{"id":"jw/letters/1779/62-to-alexander-knox","corpus":"jw-letters","type":"letter","author":"john-wesley","title":"62 To Alexander Knox","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-1779-62-to-alexander-knox","passage_ids":["jw-letter-1779-62-to-alexander-knox-000"],"word_count":304,"themes_auto":["free-will","justifying-grace","reign-of-god"],"open":true,"closed_reason":null,"legacy_ids":["jw-letter-1779-62-to-alexander-knox-000"],"passages":[{"id":"jw-letter-1779-62-to-alexander-knox-000","author":"john-wesley","source_id":"jw-letter-1779-62-to-alexander-knox","source_title":"62 To Alexander Knox","source_type":"letter","year":null,"chunk_index":0,"text":"To Alexander Knox Date: LONDON, December 23, 1779. DEAR ALLECK, - The whole account of yourself which you still give convinces me more and more of what I have once and again observed concerning the nature of your disorder. It is undeniable (1) That you have a bodily complaint. Your nerves are greatly disordered; and although it is only now and then that this rises so high as to occasion a fit, yet it has a constant influence upon you so as to cause a dejection of spirits. This dejection is no more imputed to you as a sin than the flowing of the blood in your veins. (2) Although I will not say you have no faith, yet it is certain your faith is small; and you are fearful, because you are of little faith: this is another source of your uneasiness. (3) You want to have the love of God fully shed abroad in your heart: you have only now and then a little touch of thankfulness, a small spark of that divine fire; and hence anger, or at least fretfulness and peevishness, more or less, will naturally arise. Add to these (4) the main cause - diabolical agency. Satan will surely take occasion, from the situation you are in, to inject a thousand thoughts; and will then accuse you for them: but he, not you, shall answer for them to God. God is on your side: He knows whereof you are made; and Jesus careth for you. He keeps you and my dear Mrs. Knox as the apple of an eye; His Spirit helps your infirmities; He is purifying you in that furnace; and when you have been tried, you shall come forth as gold. Expect the blessing: is it not at hand - I am, my dear Alleck, Yours affectionately.","word_count":304,"source_url":null,"themes":["free-will","reign-of-god","justifying-grace"],"created_at":"2026-01-30T05:15:03.249852"}]}