Wesley Corpus

‘“* Let us come to particulars. Do you desire us, 1. To preach another, or to desist from preaching this, doctrine? We think you do not desire it, as knowing we cannot do this with a safe conscience. Do you desire us, 2. To desist from preaching in private houses, or in the open air? As things are now circumstanced, this would be the same as desiring us not to preach at all. Do you desire us, 3. To desist from advising those who now meet together for that purpose? Or, in other words, to dissolve our societies? We cannot do this with a safe conscience; for we apprehend many souls would be lost thereby, and that God would require their blood at our hands. Do you desire us, 4. To advise them only one by one? This is impossible because of their number. Do you desire us, 5. To suffer those who walk disorderly still to mix with the rest? Neither can we do this with a safe conscience; because ‘ evil communications corrupt good manners.’ Do you desire us, 6. To discharge those leaders of bands or classes (as we term them) who overlook the rest? This is, in effect, to suffer the disorderly walkers still to mix with the rest, which we dare not do. Do you desire us, Lastly, To behave with reverence toward those who are overseers of the Church of God? And with tenderness, both to the character and persons of our brethren, the inferior clergy? By the grace of God we can and will do this. Yea, our conscience beareth us witness, that we have already laboured so to do; aad that, at all times and in all places. “If you ask what we desire of you to do, we answer, 1. We do not desire any one of you to let us preach in your church, either if you believe us to preach false doctrine, or if you have, upon any other ground, the | least scruple of conscience concerning it. But we desire any who believes us to preach true doctrine, and has no scruple at all in this matter, may not be either publicly or privately discouraged from inviting us to preach in his church. April, 1745.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 331