Wesley Corpus

The matter of Dewsbury you mistake totally. When I met the trustees at Dewsbury they all promised me to settle the house according to the deed then read. They flew off from this, not I; I desired no more from the beginning to the end. The sum of all was, If any one accuses a preacher whom I send, I, not the accuser, will be his judge. And this I cannot give up. [See letter of July 30.] -- I am, with love to Sister Benson, dear Joseph, Your affectionate friend and brother. But hold! Does not Mrs. Fletcher consider this impression as her property To Francis Asbury [15] LONDON, September 20, 1788. [MY DEAR BROTHER], -- There is, indeed, a wide difference between the relation wherein you stand to the Americans and the relation wherein I stand to all the Methodists. You are the elder brother of the American Methodists: I am under God the father of the whole family. Therefore I naturally care for you all in a manner no other persons can do. Therefore I in a measure provide for you all; for the supplies which Dr. Coke provides for you, he could not provide were it not for me, were it not that I not only permit him to collect but also support him in so doing. But in one point, my dear brother, I am a little afraid both the Doctor and you differ from me. I study to be little: you study to be great. I creep: you strut along. I found a school: you a college! [Cokesbury College, so called after its founders Coke and Asbury, was twice burnt down.] nay, and call it after your own names! O beware, do not seek to be something! Let me be nothing, and 'Christ be all in all!' One instance of this, of your greatness, has given me great concern. How can you, how dare you suffer yourself to be called Bishop I shudder, I start at the very thought! Men may call me a knave or a feel, a rascal, a scoundrel, and I am content; but they shall never by my consent call me Bishop! For my sake, for God's sake, for Christ's sake put a full end to this! Let the Presbyterians do what they please, but let the Methodists know their calling better.