Wesley Corpus

He didn't baby them or coddle them, but he started where they were. The one characteristic that distinguished them was that since all their thinking was immersed in scripture, biblical phrases and concepts are sprinkled throughout. What are Christian teachers and preachers doing today to speak in a way that ordinary people can understand? What could they do better? 3. Nor do we desire to be distinguished by actions, customs, or usages, of an indifferent nature. Our religion does not lie in doing what God has not enjoined, or abstaining from what he hath not forbidden. It does not lie in the form of our apparel, in the posture of our body, or the covering of our heads; nor yet in abstaining from marriage, or from meats and drinks, which are all good if received with thanksgiving. Therefore, neither will any man, who knows whereof he affirms, fix the mark of a Methodist here,--in any actions or customs purely indifferent, undetermined by the word of God. Wesley adds this section because of the number of Christian groups throughout the ages who have defined themselves this way. Methodists are not people who wear a particular kind of clothing, make particular hand motions, or practice strict dietary customs. American Methodists have moved from Wesley's position and officially taught that abstinence from alcohol is the best choice. While Wesley preached against drunkenness (both because of the scriptural teaching to that effect and because he'd seen the ruin in brought to many individuals and families), complete abstinence was not an issue in 18th century England. Questions: Can you pick out any outward customs that distinguish Methodists from other groups? Are there any practice that you think ought to differentiate us? 4. Nor, lastly, is he distinguished by laying the whole stress of religion on any single part of it. If you say, "Yes, he is; for he thinks 'we are saved by faith alone:'" I answer, You do not understand the terms. By salvation he means holiness of heart and life. And this he affirms to spring from true faith alone. Can even a nominal Christian deny it? Is this placing a part of religion for the whole? "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid!

Why is character important in ministry? What other character qualities would you include? 11. Agreeable to this his one desire, is the one design of his life, namely, "not to do his own will, but the will of Him that sent him." His one intention at all times and in all things is, not to please himself, but Him whom his soul loveth. He has a single eye. And because "his eye is single, his whole body is full of light." Indeed, where the loving eye of the soul is continually fixed upon God, there can be no darkness at all, "but the whole is light; as when the bright shining of a candle doth enlighten the house." God then reigns alone. All that is in the soul is holiness to the Lord. There is not a motion in his heart, but is according to his will. Every thought that arises points to Him, and is in obedience to the law of Christ. At one point in our communion liturgy, we talk about God freeing us for “joyful obedience.” Convinced of God's love for us and returning that love to him, Methodists trust God enough to take his agenda - God's ideas of what we ought to be doing - as our own. Question: How does your agenda compare with Gods? Do you want to take up God's agenda? If you're going to take up God's agenda (in trusting, joyful obedience), what is your next step in that direction? What can you do to lead others in taking up God's agenda? 12. And the tree is known by its fruits. For as he loves God, so he keeps his commandments; not only some, or most of them, but all, from the least to the greatest. He is not content to "keep the whole law, and offend in one point;" but has, in all points, "a conscience void of offense towards God and towards man." Whatever God has forbidden, he avoids; whatever God hath enjoined, he doeth; and that whether it be little or great, hard or easy, joyous or grievous to the flesh. He "runs the way of God's commandments," now he hath set his heart at liberty.

He "runs the way of God's commandments," now he hath set his heart at liberty. It is his glory so to do; it is his daily crown of rejoicing, "to do the will of God on earth, as it is done in heaven;" knowing it is the highest privilege of "the angels of God, of those that excel in strength, to fulfill his commandments, and hearken to the voice of his word." Methodists count God's commandments as their guide for life. Question: How do God's commands (expectations) compare with those offered by our society? What conflicts do you sense between them? Which commandments do you find the easiest to obey? Why do you think these are the easiest for you? 13. All the commandments of God he accordingly keeps, and that with all his might. For his obedience is in proportion to his love, the source from whence it flows. And therefore, loving God with all his heart, he serves him with all his strength. He continually presents his soul and body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God; entirely and without reserve devoting himself, all he has, and all he is, to his glory. All the talents he has received, he constantly employs according to his Master's will; every power and faculty of his soul, every member of his body. Once he "yielded" them "unto sin" and the devil, "as instruments of unrighteousness;" but now, "being alive from the dead, he yields" them all "as instruments of righteousness unto God." Jesus makes the connection between loving God and obeying him explicit in John 14:21 & 23. We don't obey God to earn his favor. We don't obey God because we're afraid we'll be in trouble if we don't. The Methodist obeys God out of love for God. This loving obedience to God is a complete devotion to God. Question: Are you fully devoted to God? If so, what does it look like in your life? What reasons might a church person give for not being fully devoted to God? What can you do to lead them into greater love? 14. By consequence, whatsoever he doeth, it is all to the glory of God. In all his employments of every kind, he not only aims at this, (which is implied in having a single eye,) but actually attains it.

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3. Full of all diseases as he is, he fancies himself in perfect health. Fast bound in misery and iron, he dreams that he is at liberty. he says, "Peace! Peace!" while the devil, as "a strong, man armed," is in full possession of his soul. he sleeps on still and takes his rest, though hell is moved from beneath to meet him; though the pit from whence there is no return hath opened its mouth to swallow him up. A fire is kindled around him, yet he knoweth it not; yea, it burns him, yet he lays it not to heart. 4. By one who sleeps, we are, therefore, to understand (and would to God we might all understand it!) a sinner satisfied in his sins; contented to remain in his fallen state, to live and die without the image of God; one who is ignorant both of his disease, and of the only remedy for it; one who never was warned, or never regarded the warning voice of God, "to flee from the wrath to come;" one that never yet saw he was in danger of hell-fire, or cried out in the earnestness of his soul, "What must I do to be saved" 5. If this sleeper be not outwardly vicious, his sleep is usually the deepest of all: whether he be of the Laodicean spirit, "neither cold nor hot," but a quiet, rational, inoffensive, good-natured professor of the religion of his fathers; or whether he be zealous and orthodox, and, "after the most straitest sect of our religion," live "a Pharisee;" that is, according to the scriptural account, one that justifies himself; one that labours to establish his own righteousness, as the ground of his acceptance with God.

11. For, indeed, what probability, what possibility, rather (speaking after the manner of men), is there that Christianity, scriptural Christianity, should be again the religion of this place? that all orders of men among us should speak and live as men "filled with the Holy Ghost?" By whom should this Christianity be restored? By those of you that are in authority? Are you convinced then that this is scriptural Christianity? Are you desirous it should be restored? And do ye not count your fortune, liberty, life, dear unto yourselves, so ye may be instrumental in the restoring of it? But suppose ye have this desire, who hath any power proportioned to the effect? Perhaps some of you have made a few faint attempts, but with how small success! Shall Christianity then be restored by young, unknown, inconsiderable men? I know not whether ye yourselves could suffer it. Would not some of you cry out, "Young man, in so doing thou reproachest us?" But there is no danger of your being put to the proof; so hath iniquity overspread us like a flood. Whom then shall God send --the famine, the pestilence (the last messengers of God to a guilty land), or the sword, "the armies of the" Romish "aliens," to reform us into our first love? Nay, "rather let us fall into thy hand, O Lord, and let us not fall into the hand of man." Lord, save, or we perish! Take us out of the mire, that we sink not! O help us against these enemies! for vain is the help of man. Unto thee all things are possible. According to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou those that are appointed to die; and preserve us in the manner that seemeth to thee good; not as we will, but as thou wilt!

8. They are not condemned, fifthly, for sins of infirmity, as they are usually called. Perhaps it were advisable rather to call them infirmities: that we may not seem to give any countenance to sin, or to extenuate it in any degree, by thus coupling it with infirmity. But (if we must retain so ambiguous and dangerous an expression), by sins of infirmity I would mean, such involuntary failings as the saying a thing we believe true, though, in fact, it prove to be false; or, the hurting our neighbour without knowing or designing it, perhaps when we designed to do him good. Though these are deviations from the holy, and acceptable, and perfect will of God, yet they are not properly sins, nor do they bring any guilt on the conscience of "them which are in Christ Jesus." They separate not between God and them, neither intercept the light of his countenance; as being no ways inconsistent with their general character of "walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 9. Lastly. "There is no condemnation "to them for anything whatever which it is not in their power to help; whether it be of an inward or outward nature, and whether it be doing something or leaving something undone. For instance, the Lord's Supper is to be administered; but you do not partake thereof. Why do you not You are confined by sickness; therefore, you cannot help omitting it; and for the same reason you are not condemned. There is no guilt, because there is no choice. As there "is a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, not according to that he hath not."

III. 1. It remains only to draw some practical inferences from the preceding considerations. And, first, if there be "no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," and "walk not after the flesh , but after the Spirit," on account of their past sin; then why art thou fearful, O thou of little faith Though thy sins were once more in number than the sand, what is that to thee, now thou art in Christ Jesus "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect It is God that justifieth: Who is he that condemneth" all the sins thou hast committed from thy youth up, until the hour when thou wast "accepted in the Beloved," are driven away as chaff, are gone, are lost, swallowed up, remembered no more. Thou art now "born of the Spirit:" wilt thou be troubled or afraid of what is done before thou wert born Away with thy fears! thou art not called to fear, but to the "spirit of love and of a sound mind." know thy calling! rejoice in God thy Saviour, and give thanks to God thy Father through him! 2. Wilt thou say, "But I have again committed sin, since I had redemption through his blood And therefore it is, that "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." It is meet thou shouldest abhor thyself; and it is God who hath wrought thee to this self-same thing. But, dost thou now believe hath he again enabled thee to say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth"; "and the life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God" Then that faith again cancels all that is past, and there is no condemnation to thee. At whatsoever time thou truly believest in the name of the Son of God, all thy sins, antecedent to that hour, vanish away as the morning dew. Now then, "stand thou fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made thee free." he hath once more made thee free from the power of sin, as well as from the guilt and punishment of it. O "be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage!" --neither the vile, devilish bondage of sin, of evil desires, evil tempers, or words, or works, the most grievous yoke on this side hell; nor the bondage of slavish, tormenting fear, of guilt and self-condemnation.

6. It in not surprising, if one in such circumstances as these, dosed with the opiates of flattery and sin, should imagine, among his other waking dreams, that he walks in great liberty. How easily may he persuade himself, that he is at liberty from all vulgar errors, and from the prejudice of education; judging exactly right, and keeping clear of all extremes. "I am free," may he say, "from all the enthusiasm of weak and narrow souls; from superstition, the disease of fools and cowards, always righteous over much; and from bigotry, continually incident to those who have not a free and generous way of thinking." And too sure it is, that he is altogether free from the "wisdom which cometh from above," from holiness, from the religion of the heart, from the whole mind which was in Christ. 7. For all this time he is the servant of sin. He commits sin, more or less, day by day. Yet he is not troubled: He "is in no bondage," as some speak; he feels no condemnation. He contents himself (even though he should profess to believe that the Christian Revelation is of God) with, "Man is frail. We are all weak. Every man has his infirmity." Perhaps he quotes Scripture: "Why, does not Solomon say, -- The righteous man falls into sin seven times a day! -- And, doubtless, they are all hypocrites or enthusiasts who pretend to be better than their neighbours." If, at any time, a serious thought fix upon him, he stifles it as soon as possible, with, "Why should I fear, since God is merciful, and Christ died for sinners" Thus, he remains a willing servant of sin, content with the bondage of corruption; inwardly and outwardly unholy, and satisfied therewith; not only not conquering sin, but not striving to conquer, particularly that sin which doth so easily beset him. 8. Such is the state of every natural man; whether he be a gross, scandalous transgressor, or a more reputable and decent sinner, having the form, though not the power of godliness. But how can such an one be convinced of sin How is he brought to repent To be under the law To receive the spirit of bondage unto fear This is the point which in next to be considered.

For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do:" (Verses 18, 19:) "I find a law," an inward constraining power, "that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in "or consent to "the law of God, after the inward man:" (Verses 21, 22:) In my "mind:" (So the Apostle explains himself in the words that immediately follow; and so, o esv anqrvpos, the inward man, is understood in all other Greek writers:) "But I see another law in my members," another constraining power, "warring against the law of my mind," or inward man, "and bringing me into captivity to the law" or power "of sin:" (Verse 23:) Dragging me, as it were, at my conqueror's chariot-wheels, into the very thing which my soul abhors. "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death" (Verse 24.) Who shall deliver me from this helpless, dying life, from this bondage of sin and misery Till this is done, "I myself" (or rather, that I, autos egv, that man I am now personating) "with the mind," or inward man, "serve the law of God;" my mind, my conscience is on God's side; "but with my flesh," with my body, "the law of sin," (verse 25,) being hurried away by a force I cannot resist. 10. How lively a portraiture is this of one "under the law;" one who feels the burden he cannot shake off; who pants after liberty, power, and love, but is in fear and bondage still! until the time that God answers the wretched man, crying out, "Who shall deliver me" from this bondage of sin, from this body of death -- "The grace of God, through Jesus Christ thy Lord." III. 1. Them it is that this miserable bondage ends, and he is no more "under the law, but under grace." This state we are, Thirdly, to consider; the state of one who has found grace or favour in the sight of God, even the Father, and who has the grace or power of the Holy Ghost, reigning in his heart; who has received, in the language of the Apostle, the "Spirit of adoption, whereby" he now cries, "Abba, Father!"

5. And "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty;" liberty, not only from guilt and fear, but from sin, from that heaviest of all yokes, that basest of all bondage. His labour is not now in vain. The snare is broken, and he is delivered. He not only strives, but likewise prevails; he not only fights, but conquers also. "Henceforth he does not serve sin." (Chap. 6:6 &c.) He is "dead unto sin, and alive unto God;" "sin doth not now reign," even "in his mortal body," nor doth he "obey it in the desires thereof." He does not "yield his members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but as instruments of righteousness unto God." For "being now made free from sin, he is become the servant of righteousness." 6. Thus, "having peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ," "rejoicing in hope of the glory of God," and having power over all sin, over every evil desire, and temper, and word, and work, he is a living witness of the "glorious liberty of the sons of God;" all of whom, being partakers of like precious faith, bear record with one voice, "We have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father!" 7. It is this spirit which continually, "worketh in them, both to will and to do of his good pleasure." It is he that sheds the love of God abroad in their hears, and the love of all mankind; thereby purifying their hearts from the love of world, from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. It is by him they are delivered from anger and pride, from all vile and inordinate affections. In consequence, they are delivered from evil words and works, from all unholiness of conversation; doing no evil to any child of man, and being zealous of all good works.

8. To sum up all: the natural man neither fears nor loves God; one under the law, fears, -- one under grace, loves him. The first has no light in the things of God, but walks in utter darkness; the second sees the painful light of hell; the third, the joyous light of heaven. He that sleeps in death, has a false peace; he that is awakened, has no peace at all; he that believes, has true peace, -- the peace of God filling and ruling his heart. The Heathen, baptized or unbaptized, hath a fancied liberty, which is indeed licentiousness; the Jew, or one under the Jewish dispensation, is in heavy, grievous bondage; the Christian enjoys the true glorious liberty of the sons of God. An unawakened child of the devil sins willingly, one that is awakened sins unwillingly; a child of God "sinneth not," but "keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not." To conclude: the natural man neither conquers nor fights; the man under the law fights with sin, but cannot conquer; the man under grace fights and conquers, yea, is "more than conqueror, through him that loveth him." IV. 1. From this plain account of the three-fold state of man, the natural, the legal, and the evangelical, it appears that it is not sufficient to divide mankind into sincere and insincere. A man may be sincere in any of these states; not only when he has the "Spirit of adoption," but while he has the "spirit of bondage unto fear;" yea, while he has neither this fear, nor love. For undoubtedly there may be sincere Heathens, as well as sincere Jews, or Christians. This circumstance, them does by no means prove, that, a man is in a state of acceptance with God.

