Wesley Corpus

3. This letter I laid before the Conference, and we easily perceived the difficulty therein proposed concerned not only the Society at Baildon but many others in various parts of the kingdom. It was therefore considered at large, and all our brethren were desired to speak their sentiments freely. In the conclusion they unanimously agreed, first, that it was highly expedient all the Methodists (so called) who had been bred therein should attend the service of the Church as often as possible; but that, secondly, if the minister began either to preach the Absolute Decrees or to rail at and ridicule Christian Perfection, they should quietly and silently go out of the church, yet attend it again the next opportunity. 4. I have since that time revolved this matter over and over in my own mind; and the more I consider it, the more I am convinced this was the best answer that could be given. I still advise all our friends, when this case occurs, quietly and silently to go out. Only I must earnestly caution them not to be critical; not to make a man an offender for a word -- no, nor for a few sentences, which any who believe the decrees may drop without design. But if such a minister should at any time deliberately and of set purpose endeavor to establish Absolute Predestination or to confute Scriptural Perfection, then I advise all the Methodists in the congregation quietly to go away. To Hester Ann Roe [1] LONDON, January 17, 1782.