From Rev. John Whitelamb in [Wroot, Lincolnshire], to Martha Hall at the house of Mrs Dubone(?) at the Golden Head in Brownlow Street, Long Acre, London, apologising for not writing before, but distemper has broken out among the cattle in the area. The epidemic is the worst known, and it is impossible to 'conceive how terrible & alarming a judgement it has been'. Nearly all local wealth consists of the herds, and the consternation among the people is therefore very great.
He approves of the 'delicacy of your sentiments in relation to matrimonial love', and hopes that she will by this time have received his long letter on the subject. He is pleased that her writing displays 'gaiety', and that her problems have not soured a temperament, which is 'ye most amicable in ye world'.
His views on the qualities necessary in friendship are as staunch as ever, and he has therefore abandoned all expectation of finding happiness in that area.
Whitelamb wishes that he had a soul 'worthy of you' and a 'mind fit to pair with yours', but he is 'fickle, pusilanimous, heady, passionate, fantastical, in short an arrant puppy'.
As for the Methodists he does not know what their beliefs are. He has read most of [John] Wesley's works on the subject, and feels that he lacks his customary clarity. The most fundamental tenet of the movement appears to be a divinely inspired assurance of God's forgiveness. The unfortunate case of J. Romley must therefore have hurt their cause, as he declared that he possessed such an assurance following 'several palsy blows wch… affected his head'. His general behaviour and other demonstrably false assertions means that it is certain that his assurance of forgiveness stems from poor mental health.
Religion is in a very poor state. Men boast of their lack of belief, especially since the publication of the works of Lord Bolingbroke [Henry Saint John]. Popery and Methodism have made great progress at the expense of the established church, and prominent men are either indifferent to religion, or contemptuous of it. Those clergy 'who affect to be strong thinkers' are falling into the traps of deism, scepticism and ultimately socinianism, while more orthodox ministers who have any zeal are inclining toward Methodism, and are reviled for it by their colleagues. Lastly the ordinary people are confused, not knowing what to believe.
Whitelamb himself is convinced that mankind cannot exist without religious belief, and that either a new religion may arise out of the ruins of Christianity, or that the 'mother church (I mean that of Rome) will again triumph', because of its unity, and traditional dignity founded on antiquity. He hopes that such will be the case for he is convinced that Roman Catholicism is superior.
She should know that he values Martha more than anyone.