Wesley Corpus

You begin with a home-stroke: 'In the Montanist you may behold the bold lineaments and bloated countenance of the Methodist' (page 17). I wish you do not squint at the honest countenance of Mr. Venn, who is indeed as far from fear as he is from guile. But if it is somewhat 'bloated,' that is not his fault; sickness may have the same effect on yours or mine. But to come closer to the point: 'They have darkened religion with many ridiculous fancies, tending to confound the head and to corrupt the heart' (page 13). 'A thorough knowledge of them would work in every rightly-disposed mind an abhorrence of those doctrines which directly tend to distract the head and to debauch the heart by turning faith into frenzy and the grace of God into wantonness' (pages 101-2). 'These doctrines are unreasonable and ridiculous, clashing with our natural ideas of the divine perfections, with the end of religion, with the honour of God, and man's both present and future happiness. Therefore we pronounce them " filthy dreamers," turning faith into fancy, the gospel into farce; thus adding blasphemy to enthusiasm.' (Pages 66-8.)