Wesley Corpus

If love will not compel him to come in, leave him to God, the Judge of all. Yet expect not that others will deal thus with you. No: Some will endeavour to fright you out of your principles; some to shame you into a more popular religion, to laugh and rally you out of your singularity: But from none of these will you be in so great danger, as from those who assault you with quite different weapons; with softness, good-nature, and earnest professions of (perhaps real) good-will. Here you are equally concerned to avoid the very appearance of anger, contempt, or unkindness, and to hold fast the whole truth of God, both in principle and in practice. This indeed will be interpreted as unkindness. Your former acquaintance will look upon this,--that you will not sin or trifle with them,-as a plain proof of your coldness towards them; and this burden you must be content to bear: But labour to avoid all real unkindness, all disobliging words, or harshness of speech, all shyness, or strangeness of behaviour. Speak to. them with all the tenderness and love, and behave with all the sweetness and courtesy, you can ; taking care not to give any needless offence to neighbour or stranger, friend or enemy. Perhaps on this very account I might advise you, Fifthly, “not to talk much of what you suffer; of the persecution you endured at such a time, and the wickednessof your persecutors.” Nothing more tends to exasperate them than this; and there fore (although there is a time when these things must be men tioned, yet) it might be a general rule, to do it as seldom as you can with a safe conscience. For, besides its tendency to inflame them, it has the appearance of evil, of ostentation, of magnifying. yourselves. It also tends to puff you up with pride, and to make you think yourselves some great ones, as it certainly does to excite or increase in your heart ill-will, anger, and all unkind tempers. It is, at best, loss of time; for, instead of the wicked ness of men, you might be talking of the goodness of God. Nay, it is, in truth, an open, wilful sin: It is tale-bearing, back-biting, evil-speaking,--a sin you can never be sufficiently watchful against, seeing it steals upon you in a thousand shapes.