{"id":"jw/letters/1788b/32-to-mr------","corpus":"jw-letters","type":"letter","author":"john-wesley","title":"B 32 To Mr      ","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-1788b-32-to-mr------","passage_ids":["jw-letter-1788b-32-to-mr-------000"],"word_count":203,"themes_auto":["catholic-spirit","free-will","universal-redemption"],"open":true,"closed_reason":null,"legacy_ids":["jw-letter-1788b-32-to-mr-------000"],"passages":[{"id":"jw-letter-1788b-32-to-mr-------000","author":"john-wesley","source_id":"jw-letter-1788b-32-to-mr------","source_title":"B 32 To Mr      ","source_type":"letter","year":null,"chunk_index":0,"text":"To Mr. - Date: BRISTOL, September 20, 1788. MY DEAR FRIEND, The question properly refers (when we speak of a separation from the Church) to a total and immediate separation. Such was that of Mr. Ingham's people first, and afterwards that of Lady Huntingdon's; who all agreed to form themselves into a separate body without delay, to go to church no more, and to have no more connection with the Church of England than with the Church of Rome. Such a separation I have always declared against; and certainly it will not take place (if ever it does) while I live. But a kind of separation has already taken place, and will inevitably spread, though by slow degrees. Those ministers (so called) who neither live nor preach the gospel I dare not say are sent of God. Where one of these is settled, many of the Methodists dare not attend his ministry; so, if there be no other church in that neighborhood, they go to church no more. This is the case in a few places already, and it will be the case in more; and no one can justly blame me for this, neither is it contrary to any of my professions.","word_count":203,"source_url":null,"themes":["catholic-spirit","free-will","universal-redemption"],"created_at":"2026-01-30T05:23:05.327418"}]}