either in his Bible or any other book, by which means he learnt very soon to read an English author well.

"The same method was observed with them all. As soon as they knew the letters, they were first put to spell, and read one line, then a verse, never leaving till perfect in their lessons, were it shorter or longer. So one or other continued reading at school time without any intermission; and before we left school each child read what he had learnt that morning; and ere we parted in the afternoon, what he had learned that day."

Mr. Wesley observes of his mother, that even she, as well as her father and grand-father, her husband, and three sons, had been in her measure a preacher of righteousness. And this is a remarkable circumstance in her life, and shews her zeal and steadiness in doing good: it shall be related a little more at large, from the original letters, than Mr. Wesley has done.

Her husband usually attended the sittings of convocation; and on these occasions was obliged to reside in London for a length of time that was often injurious to his parish; and at an expense that was inconvenient to himself and his family. It was on this business, it appears, that he spent so much time in London in the beginning of the year 1712. During his absence, Mrs. Wesley formed a little meeting at her house on a Sunday evening, when she read a sermon, prayed, and conversed with the people who came for this purpose. She acquainted her husband of their meeting, who, on account of the newness and singularity of the thing, made some objections against it. Her answer is dated the 6th of February, 1712, in which she says, "I heartily thank you for dealing so plainly and so faithfully with me in a matter of no common concern. The main of your objections against our Sunday evening meetings are, first, that it will look particular; secondly, my sex; and, lastly, your being at present in a public station and character; to all which I shall answer briefly :

"As to its looking particular, I grant it does, and so does almost every thing that is serious, or that may in any degree advance the glory of God, or the salvation of souls, if it be performed out of a pulpit, or in the way of common conversation; because in our corrupt age, the utmost care and diligence have been used to banish all discourse of God, or spiritual concerns, out of society; as if religion were never to appear out of the closet, and we were to be ashamed of nothing so much, as of professing ourselves to be christians.

"To your second, I reply, that, as I am a woman, so I am also mistress of a large family. And though the superior charge of the souls contained in it lies upon you, as head of the family, and as their minister, yet in your absence I cannot but look upon every soul you leave under my care, as a talent committed to me under a trust, by the great Lord of all the families of heaven and earth; and if I am unfaithful to him or to you, in neglecting to improve these talents, how shall I answer unto him, when he shall command me to render an account of my stewardship.

"As these, and other such like thoughts, made me at first take a more than ordinary care of the souls of my children and servants; so knowing that our most holy religion requires a strict observation of the Lord's day, and not thinking that we fully answered the end of the institution by only going to church; but that likewise we were obliged to fill up the intermediate spaces of that sacred time by other acts of piety and devotion; I thought it my duty to spend some part of the day in reading to, and instructing my family; especially in your absence, when, having no afternoon service, we have so much leisure for such exercises; and such time I esteemed spent in a way more acceptable to God than if I had retired to my own private devotions.

"This was the beginning of my present practice: other people's coming in, and joining with us, was purely accidental. Our lad told his parents; they first desired to be admitted; then others who heard of it begged leave also; so our company increased to about thirty, and seldom exceeded forty last winter; and why it increased since, I leave you to judge after you have read what follows.

"Soon after you went to London, Emily found in your study the account of the Danish Missionaries; which, having never seen, I ordered her to read me. I was never, I think, more affected with any thing than with the relation of their travels; and was exceedingly pleased with the noble design they were engaged in. Their labours refreshed my soul beyond measure, and I could not forbear spending a good part of that evening in praising and adoring the Divine Goodness for inspiring those good men with such an ardent zeal for his glory, that they were willing to hazard their lives, and all that is esteemed dear to men in this world, to advance the honour of their Master, Jesus! For several days I could think or speak of little else. At last it came into my mind; though I am not a man, nor a minister of the Gospel, and so cannot be engaged in such a worthy employment as they were, yet, if my heart were sincerely devoted to God, and if I were inspired with a true zeal for his glory, and did really desire the salvation of souls, I might do somewhat more than I do. I thought I might live in a more exemplary manner in some things; I might pray more for the people, and speak with more warmth to those with whom I have an opportunity of conversing. However I resolved to begin with my own children; and accordingly I proposed and observed the following method. I take such a proportion of time as I can best spare every night, to discourse with each child by itself, on something that relates to its principal concerns. On Monday I talk with Molly; on Tuesday with Hetty; Wednesday with Nancy; Thursday with Jacky; Friday with Patty; Saturday with Charles; and with Emily and Suky together on Sunday.

