that none could stand against
them. But some of our children got out through the windows, the rest
through a little door into the garden. I was not in a condition to climb
up to the windows, neither could I get to the garden door. I endeavoured
three times to force my passage through the street door, but was as
often driven back by the fury of the flames. In this distress I besought
our blessed Saviour for help, and then waded through the fire, as I was,
which did me no further harm than a little scorching my hands and my
face." The sequel is of undying interest to the Church and the world.
One sweet child, six years of age, had been left sleeping upstairs: the
father made frantic attempts to reach him by the burning staircase, but
in vain, and finally fell on his knees in the passage, solemnly
committing the child's soul to God.

The boy, awaking after some bewilderment with the glare that looked to
him as daylight, climbed upon a chest at the window, and was seen. Men,
rightly guided, did not lose the last chance by waiting for a ladder,
but, mounting one upon the other's shoulders, some two or three in this
way saved the child, who became the famous John Wesley.

When John had been saved, the father turned to the men who had saved the
boy, with the words: "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 terrible occurrence was attended by consequences which made the
noble Christian mother anxious for her children, in another way. Being
now dispersed among various households of the village for sleeping
accommodation, the little ones were, for a time, in danger of those evil
communications that corrupt good manners. From this the kindness of the
few who sheltered them could scarcely defend them, for the malice of the
many was great against their parish minister. The grounds of ill-will
and persecution were political rather than personal. It is strongly
suspected that these fires were, in every instance, the deed of
incendiaries. The rector's cattle had been mutilated. The children had
curses flung at them in the street, and on occasion of Mr. Wesley's
absence at Lincoln to record his vote, many cowardly devices were
resorted to by way of alarming the family at all hours of the night. One
new-born child had been, owing to Mrs. Wesley's exhaustion and danger,
committed to the care of a nurse. This poor woman, losing sleep