Wesley Corpus

MY DEAR SISTER,--Having finished for the present my business at Leeds, [Where the Conference met on the 4th.] I am come thus far on my journey to Bristol. But I must take Haverfordwest in the way thither; so that I do not expect to be there till the 30th instant. How many blessings may you receive in the meantime, provided you seek them in the good old way wherein you received the Lord Jesus Christ! So walk in Him still. Beware of striking into new paths! of being wise above that is written! Perhaps we may find sweetness in the beginning; but it would be bitterness in the latter end. O my sister, my friend, I am afraid for you! I doubt you are stepping out of the way. When you enter into your closet and shut the door and pray to your Father who seeth in secret, then is the time to groan to Him who reads the heart the unutterable prayer. But to be silent in the congregation of His people is wholly new, and therefore wholly wrong. A silent meeting was never heard of in the Church of Christ for sixteen hundred years. I entreat you to read over with much prayer that little tract A Letter to a Quaker. [See letters of Feb. 10, 1748, and March 17, 1771 (to her).] I fear you are on the brink of a precipice, and you know it not. The enemy has put on his angel's face, and you take him for a friend. Retire immediately! Go not near the tents of those dead, formal men called Quakers! Keep close to your class, to your band, to your old teachers; they have the words of eternal life! Have any of them offended you Has any stumbling-block been laid in your way Hide nothing from, my dear Molly, Yours in true affection. Ten days hence I expect to be at Haverfordwest. To Mary Bishop PEMBROKE, August 22, 1772. DEAR MISS BISHOP,--Such a degree of sickness or pain as does not affect the understanding I have often found to be a great help. It is an admirable help against levity as well as against foolish desires; and nothing more directly tends to teach us that great lesson, to write upon our heart, 'Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.'