The love of Christ doth me constrain
To seek the wandering souls of men;
With cries, entreaties, tears, to save,
To snatch them from the gaping grave."
For this he lived, not for his own happiness, but to make others
happy. This he had the joy of doing for many, many years. And now
he has the greater joy of joining with thousands upon thousands in that
" Happy Land, where saints in glory stand," to sing the praises of
God and the Lamb for ever and ever. Pray to God, through our
Lord Jesus Christ, to make you holy and wise, then you will be useful
and happy on earth, and happy for ever in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus says: " Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid
them not ; for of such is the kingdom of God."

Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.