Having sketched the life of the father of Susanna Wesley, a few lines must be devoted to her mother. It is a remarkable fact, that as the father of Samuel Wesley’s mother was named John White, so the father of Susanna Wesley’s mother was named John White also. Both of them were men of mark. John White, “the Patriarch of Dorchester,” is brought before the reader in Chapter II. The other John White, the grandfather of Susanna Wesley, is too important a character to be overlooked. He was the son of Henry White, of Heylan, in Pembrokeshire, where he was born, June 29, 1590. He entered Jesus College, Oxford, when about seventeen years of age; and, after completing his studies, was admitted to the Middle Temple, and, in due time, became a member of the Bar, and a bencher of that society. While a barrister, he was much employed by the Puritans in the purchase of impropriations, which were to be given to those of their own party. In 1640, he was elected Member of Parliament for the borough of Southwark. He now joined in all the proceedings which led to the overthrow of the Established Church. He was appointed chairman of the Committee for Religion, and was also a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. In a speech of his, made in the House of Commons, and published in 1641, he contends that the office of bishop and presbyter is the same; and that the offices of deacons, chancellors, vicars, surrogates, and registrars, are all of human origin, and ought to be abolished, as being altogether superfluous and of no service to the Church. He says that Episcopacy had been intrusted with the care of souls for more than eighty years; and now, as a consequence, nearly four-fifths of the churches throughout the kingdom were held by idle or scandalous ministers. He alleges that, even during the present parliament, the House of Commons and its committees had been furnished with abundant evidence that it was of no use to report “scandalous ministers” to their bishops, for they received no censure, save a harmless admonition; while, on the other hand, if the bishops happened to discover a godly and learned preacher within the limits of their diocese, they did their utmost to scatter his congregation, and to expel him from his church. He admits that some of the bishops are good men; but the bishops who are good men, are all bad bishops,—a sufficient proof, in his estimation, that the very office is itself a curse. The speech, from which the above is taken, fills fourteen small quarto pages, is full of texts of Scripture, and as dry as a lawyer’s eloquence could make it.