Wesley Corpus

To Mary Bishop Date: LONDON, February 16, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Never be afraid of being troublesome. That would not be the case, were you to write every week. You look inward too much and upward too little. Christ is ready to impart Life to all, for life who sigh; In thy mouth and in thy heart The word is ever nigh. Encourage yourself to trust Him; that is your point: then He will do all things well. Legality, with most who use that term, really means tenderness of conscience. There is no propriety in the word if one would take it for seeking justification by works. Considering, therefore, how hard it is to fix the meaning of that odd term, and how dreadfully it has been abused, I think it highly advisable for all the Methodists to lay it quite aside. If he could find any other doctrine which he thought was peculiarly mine, Mr. Shirley would be as angry at it as he is at Christian Perfection. But it is all well: we are to go forward, whoever goes back or turns aside. I hope your class goes on well, and that you are not weary of well doing. The Lord is at hand.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.