Wesley Corpus

Have you known a parallel one in your life? But it was never cited by me, (as it is by you,) as an immediate punishment on a man for opposing me.” (Pages 409, 410.) You reply, “As if what is not common, or what I have not known, must be a mira culous judgment.” I believe it was, whether miraculous or no, a judgment mixed with mercy. You now add to the rest the following instance:--“One John Haydon, a man of a regular life and conversation, being informed that people fell into strange fits at the societies, came to see and judge for himself. But he was still less satisfied than be fore; insomuch that he went about to his acquaintance one after another, and laboured above measure to convince them it was a delusion of the devil. We were going home, when one met us in the street, and informed us that J. H. was fallen raving mad. It seems he had sat down to dinner, but had a mind first to end the sermon on ‘Salvation by Faith.” In reading the last page, he changed colour, fell off his chair, and began screaming terri bly, and beating himself against the ground. The neighbours were alarmed, and flocked into the house. I came in, and found him upon the floor, the room being full of people, whom his wife would have kept without, but he cried aloud, ‘No; let them all come; let all the world see the just j .dgment of God.” Two or three men were holding him as well as they could. He immediately fixed his eyes upon me, and cried, ‘Ay, this is he, who I said was a deceiver of the people. But God has over taken me. I said it was all a delusion. But this is no delu sion. He then roared out, ‘O thou devil! Thou cursed devil! Yea, thou legion of devils ! Thou canst not stay! Christ will cast thee out. I know his work is begun. Tear me to pieces if thou wilt, but thou canst not hurt me.’ He then beat him self against the ground again, his breast heaving at the same time, as in the pangs of death, and great drops of sweat trick ling down his face. We all betook ourselves to prayer.