Wesley Corpus

MY DEAR SISTER,--Perhaps we may see a new accomplishment of Solomon's words, 'He that reproveth a man shall afterward find more favour than he who flattereth with his tongue. But, be that as it may, I have done my duty; I could no otherwise have delivered my own soul. And no offence at all would have been given thereby had not pride stifled both religion and generosity. [See letter of March 8.] But the letter is now out of date; it is mentioned no more: there is a more plausible occasion found-- namely, those eight terrible propositions which conclude the Minutes of our Conference. [The Minutes for 1770, which gave occasion to Fletcher to write his Checks to Antinomianism.] At the instance of some who were sadly frightened thereby, I have revised them over and over; I have considered them in every point of view; and truly, the more I consider them, the more I like them, the more fully I am convinced, not only that they are true, agreeable both to Scripture and to sound experience, but that they contain truths of the deepest importance, and such as ought to be continually inculcated by those who would be pure from the blood of all men. Joseph Benson is a good man and a good preacher. But he is by no means clear in his judgement. The imagination which he has borrowed from another good man, 'that he is not a believer who has any sin remaining in him,' is not only an error, but a very dangerous one, of which I have seen fatal effects. Herein we divided from the Germans near thirty years ago; and the falseness and absurdity of it is shown in the Second Journal and in my sermon on that subject. [The Lord our Righteousness. See Works, v. 234-46.] Your experience reminds me of these lines: So many tender joys and woes Have o'er my quivering soul had power! Plain life with heightening passions rose, The boast or burthen of an hour. [Gambold, in Poetical Works of J. and C. Wesley, i. 8.] They who feel less, certainly suffer less; but the more we suffer, the more we may improve; the more obedience, the more holiness, we may learn by the things we suffer. So that, upon the whole, I do not know if the insensible ones have the advantage over us.