Wesley Collected Works Vol 8
| Author | John Wesley |
|---|---|
| Type | treatise |
| Year | None |
| Passage ID | jw-wesley-collected-works-vol-8-524 |
| Words | 382 |
But I do not yet find that
this is owing to my want of ‘considering things coolly and care
fully.” Perhaps you do not know many persons (excuse my
simplicity in speaking it) who more carefully consider every step
they take. Yet I know I am not cool or careful enough. May
God supply this and all my wants!” (Page 407.) You reply,
“Your private life I have nothing to do with;” and then enlarge
on my “method of consulting Scripture,” and of using lots;--of
both which by and by. But meantime, observe, this does not
affect the question: For I neither cast lots, nor use that method
at all, till I have considered things with all the care I can. So
that, be this right or wrong, it is no manner of proof that I do
not “carefully consider every step I take.”
But how little did I profit by begging your excuse, suppose I
had spoken a word unguardedly ! O Sir, you put me in mind
of him who said, “I know not how to show mercy!” You have
need never to fight but when you are sure to conquer; seeing
you are resolved neither to give nor take quarter. You remark, (7) “He is very difficult to be convinced by
reason and argument, as he acts upon a supposed principle supe
rior to it,-the direction of God’s Spirit.” I answered, “I am
very difficult to be convinced by dry blows or hard names, but
not by reason or argument. At least that difficulty cannot
spring from the cause you mention: For I claim no other direc
tion of God’s Spirit than is common to all believers.”
You reply, (1.) “I fear this will not be easily reconcilable to
your past pretences and behaviour.” (Page 124.) I believe it
will; in particular, to what I speak of the light I received from
God in that important affair. (Vol. I. p. 46.) But as to the
directions, in general, of the Spirit of God, we very probably
differ in this: You apprehend those directions to be extraordi
nary, which I suppose to be common to all believers. You remark, (8.) “Whoever opposes him will be charged
with resisting or rejecting the Spirit.” I answered, “What! whoever opposes me, John Wesley?