Wesley Corpus

An Answer to a Report Source: The Works of John Wesley, Volume 11 (Zondervan) Author: John Wesley --- I HAVE lately heard; to my no small surprise, that a person professing himself a Quaker, and supposed to be a man of some character, has confidently reported, that he has been at Sunderland himself, and inquired into the case of Elizabeth Hobson; that she was a woman of a very indiffer ent character; that the story she told was purely her own invention; and that John Wesley himself was now fully convinced that there was no truth in it. From what motive a man should invent and publish all over England (for I have heard this in various places) a whole train of absolute, notorious falsehoods, I cannot at all imagine. On the contrary, I declare to all the world, 1. That Elizabeth Hobson was an eminently pious woman; that she lived and died without the least blemish of any kind, without the least stain upon her character. 2. That the relation could not possibly be her own invention, as there were many witnesses to several parts of it; as Mr. Parker, the two Attorneys whom she employed, Miss Hosmer, and many others. And, 3. That I myself am fully persuaded, that every circumstance of it is literally and punctually true. I know that those who fashionably deny the existence of spirits are hugely disgusted at accounts of this kind. I know that they incessantly labour to spread this disgust among those that are of a better mind; because if one of these accounts be admitted, their whole system falls to the ground. But, whoever is pleased or displeased, I must testify what I believe to be the truth. Indeed I never myself saw the appearance of an umbodied spirit; and I never saw the commission of a murder. Yet, upon the testimony of unexceptionable witnesses, I can firmly believe both one and the other. September 12, 1782.