Wesley Corpus

MY DEAR BROTHER, -- Medicines, I think, will be of no service to you, unless it were a course of tar-water. But very probably change of air might be of service. [See letters of Aug. 4, 1782, and Nov. 16, 1785, to him.] It might be of service to spend, suppose, a week or two at Liverpool, afterwards a week or two at Chester or Parkgate and perhaps at Manchester. Your diet in the meantime should be chiefly milk and vegetables; of which I judge turnips, potatoes, and apples to be the best. Preach as much as you can preach, and no more.--I am Your affectionate brother. To Mr. Bredin, At the Preaching-house, In Whitehaven. To the Commanding Officer in Lowestoft LONDON, November 30, 1782. SIR, -- I am informed by some of my friends in Lowestoft that they have been frequently disturbed at their public worship by some officers quartered in the town. Before I use any other method, I beg of you, sir, who can do it with a word, to prevent our being thus insulted any more. We are men; we are Englishmen: as such we have a natural and a legal right to liberty of conscience. -- I am, sir, Your obedient servant. To the Earl of Shelburne [19] LONDON, December 1782. MY LORD, -- If I wrong your Lordship, I am sorry for it; but I really believe your Lordship fears God: and I hope your Lordship has no unfavorable opinion of the Christian revelation. This encourages me to trouble your Lordship with a few lines, which otherwise I should not take upon me to do. Above thirty years ago a motion was made in Parliament for raising and embodying the militia, and for exercising them (to save time) on Sunday. When the motion was like to pass, an old gentleman stood up and said, ‘Mr. Speaker, I have one objection to this: I believe an old book called the Bible.’ The members looked at one another, and the motion was dropped.