Wesley Corpus

No, Aleck, no! The danger of ruin to Methodism does not lie here. It springs from quite a different quarter. Our preachers, many of them, are fallen. They are not spiritual. They are not alive to God. They are soft, enervated, fearful of shame, toil, hardship. They have not the spirit which God gave to Thomas Lee at Pateley Bridge or to you at Boston. [In the autumn of 1757, where he suffered much from the mob (Wesley’s Veterans, ii 93-7). Lee was rolled in the common sewer and had his back nearly broken; for his sufferings at Pateley, see ibid iii, 204-6.] Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven upon earth. To Elizabeth Ritchie ST. IVES, August 24, 1777. MY DEAR BETSY,--Ever since I was informed that it has pleased God in some measure to restore your strength I have lived in hope that He will yet be entreated and will give you back to our prayers. Do you still find the same consciousness of the presence of the ever-blessed Trinity? [See letter of Aug 2.] Do you find it day and night? In the midst of trials does it remain the same? But one would be ready to ask, excepting a weak body, what trials can you have? Secluded from the world, and all its care, Hast thou to joy or grieve, to hope or fear? Unless it be for this,--You long to please all for their good, but you cannot succeed. You would fain give them satisfaction, but they will not be satisfied. This may be a dose trial. Send as particular an account as you can of the state both of your body and mind to Yours affectionately. To Alexander Knox PENRHYN, August 29, 1777.