Wesley Corpus

thanover ninety and ninejust 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 ofGod 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. i 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 womenwhowere 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 ofthe 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 theyhad 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 onmy eighty-secondyear, andfound myself just as strong to labour, and as fit for any exercise ofbody 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. We can only say, " The Lord reigneth ! " While we live, let us live to him ! In the afternoon I went to Gainsborough, and willingly accepted the offer of Mr. Dean's chapel. The audience was large, and seemed much affected : Possibly some goodmay be