{"id":"jw/letters/1771/71-to-joseph-benson","corpus":"jw-letters","type":"letter","author":"john-wesley","title":"71 To Joseph Benson","title_alt":[],"text_basis":null,"date_composed":null,"date_precision":"unknown","date_note":null,"numbering":{"bicentennial":null,"jackson_running":null,"sugden":null},"source_edition":{"editor":null,"title":null,"edition":null,"place":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"volume":null,"pages":null,"scan_url":null,"scan_page_ids":null},"transcription":{"derived_from":null,"corrected_against_scan":false,"corrector":null,"corrected_on":null},"modernization":"none","license_text":"Public Domain Mark 1.0","license_apparatus":"CC BY 4.0","wikidata":null,"prev":null,"next":null,"part_of":"jw-letters","editorial_note":null,"source_id":"jw-letter-1771-71-to-joseph-benson","passage_ids":["jw-letter-1771-71-to-joseph-benson-000"],"word_count":123,"themes_auto":["justifying-grace","works-mercy"],"open":true,"closed_reason":null,"legacy_ids":["jw-letter-1771-71-to-joseph-benson-000"],"passages":[{"id":"jw-letter-1771-71-to-joseph-benson-000","author":"john-wesley","source_id":"jw-letter-1771-71-to-joseph-benson","source_title":"71 To Joseph Benson","source_type":"letter","year":null,"chunk_index":0,"text":"To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, October 11, 1771. DEAR JOSEPH, Here, in this very point, is your mistake. You was as really a believer when you came to Kingswood as you are now. Five-and-thirty years since, hearing that wise man Mr. Spangenberg describe the fruits of faith, I immediately cried out, 'If this be so, I have no faith.' He replied, 'Habes fidem, sed exiguam.' This was then your case too. It is not strange that you are seldom satisfied by my letters; for I use few words, and you are not to be satisfied but by many. You want me to think for you. That is not my design. I would only help you to think. I am, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately.","word_count":123,"source_url":null,"themes":["justifying-grace","works-mercy"],"created_at":"2026-01-29T20:05:41.598279"}]}