Wesley Corpus

“T believe myself indispensably obliged, openly to declare before God and the worid, that the motives whereby I was induced to sign that paper were, partly a sinful fear of man; partly an improper deference to the judgment of those whom I accounted wiser than myself; and, lastly, a resolution that ifmy own judgment should at any time be better informed, I would then openly retiact, in the presence of God and man, whatever I should be convinced I had said or done amiss. Accordingly, having now had (besides a strong conviction immediately consequent thereon) many opportunities of informing my judgment better, and being fully convinced of my fault, I do hereby declare my sincere repentance, for my wicked compliance with those oppressive men, who, without any colour of law, divine or human, imposed such a condition of receiving a testimonial upon me. . “JT do further declare, that I know no principles of the Methodists (so called) which are contrary to the word of God; nor any practices of them but what are agreeable both to Scripture and to the laws of the Church of England: that I believe, in particular, their preaching the Gospel in the fields, (being first forbid so to do in churches, although ‘a dispensation of the Gospel is committed to them, and wo is unto them if they preach not the Gospel,’) or in private houses, or in any part of His dominion who filleth heaven and earth, can never be proved to be contrary to any written law either of God or man: that Iam not apprized of their preaching any where in an irregular, disorderly manner; neither of their pretending to any extraordinary inspiration, or extraordinary feelings of the Holy Spirit; but to those ordinary ones only, which, if aman have not, he is ‘ without hope and without God in the world.’