Page:Susanna Wesley (Clarke 1886).djvu/92

80 but I have thought of another experiment. Here, I will fix myself against the wall, lift a light man and set him upon my shoulders.' They did so, and he took me out of the window. Just then the whole roof fell in; but it fell inward, or we had all been crushed at once. When they brought me into the house where my father was he cried out: '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.' The next day, as he was walking in the garden and surveying the ruins of the house, he picked up part of a leaf of his Polyglot Bible, on which just these words were legible : Vade: vende omnia quo habes; et attolle crucem, et sequere me"

There are not many discrepancies in the three accounts; for father, mother, and son were all clear- headed people, and John Wesley's mind throughout life was singularly free from anything like "muddle." In fact the organization of Methodism is sufficient proof of the accuracy with which his brain worked. He neither forgot nor fancied, hasted nor rested, but did everything with such well-aimed precision that his rules and regulations were living forces instead of dry bones. The fire made more change in the lives of Susanna and Hetty (Mehetabel) than in those of the other children, for their uncles Samuel Annesley and Matthew Wesley sent for them to come and stay in London; and then was laid the foundation of a very warm attachment between the latter and his clever, sprightly nieces. It does not appear, however, that they were able to give much information of what followed the calamity to their brother at Westminster, for in June he wrote the following letter to his mother:–