"Examine yourselves, therefore," not only whether ye are sincere, but "whether ye be in the faith." Examine narrowly, (for it imports you much,) what is the ruling principle in your soul! Is it the love of God Is it the fear of God Or is it neither one nor the other Is it not rather the love of the world the love of pleasure, or gain of ease, or reputation If so, you are not come so far as a Jew. You are but a Heathen still. Have you heaven in your heart Have you the Spirit of adoption, ever crying, Abba, Father Or do you cry unto God, as "out of the belly of hell," overwhelmed with sorrow and fear Or are you a stranger to this whole affair, and cannot imagine what I mean Heathen, pull off the mask! Thou hast never put on Christ! Stand barefaced! Look up to heaven; and own before Him that liveth for ever and ever, thou hast no part, either among the sons of servants of God! Whosoever thou art: Dost thou commit sin, or dost thou not If thou dost, is it willingly, or unwillingly In either case, God hath told thee whose thou art: "He that committeth sin is of the devil." If thou committest it willingly, thou art his faithful servant: He will not fail to reward thy labour. If unwillingly, still thou art his servant. God deliver thee out of his hands! Art thou daily fighting against all sin And daily more than conqueror I acknowledge thee for a child of God. O stand fast in thy glorious liberty! Art thou fighting, but not conquering striving for the mastery, but not able to attain Then thou art not yet a believer in Christ; but follow on, and thou shalt know the Lord. Art thou not fighting at all, but leading an easy, indolent, fashionable life! O how hast thou dared to name the name of Christ, only to make it a reproach among the Heathen Awake, thou sleeper! Call upon thy God before the deep swallow thee up!

7. Once more: the Scriptures teach, "This is the love of God," the sure mark thereof, "that we keep his commandments." (1 John 5:3.) And our Lord himself saith, "He that keepeth my commandments, he it is that loveth me." (John 14:21.) Love rejoices to obey; to do, in every point whatever is acceptable to the beloved. A true lover of God hastens to do his will on earth as it is done in heaven. But is this the character of the presumptuous pretender to the love of God Nay, but his love gives him a liberty to disobey, to break, not keep, the commandments of God. Perhaps, when he was in fear of the wrath of God, he did labour to do his will. But now, looking on himself as "not under the law," he thinks he is no longer obliged to observe it. He is therefore less zealous of good works: less careful to abstain from evil; less watchful over his own heart; less jealous over his tongue. He is less earnest to deny himself, and to take up his cross daily. In a word, the whole form of his life is changed since he has fancied himself to be at liberty. He is no longer "exercising himself unto godliness;" "wrestling not only with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers," enduring hardships, "agonizing to enter in at the strait gate." No; he has found an easier way to heaven; a broad, smooth flowery path, in which he can say to his soul, "Soul, take thy ease; eat, drink, and be merry." It follows, with undeniable evidence, that he has not the true testimony of his own spirit. He cannot be conscious of having those marks which he hath not; that lowliness, meekness, and obedience: Nor yet can the Spirit of the God of truth bear witness to a lie; or testify that he is a child of God when he is manifestly a child of the devil.

18. From the preceding considerations, we may Secondly, infer, that the joy of a Christian does not arise from any blindness of conscience, from his not being able to discern good from evil. So far from it, that he was an utter stranger to this joy, till the eyes of his understanding were opened; that he knew it not, until he had spiritual senses, fitted to discern spiritual good and evil. And now the eye of his soul waxeth not dim: He was never so sharp-sighted before: He has so quick a perception of the smallest things, as is quite amazing to the natural man. As a mote is visible in the sun-beam, so to him who is walking in the light, in the beams of the uncreated Sun, every mote of sin is visible. Nor does he close the eyes of his conscience any more: That sleep is departed from him. His soul is always broad awake: No more slumber or folding of the hands to rest! He is always standing on the tower, and hearkening what his lord will say concerning him; and always rejoicing in this very thing, in "seeing him that is invisible." 19. Neither does the joy of a Christian arise, Thirdly, from any dulness or callousness of conscience. A kind of joy, it is true, may arise from this, in those whose "foolish hearts are darkened;" whose heart is callous, unfeeling, dull of sense, and, consequently, without spiritual understanding. Because of their senseless, unfeeling hearts, they may rejoice even in committing sin; and this they may probably call liberty! -- which is indeed mere drunkenness of soul, a fatal numbness of spirit, the stupid insensibility of a sacred conscience. On the contrary, a Christian has the most exquisite sensibility; such as he could not have conceived before. He never had such a tenderness of conscience as he has had, since the love of God has reigned in his heart. And this also is his glory and joy, that God hath heard his daily prayer: -- O that my tender soul might fly The first abhorr'd approach of ill; Quick, as the apple of an eye,

John: "love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." The seeking happiness in what gratifies either the desire of the flesh, by agreeably striking upon the outward senses; the desire of the eye, of the imagination, by its novelty, greatness, or beauty; or the pride of life, whether by pomp, grandeur, power, or, the usual consequence of them, applause and admiration; -- "is not of the Father," cometh not from, neither is approved by, the Father of spirits; "but of the world:" It is the distinguishing mark of those who will not have Him to reign over them. II. 1. Thus have I particularly inquired, what that circumcision of heart is, which will obtain the praise of God. I am, in the Second place, to mention some reflections that naturally arise from such an inquiry, as a plain rule whereby every man may judge of himself, whether he be of the world or of God. And, First, it is clear from what has been said, that no man has a title to the praise of God, unless his heart is circumcised by humility; unless he is little, and base, and vile in his own eyes; unless he is deeply convinced of that inbred "corruption of his nature," "whereby be is very far gone from original righteousness," being prone to all evil, averse to all good, corrupt and abominable; having a "carnal mind which is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be," unless he continually feels in his inmost soul, that without the Spirit of God resting upon him, he can neither think, nor desire, nor speak, nor act anything good, or well-pleasing in his sight. No man I say, has A title to the praise of God, till he feels his want of God; nor indeed, till he seeketh that "honor which cometh of God only;" and neither desires nor pursues that which cometh of man, unless so far only as it tends to this.

It remains only to make a short and plain application. And, First, I would address myself to you who violently oppose these expressions, and are ready to condemn all that use them as Antinomians. But is not this bending the bow too much the other way Why should you condemn all who do not speak just as you do Why should you quarrel with them, for using the phrases they like, any more than they with you for taking the same liberty Or, if they do quarrel with you upon that account, do not imitate the bigotry which you blame. At least, allow them the liberty which they ought to allow you. And why should you be angry at an expression "O, it has been abused!" And what expression has not However, the abuse may be removed, and, at the same time, the use remain. Above all, be sure to retain the important sense which is couched under that expression: "All the blessings I enjoy, all I hope for in time and in eternity, are given wholly and solely for the sake of what Christ has done and suffered for me."

I would, Secondly, add a few words to you who are fond of these expressions. And permit me to ask, Do not I allow enough What can any reasonable man desire more I allow the whole sense which you contend for; that we have every blessing through the righteousness of God our Saviour. I allow you to use whatever expressions you choose, and that a thousand times over; only guarding them against that dreadful abuse, which you are as deeply concerned to prevent as I am. I myself frequently use the expression in question, -- imputed righteousness; and often put this and the like expressions into the mouth of a whole congregation. But allow me liberty of conscience herein: Allow me the right of private judgment. Allow me to use it just as often as I judge it preferable to any other expression; and be not angry with me if I cannot judge it proper to use any one expression every two minutes. You may, if you please; but do not condemn me because I do not. Do not, for this, represent me as a Papist, or "an enemy to the righteousness of Christ." Bear with me, as I do with you; else how shall we "fulfil the law of Christ" Do not make tragical outcries, as though I were "subverting the very foundations of Christianity." Whoever does this, does me much wrong: the Lord lay it not to his charge! I lay, and have done for many years, the very same foundation with you. And, indeed, "other foundation can no man lay, than that which is laid, even Jesus Christ." I build inward and outward holiness thereon, as you do, even by faith. Do not, therefore, suffer any distaste, or unkindness, no, nor any shyness or coldness in your heart. If there were a difference of opinion, where is our religion, if we cannot think and let think What hinders but you may forgive me as easily as I may forgive you How much more, when there is only a difference of expression Nay, hardly so much as that all the dispute being only, whether a particular mode of expression shall be used more or less frequently Surely we must earnestly desire to contend with one another, before we can make this a bone of contention!

2. Let us observe, who it is that is here speaking, that we may take heed how we hear. It is the Lord of heaven and earth, the Creator of all; who, as such, has a right to dispose of all his creatures; the Lord our Governor, whose kingdom is from everlasting, and ruleth over all; the great Lawgiver, who can well enforce all his laws, being "able to save and to destroy," yea, to punish with "everlasting destruction from his presence and from the glory of his power." It is the eternal Wisdom of the Father, who knoweth whereof we are made, and understands our inmost frame: who knows how we stand related to God, to one another, to every creature which God hath made, and, consequently, how to adapt every law he prescribes, to all the circumstances wherein he hath placed us. It is He who is "loving unto every man, whose mercy is over all his works;" the God of love, who, having emptied himself of his eternal glory, is come forth from his Father to declare his will to the children of men, and then goeth again to the Father; who is sent of God "to open the eyes of the blind, and to give light to them that sit in darkness." It is the great Prophet of the Lord, concerning whom God had solemnly declared long ago, "Whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him;" (Deut. 18:19;) or, as the Apostle expresses it, "Every soul which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." (Acts 3:23.)

7. Nor does meekness restrain only the outward act, as the Scribes and Pharisees taught of old, and the miserable Teachers who are not taught of God will not fail to do in all ages. Our Lord guards against this, and shows the true extent of it, in the following words: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment:" (Matt. 5:21, &c.:) "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment: And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: But whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire." 8. Our Lord here ranks under the head of murder, even that anger which goes no farther than the heart; which does not show itself by an outward unkindness, no, not so much as a passionate word. "Whosoever is angry with his brother," with any man living, seeing we are all brethren; whosoever feels any unkindness in his heart, any temper contrary to love; whosoever is angry without a cause, without a sufficient cause, or farther than that cause requires, "shall be in danger of the judgment;" enocos estai, shall, in that moment, be obnoxious to the righteous judgment of God. But would not one be inclined to prefer the reading of those copies which omit the word eikh, without a cause Is it not entirely superfluous For if anger at persons be a temper contrary to love, how can there be a cause, a sufficient cause for it, -- any that will justify it in the sight of God Anger at sin we allow. In this sense we may be angry, and yet we sin not. In this sense our Lord himself is once recorded to have been angry: "He looked round about upon them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts." He was grieved at the sinners, and angry at the sin. And this is undoubtedly right before God.

IV. Behold Christianity in its native form, as delivered by its great Author! This is the genuine religion of Jesus Christ! Such he presents it to him whose eyes are opened. See a picture of God, so far as he is imitable by man! A picture drawn by God's own hand: "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish!" Or rather, wonder and adore! Rather cry out, "Is this the religion of Jesus of Nazareth the religion which I persecuted! Let me no more be found even to fight against God. Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do" What beauty appears in the whole! How just a symmetry! What exact proportion in every part! How desirable is the happiness here described! How venerable, how lovely the holiness! This is the spirit of religion; the quintessence of it. These are indeed the fundamentals of Christianity. O that we may not be hearers of it only! -- "like a man beholding his own face in a glass, who goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." Nay, but let us steadily "look into this perfect law of liberty, and continue therein." Let us not rest, until every line thereof is transcribed into our own hearts. Let us watch, and pray, and believe, and love, and "strive for the mastery," till every part of it shall appear in our soul, graven there by the finger of God; till we are "holy as He which hath called us is holy, perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect!"

"He shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven;" -- that is, shall have no part therein. He is a stranger to the kingdom of heaven which is on earth; he hath no portion in that inheritance; no share of that "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." Nor, by consequence can he have any part in the glory which shall be revealed. 4. But if those who even thus break, and teach others to break "one of the least of these commandments shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven," shall have no part in the kingdom of Christ and of God; if even these shall be cast into "outer darkness, where is wailing and gnashing of teeth," then where will they appear whom our Lord chiefly and primarily intends in these words, -- they who, bearing the character of Teachers sent from God, do nevertheless themselves break his commandments; yea, and openly teach others so to do; being corrupt both in life and doctrine 5. These are of several sorts. Of the first sort are they who live in some wilful, habitual sin. Now, if an ordinary sinner teaches by his example, how much more a sinful Minister, -- even if he does not attempt to defend, excuse, or extenuate his sin! If he does, he is a murderer indeed; yea, the murderer-general of his congregation! He peoples the regions of death. He is the choicest instrument of the prince of darkness. When he goes hence, "hell from beneath is moved to meet him at his coming." Nor can he sink into the bottomless pit without dragging a multitude after him.

The cautiousness with which the Apostle here speaks is highly observable. He does not affirm this absolutely of the rich: For a man may possibly be rich, without any fault of his, by an overruling Providence, preventing his own choice: But he affirms it of oi boulomenoi plourein, those who desire or seek to be rich. Riches, dangerous as they are, do not always "drown men in destruction and perdition;" but the desire of riches does: those who calmly desire and deliberately seek to attain them, whether they do, in fact, gain the world or no, do infallibly lose their own souls. These are they that sell him who bought them with his blood, for a few pieces of gold or silver. These enter into a covenant with death and hell; and their covenant shall stand. For they are daily making themselves meet to partake of their inheritance with the devil and his angels! 16. O who shall warn this generation of vipers to flee from the wrath to come! Not those who lie at their gate, or cringe at their feet, desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fall from their tables. Not those who court their favour or fear their frown: none of those who mind earthly things. But if there be a Christian upon earth, if there be a man who hath overcome the world, who desires nothing but God, and fears none but him that is able to destroy both body and soul in hell; thou, O man of God, speak and spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet! Cry aloud, and show these honourable sinners the desperate condition wherein they stand! It may be, one in a thousand may have ears to hear, may arise and shake himself from the dust; may break loose from these chains that bind him to the earth, and at length lay up treasures in heaven.

3. The Apostle, having gone thus far in proving that the Christian had set aside the Jewish dispensation, and that the moral law itself, though it could never pass away, yet stood on a different foundation from what it did before, -- now stops to propose and answer an objection: "What shall we say then Is the law sin" So some might infer from a misapprehension of those words, "the motions of sins, which were by the law." "God forbid!" saith the Apostle, that we should say so. Nay, the law is an irreconcilable enemy to sin; by the law: for I had not known lust," evil desire, to be sin, "except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (Rom. 7:7.) After opening this farther, in the four following verses, he subjoins this general conclusion, with regard more especially to the moral law, form which the preceding instance was taken: "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." 4. In order to explain and enforce these deep words, so little regarded, because so little understood, I shall endeavour to show, First, the original of this law: Secondly, the nature thereof: Thirdly, the properties; that it is holy, and just, and good. And, Fourthly, the uses of it. I. 1. I shall, first, endeavour to show the original of the moral law, often called "the law," by way of eminence. Now this is not, as some may have possibly imagined, of so late an institution as the time of Moses. Noah declared it to men long before that time, and Enoch before him. But we may trace its original higher still, even beyond the foundation of the world: to that period, unknown indeed to men, but doubtless enrolled in the annals of eternity, when "the morning stars" first "sang together," being newly called into existence. It pleased the great Creator to make these, his first-born sons, intelligent beings, that they might know him that created them. For this end he endued them with understanding, to discern truth from falsehood, good from evil; and, as a necessary result of this, with liberty, -- a capacity of choosing the one and refusing the other. By this they were, likewise, enabled to offer him a free and willing service; a service rewardable in itself, as well as most acceptable to their gracious Master.

2. To employ all the faculties which he had given them, particularly their understanding and liberty, he gave the a law, a complete model of all truth, so far as is intelligible to a finite being; and of all good, so far as angelic minds were capable of embracing it. It was also the design of their beneficent Governor herein to make way for a continual increase of their happiness; seeing every instance of obedience to that law would both add to the perfection of their nature, and entitle them to an higher reward, which the righteous Judge would give in its season. 3. In like manner, when God, in his appointed time, had created a new order of intelligent beings, when he had raised man form the dust of the earth, breathed into him the breath of life, and caused him to become a living soul, endued with power to choose good or evil; he gave to this free, intelligent creature the same law as to his first-born children, -- not wrote, indeed, upon tables of stone, or any corruptible substance, but engraven on his heart by the finger of God; wrote in the inmost spirit both of men and of angels; to the intent it might never be far off, never hard to be understood, but always at hand, and always shining with clear light, even as the sun in the midst of heaven. 4. Such was the original of the law of God. With regard to man, it was coeval with his nature; but with regard to the elder sons of God, it shone in its full splendour "or ever the mountains were brought forth, or the earth and the round world were made." But it was not long before man rebelled against God, and, by breaking this glorious law, wellnigh effaced it out of his heart; the eyes of his understanding being darkened in the same measure as his soul was "alienated from the life of God." And yet God did not despise the work of his own hands; but, being reconciled to man through the Son of his love, he, in some measure, re-inscribed the law on the heart of his dark, sinful creature. "He" again "showed thee, O man, what is good," although not as in the beginning, "even to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."

