Wesley Corpus

To this I replied (1) Sir, I have no self-interest in this matter; I consult your interest, not my own; I want nothing from you, I desire nothing from you, I expect nothing from you. But I am concerned for your immortal spirit, which must so soon launch into eternity. (2) It is true men of fortune must mind their fortune; but they must not love the world. ‘If any man love the world, the love of the Father h not in him.’ (3) It is true likewise you cannot go about to look for poor people; but you may be sufficiently informed of them by those that can. (4) And if some of these are never satisfied, this is no reason for not relieving others. (5) Suppose, too, that some make an ill use of what you give, the loss falls on their own head. You will not lose your reward for their faults. What you laid out, God will pay you again. (6) Yet certainly you do wall to have all the assurance you can that those to whom you give are likely to make a good use of it; and therefore to expect a stronger recommendation of them than their own, whether by letter or otherwise. (7) I rejoice that you have given to many by so worthy a man as Colonel Hudson, whose word is certainly a sufficient recommendation. (8) I rejoice likewise that you have given some hundreds of pounds to the hospitals, and wish it had been ten thousand. (9) To the support of the family I did not object; but begged leave to ask, whether this could not be done without giving ten thousand a year to one who had as much already and whether you could answer this to God in the day wherein He shah judge the world (10) I likewise granted that the family had continued above four hundred years; but observed meantime that God regarded it not one jot the more for this, and that four hundred or one thousand years are but a moment compared to eternity. (11) I observed likewise that great things may be done and little things not left undone.