ound I had placed fifty pounds _on interest_, in the hands of Mr.
Townsend; and away went the charge of inconsistency, hypocrisy, and what
not, through the country. There was no inconsistency at all in what I
had done.

It was a principle with me, never to go into debt. And my plan was,
never to begin to print a book, till I had, in the first place, got the
money ready to pay the expense of printing, and, in the second place,
reconciled myself to lose the money in case the book did not sell. At
the time I placed the fifty pounds in the hands of Mr. T., I was
preparing to print a book that would cost me thrice that amount. I did
print it, and paid the expense in cash, according to my principles and
plan. I follow the same plan still: my printers like it; and so do I. I
owed a dollar and a half at the close of last year. The thought of it
troubled me, not much, but still a little, during the watch-night
services at Siloam church. I had only owed the sum ten hours, and I paid
it next morning, but still, the thought of the debt made the ending of
the old year, and the beginning of the new one, a trifle less happy than
they might have been, if I had been entirely straight with all the
world.

In some cases, when I went out to lecture, the leading ministers of the
Connexion would come to my meetings, and exciting discussions followed.
These injured the Connexion still more, for I invariably gained the
sympathy of the audience. On some occasions my enemies behaved in such a
manner as to provoke my audiences past endurance, and uproar followed;
and the greatest coolness on my part, and the employment of all my
influence, were necessary to keep the more excitable of my friends from
resorting to violence.

Very curious incidents took place sometimes, strangely confounding my
opponents, and making the impression on my friends, and on myself as
well, that God had specially interfered on my behalf. On more than one
occasion, when discreditable tales were told of me by my opponents, some
one in the audience who knew the facts, would rise and testify in my
behalf, and publicly convict my slanderers of falsehood. In one case, at
Dudley, Mr. Bakewell, who had always taken a leading part against me,
charged me before a crowded audience, with having baptized a child of
certain parents, at Hawarden in Wales, a hundred miles away, after I had
declared my belief that it was improper to baptize children. He adduced
some testimony in suppor