it is the custom of the country in which they live, or because their parents do so, or their worldly interest is thereby secured or advanced, will never be able to stand in the day of temptation, nor shall they ever enter into the kingdom of Heaven. And though, perhaps, you cannot at present comprehend all I shall say, yet keep this letter by you, and as you grow in years your reason and judgment will improve, and you will obtain a more clear understanding in all things.

"You have already been instructed in some of the first principles of religion: that there is one, and but one God; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; that this God ought to be worshipped. You have learned some prayers, your creed and catechism, in which is briefly comprehended your duty to God, yourself, and your neighbour. But, Sukey, it is not learning these things by heart, nor your saying a few prayers morning and night, that will bring you to heaven; you must understand what you say, and you must practise what you know; and since knowledge is requisite in order to practice, I shall endeavour, after as plain a manner as I can, to instruct you in some of those fundamental points which are most necessary to be known, and most easy to be understood. And I earnestly beseech the great Father of spirits to guide your mind into the way of truth.

"I cannot tell whether you have ever seriously considered the lost and miserable condition you are in by nature. If you have not, it is high time to begin to do it; and I shall earnestly beseech the Almighty

}

to enlighten your mind, to renew and sanctify you by His Holy Spirit, that you may be His child by adoption here, and an heir of His blessed kingdom hereafter."

.

Xx

CHAPTER IX.

THE HOME REBUILT.

THE Rector of Epworth was not a man to do things by halves, and, even if he had been, the repair or rebuilding of a parsonage is a matter that comes under the notice of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and must be done in what they consider a suitable style. Queen Anne's reign was an era when red brick was generally used for all new buildings of any pretensions, if we may go by the quaint, substantial houses that in many English cities date from her time.

The foundations of the old abode were dug up, and bricks were used for the walls instead of the former lath and plaster. The house was probably not more commodious than its predecessor, it would have been a work of supererogation to have made it so; but the old parsonage, with its five bays, had contained ample accommodation for a large family, and the new one was quite equal to it. There were three stories; that is to say, dining-room, parlour, study, and domestic offices on the ground floor, bed-rooms above, and a large garret or loft over all. The house still stands, and when a few months ago its walls were stripped for

the purpose of being repapered, behold! there came to light, in one room, in Mrs. Wesley's own handwriting, the names, ages, and measurements of height of all the children alive when the family took possession of the new house. Doubtless those who had been away were much grown, and it was a matter of natural parental interest to see exactly their respective heights. Many fathers and mothers have taken such measures of their boys and girls, and delighted in comparing notes of their stature at various ages.

Fruit trees were planted to run over the front and back of the new parsonage; mulberry, cherry, and pear-trees in the garden, and walnuts in the adjoining field or croft. This was indeed planting for posterity! The re-building seems to have been completed within the year, and cost four hundred pounds, a terrible sum of money for a poor clergyman who had no fireinsurance company to help him. Then the children were collected, and the mother once more resumed her daily work of teaching them. It was not all such plain sailing as before they had been scattered abroad; she found many bad habits to correct, and, besides, the discipline of home was broken through, and its bonds had to be tightened and perhaps somewhat strained. Then it was that she began the custom of singing a hymn or psalm before beginning lessons in the morning or after leaving them off in the afternoon; and then, too, she appears to have used, as text-books for religious instruction, the expositions of the principles of revealed religion, and of the being and perfections of God, which she had written for her eldest son soon after he went to Westminster, and those of the Apostle's Creed and Ten Commandments, which she had prepared during the year of comparative leisure

she spent in lodgings while the parsonage was being rebuilt.

The Rector was away during a great part of the first year spent by his wife and family in the new house. His busy brain was never allowed to rust or vegetate, and he was, of course, glad to earn whatever he could by his pen.

Events of considerable political importance were taking place in London during 1709, and, from various causes, the Duke of Marlborough was losing his popularity. The nation was getting tired of the war with France, which Dean Swift declared had cost "six millions of supplies and almost fifty millions of debt"; and Marlborough, who had long been in the position of a

Tory man bringing in Whig measures," as Lord Beaconsfield puts it, was accused of continuing the struggle with Louis Quatorze for his own enrichment and aggrandisement. The Tories regarded him as a traitor to his party, and aggravated every little incident that could strengthen their own power. Dr. Henry Sacheverell, rector of St. Saviour, Southwark, was a popular and prominent High Church clergyman of the day, narrow-minded and violent, especially against Dissenters. At the summer assizes at Derby he preached a very exciting sermon before the judges, and on the 5th of November, in St. Paul's Cathedral, he declaimed in a most inflammatory manner against toleration and the Dissenters, who were evidently his pet aversion; declared that the Church was in danger from avowed enemies and false friends; and altogether raised such a commotion that his sermons, which were published under the protection of the Lord Mayor and were widely circulated, were complained of to the House of Commons as containing positions contrary