Wesley Corpus

I do not know that either getting a licence or taking the oaths would signify a rush. These are things which the mob has little regard to. [Orpe was second of the three preachers in Staffordshire, where Methodists had to suffer much from the mob.] Not that there is anything in those oaths that at all entangles your conscience. The Very same thing which you thereby engage to do every honest man must do without that engagement. We in particular shall 'bear true allegiance to our Sovereign Lord King George,' whether we swear so to do or no. The main point is to be all devoted to God. You might begin the Sunday service at Birmingham as soon as the Church service ends.--I am Your affectionate brother. To Mr. Will. Orpe, At Mr. Ezekiel King's, In Stroud, Gloucestershire. To Christopher Hopper [19] LONDON, December 17, 1765. MY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad you have been at Edinburgh, especially on so good an errand. But I wonder T. Olivers [Olivers had been appointed to Glasgow in August.] ever disappointed them at Musselburgh. It is bad husbandry to neglect old places in order to preach at new. Yet I am informed he has been useful in Scotland. Whether he should now go to Glasgow or delay it a little longer I have left to T. Taylor's [Taylor was Assistant in Edinburgh. See Wesley's Veterans, vii. 43-4; and letter of July 8, 1766.] choice. If you can spare Moseley Cheek six or eight days, let him visit poor Dunbar. If Brother Williams's affairs are not made up, he should not stay at so public a place as Edinburgh. On one condition--that Michael [Michael Fenwick. See letter of Sept. 12, 1755, to Ebenezer Blackwell.] will make it a point of conscience to follow your directions in all things, great and small--I consent to his staying at Newcastle. If he is guideable, he may do well. O cure him of being a coxcomb!--I am Yours affectionately. To Mr. Hopper, At the Orphan House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. To Peggy Dale LONDON, December 31, 1765.