Wesley Corpus

A Second Letter to the Lord Bishop of Exeter Source: The Works of John Wesley, Volume 9 (Zondervan) Author: John Wesley --- IN my late Letter to your Lordship I used no ceremony; (I suppose it was not expected from one who was so deeply injured;) and I trust I used no rudeness: If I did, I am ready to ask your Lordship’s pardon. That Letter” related to a matter of fact published on your Lordship's authority, which I endeavoured to falsify, and your Lordship now again endeavours to support. The facts alleged are, First, that I told Mrs. Morgan, at Mitchel, “You are in hell; you are damned already.” Secondly, that I asked her to live upon free cost. Thirdly, that she deter mined to admit no more Methodists into her house. At first I thought so silly and improbable a story neither deserved nor required a confutation; but when my friends thought otherwise, I called on Mrs. Morgan, who denied she ever said any such thing. I wrote down her words; part of which I transcribed in my letter to your Lordship, as follows:- “On Saturday, August 25, 1750, Mr. Trembath, of St. Gin nys, Mr. Haime, of Shaftesbury, and I, called at Mr. Morgan's, at Mitchel. The servant telling me her master was not at home, I desired to speak with her mistress, the ‘honest, sensible woman.’ I immediately asked, ‘Did I ever tell you or your husband, that you would be damned if you took any money of me?’ (So the story ran in the first part of the ‘Comparison;’ it has now undergone a very considerable alteration.) ‘Or did * The Bishop of Exeter's Letter, pp. 2, 3. you or he ever affirm,” (another circumstance related at Truro,) ‘that I was rude with your maid?' She replied, vehemently, ‘Sir, I never said you was, or that you said any such thing. And I do not suppose my husband did. But we have been belied as well as our neighbours. She added, “When the Bishop came down last, he sent us word he would dine at our house; but he did not, being invited to a neighbouring gentleman's. He sent for me thither, and said, Good woman, do you know these people that go up and down * Do you know Mr.