Wesley Corpus

To Mrs. Pendarves Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- February 11 [1731]. 'Tis as impossible for us to remember as we ought our last obligation to Aspasia and Selima as it is to forget it; and that sure can never be--no, 'not in the land where all things are forgotten.' Even there we hope to remember, and with a more tender regard than we are here capable of, to whom we owe in great measure many changes in ourselves, of which we shall then feel the full advantage: who they were that so nobly assisted us in our great work in wearing off several stains from our nature; that so strongly recommended, by that irresistible argument example, whatsoever is honorable or lovely. There are few, except the harsher, passions of our souls which you did not engage in those late happy moments: but none more than our wonder; our joy itself was not greater than our admiration. That London is the worst place under heaven for preserving a Christian temper any one will immediately think who observes that there can be none where its professed, irreconcilable enemies, the lust of the eye and the pride of life, are more artfully and forcibly recommended. Yet even here you retain a constant sense what manner of spirit we are to be of. In the utmost affluence of whatever the world can afford to chain down your affections to it, the whole tenor of your words and actions shows they are reserved for sublimer objects.