July 6, 1746. "After talking with both the men and the women Leaders, we agreed it would prevent great expense--of both health and money-- if the poorer people of our society could be persuaded to leave off drinking tea. We resolved ourselves to begin and set the example. I expected some difficulty in breaking off a habit of 26 years"
Wesley talks about this elsewhere; I remember him talking about the caffeine headache... Some of you perhaps remember my sermon on Cloaca, the Roman goddess of the sewer, my contention that since crap flows downstream, and the poor are always housed where it comes out, they suffer the most from the vices of those better off. There are no strip bars on the Southside of Lexington. They're over here, because first, it's only our girls that should do such things, and second, if you can afford to live away from where the crap comes out, you will. So, following brother Wesley's example, what can we give up that will improve the lot of the poor? What costs them their time, health, and money that we can lay aside? What can we take out of the sewer so it won't flow down there?
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January 17, 1748
"I made a public collection towards some money to be available to lend to the poor. Our rule is to lend only 20 shillings at any given time, which is repaid weekly, over three months. I began this about a year and half ago: thirty pound sixteen shillings were collected; and out of this, no less than 255 persons have been helped."
Here, too, something that speaks to the present day. The Church has abdicated her role as protector and sustainer of the poor. We think the government is the one to do it. How has that been working out the past 50 years?
And then, the Check Exchange places must go. They oppress the poor thoroughly. How I wish the Methodists had the funds--nay, the love-- to set up a place where we could help the poor so they would not go to the places that only seek to drag them further down.
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