CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18th CENTURY - ( CHAPTER 5 ) - { PT. 6 }


 ( CHAPTER  5 )  -  { PT.  6 } - A mother of this kind was just the person to leave deep marks and impressions on the minds of her children. We can only find a little trace of the old rector of Epworth in his sons John and Charles, except, perhaps, in their poetical genius. However, there is much in John's career and character throughout his life that shows the hand of his mother. The early years of John Wesley's life appear to have passed quietly away in his Lincolnshire home. The only remarkable event recorded by his biographers is his marvelous escape from being burned alive when the Epwoth rectory was burned down. This happened in 1709, when he was six when he was six years old, and seems to have been vividly impressed on his mind. He was pulled through the bedroom widow at the last moment by a man who, for lack of a ladder, stood on another man's shoulders. Just at that moment, the roof of the house fell in, but fortunately fell inward, and the boy and his rescuer escaped unhurt. He says himself, in his description of the event, When they brought me to the house where my father was, he cried out, Come, neighbors, let us kneel down! Let us give thanks to God! He has given me all my eight children; let the house go. 

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