Wesley Corpus

Your affectionate brother. To Sarah James [29] SHOREHAM, November 29, 1774. MY DEAR SISTER,--I do not love you because you are without faults, but because you are desirous of being delivered from them. And I trust you will now find a great deliverance in a little time. For you are now taken into God’s school, into the school of affliction. The continued weakness and distress of Mrs. James (nay, and I fear Mr. James is not much better) is designed to humble and meeken your soul, to keep you dead to all below, and to teach you that grand lesson to say in all things, 'Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.' Only carry this point, and then I am not solicitous whether you have joy or not. See, the Lord thy Keeper stand Omnipotently near! Lo! He holds thee by thy hand, And banishes thy fear. Thou, poor sinner stay not to be any better, but take Him just as you are. Trust Him, praise Him now! The Lord take you with His sweet force! and then you will not forget, my dear Sally, Yours affectionately. To Miss Sally James, In St. James Barton, Bristol. To Elizabeth Ritchie SHORRHAM, November 29, 1774. MY DEAR BETSY,--It gives me pleasure to hear that you have recovered your health. If you find any fresh illness, you should let me know; we must not neglect the body, although the main thing is an healthful mind. There are many excellent things in Madame Guyon’s works, and there are many that are exceedingly dangerous. The more so because the good things make way for the mischievous ones. And it is not easy unless for those of much experience, to distinguish the one from the other. Perhaps, therefore, it might be safest for you chiefly to confine yourself to what we have published. You will then neither be perplexed with various sentiments nor with various language; and you will find enough on every head of religion, speculative or practical.