Wesley Corpus

I just set down my naked thoughts, and that without any art or colouring. “What then do you think is the direct and principal cause of the present public commotions, of the amazing ferment among the people, the general discontent of the nation?” which now rises to an higher degree than it has done in the memory of man; insomuch that I have heard it affirmed with my own ears, “King George ought to be treated as King Charles was 1” Is it the extraordinary bad character of the King? I do not apprehend it is. Certainly, if he is not, as some think, the best Prince in Europe, he is far from being the worst. One not greatly prejudiced in his favour does not charge him with want of virtue, (of this he judges him to have more than enough,) but with wanting those royal vices, which (with Machiavel and the ingenious Doctor Mandeville) he supposes would be public benefits. “But does he not likewise want understanding?” So it has been boldly affirmed. And it must be acknowledged, this charge is supported by facts which cannot be denied. The First is, he believes the Bible; the Second, he fears God; the Third, he loves the Queen. Now, suppose the First of these, considering the prejudice of education, might consist with some share of understanding, yet how can this be allowed with regard to the Second? For although, in the times of igno rance and barbarism men imagined, “the fear of God” was “the beginning of wisdom,” our enlightened age has discovered it is the end of it; that whenever the fear of God begins, wisdom is at an end. And with regard to the Third, for a man to love his wife, unless perhaps for a month or two, must argue such utter want of sense, as most men of rank are now ashamed of. But, after all, there are some who, allowing the facts, deny the consequence; who still believe, and that after the most accurate inquiry, from such as have had the best means of information, that there are few noblemen or gentle men in the nation, (and we have many not inferior to most in Europe,) who have either so good a natural understanding, or so general a knowledge of all the valuable parts of learning.