Wesley Corpus

27.--I preached at Misterton, at eight; and at Overthorpe about one. At four I took my stand in Epworth market-place, and preached on those words in the Gospel for the day, “There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance.” It seemed as if very few, if any, of the sinners then present were unmoved. Mon. 28.--I inquired into the state of the work of God which was so remarkable two years ago. It is not yet at an end; but there has been a grievous decay, owing to several causes: 1. The Preachers that followed Thomas Tattershall were neither so zealous nor so diligent as he had been. 2. The two Leaders to whom the young men and lads were committed, went up and down to preach, and so left them in a great measure to them selves; or, rather, to the world and the devil. 3. The two women who were the most useful of all others, forsook them; the one leaving town, and the other leaving God. 4. The fac tories which employed so many of the children failed, so that all of them were scattered abroad. 5. The meetings of the child ren by the Preachers were discontinued; so their love soon grew cold; and as they rose into men and women, foolish desires entered, and destroyed all the grace they had left. Nevertheless great part of them stood firm, especially the young maidens, and still adorn their profession. This day I met the children myself, and found some of them still alive to God. And I do not doubt, but if the Preachers are zealous and active, they will recover most of those that have been scattered. To-day I entered on my eighty-second year, and found myself just as strong to labour, and as fit for any exercise of body or mind, as I was forty years ago. I do not impute this to second causes, but to the Sovereign Lord of all. It is He who bids the sun of life stand still, so long as it pleaseth him. I am as strong at eighty-one, as I was at twenty-one; but abundantly more healthy, being a stranger to the head-ache, tooth-ache, and other bodily disorders which attended me in my youth.