Wesley Corpus

Therefore, whatever they do, (though you slander them too,) they and not we are to answer for. The Methodists at present, blessed be God, are as little infected with this plague (of condemning or neglecting good works) as any body of people in England or Ireland. 38. From these loose assertions you proceed to quotations from my writings, every one of which I shall consider, to show that, not in one or two, but in every one, you are a wilful prevaricator and false accuser of your neighbour. You say, First, “The Moravians.” Hold, good Sir! you are out of the way already. You well know, the Moravians are to answer for themselves. Our present question concerns the Methodists only. You say, Secondly, “A general temptation prevails among the societies of Methodists, of leaving off good works.” (Vol. I. p. 273.) Sir, you are wrong again. The societies of Methodists are not there spoken of; but the single society of Fetter-Lane. Among these only that temptation then prevailed. You quote, Thirdly, as my words, “The poor, confused, shattered society had erred from the faith.” My own words are, “I told the poor, confused, shattered society, wherein they had erred from the faith; ” (ibid. p. 274;) namely, with regard to the ordinances; not in general, as your way of expressing it naturally imports. Nor had all the society erred even in this point. Many of them were still unshaken. You quote, Fourthly, “A woman of Deptford spoke great words and true. She ordered Mr. Humphreys to leave off doing good.” Must not every reader suppose, as you have placed these words, that they were all spoke at one time? and that the “great words and true” were those whereby she “ordered Mr. Humphreys to leave off doing good?” What then must every honest man think of you, when he observes, that one half of the sentence (which you thus art fully put together) stands in another page, and at a consider a le distance from the other? and that I immediately subjoin to the latter clause, “We talked largely with her, and she was humbled to the dust, under a deep sense of the advantage Satan had gained over her.” You quote, Fifthly, a part of the following sentence, to prove that I “undermine morality and good works:” “His judgment concerning holiness is new.