Wesley Corpus

To his Brother Charles THIRSK, June 27, 1781. DEAR BROTHER, -- This is the last day of my seventy-eighth year; and (such is the power of God) I feel as if it were my twenty-eighth. [The original is endorsed by Charles, ‘B[rother], July 27, 1781. Young as at 28.’] My Journal is ready for Joseph [Joseph Bradford, his traveling companion.] to transcribe. I wonder why it is that we hear nothing from Madeley. [See letter of June 10.] Sure, prejudice has not stepped in, or Calvinism! I find no fault with your answer to the gentlemen. But you must expect they will reply (at least in their hearts), Hic nigrae succus loliginis! [Horace’s Satires, I. iv. 100: ‘the juice of the black cuttlefish.’] Nay, perhaps they will find, ‘You are .inclined to Popery!’ Next Saturday I expect to be at Epworth, the second at Boston, the third at Sheffield. I take the opportunity of a broken year to visit those parts of Lincolnshire which I have not seen before but once these twenty years. From several I have lately heard that God has blessed your preaching. See your calling! Cease at once to work and live! Peace be with all your spirits! To Hannah Ball THORNE, June 28, 1781.