10. And if thy Lord hath already fulfilled his word, if he hath already "written his law in thy heart," then "stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made thee free." Thou art not only made free from Jewish ceremonies, from the guilt of sin, and the fear of hell (these are so far from being the whole, that they are the least and lowest part of Christian liberty;) but, what is infinitely more, from the power of sin, from serving the devil, from offending God. O stand fast in this liberty; in comparison of which, all the rest is not even worthy to be named! Stand fast in loving God with all thy heart, and serving him with all thy strength! This is perfect freedom; thus to keep his law, and to walk in all his commandments blameless. "Be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." I do not mean of Jewish bondage; nor yet of bondage to the fear of hell: These, I trust, are far from thee. But beware of being entangled again with the yoke of sin, of any inward or outward transgression of the law. Abhor sin far more than death or hell; abhor sin itself, far more than the punishment of it. Beware of the bondage of pride, of desire, of anger; of every evil temper, or word, or work. "Look unto Jesus;" and in order thereto, look more and more into the perfect law, "the law of liberty;" and "continue therein;" so shalt thou daily "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

II. 1. A Second way of making void the law through faith is, the teaching that faith supersedes the necessity of holiness. This divides itself into a thousand smaller paths, and many there are that walk therein. Indeed there are few that wholly escape it; few who are convinced, we are saved by faith, but are sooner or later, more or less, drawn aside into this by-way. 2. All those are drawn into this by-way who, if it be not settled judgment that faith in Christ entirely sets aside the necessity of keeping his law; yet suppose either sets aside the necessity of keeping his law; yet suppose either, (1.) That holiness is less necessary now than it was before Christ came; or, (2.) That a less degree of it is necessary; or, (3.) That it is less necessary to believers than to others. Yea, and so are all those who, although their judgment be right in the general, yet think they may take more liberty in particular cases than they could have done before they believed. Indeed, the using the term liberty, in such a manner, for liberty from obedience or holiness, shows at once, that their judgment is perverted, and that they are guilty of what they imagined to be far from them; namely, of making void the law through faith, by supposing faith to supersede holiness. 3. The first plea of those who teach this expressly is, that we are now under the covenant of grace, not works; and therefore we are no longer under the necessity of performing the works of the law. And who ever was under the covenant of works None but Adam before the fall. He was fully and properly under that covenant which required perfect, universal obedience, as the one condition of acceptance; and left no place for pardon, upon the very least transgression. But no man else was ever under this, neither Jew nor Gentile; neither before Christ nor since. All his sons were and are under the covenant of grace. The manner of their acceptance is this: The free grace of God, through the merits of Christ, gives pardon to them that believe; that believe with such a faith as, working by love, produces all obedience and holiness.

The Law Established Through Faith: Discourse Two "Do we then make void the law through faith God forbid! Yea, we establish the law." Rom. 3:31. 1. It has been shown in the preceding discourse, which are the most usual ways of making void the law through faith; namely, First, the not preaching it at all; which effectually makes it all void a stroke; and this under colour of preaching Christ and magnifying the gospel though it be, in truth, destroying both the one and the other: Secondly, the teaching (whether directly or directly,) that faith supersedes the necessity of holiness; that this less necessary now, or a less degree of it necessary, than before Christ came; that it is less necessary to us, because we believe, than otherwise it would have been; or, that Christian liberty is a liberty from any kind or degree of holiness: (So perverting those great truths, that we are now under the covenant of grace, and not of works; that a man is justified by faith, without the works of the law; and that "to him that worketh not, but believeth, his faith is counted for righteousness:") Or, Thirdly, the doing this practically; the making void the law in practice, though not in principle; the living or acting as if faith was designed to excuse us from holiness; the allowing ourselves in sin, "because we are not under the law, but under grace." It remains to inquire how we may follow a better pattern, how we may be able to say, with the Apostle, "Do we then make void the law through faith God forbid: Yea, we establish the law." 2. We do not, indeed, establish the old ceremonial law; we know that is abolished for ever. Much less do we establish the whole Mosaic dispensation; this we know our Lord has nailed to his cross. Nor yet do we so establish the moral law, (which, it is to be feared too many do,) as if the fulfilling it, the keeping all the commandments, were the condition of our justification: If it were so, surely "in His sight should no man living be justified." But all this being allowed, we still, in the Apostle's sense, "establish the law," the moral law.

The god of this world holds his English worshippers full as fast as those in Lapland. But it is not his business to affright them, lest they should fly to the God of heaven. The prince of darkness, therefore, does not appear, while he rules over these his willing subjects. The conqueror holds his captives so much the safer, because they imagine themselves at liberty. Thus "the strong one armed keepeth his house, and his goods are in peace;" neither the Deist nor nominal Christian suspects he is there: so he and they are perfectly at peace with each other. 6. All this while he works with energy in them. He blinds the eyes of their understanding, so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ cannot shine upon them. He chains their souls down to earth and hell, with the chains of their own vile affections. He binds them down to the earth, by love of the world, love of money, of pleasure, of praise. And by pride, envy, anger, hate, revenge, he causes their souls to draw nigh unto hell; acting the more secure and uncontrolled, because they know not that he acts at all. 7. But how easily may we know the cause from its effects! These are sometimes gross and palpable. So they were in the most refined of the heathen nations. Go no farther than the admired, the virtuous Romans; and you will find these, when at the height of their learning and glory, "filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, despiteful, proud, boasters, disobedient to parents, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful." 8. The strongest parts of this description are confirmed by one whom some may think a more unexceptionable witness. I mean their brother heathen, Dion Cassius; who observes, that, before Caesar's return from Gaul, not only gluttony and lewdness of every kind were open and barefaced; not only falsehood, injustice, and unmercifulness abounded, in public courts, as well as private families; but the most outrageous robberies, rapine, and murders were so frequent in all parts of Rome, that few men went out of doors without making their wills, as not knowing if they should return alive!

6. And yet there may be a still wider difference than this. He who differs from us in judgement or practice, may possibly stand at a greater distance from us in affection than in judgement. And this indeed is a very natural and a very common effect of the other. The differences which begin in points of opinion seldom terminate there. They generally spread into the affections, and then separate chief friends. Nor are any animosities so deep and irreconcilable as those that spring from disagreement in religion. For this cause the bitterest enemies of a man are those of his own household. For this the father rises against his own children, and the children against the father; and perhaps persecute each other even to the death, thinking all the time they are doing God service. It is therefore nothing more than we may expect, if those who differ from us, either in religious opinions or practice, soon contract a sharpness, yea, bitterness towards us; if they are more and more prejudiced against us, till they conceive as ill an opinion of our persons as of our principles. An almost necessary consequence of this will be, they will speak in the same manner as they think of us. They will set themselves in opposition to us, and, as far as they are able, hinder our work; seeing it does not appear to them to be the work of God, but either of man or of the devil. He that thinks, speaks, and acts in such a manner as this, in the highest sense, "followeth not us."

4. Nay, farther: although every man necessarily believes that every particular opinion which he holds is true (for to believe any opinion is not true, is the same thing as not to hold it); yet can no man be assured that all his own opinions, taken together, are true. Nay, every thinking man is assured they are not, seeing humanum est errare et nescire: "To be ignorant of many things, and to mistake in some, is the necessary condition of humanity." This, therefore, he is sensible, is his own case. He knows, in the general, that he himself is mistaken; although in what particulars he mistakes, he does not, perhaps he cannot, know. 5. I say "perhaps he cannot know;" for who can tell how far invincible ignorance may extend or (that comes to the same thing) invincible prejudice --which is often so fixed in tender minds, that it is afterwards impossible to tear up what has taken so deep a root. And who can say, unless he knew every circumstance attending it, how far any mistake is culpable seeing all guilt must suppose some concurrence of the will; of which he only can judge who searcheth the heart. 6. Every wise man, therefore, will allow others the same liberty of thinking which he desires they should allow him; and will no more insist on their embracing his opinions, than he would have them to insist on his embracing theirs. He bears with those who differ from him, and only asks him with whom he desires to unite in love that single question, "Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart" 7. We may, secondly, observe, that here is no inquiry made concerning Jehonadab's mode of worship; although it is highly probable there was, in this respect also, a very wide difference between them. 8. But even among men of an upright heart, men who desire to "have a conscience void of offence," it must needs be, that, as long as there are various opinions, there will be various ways of worshipping God; seeing a variety of opinion necessarily implies a variety of practice. And as, in all ages, men have differed in nothing more than in their opinions concerning the Supreme Being, so in nothing have they more differed from each other, than in the manner of worshipping him.

18. Do you show your love by your works While you have time as you have opportunity, do you in fact "do good to all men," neighbours or strangers, friends or enemies, good or bad Do you do them all the good you can; endeavouring to supply all their wants; assisting them both in body and soul, to the uttermost of your power --If thou art thus minded, may every Christian say, yea, if thou art but sincerely desirous of it, and following on till thou attain, then "thy heart is right, as my heart is with thy heart." Part II: The Offer Made II. 1. "If it be, give me thy hand." I do not mean, "Be of my opinion." You need not: I do not expect or desire it. Neither do I mean, "I will be of your opinion." I cannot, it does not depend on my choice: I can no more think, than I can see or hear, as I will. Keep you your opinion; I mine; and that as steadily as ever. You need not even endeavour to come over to me, or bring me over to you. I do not desire you to dispute those points, or to hear or speak one word concerning them. Let all opinions alone on one side and the other: only "give me thine hand."

2. I do not mean, "Embrace my modes of worship," or, "I will embrace yours." This also is a thing which does not depend either on your choice or mine. We must both act as each is fully persuaded in his own mind. Hold you fast that which you believe is most acceptable to God, and I will do the same. I believe the Episcopal form of church government to be scriptural and apostolical. If you think the Presbyterian or Independent is better, think so still, and act accordingly. I believe infants ought to be baptized; and that this may be done either by dipping or sprinkling. If you are otherwise persuaded, be so still, and follow your own persuasion. It appears to me, that forms of prayer are of excellent use, particularly in the great congregation. If you judge extemporary prayer to be of more use, act suitable to your own judgement. My sentiment is, that I ought not to forbid water, wherein persons may be baptized; and that I ought to eat bread and drink wine, as a memorial of my dying Master: however, if you are not convinced of this act according to the light you have. I have no desire to dispute with you one moment upon any of the preceding heads. Let all these smaller points stand aside. Let them never come into sight "If thine heart is as my heart," if thou lovest God and all mankind, I ask no more: "give me thine hand." 3. I mean, first, love me: and that not only as thou lovest all mankind; not only as thou lovest thine enemies, or the enemies of God, those that hate thee, that "despitefully use thee, and persecute thee;" not only as a stranger, as one of whom thou knowest neither good nor evil, --I am not satisfied with this, --no; "if thine heart be right, as mine with thy heart," then love me with a very tender affection, as a friend that is closer than a brother; as a brother in Christ, a fellow citizen of the New Jerusalem, a fellow soldier engaged in the same warfare, under the same Captain of our salvation. Love me as a companion in the kingdom and patience of Jesus, and a joint heir of his glory.

29. Thus hath the Lord fulfilled the things he spake by his holy prophets, which have been since the world began; -- by Moses in particular, saying, (Deut. 30:6.) I "will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul;" by David, crying out, "Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me;" [Ps. 51:10] -- and most remarkably by Ezekiel, in those words: "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; From all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; -- and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. -- Ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses. -- Thus saith the Lord your God, In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, -- the Heathen shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places; -- I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it." (Ezek. 36:25, &c.) 30. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved," both in the Law and in the Prophets, and having the prophetic word confirmed unto us in the Gospel, by our blessed Lord and his Apostles; "let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." [2 Cor. 7:1] "Let us fear, lest" so many "promises being made us of entering into his rest," which he that hath entered into, has ceased from his own works, "any of us should come short of it." [Heb. 4:1] "This one thing let us do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, let us press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus;" [Phil. 3:13, 14] crying unto him day and night, till we also are "delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God!" [Rom. 8:21] THE PROMISE OF SANCTIFICATION (Ezekiel 36:25, &c.) BY THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY.

4. But does it only cause this in the time of sickness or preternatural disorder Nay, but more or less, at all times, even in a state of perfect health. Let a man be ever so healthy, he will be more or less delirious every four-and-twenty hours. For does he not sleep And while he sleeps, is he not liable to dream And who then is master of his own thoughts, or able to preserve the order and consistency of them Who can then keep them fixed to any one point, or prevent their wandering from pole to pole 5. But suppose we are awake, are we always so awake that we can steadily govern our thoughts Are we not unavoidably exposed to contrary extremes, by the very nature of this machine, the body Sometimes we are too heavy, too dull and languid, to pursue any chain of thought. Sometimes, on the other hand, we are too lively. The imagination, without leave, starts to and fro, and carries us away hither and thither, whether we will or no; and all this from the merely natural motion of the spirits, or vibration of the nerves. 6. Farther: How many wanderings of thought may arise from those various associations of our ideas which are made entirely without our knowledge, and independently on our choice How these connexions are formed, we cannot tell; but they are formed in a thousand different manners. Nor is it in the power of the wisest or holiest of men to break those associations, or prevent what is the necessary consequences of them, and matter of daily observation. Let the fire but touch one end of the train, and it immediately runs on to the other. 7. Once more: Let us fix our attention as studiously as we are able on any subject, yet let either pleasure or pain arise, especially if it be intense, and it will demand our immediate attention, and attach our thought to itself. It will interrupt the steadiest contemplation, and divert the mind from its favourite subject.

4. More especially in the time of sickness and pain he will press this with all his might: "Is it not the word of Him that cannot lie, `Without holiness no man shall see the Lord' But you are not holy. You know it well; you know holiness is the full image of God; and how far is this above, out of your sight You cannot attain unto it. Therefore, all your labour has been in vain. All these things you have suffered in vain. You have spent your strength for nought. You are yet in your sins, and must therefore perish at the last." And thus, if your eye be not steadily fixed on Him who hath borne all your sins, he will bring you again under that "fear of death," whereby you was so long "subject unto bondage," and, by this means, impair, if not wholly destroy, your peace as, well as joy in the Lord. 5. But his master-piece of subtlety is still behind. Not content to strike at your peace and joy, he will carry his attempts farther yet: He will level his assault against your righteousness also. He will endeavour to shake, yea, if it be possible, to destroy the holiness you have already received by your very expectation of receiving more, of attaining all the image of God. 6. The manner wherein he attempts this, may partly appear from what has been already observed. For, First, by striking at our joy in the Lord, he strikes likewise at our holiness: Seeing joy in the Holy Ghost is a precious means of promoting every holy temper; a choice instrument of God whereby he carries on much of his work in a believing soul. And it is a considerable help not only to inward, but also to outward holiness. It strengthens our hands to go on in the work of faith, and in the labour of love; manfully to "fight the good fight of faith, and to lay hold on eternal life." It is peculiarly designed of God to be a balance both against inward and outward sufferings; to "lift up the hands that hang down, and confirm the feeble knees." Consequently, whatever damps our joy in the Lord proportionably obstructs our holiness. And therefore, so far as Satan shakes our joy he hinders our holiness also.

10. And if they "hold fast the beginning of their confidence steadfast unto the end," they shall undoubtedly receive the promise of God, reaching through both time and eternity. But here is another snare laid for our feet: While we earnestly pant for that part of the promise which is to be accomplished here, "for the glorious liberty of the children of God," we may be led unawares from the consideration of the glory which shall hereafter be revealed. Our eye may be insensibly turned aside from that crown which the righteous Judge hath promised to give at that day "to all that love his appearing;" and we may be drawn away from the view of that incorruptible inheritance which is reserved in heaven for us. But this also would be a loss to our souls, and an obstruction to our holiness. For to walk in the continual sight of our goal, is a needful help in our running the race that is set before us. This it was, the having "respect unto the recompense of reward," which of old time, encouraged Moses, rather "to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." Nay, it is expressly said of a greater than he, that "for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, and despised the shame," till he "sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Whence we may easily infer, how much more needful for us is the view of that joy set before us, that we may endure whatever cross the wisdom of God lays upon us, and press on through holiness to glory.

11. But while we are reaching to this, as well as to that glorious liberty which is preparatory to it, we may be in danger of falling into another snare of the devil, whereby he labours to entangle the children of God. We may take too much thought for tomorrow, so as to neglect the improvement of to-day. We may so expect perfect love, as not to use that which is already shed abroad in our hearts. There have not been wanting instances of those who have greatly suffered hereby. They were so taken up with what they were to receive hereafter, as utterly to neglect what they had already received. In expectation of having five talents more, they buried their one talent in the earth. At least, they did not improve it as they might have done, to the glory of God and the good of their own souls. 12. Thus does the subtle adversary of God and man endeavour to make void the counsel of God, by dividing the gospel against itself, and making one part of it overthrow the other; while the first work of God in the soul is destroyed by the expectation of his perfect work. We have seen several of the ways wherein he attempts this by cutting off, as it were, the springs of holiness. But this he likewise does more directly by making that blessed hope an occasion of unholy tempers.

