his wife should have both been connected with Dissenters, and their parents, on both sides, should have suffered by the oppression of the Established Church, and that both of them, while young, should have left the Dissenters and joined the Establishment. It could not have been the result of careful investigation, but, more likely, of youthful prejudice.

Mrs. Wesley was a noble woman. Of her Dr. Adam Clarke says: "Such a woman, take her all in all, I have never read of, nor with her equal have I been acquainted. Many daughters have done virtuously, but Susannah Wesley has excelled them all." She was the sole instructor of her numerous family, "and such a family," continues Dr. Clarke, "I have never read of, heard of, or known; nor since the days of Abraham and Sarah, Joseph and Mary of Nazareth, has there been a family to which the human race has been more in debt."

Many have supposed that Samuel Wesley was a sour and disagreeable husband. But he was one of the kindest of husbands, and his children are said to have "idolized" him. His affection for his wife is seen in a portrait he gives of her, a few years after their marriage, in his Life of Christ, in verse:

Mrs. Wesley's attachment to her husband was undying. When some disagreement occurred between her brother and her husband Mrs. Wesley took the side of her husband, and wrote to her brother as follows: "I am on the wrong side of fifty, infirm and weak, but, old as I am, since I have taken my husband for better, for worse, I'll keep my residence with him. Where he lives, I will live; where he dies, I will die, and there will I be buried. God do unto me, and more also, if aught but death part him and me."

In giving directions to her son John in regard to the right or wrong of worldly pleasure she says: "Take this rule: Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish for spiritual things—in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself." Did ever divine or philosopher state the question more clearly? Whoever follows these directions will not err in regard to the question of amusements.

Such a woman as this is worthy to be the mother of the founder of Methodism, for had not Susannah Wesley been the mother of John Wesley it is not likely that John Wesley would have been the founder of Methodism. We shall have occasion to speak of this woman and her husband further on.

CHAPTER III.

During the first eleven years of Wesley's life two events occurred worthy of note. At the age of five he was rescued from the burning parsonage almost by miracle. On a winter night, February 9, 1709, while all the family were wrapped in slumber, the cry of "Fire! fire!" was heard on the street. The rector was suddenly awakened, and, though half naked, sought to arouse his family. He rushed to the chamber, called the nurse and the children, and bade them "rise quickly and shift for themselves." After great effort they succeeded in making their escape from the burning house. They are all safe except "Jack." He had not been seen by anyone. In a few moments his voice was heard, crying for help. The flames were everywhere. The father, greatly excited, attempted to rush upstairs, but the flames drove him back. He fell on his knees and commended the soul of his boy to God.