John Wesley's own Journals, the many biographies and THE WORKS are filled with amazing stories and unusual events that surrounded the life of John Wesley. Tales abound about the strange things that happened to him as he traveled back and forth across England. His ministry was so unusual, it is not at all surprising that strange things happened to him often. Few stories are more intriguing than one that took place on Aug. 23, 1762.

After the conference at Leeds, Wesley traveled to London, where he stayed four days. On Aug. 23, he set out for Cornwall. At Truro he expected some disturbances, but everything there was quiet. Indeed, rioting and persecution seemed to be forgotten in Cornwall. It was here that Wesley met a former friend who was a clergyman and also a magistrate. Years earlier this clergyman/magistrate had arrested a Methodist preacher on the charge of vagrancy. To his astonishment, the vagrant turned out to be Wesley, an old college acquaintance at Oxford.

Even though this "vagrant" was an old friend and a fellow minister, the clergyman/magistrate continued with legal proceedings. One historian reports that the magistrate used severe language to censure Wesley's irregular style of preaching. Suddenly, and without warning, the floor of the room fell. The room was filled with spectators at the time.

"The magistrate was hurled from his judicial chair; his wig flew off his head; the table, with its pens, ink, and paper, was overturned; while screams from all sides increased the general confusion." When order was restored and the clerical functionary was once more seated, John Wesley, with his characteristic coolness, asked, "Well, sir, shall we proceed further in this business?"

"No, no," replied the magistrate, "go your way, go your way Mister Wesley; 'sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.'" After this affair Wesley had no further trouble from this former acquaintance who served both as a minister and a magistrate.