Wesley Corpus

MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I do not know that there was anything amiss in those letters. I hope the ground of complaint is now taken away. I was in the same case with you till the last meetings of the trustees. Five of them then agreed to sign the bonds. Hitherto it has been everybody’s business and nobody's business. I think now it will be done effectually. Great bodies usually move slowly. Had we five or seven instead of five-and-twenty trustees, they would not have been so unwieldy. I hope you go on well in the Isle; and am Your affectionate friend and brother. To Mr. Mason, At the Preaching-house, In Newport, Isle of Wight. To Hester Ann Roe [9] BRISTOL, March 16, 1783. MY DEAR HETTY, -- I shall not be able to come to Macclesfield quite as soon as usual this year; for the preaching-houses at Hinckley and Nottingham are to be opened, which I take in my way. I expect to be at Nottingham April 1; but how long I shall stay there I cannot yet determine: thence I shall probably come by Derby to Macclesfield. It has frequently been upon my mind of late that my pilgrimage is nearly at an end; and one of our sisters here told us this morning a particular dream which she had two months ago. She dreamt the time of Conference was come, and that she was in a church expecting me to come in; when she saw a coffin brought in, followed by Dr. Coke and Mr. Fletcher, and then by all our preachers walking two and two. A fortnight ago she dreamt the same dream again. Such a burying I have ordered in my will, absolutely forbidding either hearse or coach. I intended to have wrote a good deal more; but I am hardly able. For a few days past I have had just such a fever as I had a few years ago in Ireland. But all is well. I am in no pain; but the wheels of life seem scarcely able to turn any longer. Yet I made a shift this morning to preach to a crowded audience, and hope to say something to them this afternoon. I love that word, ‘And Ishmael died in the presence of all his brethren.’ Still pray for, my dear Hetty, Yours most affectionately. To his Brother Charles [10]