7

"With those few neighbours who then came to me I discoursed more freely and affectionately than before; I chose the best and most awakening sermons we had, and I spent more time with them in such exercises. Since this our company has increased every night; for I dare deny none who ask admittance. Last Sunday I believe

we had above two hundred, and yet many went away for want of

room.

"But I never durst positively presume to hope, that God would make use of me as an instrument in doing good; the farthest I ever durst go was, It may be; who can tell? with God all things are possible. I will resign myself to him; or, as Herbert better expresses it,

"Only, since God doth often make
Of lowly matter, for high uses meet,
I throw me at his feet;

There will I lie, until my Maker seek

For some mean stuff, whereon to shew his skill,
Then is my time

And thus I rested, without passing any reflection on myself, or forming any judgment about the success or event of this undertaking.

"Your third objection I leave to be answered by your own judgment. We meet not upon any worldly design. We banish all temporal concerns from our society; none is suffered to mingle any discourse about them with our reading or singing: we keep close to the business of the day, and as soon as it is over they all go home. And where is the harm of this? If I and my children went a visiting on Sunday nights, or if we admitted of impertinent visits, as too many do who think themselves good christians, perhaps it would be thought no scandalous practice, though in truth it would be so; therefore why any should reflect upon you, let your station be what it will, because your wife endeavours to draw people to church, and to restrain them by reading and other persuasions, from their profanation of God's most holy day, I cannot conceive. But if any should be so mad as to do it, I wish you would not regard it. For my part, I value no censure on this account: I have long since shook hands with the world, and I heartily wish I had never given them more reason to speak against me.

"As for your proposal of letting some other person read, alas! you do not consider what a people these are. I do not think one man among them could read a sermon, without spelling a good part of it; and how would that edify the rest? Nor has any of our family a voice strong enough to be heard by such a number of people.

"But there is one thing about which I am much dissatisfied; that is, their being present at family prayers. I do not speak of any concern I am under, barely because so many are present. For those who have the honour of speaking to the great and holy God, need not be ashamed to speak before the whole world, but because of my sex. I doubt, if it be proper for me to present the prayers of the people to God. Last Sunday I would fain have dismissed them before prayers; but they begged so earnestly to stay, I durst not deny them.'

In this, as in every other part of her conduct, Mrs. Wesley acted from principle, and from mature deliberation. No person, perhaps, ever had a greater regard for the established order of the Church of England, than she had; but she considered her conduct, in this instance, as coinciding with the spirit and intention of that order; to reform the manners of the people, and to beget in thèm á reverence

VOL I.

E

for the public worship. It is obvious that this consideration alone silenced every objection in her mind, concerning her present proceedings. But, though she was satisfied of the propriety of her own conduct, she thought it her duty to abide by the decision of her husband. He had already written to her on the subject, and though he had made some objections, yet, upon the whole, he seemed to approve of the meeting. But Mr. Inman the Curate, and two or three of his.companions highly disapproved of it, and wrote to Mr. Wesley, complaining heavily of it, calling it a conventicle, &c. It is painful to see a clergyman among the foremost to oppose any thing that may tend to diffuse knowledge among the common people, and impress their minds with a serious sense of religion, and the duties it enjoins. was evidently the case in the present instance; and the representations made to Mr. Wesley had such an effect upon his mind, that he wrote to his wife in a tone of disapprobation which he had not used before. Her answer, which is dated the 25th of February, is worthy of herself, and of the cause in which she was engaged.

