Wesley Corpus

MY DEAR SISTER,--At length I get a little time (after having been some weeks almost in a perpetual motion) to write a few lines to one I sincerely love. Grow in grace every hour, the more the better. Use now all the grace you have; this is certainly right: but also now expect all the grace you want! This is the secret of heart religion--at the present moment to work and to believe. Here is Christ your Lord, the lover of your soul. Give yourself up to Him without delay; and, as you can, without reserve. And simply tell Him all you desire and all you want. What situation is it that hurries you Is it not determined whether you shall change your condition or no [She was engaged to John Thornton, of Southwark. See heading to letter of June 3, 1763.] Be it either way, God sitteth on the throne and ruleth all things well.--I am Your affectionate brother. To Robert Costerdine [14] LONDON, November 24, 1767. MY DEAR BROTHER,--A few days since, I received a letter from a gentleman, the substance of which with a few alterations I subjoin:-- REVEREND SIR,--In the Minutes of the Conference held at Leeds last year the whole debt of the Methodists, considered as one body, appeared to be 11,338. I suppose it is much the same now, perhaps a little more or less. The Yearly Subscription was designed to pay off this. And it has helped a little toward it, as well as answered many other excellent purposes, for which also it was intended from the beginning. But it must be long before it can answer that design; as it has hitherto been so small, that it has very little more than supplied the yearly wants. Meantime this debt remains as a constant load on your shoulders and a constant reproach on all the Societies. If this debt could be discharged, it would be an ease to your mind, an honour to the whole body, and a glorious proof of our care to provide things honest in the sight of all men.