Wesley Corpus

2. But, before I proceed, I must beg leave to ask, who is this evidence against the other five Why, one that neither dares show his face nor tell his name or the place of his abode; one that is ashamed (and truly not without cause) of the dirty work he is employed in, so that we could not even conjecture who he was but that his speech bewrayeth him. How much credit is due to such an evidence let any man of reason judge. 3. This worthy witness falls foul upon Mr. Cownley, and miserably murders a tale he has got by the end (page 13). Sir, Mr. M[assiot] is nothing obliged to you for bringing the character of his niece into question. He is perfectly satisfied that Mr. Cownley acted in that whole affair with the strictest regard both to honor and conscience. You next aver that Mr. Reeves ‘asked a young woman whether she had a mind to go to hell with her father’ (page 16). It is possible. I will neither deny nor affirm it without some better proof. But suppose he did; unless I know the circumstances of the case, I could not say whether he spoke right or wrong. 4. But what is this to the ‘monstrous, shocking, amazing blasphemy spoken by Mr. Charles Wesley who one day,’ you say, ‘preaching on Hammond's Marsh, called out, “Has any of you got the Spirit” and when none answered said, “I am sure some of you have got it; for I feel virtue go out of me”’ (page 18). Sir, do you expect any one to believe this story I doubt it will not pass even at Cork; unless with your wise friend who said, ‘Methodists! Aye, they are the people who place all their religion in wearing long whiskers.’ 5. In the same page you attack Mr. Williams for applying those words, ‘I thy Maker am thy husband.’ Sir, by the same rule that you conclude ‘these expressions could only flow from a mind full of lascivious ideas,’ you may conclude the 45th Psalm to be only a wanton sonnet and the Canticles a counterpart to Rochester's poems. [John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester (1647-80), poet and libertine, friend of Charles II and the second Duke of Buckingham, wrote amorous lyrics.]