Wesley Corpus

I am glad the select society meets constantly. See that you speak freely to each other. And do not speak of your joys and comforts only; this is well-pleasing to flesh and blood: but speak also of your sorrows and weaknesses and temptations; this is well-pleasing to God, and will be a means of knitting you together by a bond that shall never be broken. I hope you lose no opportunity of speaking a word for God, either to them that know Him or them that do not. Why should you lose any time? Time is short. Work your work betimes! To-day receive more grace and use it! Peace be with your spirit!--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother. To Richard Locke BRISTOL, September 14, 1770. Milton justly supposes that if ever angelic minds reasoned on 'freewill entire, foreknowledge absolute,' they would 'find no end, in wandering mazes lost.' [Paradise Lost, ii. 560-1.] How much less can an human mind reconcile them! Men have no line to fathom such a depth. We may, however, rest in this: Yet my foreknowledge causes not their fault, Which had no less been certain unforeknown. [Ibid., iii. 118-19: 'Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.'] I believe you will find some light on the head by reading that little tract Predestination Calmly Considered. [Published by Wesley in 1752. See Works, x. 204-59.] The illustrators, Mr. Harwood, [Edward Harwood, D.D. (1729-94), Presbyterian minister at Bristol 1765. His Introduction to New Testament Studies gained him his degree in 1768.] Leibnitz, Clark, Montesquieu, and above all that wretched man Voltaire, would only unhinge and perplex your mind. Hall, Scot, Sharp, Whitby, [Daniel Whitby, D.D. (1638-1726), Prebendary of Salisbury; a voluminous theological writer.] and Fleetwood are good writers; so are Locke, Hooper, and Mosheim in their several ways, but far less useful than Baxter and Law. Dr. South, Knight, and Taylor are some of the finest writers in the English tongue--if you mean Dr. James Knight of St. Sepulchre's. But I believe the best way for you would be to read only a few select authors. Then (mixing reading with prayer) you would not only find good desires, but they would be brought to good effect.--I am Your servant for Christ's sake. To Mr. Richard Locke, At Burnham, Near Bridgewater. To Miss March BRISTOL, September 15, 1770.