Wesley Corpus

10. ‘But I must observe,’ you say, ‘that you fall not only into inconsistencies, but into direct contradictions. You commend them for “loving one another in a manner the world knoweth not of;” and yet you charge them with being “in the utmost confusion, biting and devouring one another.” You say, “They caution us against natural love of one another; and had well-nigh destroyed brotherly love from among us.”’ ‘You praise them for “using no diversions, but such as become saints;” and for “not regarding outward adorning:” Yet you say they “conform to the world in wearing gold and costly apparel; and by joining in worldly diversions, in order to do good.”’ ‘You call their discipline, “in most respects, truly excellent.” I wish you had more fully explained yourself. I am sure it is no sign of good discipline, to permit such abominations. And you tell themyourself, “I can show you such a subordination as answers all Christian purposes, and yet is as distant from that among you as the heavens are from the earth.”’ ‘You mention it as a good effect of their discipline, that “every one knows and keeps his proper rank.” Soon after; as if it were with a design to confute yourself, you say, “Our brethren have neither wisdom enough to guide, nor prudence enough to let it alone.”’ ‘And now, Sir, how can you reconcile these opposite descriptions’ (pages 21-3). Just as easily as those before, by simplydeclaring the thing as it is. ‘You commend them’(the Moravians) ‘for loving one another [See letter of June 24, 1744.]; and yet charge them with biting and devouring one another’ (Journal, ii. 310, 328) ‘Them’! Whom Not the Moravians; but the English brethren of Fetter-Lane, before their union with the Moravians. Here, then, is no shadow ofcontradiction. For the two sentences do not relate to the same persons. ‘You say, “They had well-nigh destroyed brotherly love fromamong us;” partly by “cautions against natural love.”’ (ii. 494)It is a melancholy truth; so they had. But we had then no connection with them. Neither, therefore, does this contradict their ‘loving one another in a manner the world knoweth not of.’