She went on to say, that if she or her children spent the Sunday evenings in idle visiting, nobody would complain, but that if any should blame her for keeping the Lord's day holy, it did not signify. "For my part," she said, "I have long since shook hands with the world," (she meant "have said good-bye to it "), "and I heartily wish I had never given them more reason to speak against me."

She ends by saying that if her husband thought fit to put an end to these meetings, he must not say that he desired her to leave them off, "for that," she said, "will not satisfy my conscience; but send me your positive command, in such full and express terms, as may absolve me from all 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."

It seems that Mr. Wesley did not dare, after receiving this answer, to complain any more of the meetings, and they went on as usual till he came back to Epworth. You see from this history that little John's mother, was, as far as she had light, a true servant of God, and that she would teach her children to care nothing for being

blamed or thought odd and foolish by men, if they were doing what God desired.

Only let us be careful not to give any reason to others to blame us by being really foolish, or by being disobedient to the lawful commands of those set over us. Christians sometimes think they are suffering for Christ's sake, when it is really on account of some foolishness and ill-conduct on their own part. I can tell you of nothing more that happened at Epworth before little John was sent to school in London, which took place when he was eleven years old, in the same year in which George the First came from Germany to be King of England.

CHAPTER III.

THE school to which little John was sent when he was eleven years old, was called the Charter-house. To go to London from Epworth was a very long journey in those days it is rather more than 220 miles. There were no railroads then, and people travelled either on horseback, or sometimes in stage-coaches. An old description of England in the year 1723 tells us, that some of these

coaches travelled with so much speed as to go sixty miles in a summer day. It would have taken, therefore, about four days to go to London from Epworth in a coach, and as it was a very expensive way of travelling, I think it more likely that little John went with his father on horseback. They had two horses, called Bounce and Mettle. They would have had to sleep several nights on the road, and boys who went to school such a long way off, could not expect to come home three times a year for the holidays as they do now; in fact they did not go home at all when the distance was so great, and were often four or five years away from home, without seeing their relations. It was therefore a very sad day for poor little John, when he said good-bye to his mother and sisters. The next sister, younger than himself, little Patty, was very fond of him. When she was ill the very sight of Jacky had always seemed to do her good, and she missed him very much. His mother must have felt very sad when Thursday evening came and there was no Jacky to talk to, and he said long, long after, how he had thought about those Thursday evenings, and wanted his mother to talk to him. The Charter-house was once a Convent, belonging to Carthusian monks, but had been

turned partly into a school for forty boys, and partly into a home for eighty poor old gentlemen. There was a green belonging to the house, and a large garden, called the Wilderness. Mr. Wesley made John promise, that he would never miss running round the Wilderness three times every day. John kept his promise, and often said he believed that his doing so had been the means of keeping him in good health, for he was well and strong all his life. He was at first teased and bullied by the bigger boys, who used to take away his meat at dinner and eat it themselves; but I can tell you little else of what happened to him at school. He worked hard at his lessons, and seems to have been tolerably happy. When he had any holidays, he went to stay with his elder brother, Samuel, whom, perhaps, he had not seen before, as far as he could remember, for Samuel had been sent to Westminster School when John was only a few months old. He was living at Westminster School when John was at the Charter-house, having

become one of the ushers.

At last John's school-days were over, and at the age of seventeen he was sent to Christ Church College at Oxford.

Before he left London, his little brother Charles had been sent to Westminster School, so that now only the sisters were left at Epworth. Whilst John was a schoolboy, he had perhaps thought little about anything but his play and his lessons, but now that he was no longer a child, several things began to trouble him. It may be that the same things have begun to trouble you. The thought of God made him afraid and unhappy.

John Wesley was not like some people, of a sad and gloomy disposition, on the contrary, he was like most strong healthy boys, of a cheerful temper and fond of fun. He said, when he was an old man, that he could not remember ever having been in low spirits for a quarter of an hour together, in the whole course of his life; and yet at the time I am telling you of he was not happy. There is a great difference between high spirits and happiness: that is to say, high spirits depend upon our health, and upon the things around us, and are by no means a sign that we have peace in our hearts, or that we know all is well with us. Happiness does not depend upon what we are, or have, but upon what we know God to be, and therefore if all changes with us, if we lose our health, or our friends, that which makes us