Wesley Corpus

7. It is not I, or my brother or our friends, who cause or foment divisions and offences. With us (glory be to God) is no anger or clamor or bitterness or evil-speaking. We avoid, as we would avoid the fire of hell, all envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings; and follow after lowliness, meekness, and love, with all that seek the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. And with this end it is that I have written now; hoping that, if in anything I do err from the truth, you will restore me in the spirit of meekness, that I may again give God thanks on your behalf, and have a fresh instance of your readiness to support the weak and comfort the feeble-minded. To do which, after the ability which God giveth, is also the desire of, reverend sir, Your obedient servant. To the Moravians at Marienborn and Herrnhut [12] LONDON, September 1738. MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I cannot but rejoice in your steadfast faith, in your love to our blessed Redeemer, your deadness to the world, your meekness, temperance, chastity, and love of one another. I greatly approve of your conferences and bands, of your method of instructing children, and in general of your great care of the souls committed to your charge. But of some other things I stand in doubt, which I will mention in love and meekness. And I wish that, in order to remove those doubts, you would on each of those heads, (1) plainly answer whether the fact be as I suppose; and if so, (2) consider whether it be right. Do you not wholly neglect joint fasting Is not the Count all in all Are not the rest mere shadows, calling him Rabbi, almost implicitly both believing and obeying him Is there not something of levity in your behavior Are you in general serious enough Are you zealous and watchful to redeem time Do you not sometimes fall into trifling conversation Do you not magnify your own Church too much Do you believe any who are not of it to be in gospel liberty Are you not straitened in your love Do you love your enemies and wicked men as yourselves Do you not mix human wisdom with divine, joining worldly prudence to heavenly Do you not use cunning, guile, or dissimulation in many cases