John Wesley and Sophy Hopkey (1)

picture sourced US Dept. Interior

March to June 1735

‘The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are but vain’ .

‘O give me not up unto mine own heart’s lust, neither let me follow my own imagination’.

It was not my desire, but the desire of the Trustees, disappointed of another minister, which induced me to take charge of Savannah till I could pursue my first design. And the very day I entered on this charge I told you that offences would come; indeed I expected greater, long before this day.

At my first coming to Savannah, in the beginning of March 1736, I was determined to have no intimacy with any woman in America. Notwithstanding which, by the advice of my friends, and in pursuance of my resolution to speak once a week at least to every communicant apart from the congregation, on March the 13th, I spoke to Miss Sophy Hopkey, who had communicated the Sunday