Wesley Corpus

MY DEAR LADY,--When I received the former letter from your Ladyship, I did not know how to answer; and I judged, not only that silence would be the best answer, but also that with which your Ladyship would be best pleased. When I received your Ladyship's of the 2nd instant, I immediately saw that it required an answer; only I waited till the hurry of the Conference was over that I might do nothing rashly. I know your Ladyship would not 'servilely deny the truth.' I think neither would I; especially that great truth Justification by Faith, which Mr. Law indeed flatly denies (and yet Mr. Law was a child of God), but for which I have given up all my worldly hopes, my friends, my reputation--yea, for which I have so often hazarded my life, and by the grace of God will do again. 'The principles established in the Minutes' I apprehend to be no way contrary to this, or to that faith, that consistent plan of doctrine, which was once delivered to the saints. I believe, whoever calmly considers Mr. Fletcher's Letters [Five Letters to the Hon. and Rev. Walter Shirley, which formed the First Check to Antinomianism. See Tyerman's Wesley's Designated Successor, p. 192. ] will be convinced of this. I fear, therefore, 'zeal against those principles' is no less than zeal against the truth and against the honour of our Lord. 'The preservation of His honour appears so sacred' to me, and has done for above these forty years, that I have counted, and do count, all things loss in comparison of it. But till Mr. Fletcher's printed letters are answered, I must think everything spoke against those Minutes is totally destructive of His honour, and a palpable affront to Him both as our Prophet and Priest, but more especially as the King of His people. Those letters (which therefore could not be suppressed without betraying the honour of our Lord) largely prove that the Minutes lay no other foundation than that which is laid in Scripture, and which I have been laying, and teaching others to lay, for between thirty and forty years.