Wesley Corpus

Your conscience will not be clear unless you find fault wherever occasion requires. Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy brother, and not suffer sin upon him. Regard none who speak otherwise. You have but one rule, the oracles of God. His Spirit will always guide you, according to His word. Keep close to Him, and pray for, dear Jenny, Your affectionate brother. To Ann Foard [6] NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, June 3, 1763. MY DEAR SISTER, -- I take your writing exceeding kindly, particularly at this time; you have refreshed my bowels in the Lord. Sometimes I thought there was a kind of strangeness in your behavior. I am now persuaded it sprung only from caution, not from want of love. When you believed you had the pure love of God, you was not deceived: you really had a degree of it, and see that you let it not go; hold the beginning of your confidence steadfast till the end. Christ and all He has is yours! Never quit your hold! Woman, remember the faith! The Lord is increasing in you sevenfold! How wonderfully does He often bring to our remembrance what we have read or heard long ago! And all is good which He sanctifies. My dear sister, continue to love and pray for Your affectionate brother. To Henry Venn [7] BIRMINGHAM, June 22, 1763. REVEREND AND DEAR SIR, -- Having at length a few hours to spare, I sit down to answer your last, which was particularly acceptable to me, because it was wrote with so great openness. I shall write with the same. And herein you and I are just fit to converse together, because we both like to speak blunt and plain, without going a great way round about. I shall likewise take this opportunity of explaining myself on some other heads. I want you to understand me inside and out. Then I say, Sic sum: si placeo, utere. [Terence’s Phormio, iii. ii. 42: ‘Such I am: if you like me, use me.’]