Wesley Corpus

And I was throughly convinced,--l. From the utter impro bability, if one should not rather say, absurdity, of the King's account, the greater part of which rests entirely on his own single word; 2. From the many contradictions in the deposi tions which were made to confirm some parts of it; and, 3. From the various collateral circumstances, related by con temporary writers, that the whole was a piece of king craft; the clumsy invention of a covetous and blood-thirsty tyrant to destroy two innocent men, that he might kill and also take possession of their large fortunes. In the evening I preached at Dundee, and on Tuesday, 24, went on to Arbroath. In the way I read Lord K--'s plausible “Essays on Morality and Natural Religion.” Did ever man take so much pains to so little purpose, as he does in his Essay on Liberty and Necessity ? Cui bono 2 What good would it do to mankind, if he could convince them that they are a mere piece of clock-work? that they have no more share in directing their own actions, than in directing the sea or the north wind? He owns, that “if men saw themselves in this light, all sense of moral obligation, of right and wrong, of good or ill desert, would immediately cease.” Well, my Lord sees himself in this light; consequently, if his own doctrine is true, he has no “sense of moral obligation, of right and wrong, of good or ill desert.” Is he not then excellently well-qualified for a Judge? Will he condemn a man for not “holding the wind in his fist” The high and piercing wind made it impracticable to preach abroad in the evening. But the House contained the people tolerably well, as plain and simple as those at Rait. I set out early in the morning; but, not being able to ford the North Esk, swollen with the late rains, was obliged to go round some miles. However, I reached Aberdeen in the evening. Here I met with another curious book, “Sketches of the 16 REv. J. weslEY’s [June, 1774. History of Man.” Undoubtedly, the author is a man of strong understanding, lively imagination, and considerable learning; and his book contains some useful truths. Yet some things in it gave me pain : 1.