Wesley Corpus

DEAR TOMMY, -- I cannot imagine how a letter of yours written March 9 should come to me on the 9th of July. Certainly you should write to me a little oftener, once a month at the least. Now there are several preachers in town, you should take care to supply Portsmouth, Bedford, Norwich, Leigh, and Canterbury by turns. O Tommy, how precious are these days! We must not always have this sunshine. But make the best of the present calm [See letters of Jan. 10 March 1 and 4, and April 19.]; and then, if a storm comes, you are ready. Your affectionate brother. To Robert Marsden [6] BRISTOL August 31, 1756. A careless reader of the Address may possibly think ‘I make it necessary for a minister to have much learning,’ and thence imagine I act inconsistently, seeing many of our preachers have no learning at all. But the answer is easy. (1) I do not-make any learning necessary even for a minister (the minister of a parish, who, as such, undertakes single to guide and feed, to instruct, govern that whole flock) but the knowledge of the Scriptures; although many branches of learning are highly expedient for him. (2) These preachers are not ministers: none of them undertakes single the care of an whole flock, but ten, twenty, or thirty, one following and helping another; and all, under the direction of my brother and me, undertake jointly what (as I judge) no man in England is equal to alone. Fight your way through all. God is on your side; and what then can man do to you Make known all your wants to Him, and you shall have the petitions you ask of Him. -- I am Your affectionate brother. To Mr. Rob. Marsden At Mr. Frith's, Grocer, In Sheffield. To Mr. ---- [September 3, 1756.] You give five reasons why the Rev. Mr. P.---- will come no more amongst us: (1) ‘Because we despise the ministers of the Church of England.’ This I flatly deny. I am answering letters this very post which bitterly blame me for just the contrary. (2) ‘Because so much backbiting and err-speaking is suffered amongst our people.’ It is not suffered: all possible means are used both to prevent and remove it.