I. 1. And, First, what is the nature of this disease, into which so many fall after they have believed Wherein does it properly consist; and what are the genuine symptoms of it It properly consists in the loss of that faith which God once wrought in their heart. They that are in the wilderness, have not now that divine "evidence," that satisfactory conviction "of things not seen," which they once enjoyed. They have not now that inward demonstration of the Spirit which before enabled each of them to say, "The life I live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." The light of heaven does not now "shine in their hearts," neither do they "see him that is invisible;" but darkness is again on the face of their souls, and blindness on the eyes of their understanding. The Spirit no longer "witnesses with their spirits, that they are the children of God;" neither does he continue as the Spirit of adoption, "crying" in their hearts, "Abba, Father." They have not now a sure trust in his love, and a liberty of approaching him with holy boldness. "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him," is no more the language of their heart; but they are shorn of their strength, and become weak and feeble-minded, even as other men.

5. A still deeper sorrow we may feel for those who are dead while they live; on account of the unkindness, ingratitude, apostasy, of those who were united to us in the closest ties. Who can express what a lover of souls may feel for a friend, a brother, dead to God for an husband, a wife, a parent, a child rushing into sin, as an horse into the battle; and, in spite of all arguments and persuasions, hasting to work out his own damnation And this anguish of spirit may be heightened to an inconceivable degree, by the consideration, that he who is now posting to destruction once ran well in the way of life. Whatever he was in time past, serves now to no other purpose, than to make our reflections on what he is more piercing and afflictive. 6. In all these circumstances, we may be assured, our great adversary will not be wanting to improve his opportunity. He, who is always "walking about, seeking whom he may devour," will then, especially, use all his power, all his skill, if haply he may gain any advantage over the soul that is already cast down. He will not be sparing of his fiery darts, such as are most likely to find an entrance, and to fix most deeply in the heart, by their suitableness to the temptation that assaults it. He will labour to inject unbelieving, or blasphemous, or repining thoughts. He will suggest that God does not regard, does not govern, the earth; or, at least, that he does not govern it aright, not by the rules of justice and mercy. He will endeavor to stir up the heart against God, to renew our natural enmity against him. And if we attempt to fight him with his own weapons, if we begin to reason with him, more and more heaviness will undoubtedly ensue, if not utter darkness.

3. This reason for self-denial must hold, even with regard to the angels of God in heaven; and with regard to man, innocent and holy, as he came out of the hands of his Creator. But a farther reason for it arises from the condition wherein all men are since the Fall. We are all now "shapen in wickedness, and in sin did our mother conceive us." Our nature is altogether corrupt, in every power and faculty. And our will, depraved equally with the rest, is wholly bent to indulge our natural corruption. On the other hand, it is the will of God that we resist and counteract that corruption, not at some times, or in some things only, but at all times and in all things. Here, therefore, is a farther ground for constant and universal self-denial. 4. To illustrate this a little further: The will of God is a path leading straight to God. The will of man, which once ran parallel with it, is now another path, not only different from it, but in our present state, directly contrary to it: It leads from God. If, therefore, we walk in the one, we must necessarily quit the other. We cannot walk in both. Indeed, a man of faint heart and feeble hands may go in two ways, one after the other. But he cannot walk in two ways at the same time: He cannot, at one and the same time, follow his own will, and follow the will of God: He must choose the one or the other; denying God's will, to follow his own; or denying himself, to follow the will of God. 5 . Now, it is undoubtedly pleasing, for the time, to follow our own will, by indulging, in any instance that offers, the corruption of our nature: But by following it in anything, we so far strengthen the perverseness of our will; and by indulging it, we continually increase the corruption of our nature. So, by the food which is agreeable to the palate, we often increase a bodily disease: It gratifies the taste, but it inflames the disorder. it brings pleasure, but it also brings death.

6. On the whole, then, to deny ourselves, is, to deny our own will, where it does not fall in with the will of God; and that however pleasing it may be. It is, to deny ourselves any pleasure which does not spring from, and lead to, God; that is, in effect, to refuse going out of our way, though into a pleasant, flowery path; to refuse what we know to be deadly poison, though agreeable to the taste. 7. And every one that would follow Christ, that would be his real disciple, must not only deny himself, but take up his cross also. A cross is anything contrary to our will, anything displeasing to our nature. So that taking up our cross goes a little farther than denying ourselves; it rises a little higher, and is a more difficult task to flesh and blood; -- it being more easy to forego pleasure, than to endure pain. 8. Now, in running "the race which is set before us," according to the will of God, there is often a cross lying in the way; that is, something which is not only not joyous, but grievous; something which is contrary to our will, which is displeasing to our nature. What then is to be done The choice is plain: Either we must take up our cross, or we must turn aside from the way of God, "from the holy commandment delivered to us;" if we do not stop altogether, or turn back to everlasting perdition!

11. The "taking up" differs a little from "bearing his cross." We are then properly said to "bear our cross," when we endure what is laid upon us without our choice, with meekness and resignation. Whereas, we do not properly "take up our cross," but when we voluntarily suffer what it is in our power to avoid; when we willingly embrace the will of God, though contrary to our own; when we choose what is painful, because it is the will of our wise and gracious Creator. 12. And thus it behoves every disciple of Christ to take up, as well as to bear, his cross. Indeed, in one sense, it is not his alone; it is common to him, and many others; seeing there is no temptation befals any man, ei mh anqrvpinos, -- "but such as is common to men;" such as is incident and adapted to their common nature and situation in the present world. But, in another sense, as it is considered with all its circumstances, it is his; peculiar to himself: It is prepared of God for him; it is given by God to him, as a token of his love. And if he receives it as such, and, after using such means to remove the pressure as Christian wisdom directs, lies as clay in the potter's hand; it is disposed and ordered by God for his good, both with regard to the quality of it, and in respect to its quantity and degree, its duration, and every other circumstance. 13. In all this, we may easily conceive our blessed Lord to act as the Physician of our souls, not merely "for his own pleasure, but for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness." If, in searching our wounds, he puts us to pain, it is only in order to heal them. He cuts away what is putrified or unsound, in order to preserve the sound part. And if we freely choose the loss of a limb, rather than the whole body should perish; how much more should we choose, figuratively, to cut off a right hand, rather than the whole soul should be cast into hell!

4. But what, if you can neither speak yourself, nor find such a messenger as you can confide in If this is really the case, it then only remains to write. And there may be some circumstances which make this the most advisable way of speaking. One of these circumstances is, when the person with whom we have to do is of so warm and impetuous a temper as does not easily bear reproof, especially from an equal or inferior. But it may be so introduced and softened in writing as to make it far more tolerable. Besides, many will read the very same words, which they could not bear to hear. It does not give so violent a shock to their pride, nor so sensibly touch their honor. And suppose it makes little impression at first, they will, perhaps, give it a second reading, and, upon farther consideration, lay to heart what before they disregarded. If you add your name, this is nearly the same thing as going to him, and speaking in person. And this should always be done, unless it be rendered improper by some very particular reason. 5. It should be well observed, not only that this is a step which our Lord absolutely commands us to take, but that he commands us to take this step first, before we attempt any other. No alternative is allowed, no choice of anything else: This is the way; walk thou in it. It is true, he enjoins us, if need require, to take two other steps; but they are to be taken successively after this step, and neither of them before it: Much less are we to take any other step, either before or beside this. To do anything else, or not to do this, is, therefore, equally inexcusable.

7. I know but of one exception to this rule: There may be a peculiar case, wherein it is necessary to accuse the guilty, though absent, in order to preserve the innocent. For instance: You are acquainted with the design which a man has against the property or life of his neighbor. Now, the case may be so circumstanced, that there is no other way of hindering that design from taking effect, but the making it known, without delay, to him against whom it is laid. In this case, therefore, this rule is set aside, as is that of the Apostle, "Speak evil of no man:" and it is lawful, yea, it is our bounden duty, to speak evil of an absent person, in order to prevent his doing evil to others and himself at the same time. But remember, meanwhile that all evil-speaking is, in its own nature, deadly poison. Therefore if you are sometimes constrained to use it as a medicine, yet use it with fear and trembling; seeing it is so dangerous a medicine, that nothing but absolute necessity can excuse your using it at all. Accordingly, use it as seldom as possible; never but when there is such a necessity: And even then use as little of it as is possible; only so much as is necessary for the end proposed. At all other times, "go and tell him of his fault between thee and him alone."

3. In order to this, may they not, (1.) Briefly repeat what you spoke, and what he answered (2.) Enlarge upon, open, and confirm the reasons which you had given (3.) Give weight to your reproof, showing how just, how kind, and how seasonable it was And, lastly, enforce the advices and persuasions which you had annexed to it And these may likewise hereafter, if need should require, bear witness of what was spoken. 4. With regard to this, as well as the preceding rule, we may observe that our Lord gives us no choice, leaves us no alternative, but expressly commands us to do this, and nothing else in the place of it. He likewise directs us when to do this; neither sooner nor later; namely, after we have taken the first, and before we have taken the third step. It is then only that we are authorized to relate the evil another has done, to those whom we desire to bear a part with us in this great instance of brotherly love. But let us have a care how we relate it to any other person, till both these steps have been taken. If we neglect to take these, or if we take any others, what wonder if we are burdened still For we are sinners against God, and against our neighbor; and how fairly soever we may color it, yet, if we have any conscience, our sin will find us out, and bring a burden upon our soul.

I. 1. And, first, we are to inquire, in what respects we are now God's stewards. We are now indebted to Him for all we have; but although a debtor is obliged to return what he has received, yet until the time of payment comes, he is at liberty to use it as he pleases. It is not so with a steward; he is not at liberty to use what is lodged in his hands as he pleases, but as his master pleases. He has no right to dispose of anything which is in his hands, but according to the will of his lord. For he is not the proprietor of any of these things, but barely entrusted with them by another; and entrusted on this express condition, -- that he shall dispose of all as his master orders. Now, this is exactly the case of every man, with relation to God. We are not at liberty to use what he has lodged in our hands as we please, but as he pleases, who alone is the possessor of heaven and earth, and the Lord of every creature. We have no right to dispose of anything we have, but according to His will, seeing we are not proprietors of any of these things; they are all, as our Lord speaks, allotria, belonging to another person; nor is anything properly our own, in the land of our pilgrimage. We shall not receive ta idia, our own things, till we come to our own country. Eternal things only are our own: With all these temporal things we are barely entrusted by another, the Disposer and Lord of all. And he entrusts us with them on this express condition, -- that we use them only as our Master's goods, and according to the particular directions which he has given us in his Word. 2. On this condition he hath entrusted us with our souls, our bodies, our goods, and whatever other talents we have received: But in order to impress this weighty truth on our hearts, it will be needful to come to particulars.

4. God has, Secondly, entrusted us with our bodies (those exquisitely wrought machines, so "fearfully and wonderfully made,") with all the powers and members thereof. He has entrusted us with the organs of sense; of sight, hearing, and the rest: But none of these are given us as our own, to be employed according to our own will. None of these are lent us in such a sense as to leave us at liberty to use them as we please for a season. No: We have received them on these very terms, -- that, as long as they abide with us, we should employ them all in that very manner, and no other, which he appoints. 5. It is on the same terms that he has imparted to us that most excellent talent of speech. "Thou hast given me a tongue," says the ancient writer, "that I may praise Thee therewith." For this purpose was it given to all the children of men, -- to be employed in glorifying God. Nothing, therefore, is more ungrateful or more absurd, than to think or say, "Our tongues are our own." That cannot be, unless we have created ourselves, and so are independent on the Most High. Nay, but "it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;" the manifest consequence is, that he is still Lord over us, in this as in all other respects. It follows, that there is not a word of our tongue for which we are not accountable to Him. 6. To Him we are equally accountable for the use of our hands and feet, and all the members of our body. These are so many talents which are committed to our trust, until the time appointed by the Father. Until then, we have the use of all these; but as stewards, not as proprietors; to the end we should "render them, not as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but as instruments of righteousness unto God."

6. Thy Lord will farther inquire, "Hast thou been a wise and faithful steward with regard to the talents of a mixed nature which I lent thee Didst thou employ thy health and strength, not in folly or sin, not in the pleasures which perished in the using, `not in making provision for the flesh, to fulfil the desires thereof,' but in a vigorous pursuit of that better part which none could take away from thee Didst thou employ whatever was pleasing in thy person or address, whatever advantages thou hadst by education, whatever share of learning, whatever knowledge of things or men, was committed thee, for the promoting of virtue in the world, for the enlargement of my kingdom Didst thou employ whatever share of power thou hadst, whatever influence over others, by the love or esteem of thee which they had conceived, for the increase of their wisdom and holiness Didst thou employ that inestimable talent of time, with wariness and circumspection, as duly weighing the value of every moment, and knowing that all were numbered in eternity Above all, wast thou a good steward of my grace, preventing, accompanying, and following thee Didst thou duly observe, and carefully improve, all the influences of my Spirit -- every good desire, every measure of light, all His sharp or gentle reproofs How didst thou profit by `the Spirit of bondage and fear,' which was previous to `the Spirit of adoption' And when thou wast made a partaker of this Spirit, crying in thy heart, "Abba, Father," didst thou stand fast in the glorious liberty wherewith I made thee free Didst thou from thenceforth present thy soul and body, all thy thoughts, thy words, and actions, in one flame of love, as a holy sacrifice, glorifying me with thy body and thy spirit Then `well done, good and faithful servant! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!'" And what will remain, either to the faithful or unfaithful steward Nothing but the execution of that sentence which has been passed by the righteous Judge; fixing thee in a state which admits of no change through everlasting ages! It remains only that thou be rewarded, to all eternity, according to thy works.

3. And as this design thus evidently tends to bring "glory to God in the highest," so it no less manifestly conduces to the establishing "peace upon earth." For as all sin directly tends both to destroy our peace with God by setting him at open defiance, to banish peace from our own breasts, and to set every man's sword against his neighbour; so whatever prevents or removes sin does in the same degree, promote peace, -- both peace in our own soul, peace with God, and peace with one another . Such are the genuine fruits of this design, even in the present world. But why should we confine our views to the narrow bounds of time and space Rather pass over these into eternity. And what fruit of it shall we find there Let the Apostle speak: "Brethren, if one of you err from the truth, and one convert him" (not to this or that Opinion, but to God!) "let him know that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins." (Jas. 5:19, 20.) 4.Nor is it to individuals only, whether those who betray other into sin or those that are liable to be betrayed and destroyed by them, that the benefit of this design redounds, but to the whole community whereof we are members. For is it not a sure observation, "righteousness exalteth a nation" And is it not as sure on the other hand that "sin is a reproach to any people" Yea, and bringeth down the curse of God upon them So far therefore as righteousness in any branch is promoted, so far is the national interest advanced. So far as sin, especially open sin, is restrained, the curse and reproach are removed from us. Whoever therefore they are that labour herein, they are general benefactors. They are the truest friends of their king and country. And in the same proportion as their design takes place, there can be no doubt but God will give national prosperity, in accomplishment of his faithful word, "Them that honour me, I will honour."

Say not, "But I cannot endure the reproach, the odious name of an informer." And did any man ever save his soul, that was not a by-word, and a proverb of reproach Neither canst thou ever save thine, unless thou art willing that men should say all manner of evil of thee. Say not, "But if I am active in this work, I shall lose not only my reputation, but my friends, my customers, my business, my livelihood; so that I shall be brought to poverty." Thou shalt not; thou canst not: It is absolutely impossible, unless God himself chooseth it; for his "kingdom ruleth over all," and "the very hairs of thy head are all numbered." But if the wise, the gracious God choose it for thee, wilt thou murmur or complain Wilt thou not rather say, "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it If you "suffer for Christ, happy are you; the Spirit of glory and of God" shall "rest upon you." Say not, "I would suffer all things, but my wife will not consent to it; and, certainly, a man ought to leave father and mother and all, and cleave to his wife." True; all but God; all but Christ: But he ought not to leave him for his wife! He is not to leave any duty undone, for the dearest relative. Our Lord himself hath said in this very sense, "If any man loveth father, or mother, or wife, or children, more than me, he is not worthy of me!" Say not, "Well, I would forsake all for Christ; but one duty must not hinder another; and this would frequently hinder my attending public worship." Sometimes it probably would. "Go, then, and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice." And whatever is lost by showing this mercy, God will repay seven-fold into thy bosom. Say not, "But I shall hurt my own soul. I am a young man; and by taking up loose women I should expose myself to temptation." Yes, if you did this in your own strength, or for your own pleasure. But that is not the case. You trust in God; and you aim at pleasing him only.

