But amidst all the persecutions of mobs of ignorant and brutal men and women who knew no better, and of abuse and slander by the rich and the educated, who ought to have known better, nothing pained Mr. Wesley so much as the unkind words of his sister Emilia. She was his favourite sister, and he thought a great deal about her opinion. In an angry letter she wrote him, she said the Methodists were "a lot of bad people."
However, John Wesley and his friends calmly went on doing the work they felt God had called them to do. The peace of God was in their hearts, and the sunlight of His love brightened their faces, and made them tender and forgiving to all their enemies. As Jesus Christ prayed for the cruel men who crucified Him, so they prayed: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
CHAPTER XIX.
Don't believe all you hear.—Mrs. Wesley finds her "dear Jack" true to his colours.—She joins the Methodists.—And thus dreadfully shocks her eldest son.—Death of Mr. Samuel Wesley.—A loving mother's letter to "her boy."
THINK Mr. Wesley's greatest trouble at this time was, that even his dear mother, whom he had not seen for a long, long time, believed many of the things that people were saying about him, and felt sure he had wandered away from the true religion of Jesus Christ.