[326]. Samuel Wesley, jun., wrote to his brother John the day after he received this letter from his father; and a sharp correspondence was carried on between the two brothers, until the 4th of March 1735, which was within two months of their father’s death. John, however, at that time, remained as firmly convinced as ever that he could serve God and his Church better at Oxford than he could if he removed to Epworth.—Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 231.
[327]. This was the rich man who married Sukey Wesley, and whom Mrs Wesley spoke of as being little inferior to the apostate angels in wickedness.
[328]. This again shows the high importance which Samuel Wesley attached to the mission in Georgia; and is proof sufficient that had he been alive, the going of his two sons, John and Charles to that colony, would have had his hearty approval.
[329]. The Duke of Newcastle was at this time Secretary of State, and had probably been requested to obtain the consent of Queen Caroline to allow Mr Wesley to dedicate to her his “Dissertations on the Book of Job.”
[330]. Wesley Family.
[331]. Wesley Family.
[332]. Ibid., vol. ii. p. 324.
[333]. C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i. p. 59.
[334]. “This is a sly hit at Matthew Wesley, who is supposed to have been a Dissenter, and who was thought by some to be indifferent to all forms of religion.”—See Wesley Family, vol. i. p. 86.
[335]. This shaft seems to be levelled against the Duke of Newcastle, or perhaps Sir Robert Walpole.