Wesley Corpus

The scripture on which I spoke was this: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.’ At seven I began expounding the Acts of the Apostles to the Society in Baldwin. Street. We had more company than the room would hold, and the power of our Lord was with us. On Tuesday, 3rd, I began preaching at Newgate (as I continue to do every morning) on the Gospel of St. John. Many Presbyterians and Anabaptists came to hear. Afterwards I transcribed some of the rules of our Society for the use of our (future) brethren here. In the evening I expounded on ‘Blessed are those that mourn’ at Nicholas Street Society. I hope God spake to the hearts of many there. The next day the audience increased at Newgate. At four in the afternoon I offered the free grace of God from those words, ‘I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely,’ to about fifteen hundred in a plain near Baptist Mills, a sort of suburb or village, not far from Bristol; where many, if not most, of the inhabitants are Papists. Oh may they effectually lay hold on the one Mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus! About seven in the evening, three women who desire only to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified (Mrs. Norman, Mrs. Grevil, and Mrs. Panou) agreed to meet together once a week, to confess their faults to one another, and pray one for another, that they may be healed. And Mrs. Panou desired she might propose their design to her two sisters, and offer them the liberty of joining with them. At eight Samuel Wathen (surgeon), Richard Cross (upholsterer), Charles Bonner (distiller), and Thomas Westall (carpenter) met and agreed to do the same; who also desired they might make the offer of joining with them to three or four of their acquaintance. If this work be not of God, let it come to naught. If it be, who shall overthrow it