Story of John Wesley Told to Boys and Girls

<h2>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> <div class="blockquot"><p>A visit to Ireland.&mdash;The sack that did not contain potatoes.&mdash;The bogie man.&mdash;What the sack did contain.&mdash;The prayer-meeting in the barn.&mdash;Mr. Charles Wesley gets married.&mdash;And so does Mr. John.&mdash;Two niggers who became missionaries.</p> </div> <div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/cap-i.png" width-obs="100" height-obs="100" alt="I" title="" /></div> <div class='unindent'><br/>N 1749 Mr. Wesley paid a visit to Ireland, where already he had many followers. His brother Charles had visited there two years before, and was a great favourite, for the Irish people love music, and would always go to hear his hymns.</div> <p>In many places in Ireland the Methodists were treated quite as badly as they were in our own country; but the same angel of the Lord that protected them in England followed them across the Irish sea.</p> <p>There is a funny story told of how they were once saved from a band of rough men. The Roman Catholics persecuted them so much at Wexford that they were obliged to hold their meeting secretly in a barn. Once, one of their persecutors got to know<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</SPAN></span> the night they were having a meeting, and told his companions he would hide himself in the barn before the service began, and then when it commenced he would open the door to them. They thought this was a splendid idea. So the man went to the barn, and there found an old sack or bag, big enough for him to get into. Into this he crept, and by and by the people began to come, and the service commenced. First, they sang a hymn; and somehow the man in the bag enjoyed it so much, he quite forgot what he had come into the barn for.</p> <p>He listened until the hymn was finished, and then he listened to the prayer that followed, and after that he could not listen any more. He couldn't get out of the bag, and he couldn't do anything but groan and cry. God, through the hymn and the prayer, had touched his heart, and he felt himself to be the greatest sinner in Ireland.</p> <p>So he groaned and groaned, and at last some of the congregation heard him. They looked towards the place where the mysterious sound came from, but could see nothing except what looked like a sack of potatoes. Still the groaning went on, and some of the people got frightened, and were quite sure there was a bogie in the barn. At last one or two ventured to go nearer to the sack, then some one peeped in, and the poor trembling Irishman was discovered. He confessed to his purpose in hiding himself, told them God had stopped him in his evil<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</SPAN></span> plan, and begged them to pray for him. So the service was turned into a prayer-meeting, the man was converted, and became one of the best Methodists in Wexford.</p> <p>Some of my readers will be wondering if Mr. John or Mr. Charles Wesley were ever married, and if they had any boys and girls of their own. Just before Mr. Wesley went to Ireland in 1749, he married his brother Charles to the daughter of a Welsh gentleman, and Mr. Wesley, himself, was married two years later to a lady who was a widow. You will be sorry to hear that this lady was not at all nice; she treated her husband most unkindly, and made him very unhappy. Though Mr. Wesley was so fond of children, he never had any of his own. Mr. Charles had eight, but only three lived to grow up. His wife was a good, kind lady, and they were very happy. He did not travel about so much after he was married, but spent a great deal of his time writing his beautiful hymns.</p> <p>These two brothers always remained the best of friends. In one of his letters, Charles wrote to John: "I wish we could be oftener together; it might be better for us both. Let us be useful in our lives, and at our death not divided."</p> <p>Before I close this chapter I want to tell you of the first two black men who were converted through the preaching of a Methodist.</p> <p>Living at Wandsworth, a little place near London where Mr. Wesley had gone to preach, was a gentleman<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</SPAN></span> named Nathaniel Gilbert. He had come from the West Indies, where he employed a great many negroes. Two of these negroes he had brought over to England with him, and when Mr. Wesley paid a visit to Mr. Gilbert, and preached in his house, these two black men were converted. When they returned to the West Indies, they, along with Mr. Gilbert, preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the dark people in those far-away islands.</p> <div class='poem'> "Shall we, whose souls are lighted<br/> <span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">With wisdom from on high,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Shall we to men benighted</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The lamp of life deny?</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Salvation, oh, salvation,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The joyful sound proclaim,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Till earth's remotest nation</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Has learnt Messiah's name."</span><br/></div> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i-042.png" width-obs="111" height-obs="108" alt="Book and Globe" title="" /></div> <hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</SPAN></span></p> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i-028.png" width-obs="558" height-obs="216" alt="Decoration" title="" /></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />