Wesley Corpus

You dare not; because you have respect of persons. You fear the faces of men. You cannot; because you have not overcome the world. You are not above the desire of earthly things. And it is impossible you should ever have any true order, or exercise any Christian discipline, till you are wholly crucified to the world, till you desire nothing more but God. Consider this matter, I entreat you, a little farther. Herc are thirty thousand persons” (perhaps somewhat more) of whom * In the year 1772.-EDIT. I take care, watching over their souls as he that must give account. In order hereto it lies upon me, (so I judge,) at the peril of my own salvation, to know, not only their names, but their outward and inward states, their difficulties and dangers. Otherwise, how can I know either how to guide them aright, or to commend them to God in prayer? Now, if I am willing tomake these over to you, will you watch over them in the same manner? Will you take the same care (or as much more as you please) of each soul as I have hitherto done? Not such curam animarum” as you have taken these ten years in your own parish. Poor empty name ! Has not your parish been, in fact, as much a sinecure to you as your prebend ? O what an account have you to give to the Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls ! 18. There is one more excuse for denying this work of God, taken from the instruments employed therein; that is, “that they are wicked men.” And a thousand stories have been handed about to prove it. But you may observe, their wickedness was not heard of till after they “went about doing good.” Their reputation for honesty was till then unblemished. But it was impossible it should continue so, when they were publicly employed in “tes tifying of the world, that its deeds were evil.” It could not be but the Scriptures should be fulfilled: “The servant is not above his Master. If they have called thc Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household !” Yet I cannot but remind considerate men, in how remarkable a manner the wisdom of God has for many years guarded against this pretence, with respect to my brother and me in particular.