Wesley Corpus

Mon. 26.--Dr. F told me plain, I must not stay in town a day longer; adding, “If any thing does thee good, it must be the country air, with rest, asses’ milk, and riding daily.” So (not being able to sit a horse) about noon I took coach for Lewisham. In the evening, (not knowing how it might please God to dispose of me,) to prevent vile panegyric, I wrote as follows :-- WHO DIED OF A CONSUMPTION IN THE FIFTY-FIRST YEAR OF HIS AGE, He ordered, that this, if any, inscription should be placed on his tombstone. ‘ed. 28.--I found no change for the better, the medicines which had helped me before, now taking no effect. About noon (the time that some of our brethren in London had set apart for joining in prayer) a thought came into my mind to make an experiment. So I ordered some stone brimstone to be powdered, mixed with the white of an egg, Jan. 1754. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 567 and spread on brown paper, which I applied to my side. The pain ceased in five minutes, the fever in half an hour; and from this hour I began to recover strength. The next day I was able to ride, which I continued to do every day till January 1. Nor did the weather hinder me once; it being always tolerably fair (however it was before) between twelve and one o’clock. Fri. December 14.--Having finished all the books which I designed to insert in the “ Christian Library,” I broke through the doctor’s order, not to write, and began transcribing a journal for the press ; and in the evening I went to prayers with the family, without finding any inconvenience. Thur. 20.--I felt a gradual increase of strength, till I took a decoction of the bark, which I do not find (such is the peculiarity of my constitution) will agree with me in any form whatever. This immediately threw me into a purging, which brought me down again in a few days, and quite disappointed me in my design of going out on Christmas day.