Wesley Corpus

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, October 22, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--I apprehend Joseph Fothergill was not designedly omitted. I take him to be a good man and a good preacher. You did right in excluding from our Society so notorious an offender. And you have now a providential call to stand in the .gap between the living and the dead. Fear nothing. Begin m the name of God and go through with the work. If only six will promise you to sin no more, leave only six in the Society. But my belief is an hundred and fifty are now clear of blame; and if you are steady, an hundred more will amend. You must at all events tear up this evil by the roots. The Word to a Smuggler should be read and dispersed. And secure your fellow laborers, that you may all speak one thing. Go on, for God is with you!--I am, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately.