Wesley Corpus

MY DEAR SISTER, - I thank you for giving me so full an account of that extraordinary deliverance. [Miss Godfrey lived at Gainsborough. See letter of Aug. 5 1788.] I doubt not but those that were called epileptic fits were owing to a messenger of Satan whom God permitted to buffet you. Therefore all human helps were vain. Nothing but the power of God could deliver you. And if you continue to walk humbly and closely with God, He will continue to bruise Satan under your feet, and will add bodily health to the spirit of an healthful mind. Do all you can for so good a Master! And see that you go on to perfection, till you know all that love of God that passeth knowledge. - I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother. To John White [3] [July 1784.] John White, whoever is wrong, you are not right. To Mary Bishop [4] HAVERFORDWEST, August 18, 1784. MY DEAR MISS BISHOP, - From the time I heard you were rejected by Lady Huntingdon, I have had a tender regard for you, and a strong hope that, without regard to the wisdom or spirit or customs of the world, you would (as those at Publow did once) Square your useful life below By reason and by grace. Hitherto you have not at all deceived my hope, and I am persuaded you never will. In some of the young ones you will undoubtedly find your labor has not been in vain. What they will be one cannot judge yet; therefore Solomon's advice is good, - 'In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper.' It seems God Himself has already decided the question concerning dancing. He hath shown His approbation of your conduct by sending those children to you again. If dancing be not evil in itself, yet it leads young women to numberless evils. And the hazard of these on the one side seems far to overbalance the little inconveniences on the other. Therefore thus much may certainly be said, You have chosen the more excellent way.