Sunday, January 16, 2011

I supposed my journeys this winter had been over

I supposed my journeys this winter had been over; but I could not decline one more. Monday 17 Jan 1785: I set out for poor Colchester to encourage the little flock. They had exceeding little of this world’s goods, but most of them had a better portion. Tuesday 18, I went on to Mistley, a village near Manningtree. Some time since, one of the Shipwrights of Deptford Yard, being sent hither to superintend the building of some men of war, began to read sermons on a Sunday evening in his own house. Afterwards, he exhorted them a little and then formed a little society. Some time after, he begged one of our preachers, to ‘come over and help them’. I now found a lively society and one of the most elegant congregations I had seen for many years. Yet they seemed as willing to be instructed as if they had lived in Kingswood.