Wesley Corpus

MY DEAR BROTHER, -- For the present it does not appear to be necessary for you to enter into any dispute with your instructor. [See letter of Feb. 19, 1755.] But perhaps he would read a short tract; suppose, The Nature and Design of Christianity. [Wesley’s abridgement of the first chapter of William Law’s Practical Treatise upon Christian Perfection (1740, 19 pp.). See Green’s Bibliography, No. 17.] If at any time he should be touched by what he reads, it would then be a seasonable time to speak. I should not advise you by any means to enter upon anything like teaching or exhorting a company of people. If any poor townsman who is sick desires your assistance, you need not scruple to visit him. But farther than this it seems you are not called to go at present. The main point is now to improve your time in private, to keep dose to God in prayer, and to fix your eye on Him in whatever you do. Then the unction of the Holy One will teach you of all things. --I am Your affectionate brother. Editor’s Introductory Notes [1] This is the first letter written after his serious illness. Wesley went to The Limes (Blackwell’s house in Lewisham) on November 26, and that evening wrote his own epitaph. He was able to ride on the 29th, and did so every day till January 1. The contrast in the whether at Bristol was striking. At Lewisham his ride was not once hindered, ‘it being always tolerably fair (however it was before) between twelve and one o’clock.’ He returned to London on the 1st and set out for Bristol the next day. The day before he wrote to Blackwell he ‘began drinking the water at the Hot Well, having a lodging at a small distance from it.’ [2] Whilst Wesley was at Bristol, Henry Venn wrote, on his appointment as curate at Clapham, asking for ‘a personal charge, to take heed to feed the flock commuted unto me’ (Arminian Magazine, 1797, p. 569. Furly was Venn’s friend, and also turned to Wesley for counsel He became a steadfast ally and correspondent. He was now twenty-two, and had recently begun his course at Queens’ College (see letter of December 7). The following letter from Mrs. Lefevre would probably be to Furly: Wednesday, March 25, 1754.