Wesley Corpus

I dreaded his hearing either of the sins or sufferings of any of his people before the time of his going to bed, knowing how strong the impressions would be on his mind, chasing the sleep from his eyes. “And yet I have heard him speak of a time, twelve or four teen years ago, when he was greatly tempted to think, that he was not sensible enough of the afflictions of his fellow-creatures. He thought Christ bore our infirmities, and carried our sorrows; but, said he, “I have not that Christ-like temper: I do not bear the sorrows of others. After being for some time buffeted with this temptation, he prayed, that a measure of this spirit might be given him. Not long after, as he was visiting a poor sick family, so lively a sense of their affliction on a sudden fell upon his mind, that he could scarce get home. As soon as he sat down in his house, his soul was penetrated with such a sense of the woes of mankind as utterly depressed and overcame him, and drank up his spirits; insomuch that he could not help himself, nor move from one chair to another. And he was no more able to walk or help himself, than a new born child. At the same time he seemed to lose the use of his memory, and of all his faculties. He thought, ‘What is this? Is it a disease? Is it a stroke of the palsy? Rather, is Ll FE OF MR, FLETCHER. 349 it not an answer to my own ill-judged, though well-intended, prayer? Did I not ask a burden unsuitable to a finite, and capable of being borne only by an infinite, being?” He remained some hours in this situation. Then it came into his mind, ‘If this is a purely natural event, the will of the Lord be done ! But if it be the answer to an improper prayer, God will answer again by removing it.” He cried to the Lord, and was immediately restored to strength both of body and mind. “When we were at Leeds, in the year 1784, I had another proof of the tender sensibility of his heart.