"The character of this truly pious person must be [deeply] impressed on the heart of every friend to vital religion. In spite of a tender [and delicate] constitution, he continued to the last day of his life, preaching with a frequency and fervor that seemed to exceed the natural strength of the most robust. Being called to the exercise of his function at an age when most young men are only beginning to qualify themselves for it, he had not time to make a very considerable progress in the learned languages. But this defect was amply supplied by a lively and fertile genius, by fervent zeal, and by a forcible and most persuasive delivery. And though in the pulpit he often found it needful by "the terrors of the Lord" to "persuade men," he had nothing gloomy in his nature; being singularly cheerful, as well as charitable and tender-hearted. He was as ready to relieve the bodily as the spiritual necessities of those that applied to him. It ought also to be observed, that he constantly enforced upon his audience every moral duty; particularly industry in their several callings, and obedience to their superiors. He endeavored, by the most extraordinary efforts of preaching, in different places, and even in the open fields, to rouse the lower class of people from the last degree of inattention and ignorance to a sense of religion. For this, and his other labors, the name of GEORGE WHITEFIELD will long be remembered with esteem and veneration."

12. But besides this division of eternity into that which is past, and that which is to come, there is another division of eternity, which is of unspeakable importance: That which is to come, as it relates to immortal spirits, is either a happy or a miserable eternity. 13. See the spirits of the righteous that are already praising God in a happy eternity! We are ready to say, How short will it appear to those who drink of the rivers of pleasure at God's right hand! We are ready to cry out, A day without night They dwell in his sight, And eternity seems as a day! But this is only speaking after the manner of men: For the measures of long and short are only applicable to time which admits of bound, and not to unbounded duration. This roles on (according to our low conceptions) with unutterable, inconceivable swiftness; if one would not rather say, it does not roll or move at all, but is one still immovable ocean. ;For the inhabitants of heaven "rest not day and night," but continually cry, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord, the God, the Almighty, who saw, and who is, and who is to come!" And when millions of millions of ages are elapsed, their eternity is but just begun. 14. On the other hand, in what a condition are those immortal spirits who have made choice of a miserable eternity! I say, made choice; for it is impossible this should be the lot of any creature but by his own act and deed. The day is coming when every soul will be constrained to acknowledge, in the sight of men and angels, No dire decree of thine did seal Or fix the unalterable doom Consign my unborn soul to hell, Or damn me from my mother's womb.

In what condition will such a spirit be after the sentence is executed, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!" Suppose him to be just now plunged into "the lake of fire burning with brimstone," where "they have no rest, day or night, but the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever." "For ever and ever!" Why, if we were only to be chained down one day, yea, one hour, in a lake of fire, how amazing long would one day or one hour appear! I know not if it would not seem as a thousand years. But (astonishing thought!) after thousands of thousands, he has but just tasted of his bitter cup! After millions, it will be no nearer the end than it was the moment it began! 15. What then is he -- how foolish, how mad, in how unutterable a degree of distraction -- who, seeming to have the understanding of a man, deliberately prefers temporal things to eternal who (allowing that absurd, impossible opposition, that wickedness is happiness, -- a supposition utterly contrary to all reason, as well as to matter fact) prefers the happiness of a year, say a thousand years, to the happiness of eternity, in comparison of which, a thousand ages are infinitely less than a year, a day, a moment especially when we take this into the consideration, (which, indeed should never be forgotten,) that the refusing a happy eternity, implies the choosing of a miserable eternity: For there is not, cannot be, any medium between everlasting joy and everlasting pain. It is a vain thought which some have entertained, that death will put an end to neither the one nor the other; it will only alter the manner of their existence. But when the body "returns to the dust as it was, the spirit will return to God that gave it." Therefore, at the moment of death, it must be unspeakably happy, or unspeakably miserable: And that misery will never end. Never! Where sinks the soul at that dread sound Into a gulf how dark, and how profound! How often would he who had made the wretched choice wish for the death both of his soul and body! It is not impossible he might pray in some such manner as Dr. Young supposes:

7. To begin with the latter: You do already believe many things which you cannot comprehend. For you believe there is a sun over your head. But whether he stands still in the midst of his system, or not only revolves on his own axis, but rejoiceth as a giant to run his course; you cannot comprehend either one or the other: How he moves, or how he rests. By what power, what natural, mechanical power, is he upheld in the fluid either You cannot deny the fact: Yet you cannot account for it, so as you satisfy any rational inquirer. You may indeed give us the hypothesis of Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, and twenty more. I have read them over and over: I am sick of them; I care not three straws for them all. Each new solution but once more affords New change of terms, and scaffolding of words: In other garb my question I receive, And take my doubt the very same I gave. Still I insist, the fact you believe, you cannot deny; but the manner you cannot comprehend. 8. You believe there is such a thing as light, whether flowing from the sun, or any other luminous body; but you cannot comprehend either its nature. or the manner wherein it flows. How does it move from Jupiter to the earth in eight minutes; two hundred thousand miles in a moment How do the rays of the candle, brought into the room, instantly disperse into every corner Again: Here are three candles, yet there is but one light. I explain this, and I will explain the Three-One God. 9. You believe there is such a thing as air. It both covers you as a garment, and, Wide interfused, Embraces round this florid earth. But can you comprehend how Can you give me a satisfactory account of its nature, or the cause of its properties Think only of one, its elasticity: Can you account for this It may be owing to electric fire attached to each particle of it; it may not; and neither you nor I can tell. But if we will not breathe it till we can comprehend it, our life is very near its period.

For although he left man in the hand of his own counsel, to choose good or evil, life or death; although he did not take away the liberty he had given him, but suffered him to choose death, in consequence of which the whole creation now groaneth together; yet, when we consider, all the evils introduced into the creation may work together for our good, yea, may "work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," we may well praise God for permitting these temporary evils, in order to our eternal good: Yea, we may well cry out, "O the depth both of the wisdom" and the goodness of God! "He hath done all things well." "Glory be unto God, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever!"

On The Fall Of Man "Dust thou are, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. 3:19. 1. Why is there pain in the world; seeing God is "loving to every man, and his mercy is over all his works" Because there is sin: Had there been no sin, there would have been no pain. But pain (supposing God to be just) is the necessary effect of sin. But why is there sin in the world Because man was created in the image of God: Because he is not mere matter, a clod of earth, a lump of clay, without sense or understanding; but a spirit like his Creator, a being endued not only with sense and understanding, but also with a will exerting itself in various affections. To crown all the rest, he was endued with liberty; a power of directing his own affections and actions; a capacity of determining himself, or of choosing good or evil. Indeed, had not man been endued with this, all the rest would have been of no use: Had he not been a free as well as an intelligent being, his understanding would have been as incapable of holiness, or any kind of virtue, as a tree or a block of marble. And having this power, a power of choosing good or evil, he chose the latter: He chose evil. Thus "sin entered into the world," and pain of every kind, preparatory to death. 2. But this plain, simple account of the origin of evil, whether natural or moral, all the wisdom of man could not discover till it pleased God to reveal it to the world. Till then man was a mere enigma to himself; a riddle which none but God could solve. And in how full and satisfactory a manner has he solved it in this chapter! In such a manner, as does not indeed serve to gratify vain curiosity, but as is abundantly sufficient to answer a nobler end; to Justify the ways of God with men. To this great end I would, First, briefly consider the preceding part of this chapter; and then, Secondly, more particularly weigh the solemn words which have been already recited.

There was still wanting a creature of a higher rank, capable of wisdom and holiness. Natus homo est. So "God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him!" Mark the emphatical repetition. God did not make him mere matter, a piece of senseless, unintelligent clay; but a spirit, like himself, although clothed with a material vehicle. As such he was endued with understanding; with a will including various affections; and with liberty, a power of using them in a right or wrong manner, of choosing good or evil. Otherwise neither his understanding nor his will would have been to any purpose; for he must have been as incapable of virtue or holiness as the stock of a tree. Adam, in whom all mankind were then contained, freely preferred evil to good. He chose to do his own will, rather than the will of his Creator. He "was not deceived," but knowingly and deliberately rebelled against his Father and his King. In that moment he lost the moral image of God, and, in part, the natural: He commenced unholy, foolish, and unhappy. And "in Adam all died:" He entitled all his posterity to error, guilt, sorrow, fear, pain, diseases, and death. 7. How exactly does matter of fact, do all things round us, even the face of the whole world, agree with this account! Open your eyes! Look round you! See darkness that may be felt; see ignorance and error; see vice in ten thousand forms; see consciousness of guilt, fear, sorrow, shame, remorse, covering the face of the earth! See misery, the daughter of sin. See, on every side, sickness and pain, inhabitants of every nation under heaven; driving on the poor, helpless sons of men, in every age, to the gates of death! So they have done well nigh from the beginning of the world. So they will do, till the consummation of all things.

This is peculiarly observable of almost all those who assert the absolute decrees. But surely it is possible to avoid this: Whatever we propose, may be proposed with modesty, and with deference to those wise and good men who are of a contrary opinion; and the rather, because so much has been said already, on every part of the question, so many volumes have been written, that it is scarcely possible to say anything which has not been said before. All I would offer at present, not to the lovers of contention, but to men of piety and candour, are a few short hints, which perhaps may cast some light on the text above recited. 4. The more frequently and carefully I have considered it, the more I have been inclined to think that the apostle is not here (as many have supposed) describing a chain of causes and effects; (this does not seem to have entered into his heart;) but simply showing the method in which God works; the order in which the several branches of salvation constantly follow each other. And this, I apprehend, will be clear to any serious and impartial inquirer, surveying the work of God either forward or backward; either from the beginning to the end, or from the end to the beginning.

5. And, First, let us look forward on the whole work of God in the salvation of man; considering it from the beginning, the first point, till it terminates in glory. The first point is, the foreknowledge of God. God foreknew those in every nation those who would believe, from the beginning of the world to the consummation of all things. but, in order to throw light upon this dark question, it should be well observed, that when we speak of God's foreknowledge, we do not speak according to the nature of things, but after the manner of men. For, if we speak properly, there is no such thing as either foreknowledge or afterknowledge in God. All time, or rather all eternity, (for the children of men,) being present to him at once, he does not know one thing in one point of view from everlasting to everlasting. As all time, with everything that exists therein, is present with him at once, so he sees at once, whatever was is, or will be, to the end of time. But observe: We must not think they are because he knows them. No: he knows them because they are. Just as I (if one may be allowed to compare the things of men with the deep things of God) now know the sun shines: Yet the sun does not shine because I know it, but I know it because he shines. My knowledge supposes the sun to shine; but does not in anywise cause it. In like manner, God knows that man sins; for he knows all things: Yet we do not sin because he knows it, but he knows it because we sin; and his knowledge supposes our sin, but does not in anywise cause it. In a word, God, looking on all ages, from the creation to the consummation, as a moment, and seeing at once whatever is in the hearts of all the children of men, knows every one that does or does not believe, in every age or nation. Yet what he knows, whether faith or unbelief, is in nowise caused by his knowledge. Men are as free in believing or not believing as if he did not know it at all.

3. Nay it were well if the charge rested here : But it is certain it does not. It cannot be denied that it frequently glances from Adam to his Creator. Have not thousands even of those that are called Christians, taken the liberty to call his mercy, if not his justice also, into question on this very account Some, indeed, have done this a little more modestly, in an oblique and indirect manner; but others have thrown aside the mask, and asked, "Did not God foresee that Adam would abuse his liberty And did he not know the baneful consequences which this must naturally have on all his posterity And why, then, did he permit that disobedience Was it not easy for the Almighty to have prevented it" -- He certainly did foresee the whole. This cannot be denied: For "known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world;" rather, from all eternity, as the words ap aivnos properly signify. And it was undoubtedly in his power to prevent it; for he hath all power both in heaven and earth. But it was known to him, at the same time, that it was best, upon the whole, not to prevent it. He knew that "not as the transgression, so is the free gift;" that the evil resulting from the former was not as the good resulting from the latter, -- not worthy to be compared with it. He saw that to permit the fall of the first man was far best for mankind in general; that abundantly more good than evil would accrue to the posterity of Adam by his fall; that if "sin abounded" thereby over all the earth, yet grace "would much more abound;" yea, and that to every individual of the human race, unless it was his own choice. 4. It is exceeding strange that hardly anything has been written or at least published, on this subject; nay that it has been so little weighed or understood by the generality of Christians; especially considering that it is not a matter of mere curiosity, but a truth of the deepest importance; it being impossible, on any other principle, To'assert a gracious Providence, And justify the ways of God with men;

14. See, then, upon the whole, how little reason we have to repine at the fall of our first parent; since herefrom we may derive such unspeakable advantages, both in time and eternity. See how small pretence there is for questioning the mercy of God in permitting that event to take place; since therein mercy, by infinite degrees, rejoices over judgment. Where then is the man that presumes to blame God for not preventing Adam's sin Should we not rather bless him from the ground of the heart, for therein laying the grand scheme of man's redemption, and making way for that glorious manifestation of his wisdom, holiness, justice, and mercy If, indeed, God had decreed, before the foundation of the world, that millions of men should dwell in everlasting burnings, because Adam sinned hundreds or thousands of years before they had a being. I know not who could thank him for this, unless the devil and his angels: Seeing, on this supposition, all those millions of unhappy spirits would be plunged into hell by Adam's sin, without any possible advantage from it. But, blessed be God, this is not the case. Such a decree never existed. On the contrary, every one born of a woman may be an unspeakable gainer thereby: And none ever was or can be a loser but by his own choice. 15. We see here a full answer to that plausible account of the origin of evil, published to the world some years since, and supposed to be unanswerable: That it "necessarily resulted from the nature of matter, which God was not able to alter." It is very kind in this sweet-tongued orator to make an excuse for God! But there is really no occasion for it: God hath answered for himself. He made man in his own image; a spirit endued with understanding and liberty. Man, abusing that liberty, produced evil; brought sin and pain into the world. This God permitted, in order to a fuller manifestation of his wisdom, justice, and mercy, by bestowing on all who would receive it an infinitely greater happiness than they could possibly have attained if Adam had not fallen.

16. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" Although a thousand particulars of "his judgments and of his ways are unsearchable" to us, and past our finding our; yet may we discern the general scheme running through time into eternity. "According to the counsel of his own will," the plan he had laid before the foundation of the world, he created the parent of all mankind in his own image; and he permitted all men to be made sinners, by the disobedience of that one man, that, by the obedience of one, all who receive the free gift may be infinitely holier and happier to all eternity.

The General Deliverance "The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that subjected it: Yet in hope that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth, and travaileth in pain together until now." Rom. 8:19-22. 1. Nothing is more sure, than that as "the Lord is loving to every man," so "his mercy is over all his works;" all that have sense, all that are capable of pleasure or pain, of happiness or misery. In consequence of this, "He openeth his hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness. He prepareth food for cattle," as well as "herbs for the children of men." He provideth for the fowls of the air, "feeding the young ravens when they cry unto him." "He sendeth the springs into the rivers, that run among the hills, to give drink to every beast of the field," and that even "the wild asses may quench their thirst." And, suitably to this, he directs us to be tender of even the meaner creatures; to show mercy to these also. "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn:" -- A custom which is observed in the eastern countries even to this day. And this is by no means contradicted by St. Paul's question: "Doth God take care for oxen" Without doubt he does. We cannot deny it, without flatly contradicting his word. The plain meaning of the Apostle is, Is this all that is implied in the text Hath it not a farther meaning Does it not teach us, we are to feed the bodies of those whom we desire to feed our souls Meantime it is certain, God "giveth grass for the cattle," as well as "herbs for the use of men."

I. 1. We may inquire, in the First place, What was the original state of the brute creation And may we not learn this, even from the place which was assigned them; namely, the garden of God All the beasts of the field, and all the fowls of the air, were with Adam in paradise. And there is no question but their state was suited to their place: It was paradisiacal; perfectly happy. Undoubtedly it bore a near resemblance to the state of man himself. By taking, therefore, a short view of the one, we may conceive the other. Now, "man was made in the image of God." But "God is a Spirit:" So therefore was man. (Only that spirit, being designed to dwell on earth, was lodged in an earthly tabernacle.) As such, he had an innate principle of self-motion. And so, it seems, has every spirit in the universe; this being the proper distinguishing difference between spirit and matter, which is totally, essentially passive and inactive, as appears from a thousand experiments. He was, after the likeness of his Creator, endued with understanding; a capacity of apprehending whatever objects were brought before it, and of judging concerning them. He was endued with a will, exerting itself in various affections and passions: And, lastly, with liberty, or freedom of choice; without which all the rest would have been in vain, and he would have been no more capable of serving his Creator than a piece of earth or marble; he would have been as incapable of vice or virtue, as any part of the inanimate creation. In these, in the power of self-motion, understanding, will, and liberty, the natural image of God consisted.

