Wesley Corpus

'How can I distinguish pride from temptation to pride' 'It is extremely difficult to distinguish these, and still more so to lay down rules for doing it. Our eyes cannot penetrate the ground of our hearts. Pride and vanity are natural to us; and for this reason nothing is more constantly at hand, nothing less observed, than their effects. The grand rule is to sound sincerely the ground of our hearts when we are not in the hurry of temptation. For if, on inquiry, we find that it loves obscurity and silence; that it dreads applause and distinction; that it esteems the virtue of others and excuses their faults with mildness; that it easily pardons injuries; that it fears contempt less and less; that it sees a falsehood and baseness in pride and a true nobleness and greatness in humility; that it knows and reveres the inestimable riches of the cross and the humiliations of Jesus Christ; that it fears the lustre of those virtues which are admired by men and loves those that are more secret; that it draws comfort even from its own defects through the abasement which they occasion; and that it prefers any degree of compunction before all the light in the world;--then you may trust that all the motions you feel tending to pride or vanity, whether they are sudden or are thrust against you for some time, are not sin, but temptation. And then it may be the best to turn from and despise them, instead of giving them weight, by fixing your attention upon them.' I want a particular account both of your inward and outward health. Tell me how you are and what you are doing; withhold nothing from Your affectionate friend and brother. Write soon, or come: write and come. To Mary Stokes LYNN, November 9, 1771. MY DEAR SISTER,--How glad should I be could I be of any service to one I so tenderly regard! you have an heart susceptible of friendship; and shall it not be a blessing to you, a means of increasing every holy temper, and perhaps of guarding you against some of the dangerous temptations which are incident to youth