Wesley Corpus

May 3, 1742. - “ Brotuer,--I have now much communion with thee, and desire to have more: but till now I found a great gulf between us, so that we - could not one pass to the other. Therefore thy letters were very death to me, and thou wast to me as a branch broke off and thrown by to wither. Yet I waited, if the Lord should please to let us into the same union we had before. So the Lord hath given it. And in the same I write; desiring it may continue until death. “TI wrote before to thee and John Harrison, ‘ Be not afraid to be found sinners,’ hoping you would not separate the law from the Spirit, until the flesh was found dead. For I think our hearts are discovered by the law, yea, every tittle, and condemned by the same. Then are we quickened in the Spirit. Justice cannot be separated from mercy ; neither can they be one greater than the other. ‘ Keep the commandments;’ ‘and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.’ Mark that! ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee; arise, take up thy bed and walk.’ Here is work before mercy, and mercy before work.--So then, through the law by faith our heart is pure. Beware, therefore, of them who, while they promise you liberty, are themselves the servants of corruption. O dead faith, that cannot always live pure! Treacherous Judas, that thus betrayest thy Master!