2. How far his power of self-motion then extended, it is impossible for us to determine. It is probable, that he had a far higher degree both of swiftness and strength, than any of his posterity ever had, and much less any of the lower creatures. It is certain, he had such strength of understanding as no man ever since had. His understanding was perfect in its kind; capable of apprehending all things clearly, and judging concerning them according to truth, without any mixture of error. His will had no wrong bias of any sort; but all his passions and affections were regular, Being steadily and uniformly guided by the dictates of his unerring understanding; embracing nothing but good, and every good in proportion to its degree of intrinsic goodness. His liberty likewise was wholly guided by his understanding: He chose, or refused, according to its direction. Above all, (which was his highest excellence, far more valuable than all the rest put together,) he was a creature capable of God; capable of knowing, loving, and obeying his Creator. And, in fact, he did know God, did unfeignedly love and uniformly obey him. This was the supreme perfection of man; (as it is of all intelligent beings;) the continually seeing, and loving, and obeying the Father of the spirits of all flesh. From this right state and right use of all his faculties, his happiness naturally flowed. In this the essence of his happiness consisted; But it was increased by all the things that were round about him. He saw, with unspeakable pleasure, the order, the beauty, the harmony, of all the creatures; of all animated, all inanimate nature; the serenity of the skies; the sun walking in brightness; the sweetly variegated clothing of the earth; the trees, the fruits, the flowers, And liquid lapse of murmuring streams. Nor was this pleasure interrupted by evil of any kind. It had no alloy of sorrow or pain, whether of body or mind. For while he was innocent he was impassive; incapable of suffering. Nothing could stain his purity of joy. And, to crown all, he was immortal.

3. To this creature, endued with all these excellent faculties, thus qualified for his high charge, God said, "Have thou dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." (Gen. 1:28.) And so the Psalmist: "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." (Psalm 8:6, &c.) So that man was God's vicegerent upon earth, the prince and governor of this lower world; and all the blessings of God flowed through him to the inferior creatures. Man was the channel of conveyance between his Creator and the whole brute creation. 4. But what blessings were those that were then conveyed through man to the lower creatures What was the original state of the brute creatures, when they were first created This deserves a more attentive consideration than has been usually given it. It is certain these, as well as man, had an innate principle of self-motion; and that, at least, in as high a degree as they enjoy it at this day. Again: They were endued with a degree of understanding; not less than that they are possessed of now. They had also a will, including various passions, which, likewise, they still enjoy: And they had liberty, a power of choice; a degree of which is still found in every living creature. Nor can we doubt but their understanding too was, in the beginning, perfect in its kind. Their passions and affections were regular, and their choice always guided by their understanding

II. 1. As all the blessings of God in paradise flowed through man to the inferior creatures; as man was the great channel of communication, between the Creator and the whole brute creation; so when man made himself incapable of transmitting those blessings, that communication was necessarily cut off. The intercourse between God and the inferior creatures being stopped, those blessings could no longer flow in upon them. And then it was that "the creature," every creature, "was subjected to vanity," to sorrow, to pain of every kind, to all manner of evils: Not, indeed, "willingly," not by its own choice, not by any act or deed of its own; "but by reason of Him that subjected it," by the wise permission of God, determining to draw eternal good out of this temporary evil. 2. But in what respect was "the creature," every creature, then "made subject to vanity" What did the meaner creatures suffer, when man rebelled against God It is probable they sustained much loss, even in the lower faculties; their vigour, strength, and swiftness. But undoubtedly they suffered far more in their understanding; more than we can easily conceive. Perhaps insects and worms had then as much understanding as the most intelligent brutes have now: Whereas millions of creatures have, at present, little more understanding than the earth on which they crawl, or the rock to which they adhere. They suffered still more in their will, in their passions; which were then variously distorted, and frequently set in flat opposition to the little understanding that was left them. Their liberty, likewise, was greatly impaired; yea, in many cases, totally destroyed. They are still utterly enslaved to irrational appetites, which have the full dominion over them. The very foundations of their nature are out of course; are turned upside down. As man is deprived of his perfection, his loving obedience to God; so brutes are deprived of their perfection, their loving obedience to man. The far greater part of them flee from him; studiously avoid his hated presence. The most of the rest set him at open defiance; yea, destroy him, if it be in their power. A few only, those we commonly term domestic animals, retain more or less of their original disposition, (through the mercy of God,) love him still, and pay obedience to him.

6. During this season of vanity, not only the feebler creatures are continually destroyed by the stronger; not only the strong are frequently destroyed by those that are of equal strength; but both the one and the other are exposed to the violence and cruelty of him that is now their common enemy, -- man. And if his swiftness or strength is not equal to theirs, yet his art more than supplies that defect. By this he eludes all their force, how great soever it be; by this he defeats all their swiftness; and, notwithstanding their various shifts and contrivances, discovers all their retreats. He pursues them over the widest plains, and through the thickest forests. He overtakes them in the fields of air, he finds them out in the depths of the sea. Nor are the mild and friendly creatures who still own his sway, and are duteous to his commands, secured thereby from more than brutal violence; from outrage and abuse of various kinds. Is the generous horse, that serves his master's necessity or pleasure with unwearied diligence, -- is the faithful dog, that waits the motion of his hand, or his eye, exempt from this What returns for their long and faithful service do many of these poor creatures find And what a dreadful difference is there, between What they suffer from their fellow-brutes, and what they suffer from the tyrant man! The lion, the tiger, or the shark, gives them pain from mere necessity, in order to prolong their own life; and puts them out of their pain at once: But the human shark, without any such necessity, torments them of his free choice; and perhaps continues their lingering pain till, after months or years, death signs their release.

III. 1. But will "the creature," will even the brute creation, always remain in this deplorable condition God forbid that we should affirm this; yea, or even entertain such a thought! While "the whole creation groaneth together," (whether men attend or not,) their groans are not dispersed in idle air, but enter into the ears of Him that made them. While his creatures "travail together in pain," he knoweth all their pain, and is bringing them nearer and nearer to the birth, which shall be accomplished in its season. He seeth "the earnest expectation" wherewith the whole animated creation "waiteth for" that final "manifestation of the sons of God;" in which "they themselves also shall be delivered" (not by annihilation; annihilation is not deliverance) "from the" present "bondage of corruption, into" a measure of "the glorious liberty of the children of God." 2. Nothing can be more express: Away with vulgar prejudices, and let the plain word of God take place. They "shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into glorious liberty," -- even a measure, according as they are capable, -- of "the liberty of the children of God." A general view of this is given us in the twenty-first chapter of the Revelation. When He that "sitteth on the great white throne" hath pronounced, "Behold, I make all things new;" when the word is fulfilled, "The tabernacle of God is with men, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God;" -- then the following blessing shall take place (not only on the children of men; there is no such restriction in the text; but) on every creature according to its capacity: "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there be any more pain: For the former things are passed away."

3. To descend to a few particulars: The whole brute creation will then, undoubtedly, be restored, not only to the vigour, strength, and swiftness which they had at their creation, but to a far higher degree of each than they ever enjoyed. They will be restored, not only to that measure of understanding which they had in paradise, but to a degree of it as much higher than that, as the understanding of an elephant is beyond that of a worm. And whatever affections they had in the garden of God, will be restored with vast increase; being exalted and refined in a manner which we ourselves are not now able to comprehend. The liberty they then had will be completely restored, and they will be free in all their motions. They will be delivered from all irregular appetites, from all unruly passions, from every disposition that is either evil in itself, or has any tendency to evil. No rage will be found in any creature, no fierceness, no cruelty, or thirst for blood. So far from it that "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain." (Isaiah 11:6, &c.)

10. One more excellent end may undoubtedly be answered by the preceding considerations. They may encourage us to imitate Him whose mercy is over all his works. They may soften our hearts towards the meaner creatures, knowing that the Lord careth for them. It may enlarge our hearts towards those poor creatures, to reflect that, as vile as they appear in our eyes, not one of them is forgotten in the sight of our Father which is in heaven. Through all the vanity to which they are now subjected, let us look to what God hath prepared for them. Yea, let us habituate ourselves to look forward, beyond this present scene of bondage, to the happy time when they will be delivered therefrom into the liberty of the children of God. 11. From what has been said, I cannot but draw one inference, which no man of reason can deny. If it is this which distinguishes men from beasts, -- that they are creatures capable of God, capable of knowing and loving and enjoying him; then whoever is "without God in the world," whoever does not know or love or enjoy God, and is not careful about the matter, does, in effect, disclaim the nature of man, and degrade himself into a beast. Let such vouchsafe a little attention to those remarkable words of Solomon: "I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, -- They might see that they themselves are beasts." (Eccles. 3:18.) These sons of men are undoubtedly beasts; and that by their own act and deed; for they deliberately and wilfully disclaim the sole characteristic of human nature. It is true, they may have a share of reason; they have speech, and they walk erect; but they have not the mark, the only mark, which totally separates man from the brute creation. "That which befalleth beasts, the same thing befalleth them." They are equally without God in the world; "so that a man" of this kind "hath no pre-eminence above a beast."

4. He was endued also with a will, with various affections; (which are only the will exerting itself various ways;) that he might love, desire, and delight in that which is good: Otherwise his understanding had been to no purpose. He was likewise endued with liberty; a power of choosing what was good, and refusing what was not so. Without this, both the will and the understanding would have been utterly useless. Indeed, without liberty, man had been so far from being a free agent, that he could have been no agent at all. For every unfree being is purely passive; not active in any degree. Have you a sword in your hand Does a man, stronger than you, seize your hand, and force you to wound a third person In this you are no agent, any more than the sword: The hand is as passive as the steel. So in every possible case. He that is not free is not an agent, but a patient. 5. It seems, therefore, that every spirit in the universe, as such, is endued with understanding, and, in consequence, with a will, and with a measure of liberty; and that these three are inseparably united in every intelligent nature. And observe: Liberty necessitated, or over-ruled, is really no liberty at all. It is a contradiction in terms. It is the same as unfree freedom; that is, downright nonsense. 6. It may be farther observed, (and it is an important observation,) that where there is no liberty, there can be no moral good or evil, no virtue or vice. The fire warms us; yet it is not capable of virtue: It burns us; yet this is no vice. There is no virtue, but where an intelligent being knows, loves, and chooses what is good; nor is there any vice, but where such a being knows, loves, and chooses what is evil.

7. And God created man, not only in his natural, but likewise in his own moral, image. He created him not only "in knowledge," but also in righteousness and true holiness. As his understanding was without blemish, perfect in its kind; so were all his affections. They were all set right, and duly exercised on their proper objects. And as a free agent, he steadily chose whatever was good, according to the direction of his understanding. In so doing, he was unspeakably happy; dwelling in God, and God in him; having an uninterrupted fellowship with the Father and the Son, through the eternal Spirit; and the continual testimony of his conscience, that all his ways were good and acceptable to God. 8. Yet his liberty (as was observed before) necessarily included a power of choosing or refusing either good or evil. Indeed it has been doubted whether man could then choose evil, knowing it to be such. But it cannot be doubted, he might mistake evil for good. He was not infallible; therefore not impeccable. And this unravels the whole difficulty of the grand question, Unde malum "How came evil into the world" It came from "Lucifer, son of the morning." It was the work of the devil. "For the devil," saith the Apostle, "sinneth from the beginning;" that is, was the first sinner in the universe, the author of sin, the first being who, by the abuse of his liberty, introduced evil into the creation. He, -- Of the first, If not the first archangel, was self-tempted to think too highly of himself. He freely yielded to the temptation; and gave way, first to pride, then to self-will. He said, "I will sit upon the sides of the north: I will be like the Most High." He did not fall alone, but soon drew after him a third part of the stars of heaven; in consequence of which they lost their glory and happiness, and were driven from their former habitation.

2. At the same time the Son of God strikes at the root of that grand work of the devil, -- pride; causing the sinner to humble himself before the Lord, to abhor himself, as it were, in dust and ashes. He strikes at the root of self-will; enabling the humbled sinner to say in all things, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt." He destroys the love of the world; delivering them that believe in him from "every foolish and hurtful desire;" from the "desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life." He saves them from seeking, or expecting to find, happiness in any creature. As Satan turned the heart of man from the Creator to the creature; so the Son of God turns his heart back again from the creature to the Creator. Thus it is, by manifesting himself, he destroys the works of the devil; restoring the guilty outcast from God, to his favour, to pardon and peace; the sinner in whom dwelleth no good thing, to love and holiness; the burdened, miserable sinner, to joy unspeakable, to real, substantial happiness. 3. But it may be observed, that the Son of God does not destroy the whole work of the devil in man, as long as he remains in this life. He does not yet destroy bodily weakness, sickness, pain, and a thousand infirmities incident to flesh and blood. He does not destroy all that weakness of understanding, which is the natural consequence of the soul's dwelling in a corruptible body; so that still, Humanum est errare et nescire: "Both ignorance and error belong to humanity." He entrusts us with only an exceeding small share of knowledge, in our present state; lest our knowledge should interfere with our humility, and we should again affect to be as gods. It is to remove from us all temptation to pride, and all thought of independency, (which is the very thing that men in general so earnestly covet under the name of liberty.) that he leaves us encompassed with all these infirmities, particularly weakness of understanding; till the sentence takes place, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return!"

9. "Impossible," will some men say, "yea, the greatest of all impossibilities, that we should see a Christian world; yea, a Christian nation, or city! How can these things be" On one supposition, indeed, not only all impossibility, but all difficulty vanishes away. Only suppose the Almighty to act irresistibly, and the thing is done; yea, with just the same ease as when "God said, Let there be light; and there was light." But then, man would be man no longer: His inmost nature would be changed. He would no longer be a moral agent, any more than the sun or the wind; as he would no longer be endued with liberty, -- a power of choosing, or self-determination: Consequently, he would no longer be capable of virtue or vice, of reward or punishment. 10. But setting aside this clumsy way of cutting the knot which we are not able to untie, how can all men be made holy and happy, while they continue men While they still enjoy both the understanding, the affections, and the liberty which are essential to a moral agent There seems to be a plain, simple way of removing this difficulty, without entangling ourselves in any subtile, metaphysical disquisitions. As God is One, so the work of God is uniform in all ages. May we not then conceive how he will work on the souls of men in times to come, by considering how he does work now, and how he has wrought in times past

11. Take one instance of this, and such an instance as you cannot easily be deceived in. You know how God wrought in your own soul, when he first enabled you to say, "The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." He did not take away your understanding; but enlightened and strengthened it. He did not destroy any of your affections; rather they were more vigorous than before. Least of all did he take away your liberty; your power of choosing good or evil: He did not force you; but, being assisted by his grace, you, like Mary, chose the better part. Just so has he assisted five in one house to make that happy choice; fifty or five hundred in one city; and many thousands in a nation; -- without depriving any of them of that liberty which is essential to a moral agent. 12. Not that I deny, that there are exempt cases, wherein The' o'erwhelming power of saving grace does, for a time, work as irresistibly as lightning falling from heaven. But I speak of God's general manner of working, of which I have known innumerable instances; perhaps more within fifty years last past, than any one in England or in Europe. And with regard even to these exempt cases; although God does work irresistibly for the time, yet I do not believe there is any human soul in which God works irresistibly at all times. Nay, I am fully persuaded there is not. I am persuaded, there are no men living that have not many times "resisted the Holy Ghost," and made void "the counsel of God against themselves." Yea, I am persuaded every child of God has had, at some time, "life and death set before him," eternal life and eternal death; and has in himself the casting voice. So true is that well-known saying of St. Austin, (one of the noblest he ever uttered,) Qui fecit nos sine nobis, non salvabit nos sine nobis: "He that made us without ourselves, will not save us without ourselves." Now in the same manner as God has converted so many to himself without destroying their liberty, he can undoubtedly convert whole nations, or the whole world; and it is as easy to him to convert a world, as one individual soul.

