ge of which they filled with malignant slanders. The loss of
members exasperated them past measure. The danger which threatened the
Connexion drove them mad. They took up evil reports respecting me
without consideration. They looked on all I did with an evil eye, and
recklessly charged me with wicked devices which had no existence but in
their own disturbed imaginations. One charged me with having acted
inconsistently with my views with regard to the use of money, and
another with having acted inconsistently with my belief with regard to
baptism. Any tale to my discredit was welcome, and the supply of
slanderous tales seemed infinite. They wrested my words, they belied my
deeds, they misinterpreted my motives, they misrepresented the whole
course of my life, and the whole texture of my character.

One of the pitiful slanders circulated by my enemies was the following.
My custom was, when I went out to lecture, or to preach anniversary
sermons, to charge only my coach fares, rendering my services gratis.
For eighteen years I never charged a penny either for preaching or
lecturing. But the people of Berry Brow, near Huddersfield, said I had
charged them thirty shillings for preaching their anniversary sermons,
and the Conference party took the trouble to spread the contemptible
charge through the Connexion.

The facts of the case were these: I had an engagement to preach
anniversary sermons at Hanley, in the Staffordshire Potteries. The Berry
Brow people heard of this, and as I had to pass their place on my way to
Hanley, they requested me to spend a Sabbath with them, and preach
_their_ anniversary sermons. I did so, and charged them thirty
shillings, about one-third of the expenses of my journey, taking the
other two-thirds from the Hanley people. This was all.

Of course such matters would not be worth naming, if it were not to show
how much there was in the conduct of my persecutors to give me a dislike
to their character, and to prejudice me against their views.

That you may have an idea of my labors as a preacher, take the following
account of one week's work, when I was lecturing against the infidel
Socialists, previous to my expulsion. I had preached three times on the
Sunday, walked six miles, and attended to several other duties. At half
past ten at night I started by stage coach for Bolton, a hundred and
fifty miles away. I travelled all night, and all next day, outside the
coach. It was winter, and the wea