Wesley Collected Works Vol 8
| Author | John Wesley |
|---|---|
| Type | treatise |
| Year | None |
| Passage ID | jw-wesley-collected-works-vol-8-497 |
| Words | 361 |
Here, therefore, you have certainly overshot your
self.” (Page 85.) Perhaps not. “These English brethren were,
I presume, your followers.” No; this is your first mistake. I was but a single, private member of that society. “After
wards you represent them as perverted by the Moravians.”
I do; but not yet connected with them. “Before they spoke
these wicked things, they had joined these men, and acted
under their direction.” This is another mistake. They did
not join these men, nor act by their direction, till long after. “If they did not learn them from these new teachers, from whom
did they learn them? You cannot bring off the Moravians with
out condemning your own people.” They learned them from
Mr. Molther chiefly; whom I am not at all concerned to bring
off. Now let all men judge which of us two has overshot himself. 11. “In answer to my objections against the inconsistent
accounts you have given of the Moravians, you say, ‘They
are, I believe, the most self-inconsistent people under the
sun. Would not one imagine that you here speak of the same
persons, or of the whole body of them in general?” I do,
thus far: I ascribe the good to the body of them in general;
the evil to part only of that body, to some of those same persons. “Your method of getting over the contradictions I had
charged upon you is much the same, -to distinguish either
between the Moravians and the English brethren, though
these had been their disciples,”--this has been abundantly
answered,--“ or between some of the Moravians and others.”
(Page 86.) I think a very good method; for propositions are
not contradictory unless they both speak of the same persons. However, since youpersist toaffirm that I am guilty of the con
tradictions you charged upon me, (page 87.) I think there can
not be a sufficient reply without reciting the several instances. 12. First. “You commend them (the Moravians) for
loving one another; and yet charge them with biting and
devouring one another.” I answered, “Them Whom? Not the Moravians, but the English brethren of Fetter-Lane,
before their union with the Moravians.