The Duty of Reproving Our Neighbour "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." Lev. 19:17. A great part of the book of Exodus, and almost the whole of the book of Leviticus, relate to the ritual or ceremonial law of Moses; which was peculiarly given to the children of Israel, but was such "a yoke," says the apostle Peter, "as neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." We are, therefore, delivered from it: And this is one branch of "the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." Yet it is easy to observe, that many excellent moral precepts are interspersed among these ceremonial laws. Several of them we find in this very chapter: Such as, "Thou shalt not gather every grape of thy vineyard: Thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger. I am the Lord your God." (Lev. 19:10.) Ye shall not steal, neither lie one to another. (Lev. 19:11.) "Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee till the morning." (Lev. 19:13.) "Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block before the blind; but shalt fear thy God: I am the Lord." (Lev. 19:14.) As if he had said, I am he whose eyes are over all the earth, and whose ears are open to their cry. "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor," which compassionate men may be tempted to do; "nor honour the person of the mighty," to which there are a thousand temptations. (Lev. 19:15.) "Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people:" (Lev. 19:16:) Although this is a sin which human laws have never yet been able to prevent. Then follows, "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: Thou shalt in anywise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." [Lev. 19:17] In order to understand this important direction aright, and to apply it profitably to our own souls, let us consider, I. What it is that we are to rebuke or reprove What is the thing that is here enjoined II. Who are they whom we are commanded to reprove And, III. How are we to reprove them

a little well-placed raillery will pierce deeper than solid argument. But this has place chiefly, when we have to do with those who are strangers to religion. And when we condescend to give a ludicrous reproof to a person of this character, it seems we are authorized so to do, by that advice of Solomon, "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes." 9. The manner of the reproof may, in other respects too, be varied according to the occasion. Sometimes you may find it proper to use many words, to express your sense at large. At other times you may judge it more expedient to use few words, perhaps a single sentence; and at others, it may be advisable to use no words at all, but a gesture, a sigh, or a look, particularly when the person you would reprove is greatly your superior. And frequently, this silent kind of reproof will be attended by the power of God, and consequently, have a far better effect than a long and laboured discourse. 10. Once more: Remember the remark of Solomon, "A word spoken in season, how good is it!" It is true, if you are providentially called to reprove anyone whom you are not likely to see any more, you are to snatch the present opportunity, and to speak "in season" or "out of season;" but with them whom you have frequent opportunities of seeing, you may wait for a fair occasion. Here the advice of the poet has place. You may speak Si validus, si laetus erit, si denique poscet: When he is in a good humour, or when he asks it you. Here you may catch the Mollia tempora fandi, -- time when his mind is in a soft, mild frame: And then God will both teach you how to speak, and give a blessing to what is spoken.

15. Only he that can do all things else cannot deny himself: He cannot counteract himself, or oppose his own work. Were it not for this, he would destroy all sin, with its attendant pain in a moment. He would abolish wickedness out of his whole creation, and suffer not trace of it remain. But in so doing he would counteract himself; he would altogether overturn his own work, and undo all that he has been doing since he created man upon the earth. For he created man in his own image: A spirit like himself; a spirit endued with understanding, with will or affections, and liberty; without which, neither his understanding nor his affections could have been of any use, neither would he have been capable either or vice or virtue. He could not be a moral agent, any more than a tree or a stone. If, therefore, God were thus to exert his power, there would certainly be no more vice; but it is equally certain, neither could there be any virtue in the world. Were human liberty taken away, men would be as incapable of virtue as stones. Therefore,(with reverence be it spoken,) the Almighty himself cannot do this thing. He cannot thus contradict himself, or undo what he has done. He cannot destroy out of the soul of man that image of himself wherein he make him: And without doing this, he cannot abolish sin and pain out of the world. But were it to be done, it would imply no wisdom at all; but barely a stroke of omnipotence. Whereas all the manifold wisdom of God (as well as all his power and goodness) is displayed in governing man as man; not as a stock or stone, but as an intelligent and free spirit, capable of choosing either good or evil. Herein appears the depth of the wisdom of God, in his adorable providence; in governing men, so as not to destroy either their understanding, will, or liberty. He commands all things, both in heaven and earth, to assist man in attaining the end of his being, in working out his won salvation, so far as it can be done without compulsion, without over-ruling his liberty.

He commands all things, both in heaven and earth, to assist man in attaining the end of his being, in working out his won salvation, so far as it can be done without compulsion, without over-ruling his liberty. An attentive inquirer may easily discern, the whole frame of divine providence is so constituted as to afford man every possible help, in order to his doing good and eschewing evil, which can be done without turning man into a machine; without making him incapable of virtue or vice, reward or punishment. 16. Meantime, it has been remarked by a pious writer, that here is, as he expresses it, a three-fold circle of divine providence, over and above that which presides over the whole universe. We do not now speak of that over-ruling hand which governs the inanimate creation, which sustains the sun, moon, and stars in their stations, and guides their motions; we do not refer to his care of the animal creation, every part of which we know is under His government, "who giveth food unto the cattle, and feedeth the young ravens that call upon him;" but we here speak of that superintending providence which regards the children of men. each of these is easily distinguished from the other, by those who accurately observe the ways of God. The outermost circle includes the whole race of mankind, all the descendants of Adam, all the human creatures that are dispersed over the face of the earth. This comprises not only the Christian world, those that name the name of Christ, but the Mahometans also, who considerably out-number even the nominal Christians; yea, and the Heathens likewise, who very far out-number the Mahometans and Christians put together. "Is he the God of the Jews," says the Apostle, "and not of the Gentiles also" And so we may say, Is he the God of the Christians, and not of the Mahometans and Heathens Yea, doubtless of the Mahometans and Heathens also. His love is not confined: "The Lord is loving unto every man, and his mercy is over all his works." He careth for the very outcasts of men: It may truly be said, Free as the air thy bounty streams O'er all thy works: Thy mercies' beams Diffusive as they sun's arise.

4. Equally conspicuous is the wisdom of God in the government of nations, of states and kingdoms; yea, rather, more conspicuous; if infinite can be allowed to admit of any degrees. For the whole inanimate creation, being totally passive and inert, can make no opposition to his will. Therefore, in the natural world all things roll on in an even, uninterrupted course. But it is far otherwise in the moral world. Here evil men and evil spirits continually oppose the divine will, and create numberless irregularities. Here, therefore, is full scope for the exercise of all the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, in counteracting all the wickedness and folly of men, and all the subtlety of Satan, to carry on his own glorious design, -- the salvation of lost mankind. Indeed, were he to do this by an absolute decree, and by his own irresistible power, it would imply no wisdom at all. But his wisdom is shown by saving man in such a manner as not to destroy his nature, not to take away the liberty which he has given him. 5. But the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God are most eminently displayed in his Church; in planting it like a grain of mustard seed, the least of all seeds; in preserving and continually increasing it, till it grew into a great tree, notwithstanding the uninterrupted opposition of all the powers of darkness. This the Apostle justly terms the manifold wisdom (polupoikilos sojia) of God. It is an uncommonly expressive word, intimating that this wisdom, in the manner of its operation, is diversified a thousand ways, and exerts itself with infinite varieties. These things the highest "angels desire to look into," but can never fully comprehend. It seems to be with regard to these chiefly that the Apostle utters that strong exclamation, "How unsearchable are his judgments!" His counsels, designs, impossible to be fathomed; "and his ways" of accomplishing them "past finding out!" impossible to be traced! According to the Psalmist, "His paths are in the deep waters, and his footsteps are not known."

if not in grandeur, which as yet is out of their way; yet in new or beautiful things! Are not you seeking happiness in pretty or elegant apparel, or furniture or in new clothes, or books, or in pictures, or gardens "Why, what harm is there in these things" There is this harm, that they gratify "the desire of the eye," and thereby strengthen and increase it; making you more and more dead to God, and more alive to the world. How many are indulging "the pride of life!" seeking the honour that cometh of men! or "laying up treasures on earth!" They gain all they can, honestly and conscientiously. They save all they can, by cutting off all needless expense; by adding frugality to diligence. And so far all is right. This is the duty of every one that fears God. But they do not give all they can; without which they must needs grow more and more earthly-minded. Their affections will cleave to the dust more and more; and they will have less and less communion with God. Is not this your case Do you not seek the praise of men more than the praise of God Do not you lay up , or at least desire and endeavor to "lay up, treasures on earth" Are you not then (deal faithfully with your own soul!) more and more alive to the world, and, consequently, more and more dead to God It cannot be otherwise. That must follow, unless you give all you can, as well as gain and save all you can. There is no other way under heaven to prevent your money from sinking you lower than the grave! For "if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." And if it was in him in ever so high a degree, yet if he slides into the love of the world, by that same degrees that this enters in, the love of God will go out of the heart.

17. And perhaps there is something more than all this contained in those words: "Love not the world, neither the things of the world." Here we are expressly warned against loving the world, as well as against loving "the things of the world." The world is the men that know not God, that neither love nor fear him. To love these with a love of delight or complacence, to set our affections upon them, is here absolutely forbidden; and, by parity of reason, to converse or have intercourse with them, farther than necessary business requires. Friendship or intimacy with them, St. James does not scruple to term adultery: "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God Whosoever therefore will be a friend to the world is an enemy of God." Do not endeavour to shuffle away, or evade, the meaning of those strong words. They plainly require us to stand aloof from them, to have no needless commerce with unholy men. Otherwise we shall surely slide into conformity to the world; to their maxims, spirit, and customs. For not only their words, harmless as they seem, do eat as doth a canker; but their very breath is infectious: Their spirit imperceptibly influences our spirit. It steals "like water into our bowels, and like oil into our bones."

4. But it is not only with regard to ancient nations, that the providential dispensations of God are utterly imcomprehansible to us: The same difficulties occur now. We cannot account for his present dealings with the inhabitants of the earth. We know, "the Lord is loving unto every man, and his mercy is over all his works." But we know not how to reconcile this with the present dispensations of his providence. At this day, is not almost every part of the earth full of darkness and cruel habitations In what a condition, in particular, is the large and populous empire of Indostan! How many hundred thousands of the poor, quiet people, have been destroyed, and their carcases left as the dung of the earth! in what a condition (though they have no English ruffians there) are the numberless islands in the Pacific Ocean! How little is their state above that of wolves and bears! And who careth either for their souls or their bodies But does not the Father of men care for them O mystery of providence! 5. And who cares for thousands, myriads, if not millions, of the wretched Africans Are not whole droves of these poor sheep (human, if not rational beings!) continually driven to market, and sold, like cattle, into the vilest bondage, without any hope of delierance but by death Who cares for those outcasts or men, the well-known Hottenots It is true, a late writer has taken musch pains to represent them as a respectable people: But from what motive it is not easy to say; since he himself allows (a speciman of their elegance of manners) that the raw guts of sheep and other cattle are not only some of their choicest food, but also the ornaments of their arms and legs; and (a speciman of their religion) that the son is not counted a man, till he has beat his mother almost to death; and when his father grows old, he fastens him to a little hut, and leaves him there to starve! O Father of mercies! are these the works of thy own hands, the purchase of thy Son's blood

10. As little can we account for the divine dispensations with regard to individuals. We know not why the lot of this man is cast in Europe, the lot of that man in the wilds of America; why one is born of rich or noble, the other of poor parents; why the father and mother of one are strong and healthy, those of another weak and diseased; in consequence of which he drags a miserable being all the days of his life, exposed to want, and pain, and a thousand temptations from which he finds no way to escape. How many are from their very infancy hedged in with such relations that they seem to have no chance (as some speak), no possibility of being useful to themselves or others Why are they, antecedent to their own choice, entangled in such connections Why are hurtful people so cast in their way that they know not how to escape them And why are useful persons hid out of their sight, or snatched away from them at their utmost need O God, how unsearchable are thy judgments or counsels! Too deep to be fathomed by our reason: and thy ways of executing those counsels not to be traced by our wisdom!

Hence, it is probable, arose the numerous tales about the exploits of their demi-gods: Minorum Gentium. Hence their satyrs, fauns, nymphs of every kind; wherewith they supposed both the sea and land to be filled. But how empty, childish, unsatisfactory, are all the accounts they give of them! as, indeed, accounts that depend upon broken, uncertain tradition can hardly fail to be. 4. Revelation only is able to supply this defect: This only gives us a clear, rational, consistent account of those whom our eyes have not seen, nor our ears heard; of both good and evil angels. It is my design to speak, at present, only of the former; of whom we have a full, though brief account in these words: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister unto them that shall be heirs of salvation" I. 1. The question is, according to the manner of the Apostle, equivalent to a strong affirmation. And hence we learn, First, that with regard to their essence, or nature, they are all spirits; not material beings; not clogged with flesh and blood like us; but having bodies, if any, not gross and earthly like ours, but of a finer substance; resembling fire or flame, more than any other of these lower elements. And is not something like this intimated in those words of the Psalmist: "Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire" (Psalm 104:4.) As spirits, he has endued them with understanding, will, or affections, (which are indeed the same thing; as the affections are only the will exerting itself various ways,) and liberty. And are not these, understanding, will, and liberty, essential to, if not the essence of, a spirit 2. But who of the children of men can comprehend what is the understanding of an angel Who can comprehend how far their sight extends Analogous to sight in men, though not the same; but thus we are constrained to speak through the poverty of human language. Probably not only over one hemisphere of the earth; yea, or, Ten-fold the length of this terrene;

3. This single passage seems to contain the whole scriptural doctrine concerning evil angels. I apprehend the plain meaning of it, literally translated, is this: "Our wrestling," the wrestling of real Christians, "is not" only, or chiefly, "against flesh and blood," weak men, or fleshly appetites and passions, "but against principalities, against powers," -- the mighty princes of all the infernal regions, with their combined forces: And great is their power, as is also the power of the legions they command, -- "against the rulers of the world." (This is the literal meaning of the word.) Perhaps these principalities and powers remain chiefly in the citadel of their kingdom. But there are other evil spirits that range abroad, to whom the provinces of the world are committed, "of the darkness," chiefly the spiritual darkness, "of this age," which prevails during this present state of things, -- "against wicked spirits" -- eminently such; who mortally hate and continually oppose holiness, and labour to infuse unbelief, pride, evil desire, malice, anger, hatred, envy, or revenge -- "in heavenly places;" which were once their abode, and which they still aspire after. In prosecuting this important subject, I will endeavour to explain, I. The nature and properties of evil angels; and, II. Their employment. I. 1. With regard to the First, we cannot doubt but all the angels of God were originally of the same nature. Unquestionably they were the highest order of created beings. They were spirits, pure ethereal creatures, simple and incorruptible; if not wholly immaterial, yet certainly not incumbered with gross, earthly flesh and blood. As spirits, they were endued with understanding, with affections, and with liberty, or a power of self-determination; so that it lay in themselves, either to continue in their allegiance to God, or to rebel against him.

22. Yea, suppose God has now thoroughly cleansed our heart, and scattered the last remains of sin; yet how can we be sensible enough of our own helplessness, our utter inability to all good, unless we are every hour, yea, every moment, endued with power from on high Who is able to think one good thought, or to form one good desire, unless by that Almighty power which worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure We have need even in this state of grace, to be thoroughly and continually penetrated with a sense of this. Otherwise we shall be in perpetual danger of robbing God of his honour, by glorying in something we have received, as though we had not received it. 23. When our inmost soul is thoroughly tinctured therewith, it remains that we "be clothed with humility." The word used by St. Peter seems to imply that we be covered with it as with a surtout; that we be all humility, both within and without; tincturing all we think, speak, and do. Let all our actions spring from this fountain; let all our words breathe this spirit; that all men may know we have been with Jesus, and have learned of him to be lowly in heart. 24. And being taught of Him who was meek as well as lowly in heart, we shall then be enabled to "walk with all meekness;" being taught of Him who teacheth as never man taught, to be meek as well as lowly in heart. This implies not only a power over anger, but over all violent and turbulent passions. It implies the having all our passions in due proportion; none of them either too strong or too weak; but all duly balanced with each other; all subordinate to reason; and reason directed by the Spirit of God. Let this equanimity govern your whole souls; that your thoughts may all flow in an even stream, and the uniform tenor of your words and actions be suitable thereto. In this "patience" you will then "possess your souls;" which are not our own while we are tossed by unruly passions. And by this all men may know that we are indeed followers of the meek and lowly Jesus.

