Wesley Corpus

MY DEAR SISTER, -- 1. So far as I know what will make me most holy and most useful I know what is the will of God. 2. Certainly it is possible for persons to be as devoted to God in a married as in a single state. 3. I believe John Downes is throughly desirous of being wholly devoted to God, and that (if you alter your condition at all) you cannot choose a more proper person.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother. To Mrs. Bennis [11] PEMBROKE, August 23, 1763. MY DEAR SISTER, -- You did well to write. This is one of the means which God generally uses to convey either light or comfort. Even while you are writing you will often find relief; frequently while we propose a doubt it is removed. There is no doubt but what you at first experienced was a real foretaste of the blessing, although you were not properly possessed of it till the Whit Sunday following. But it is very possible to cast away the gift of God, or to lose it by little and little; though I trust this is not the case with you: and yet you may frequently be in heaviness, and may find your love to God not near so warm at some times as it is at others. Many wanderings likewise, and many deficiencies, are consistent with pure love; but the thing you mean is the abiding witness of the Spirit touching this very thing. And this you may boldly claim on the warrant of that word, ‘We have received the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things which are freely given to us of God.’ -- I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother. To Christopher Hopper [12] BRISTOL, September 3, 1763.