Wesley Corpus

But we Englishmen are too wise to acknowledge that God has anything to do in the world! Otherwise should we not seek Him by fasting and prayer before He lets the lifted thunder drop O my Lord, if your Lordship can do anything let it not be wanting! For God's sake, for the sake of the King, of the nation, of your lovely family, remember Rehoboam! Remember Philip the Second! Remember King Charles the First!--I am, with true regard, my Lord, Your Lordship's obedient servant. To Lord North, First Lord of the Treasury [11] ARMAGH, June 15, 1775. MY LORD,--I would not speak, as it may seem to be concerning myself with things that lie out of my province. But I dare not refrain from it any longer; I think silence in the present case would be a sin against God, against my country, and against my own soul. But what hope can I have of doing good, of making the least impression upon your Lordship, when so many have spoken in vain, and those far better qualified to speak on so delicate a subject They were better qualified in some respects; in others they were not. They had not less bias upon their minds; they were not free from worldly hopes and fears. Their passions were engaged; and how easily do those blind the eyes of their understanding! They were not more impartial; most of them were prejudiced in the highest degree. They neither loved the King nor his Ministers; rather they hated them with a perfect hatred; and your Lordship knows that you could not, if you were a man, avoid having some prejudice to them. In this case it would be hardly possible to feel the full force of their arguments. They had not better means of information, of knowing the real tempers and sentiments, either of the Americans on the one hand, or the English, Irish, or Scots on the other. Above all, they trusted in themselves, in their own power of convincing and persuading: I trust only in the living God, who hath the hearts of all men in His hands. And whether my writing do any good or no, it need do no harm; for it rests within your Lordship's breast whether any eye but your own shall see it.