Wesley Corpus

We rode home by a great house I had frequently heard of. The front is truly noble. In the house I saw nothing remarkable, but what was remarkably bad: Such pictures as an honest Heathen would be ashamed to receive under his roof; unless he designed his wife and daughters should be common prostitutes. And this is the high fashion | What an abundant proof of the taste of the present age | Sun. 20.--Between eight and nine I preached in Gateshead, to a listening multitude. I believe their number was doubled at the Fell, about two in the afternoon. About five I preached to such another congregation on the outside of Pandon-Gate. I know not that I ever before preached to three such congrega tions in one day: Such as obliged me to speak to the utmost extent of my voice, from the first word to the last. But it was all one, as I was no more tired in the evening than if I had sat still all day. Mon. 21.--I took my leave of Newcastle; and about noon preached in the market-place at Morpeth. A few of the hearers were a little ludicrous at first; but their mirth was quickly spoiled. In the evening I preached in the Court IHouse at Alnwick, where I rested the next day. Wednesday, 23. I rode over the sands to Holy-Island, once the famous seat of a Bishop; now the residence of a few poor families, who live chiefly by fishing. At one side of the town are the ruins of a cathedral, with an adjoining monastery. It appears to have been a lofty and elegant building, the middle aisle 178 REv. J. weslEY’s [May, 1764. being almost entire. I preached in what was once the market place, to almost all the inhabitants of the island, and distributed some little books among them, for which they were exceeding thankful. In the evening I preached at Berwick-upon-Tweed; the next evening at Dunbar; and on Friday, 25, about ten, at Haddington, in Provost D.’s yard, to a very elegant congre gation. But I expect little good will be done here; for we begin at the wrong end: Religion must not go from the greatest to the least, or the power would appear to be of men. In the evening I preached at Musselborough, and the next on the Calton-Hill, at Edinburgh.