Wesley Corpus

259 nothing. Some of them looked very sad, and some looked very cheerful; some seemed pleased, others very angry; and these frayed me sore; especially a man and a woman of our own parish, who seemed fighting, and died soon after. None of them spake to me but a lad about sixteen, who, a week before, died of the small-pox. I said to him, ‘You are dead! How did you get out of the other place?” He said, ‘Easily enough.” I said, ‘Nay, I think if I was there, I should not get out so easily.” He looked exceeding angry. I was frighted, and began to pray, and he vanished away. If it was ever so dark when any of them appeared, there was light all round them. This continued till I was sixteen or seventeen; but it frighted me more and more; and I was troubled because people talked about me; and many told me I was a witch. This made me cry earnestly to God to take it away from me. In a week or two it was all at an end; and I have seen nothing since.” In the evening I preached near the preaching-house at Paddiham, and strongly insisted on communion with God, as the only religion that would avail us. At the close of the sermon came Mr. M. His long, white beard showed that his present disorder was of some continuance. In all other respects he was quite sensible; but he told me, with much concern, “You can have no place in heaven without--a beard | Therefore, I beg, let yours grow immediately.” Wed. 30.--I rode to Rosendale; which, notwithstanding its name, is little else than a chain of mountains. The rain in the evening obliged me to preach in the new House, near a village called New-Church. As many as could, crowded in, and many more stood at the door; but many were constrained to go away. Thursday, 31. I preached at Bacup, and then rode on to Heptonstall. The tall mountain on which it stands is quite steep and abrupt, only where the roads are made; and the deep valleys that surround it, as well as the sides of the mountains beyond, are well clothed with grass, corn, and trees.