Wesley Collected Works Vol 8
| Author | John Wesley |
|---|---|
| Type | treatise |
| Year | None |
| Passage ID | jw-wesley-collected-works-vol-8-492 |
| Words | 382 |
But
before I was at Hernhuth, (I find on later inquiry,) the Count
himself had been in England. “You ‘still think, that next to some thousands in our own
Church, the body of the Moravian Church, however mistaken
some of them are, are, in the main, the best Christians in the
world.” (Page 81.) I do, “ of all whom I have seen;”--you
should not omit these words. “Those dreadful errors and
crimes are here softened into mistakes.” I term them
“errors of judgment and practice.” “I have proved, that you
have charged the body with such.” At present, the proof
does not amount to demonstration. There needs a little
farther proof, that I charge any “dreadful crimes” on the
body of the Moravians. I see no manner of inconsistency still, in those accounts of
my intercourse with the Moravians, which you suppose irre
concilable with each other. Let any one read them in the
Journal, and judge.-
7. “You had said, your “objections then were nearly the
same as now.’ You now add, ‘only with this difference: I was
not then assured that the facts were as I supposed; I did not
dare to determine anything. No! Not when by conversing
among them you saw these things? As indeed the facts are of
such a nature, that you could not but be assured of them, if
they were true. Nor do the questions in your Letter really
imply any doubt of their truth; but are so many appeals to
their consciences, and equivalent to strong assertions. And if
you had not been assured, if you did not dare to determine
anything concerning what you saw, your writing bare suspi
cions to a body of men in such a manner was inexcusable. This excuse, therefore, will not serve you.” (Page 83.)
I apprehend it will. “I was not then,” in September, 1738,
“assured that the facts were as I supposed.” Therefore, “I
did not” then “dare to determine anything.” Be pleased to
add the immediately following words: “But from November
1,” 1739, “I saw more and more things which I could not
reconcile with the Gospel.”-
If you had not omitted these words, you could have had no
colour to remark, on my saying, “I did not dare to determine
anything:” “No!