Wesley Corpus

‘Oh, but you would have done more if they had persisted.’ That is, I would have persecuted. Whatever I would have done if things had been which were not, I have not done it yet. I have used no arbitrary, no coercive power -- nay, no power at all in this matter but that of love. I have given no man an ill word or an ill look on the account. I have not withdrawn my confidence or my conversation from any. I have dealt with every man as, if the tables were turned, I should desire he would deal with me. ‘But I would not dispute with you.’ Not for a time; not till your spirits were a little evaporated. But you argue too fast when you infer from hence that I myself cannot confute your favorite notion. You are not sure of that. But, come what will, you are resolved to try. Well, then, move fair and softly. You and Charles Perronet aver that you have a right to administer the Lord’s Supper, and that therefore you ought to administer it among the Methodists or to separate from them. If the assertion were proved, I should deny the consequence. But first, I desire proof of the assertion. Let him or you give the proof, only without any flourish or rhetorical amplifications (which exceedingly abound in all C. P.’s letters to my brother on this subject), and I will give you an answer, though we are not on even ground; for you have no business, and I have no leisure. And if you continue instant in prayer, particulady for a lowly and teachable spirit, I do not despair of your finding both that life and love which you have not lately enjoyed. -- I am Your affectionate brother I shall add a few remarks on C. P.’s letters, though the substance of them is contained in yours. ‘Some of the fundamentals of your constitution are wrong’ Our fundamentals are laid down in the Plain Account. Which of these are wrong, and yet ‘borne by you for eight years’