This

"Some few days since," says she, "I received a letter from you, I suppose dated the 16th instant, which I made no great haste to answer: because I judged it necessary for both of us to take some time to consider, before you determine in a matter of such great importance. I shall not inquire how it was possible that you should be prevailed on, by the senseless clamours of two or three of the worst of your parish, to condemn what you so very lately approved: but I shall tell you my mind in as few words as possible. I do not hear of more than three or four persons who are against our meeting, of whom Inman is the chief. He and Whiteley, I believe may call it a conventicle; but we hear no outcry here, nor has any one said a word against it to me. And what does their calling it a conventicle signify? Does it alter the nature of the thing? or do you think that what they say is a sufficient reason to forbear a thing that has already done much good, and, by the blessing of God, may do much more? If its being called a conventicle by those who know in their conscience they misrepresent it, did really make it one, what you say would be somewhat to the purpose; but it is plain, in fact, that this one thing has brought more people to church than ever any thing did in so short a time. We used not to have above twenty, or twenty-five, at evening service, whereas now we have between two and three hundred; which are more than ever came before to hear Inman in the morning.

"Besides the constant attendance on the public worship of God, our meeting has wonderfully conciliated the minds of this people towards us, so that we now live in the greatest amity imaginable; and, what is still better, they are very much reformed in their behaviour on the Lord's Day; and those who used to be playing in the streets, now come to hear a good sermon read, which is surely more acceptable to Almighty God.

"Another reason for what I do, is, that I have no other way of conversing with this people, and therefore, have no other way of

doing them good; but by this I have an opportunity of exercising the greatest and noblest charity, that is charity to their souls.

"Some families who seldom went to church, now go constantly; and one person who has not been there for seven years, is now prevailed upon to go with the rest.

"There are many other good consequences of this meeting which I have not time to mention. Now, I beseech you, weigh all things in an impartial balance: on the one side, the honour of Almighty God, the doing much good to many souls, and the friendship of the best among whom we live; on the other, (if folly, impiety, and vanity, may abide in the scale against so ponderous a weight) the senseless objections of a few scandalous persons, laughing at us, and censuring us as precise and hypocritical; and when you have duly considered all things, let me know your positive determination.

"I need not tell you the consequences, if you determine to put an end to our meeting. You may easily foresee what prejudices it may raise in the minds of those people against Inman especially, who has so little wit as to speak publicly against it. I can now keep them to the church, but if it be laid aside, I doubt they will never go to hear him more, at least those who come from the lower end of the town; but if this be continued till you return, which will not be long, it may please God that their hearts may be so changed by that time, that they may love and delight in his public worship so as never to neglect it more.

"If you do, after all, think fit to dissolve this assembly, do not tell me that you desire me to do it, for that will not satisfy my conscience: but send me your positive command, in such full and express terms, as may absolve me from guilt and punishment for neglecting this opportunity of doing good, when you and I shall appear before the great and awful tribunal of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.

The meeting was continued until Mr. Wesley returned to Epworth. Mrs. Wesley continued to discharge the duties of a wife and parent with the greatest diligence and punctuality. The letters she wrote to her sons when at Oxford, and after they had left it, shew her in the most amiable light, both for knowledge and piety. In 1735, she lost her husband, and afterwards divided her time between her children, till about the year 1739; after which she resided chiefly in London,

It appears from all we have seen of Mrs Wesley, that she was a woman of real experience in the things of God. But it does not appear that she had a clear notion of justification as distinet from sanctification; on the contrary she seems to have confounded them together. The consequence was, that her knowledge of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, without the law, was not so clear as it might have been; and this hindered her from enjoying that full assurance of her acceptance and the peace and joy consequent upon it, which otherwise she would have had. When her two sons Mr. J. and C. Wesley, began to preach the doctrine of justification by faith, in 1738, and many professed to be justified, and to know the time this change in their state took place, she mentions their notions as new,