Wesley Corpus

I am afraid lest your want of love to your neighbors should spring from want of love to God, from want of thankfulness. I have sometimes heard you speak in a manner that made me tremble; indeed, in terms that not only a weak Christian but even a serious Deist would scruple to use. I fear you greatly want evenness of temper. Are you not generally too high or too low Are not all your passions too lively, your anger in particular Is it not too soon raised And is it not too impetuous, causing you to be violent, boisterous, bearing down all before you Now, lift up your heart to God, or you will be angry at me. But I must go a little further. I fear you are greatly wanting in the government of your tongue. You are not exact in relating facts. I have observed it myself. You are apt to amplify, to enlarge a little beyond the truth. You cannot imagine, if others observe this, how it will affect your reputation. But I fear you are more wanting in another respect: that you give a loose to your tongue when you are angry; that your language then is not only sharp but coarse and ill-bred. If this be so, the people will not bear it. They will not take it either from you or me. To Mrs. Fletcher LONDON, December 9, 1786. MY DEAR SISTER, - The book is now finished; I have the last proof now before me. Two of the three accounts you give I have at large. I only wait a few days, to see if my brother will write his Elegy. [See letter of April 6. Charles did not write anything.] I am clearly satisfied that you will do well to spend a considerable part of your time at Madeley. But I can by no means advise you to spend all your time there. I think you are a debtor to several other places also, particularly to London and Yorkshire. Nay, and if we live I should rejoice if you and I can contrive to be in those places at the same time; for I feel a great union of spirit with you. I cannot easily tell you how much. I am, my very dear sister, Yours invariably. To William Robarts [21] LONDON, December [9], 1785.