PREFACE.

THERE is a story related of a man who opened the door and put his head into Paradise, and, seeing many strange faces there, said, "Gentlemen, I hope I do not intrude; if I do, I can walk out again." So, in presenting this book, I hope I do not "intrude;" if I do, "I can walk out again”—the reader can lay it down and select some other volume more congenial to his taste.

I am aware there are those who undervalue anecdotes, and others who ridicule them. Men may ridicule them till they are gray, but the people will read them. There are persons who, if they wish to eulogize a preacher, will say, "he never tells any stories in the pulpit; he relates no anecdotes." So preached not the Wesleys, or Whitefield, or Coke, or Asbury, or M'Kendree. They all related anecdotes and incidents in the pulpit.

The late Judge M'Lean highly commends the practice. He says, "Some preachers are opposed to what they call story-telling in their sermons. This was practised in the early age of Methodism, and it was admirably suited tc those times; and, if more practised, it would

be found just as well suited to the present times."

Some time ago I was in company with the Bishops, and Bishop Morris (our archbishop) said, "I must return to the method of the fathers, relating anecdotes and incidents in preaching;" and Bishop Ames said, "Take away the stories from the Bible, and what have we left."

The anecdotes in this volume have been obtained from all the biographies of the Wesleys; from Tyreman's "Life of Samuel Wesley, Sen. ;" Kirk's "Mother of the Wesleys;" Jackson's "Life of Charles Wesley;" Adam Clarke's "Wesley Family;" John Wesley's "Works," particularly his Journals, which contain his best biography; the Arminian and Wesleyan Magazines; and from hundreds of volumes and pamphlets. Some of them were never published before.

It is singular we have books of anecdotes of poets and painters, of heroes, philosophers, and statesmen, and have hitherto had no volume of Anecdotes of the Wesleys.

For over twelve years I have been gathering these anecdotes, and it is with confidence I submit this book to the public, believing it will detract nothing from the fame of the Wesleys, but will awaken a desire to know more concerning them, and will be read with interest when the writer sleeps in the dust.

INTRODUCTION.

"THE history of men who have been prime agents in those great moral and intellectual revolutions which from time to time take place among mankind is not less important than that of statesmen and conquerors. There may come a time when the name of Wesley will be more generally known, and in remoter regions of the globe, than that of Frederick or Catharine. For the works of such men survive them, and continue to operate, when nothing remains of worldly ambition but the memory of its vanity and its guilt." So wrote Robert Southey fifty years ago. The "time" for the fulfilment of his prediction has arrived earlier, doubtless, than he dreamed. There is now no land in which the name of Wesley is not known to more persons than those of Frederick and Catharine. And the fragrance of that name grows richer with the lapse of time.