Wesley Corpus

3. By applying both the threats and promises of God to these real, not nominal, penitents, and by crying to God in their behalf, we endeavoured to bring them back to the great 'Shepherd and Bishop of their souls'; not by any of the fopperies of the Roman Church, although in some measure countenanced by antiquity. In prescribing hair shirts and bodily austerities we durst not follow even the ancient Church; although we had unawares, both in dividing oiJ pistoiv, the believers, from the rest of the Society, and in separating the penitents from them, and appointing a peculiar service for them. VIII. 1. Many of these soon recovered the ground they had lost. Yea, they rose higher than before; being more watchful than ever, and more meek and lowly, as well as stronger in the faith that worketh by love. They now outran the greater part of their brethren, continually walking in the light of God, and having fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 2. I saw it might be useful to give some advices to all those who continued in the light of God's countenance, which the rest of their brethren did not want, and probably could not receive. So I desired a small number of such as appeared to be in this state to spend an hour with me every Monday morning. My design was, not only to direct them how to press after perfection, to exercise their every grace and improve every talent they had received, and to incite them to love one another more, and to watch more carefully over each other, but also to have a select company to whom I might unbosom myself on all occasions without reserve, and whom I could propose to all their brethren as a pattern of love, of holiness, and of good works. 3. They had no need of being encumbered with many rules, having the best rule of all in their hearts. No peculiar directions were therefore given to them, excepting only these three: (1) Let nothing spoken in this Society be spoken again. Hereby we had the more full confidence in each other. (2) Every member agrees to submit to his Minister in all indifferent things. (3) Every member will bring once a week all he can spare toward a common stock.