Wesley Corpus

W. advises his followers to ‘wear nothing of a glaring colour, nothing made in the height of the fashion,’ in order to “increase their reward, and brighten their crown in heaven.’ “Nevertheless, in his ‘Letter to a Quaker, he says, “To make it a point of conscience to differ from others, as to the shape and colour of their apparel, is mere superstition.’ “Yet he says, “So I advise; but I do not make it a point of conscience.’ It follows, that we are to increase our reward, and brighten our crown in heaven, by doing that which is mere superstition, and without acting from a point of conscience.” (Page 40.) I shall say more on this head than I otherwise would, in order to show every impartial reader, by one instance in a thousand, the manner wherein Mr. H. continually distorts and murders my words. In my “Advice to the People called Methodists,” I say, “I would not advise you to imitate the people called Quakers, in those particularities of dress which can answer no end but to distinguish you from all other people; but I advise you to imitate them in plainness. (1.) Let your apparel be cheap, not expensive. (2.) Let it be grave, not gay or showy; not in the point of the fashion. “Would you have a farther rule? Then take one you may always carry in your bosom : Do everything with a single eye; and this will direct you in every circumstance. Let a single intention to please God prescribe both what clothing you shall buy, and the manner wherein it shall be made, and how you shall put on and wear it. In other words, let all you do in this respect, be so done, that you may offer it to God, a sacrifice acceptable through Jesus Christ; so that, consequently, it may increase your reward, and brighten your crown in heaven.” Now, is there anything ridiculous in all this? I would appeal even to a rational Deist, whether it be not, upon the Christian scheme, all agreeable to the highest reason ? 36. “But it is inconsistent with what you said elsewhere: “To make it a point of conscience to differ from others, as the Quakers do, in the shape or colour of their apparel, is mere superstition.’” Not inconsistent at all.