1. And First, I do not conceive the perfection here spoken of, to be the perfection of angels. As those glorious beings never "left their first estate," never declined from their original perfection, all their native faculties are unimpaired: Their understanding, in particular, is still a lamp of light, their apprehension of all things clear and distinct, and their judgment always true. Hence, though their knowledge is limited, (for they are creatures,) though they are ignorant of innumerable things, yet they are not liable to mistake: Their knowledge is perfect in its kind. And as their affections are all constantly guided by their unerring understanding, so all their actions are suitable thereto; so they do, every moment, not their own will, but the good and acceptable will of God. Therefore it is not possible for man, whose understanding is darkened, to whom mistake is as natural as ignorance; who cannot think at all, but by the mediation of organs which are weakened and depraved, like the other parts of his corruptible body; it is not possible, I say, for men always to think right, to apprehend things distinctly, and to judge truly of them. In consequence hereof, his affections, depending on his understanding, are variously disordered. And his words and actions are influenced, more or less, by the disorder both of his understanding and affections. It follows that no man, while in the body, can possibly attain to angelic perfection. 2. Neither can any man, while he is in a corruptible body, attain to Adamic perfection. Adam, before his fall, was undoubtedly as pure, as free from sin, as even the holy angels. In like manner, his understanding was as clear as theirs, and his affections as regular. In virtue of this, as he always judged right, so he was able always to speak and act right. But since man rebelled against God, the case is widely different with him. He is no longer able to avoid falling into innumerable mistakes; consequently, he cannot always avoid wrong affections; neither can he always think, speak, and act right. Therefore man, in his present state, can no more attain Adamic than angelic perfection.

6. The prayer of St. Paul for the Thessalonians, that God would "sanctify" them throughout, and "that the whole of them, the spirit, the soul, and the body, might be preserved blameless," will undoubtedly be heard in behalf of all the children of God, as well as of those at Thessalonica. Hereby, therefore, all Christians are encouraged to expect the same blessing from "the God of peace;" namely, that they also shall be "sanctified throughout, in spirit, soul, and body;" and that "the whole of them shall be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." [1 Thess. 5:23] 7. But the great question is, whether there is any promise in Scripture, that we shall be saved from sin. Undoubtedly there is. Such is that promise, (Psalm 130:8,) "He shall redeem Israel from all his sins;" exactly answerable to those words of the angel, "He shall save his people from their sins." And surely "he is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God through him." Such is that glorious promise given through the Prophet Ezekiel: (Ezek. 36:25-27:) "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: From all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Such (to mention no more) is that pronounced by Zechariah, (Luke 1:73-75,) "The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies," (and such, doubtless are all our sins,) "to serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life." The last part of this promise is peculiarly worthy of our observation. Lest any should say, "True, we shall be saved from our sins when we die," that clause is remarkably added, as if on purpose to obviate this pretence, all the days of our life. With what modesty then can anyone affirm, that none shall enjoy this liberty till death

(3.) I allow that some who once enjoyed full salvation have now totally lost it. They once walked in glorious liberty, giving God their whole heart, "rejoicing evermore, praying without ceasing, and in everything giving thanks." But it is past. They now are shorn of their strength, and become like other men. Perhaps they do not give up their confidence; they still have a sense of his pardoning love. But even this is frequently assaulted by doubts and fears, so that they hold it with a trembling hand. 13. "Nay, this," say some pious and sensible men, "is the very thing which we contend for. We grant, it may please God to make some of his children for a time unspeakably holy and happy. We will not deny, that they may enjoy all the holiness and happiness which you speak of. But it is only for a time: God never designed that it should continue to their lives' end. Consequently, sin is only suspended: It is not destroyed."

5. Why should you be averse to universal holiness, -- the same thing under another name Why should you entertain any prejudice against this, or look upon it with apprehension whether you understand by that term the being inwardly conformed to the whole image and will of God, or an outward behaviour in every point suitable to that conformity. Can you conceive anything more amiable than this anything more desirable Set prejudice aside, and surely you will desire to see it diffused over all the earth. 6. Is perfection (to vary the expression) the being "sanctified throughout in spirit, soul, and body" What lover of God and man can be averse to this, or entertain frightful apprehension of it Is it not, in your best moments, your desire to be all of a piece -- all consistent with yourself -- all faith, all meekness, and all love And suppose you were once possessed of this glorious liberty, would not you wish to continue therein -- to be preserved "blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" 7. For what cause should you that are children of God be averse to, or afraid of, presenting yourselves, your souls and bodies, as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God -- to God your Creator, your Redeemer, your Sanctifier Can anything be more desirable than this entire self-dedication to him And is it not your wish that all mankind should unite in this "reasonable service" Surely no one can be averse to this, without being and enemy to all mankind. 8. And why should you be afraid of, or averse to, what is naturally implied in this; namely, the offering up all our thoughts, and words, and actions, as a spiritual sacrifice to God, acceptable to him through the blood and intercession of his well-beloved Son. Surely you cannot deny that this is good and profitable to men, as well as pleasing to God. Should you not then devoutly pray that both you and all mankind may thus worship him in spirit and in truth

12. "No," says a great man, "this is the error of errors: I hate it from my heart. I pursue it through all the world with fire and sword." Nay, why so vehement Do you seriously think there is no error under heaven equal to this Here is something which I cannot understand. Why are those that oppose salvation from sin (few excepted) so eager, -- I had almost said, furious Are you fighting pro aris et focis "for God and your country" for all you have in the world for all that is near and dear unto you for your liberty, your life In God's name, why are you so fond of sin What good has it ever done you what good is it ever likely to do you, either in this world or in the world to come And why are you so violent against those that hope for deliverance from it Have patience with us, if we are in an error; yea, suffer us to enjoy our error. If we should not attain it, the very expectation of this deliverance gives us present comfort; yea, and ministers strength to resist those enemies which we expect to conquer. If you could persuade us to despair of that victory, we should give over the contest Now "we are saved by hope:" From this very hope a degree of salvation springs. Be not angry at those who are felices errore suo, "happy in their mistake." Else, be their opinion right or wrong, your temper is undeniably sinful. Bear then with us, as we do with you; and see whether the Lord will not deliver us! whether he is not able, yea, and willing "to save them to the uttermost that come unto God through him." [Tunbridge Wells, Dec. 6, 1784]

1. In order to this, I would advise you, First, be deeply convinced that none of them bring happiness; that no thing, no person under the sun, no, nor the amassment of all together, can give any solid, satisfactory happiness to any child of man. The world itself, the giddy, thoughtless world, acknowledge this unawares, while they allow, nay, vehemently maintain, "No man upon earth is contented." The very same observation was made near two thousand years ago: -- Nemo quam sibi sortem Seu ratio dederit, seu fors objecerit, illa Contentus vivat. Let fortune or let choice the station give To man, yet none on earth contented live. And if no man upon earth is contented, it is certain no man is happy. For whatever station we are in, discontent is incompatible with happiness. 2. Indeed not only the giddy, but the thinking, part of the world allow that no man is contented; the melancholy proofs of which we see on every side, in high and low, rich and poor. And, generally, the more understanding they have, the more discontented they are. For, They know with more distinction to complain, And have superior sense in feeling pain. It is true, every one has (to use the cant term of the day, and an excellent one it is) his hobby-horse; something that pleases the great boy for a few hours or days, and wherein he hopes to be happy! But though Hope blooms eternal in the human breast; Man never is, but always to be, blest. Still he is walking in a vain shadow, which will soon vanish away! So that universal experience, both our own, and that of all our friends and acquaintance, clearly proves, that as God made our hearts for himself, so they cannot rest till they rest in him; that till we acquaint ourselves with him, we cannot be at peace. As "a scorner" of the wisdom of God "seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not;" so a scorner of happiness in God seeketh happiness, but findeth none.

Hast thou not said, 'If thou canst believe, thou shalt see the glory of God' Lord, I would believe! Help thou mine unbelief. And help me now! Help me now to enter into the rest that remaineth for the people of God; for those who give thee their heart, their whole heart; who receive thee as their God and their All. O thou that art fairer than the children of men, full of grace are thy lips! Speak that I may see thee! And as the shadows flee before the sun, so let all my idols vanish at thy presence!" 6. From the moment that you begin to experience this, fight the good fight of faith; take the kingdom of heaven by violence! Take it as it were by storm! Deny yourself every pleasure that you are not divinely conscious brings you nearer to God. Take up your cross daily: Regard no pain, if it lies in your way to him. If you are called thereto, scruple not to pluck out the right eye, and to cast it from you. Nothing is impossible to him that believeth: You can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth you. Do valiantly; and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. Yea, go on in his name, and in the power of his might, till you "know all that love of God that passeth knowledge:" And then you have only to wait till he shall call you into his everlasting kingdom!

17. If the children of God will connect themselves with the men of the world, though the latter should not endeavour to make them like themselves, (which is a supposition by no means to be made,) yea, though they should neither design nor desire it; yet they will actually do it, whether they design it, and whether they endeavour it, or no. I know not how to account for it, but it is a real fact, that their very spirit is infectious. While you are near them, you are apt to catch their spirit, whether they will or no. Many physicians have observed, that not only the plague, and putrid or malignant fevers, but almost every disease men are liable to, are more or less infectious. And undoubtedly so are all spiritual diseases, only with great variety. The infection is not so swiftly communicated by some as it is by others. In either case, the person already diseased does not desire or design to infect another. The man who has the plague does not desire or intend to communicate his distemper to you. But you are not therefore safe: So keep at a distance, or you will surely be infected. Does not experience show that the case is the same with the diseases of the mind Suppose the proud, the vain, the passionate, the wanton, do not desire or design to infect you with their own distempers; yet it is best to keep at a distance from them. You are not safe if you come too near them. You will perceive (it is well if it be not too late) that their very breath is infectious. It has been lately discovered that there is an atmosphere surrounding every human body, which naturally affects everyone that comes within the limits of it. Is there not something analogous to this, with regard to a human spirit If you continue long within their atmosphere, so to speak, you can hardly escape the being infected. The contagion spreads from soul to soul, as well as from body to body, even though the persons diseased do not intend or desire it. But can this reasonably be supposed Is it not a notorious truth, that men of the world (exceeding few excepted) eagerly desire to make their companions like themselves yea and use every means, with their utmost skill and industry, to accomplish their desire.

25. "But must I not be intimate with my relations; and that whether they fear God or not Has not his providence recommended these to me" Undoubtedly it has: But there are relations nearer or more distant. The nearest relations are husbands and wives. As these have taken each other for better for worse, they must make the best of each other; seeing, as God has joined the together, none can put them asunder; unless in case of adultery, or when the life of one or the other is in imminent danger. Parents are almost as nearly connected with their children. You cannot part with them while they are young; it being your duty to "train them up," with all care, "in the way wherein they should go." How frequently you should converse with them when they are grown up is to be determined by Christian prudence. This also will determine how long it is expedient for children, if it be at their own choice, to remain with their parents. In general, if they do not fear God, you should leave them as soon as is convenient. But wherever you are, take care (if it be in your power) that they do not want the necessaries or conveniences of life. As for all other relations, even brothers or sisters, if they are of the world you are under no obligation, to be intimate with them: You may be civil and friendly at a distance.

28. But whatever others do, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, hear this, all ye that are called Methodists! However importuned or tempted thereto, have no friendship with the world. Look round, and see the melancholy effects it has produced among your brethren! How many of the mighty are fallen! How many have fallen by this very thing! They would take no warning: They would converse, and that intimately, with earthly-minded men, till they "measured back their steps to earth again!" O "come out from among them!" from all unholy men, however harmless they may appear; "and be ye separate:" At least so far as to have no intimacy with them. As your "fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ;" so let it be with those, and those only, who at least seek the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. So "shall ye be," in a peculiar sense, "my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

19. Such are the consequences which must surely, though perhaps slowly, follow the mixing of the children of God with the men of the world. And by this means, more than by any other, yea, than by all others put together, are the people called Methodists likely to lose their strength, and become like other men. It is indeed with a good design, and from a real desire of promoting the glory of God, that many of them admit of familiar conversation with men that know not God. You have a hope of awakening them out of sleep, and persuading them to seek the things that make for their peace. But if, after a competent time of trial, you can make no impression upon them, it will be your wisdom to give them up to God; otherwise you are more likely to receive hurt from them, than to do them any good. For if you do not raise their hearts up to heaven, they will draw yours down to earth. Therefore, retreat in time, "and come out from among them, and be ye separate." 20. But how may this be done What is the most easy and effectual method of separating ourselves from unholy men Perhaps a few advices will make this plain to those that desire to know and do the will of God. First: Invite no unholy person to your house, unless on some very particular occasion. You may say, "But civility requires this, and sure, religion is no enemy to civility. Nay, the Apostle himself directs us to be courteous, as well as to be pitiful." I answer, You may be civil, sufficiently civil, and yet keep them at a proper distance. You may be courteous in a thousand instances, and yet stand aloof from them. And it was never the design of the Apostle to recommend any such courtesy as must necessarily prove a snare to the soul.

23. When it pleased God to give me a settled resolution to be, not a nominal, but a real Christian, (being then about twenty-two years of age,) my acquaintance were as ignorant of God as myself. But there was this difference: I knew my own ignorance; they did not know theirs. I faintly endeavoured to help them; but in vain. Meantime I found, by sad experience, that even their harmless conversation, so called, damped all my good resolutions. But how to get rid of them was the question, which I resolved in my mind again and again. I saw no possible way, unless it should please God to remove me to another College. He did so, in a manner utterly contrary to all human probability. I was elected Fellow of a College where I knew not one person. I foresaw, abundance of people would come to see me, either out of friendship, civility, or curiosity; and that I should have offers of acquaintance new and old: But I had now fixed my plan. Entering now, as it were, into a new world, I resolved to have no acquaintance by chance, but by choice; and to choose such only as I had reason to believe would help me on in my way to heaven. In consequence of this, I narrowly observed the temper and behaviour of all that visited me. I saw no reason to think that the greater part of these truly loved or feared God. Such acquaintance, therefore, I did not choose: I could not expect they would do me any good. Therefore, when any of these came to see me, I behaved as courteously as I could. But to the question, "When will you come to see me" I returned no answer. When they had come a few times, and found I still declined returning the visit, I saw them no more. And I bless God, this has been my invariable rule for about threescore years. I knew many reflections would follow: But that did not move me; as I knew full well, it was my calling to go "through evil report and good report".

On Temptation "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: And God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Cor. 10:13. 1. In the foregoing part of the chapter, the Apostle has been reciting, on the one hand, the unparalleled mercies of God to the Israelites; and, on the other, the unparalleled ingratitude of that disobedient and gainsaying people. [1 Cor. 10:1-10] And all these things, as the Apostle observes, "were written for our ensample;" [1 Cor. 10:11] that we might take warning from them, so as to avoid their grievous sins, and escape their terrible punishment. He then adds that solemn and important caution, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." [1 Cor. 10:12]

The strength which thou assuredly hast, shall be taken away. As firmly as thou didst really stand, thou wilt fall into sin, if not into hell. 3. But lest any should be discouraged by the consideration of those who once ran well, and were afterwards overcome by temptation; lest the fearful of heart should be utterly cast down, supposing it impossible for them to stand; the Apostle subjoins to that serious exhortation, these comfortable words: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." [1 Cor. 10:13] I. 1. Let us begin with the observation which ushers in this comfortable promise: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man." Our translators seem to have been sensible that this expression, common to man, does by means reach the force of the original word. Hence they substitute another in the margin, moderate. But this seems to be less significant than the other, and farther from the meaning of it. Indeed it is not easy to find any word in the English tongue, which answers the word anqrvpinos. I believe the sense of it can only be expressed by some such circumlocution as this: "Such as is suited to the nature and circumstances of man; such as every man may reasonably expect, if he considers the nature of his body and his soul, and his situation in the present world." If we duly consider these, we shall not be surprised at any temptation that hath befallen us; seeing it is no other than such a creature, in such a situation, has all reason to expect.

2. Consider, First, the nature of that body with which your soul is connected. How many are the evils which it is every day, every hour, liable to! Weakness, sickness and disorders of a thousand kinds are its natural attendants. Consider the inconceivably minute fibres, threads, abundantly finer than hair, (called from thence capillary vessels,) whereof every part of it is composed; consider the innumerable multitude of equally fine pipes and strainers, all filled with circulating juice! And will not the breach of a few of these fibres, or the obstruction of a few of these tubes, particularly in the brain, or heart, or lungs, destroy our ease, health, strength, if not life itself Now, if we observe that all pain implies temptation, how numberless must the temptations be which will beset every man, more or less, sooner or later, while he dwells in this corruptible body! 3. Consider, Secondly, the present state of the soul, as long as it inhabits the house of clay. I do not mean in its unregenerate state; while it lies in darkness and the shadow of death; under the dominion of the prince of darkness, without hope and without God in the world: No; look upon men who are raised above that deplorable state. See those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Yet still how weak is their understanding! How limited its extent! How confused, how inaccurate, are our apprehensions of even the things that are round about us. How liable are the wisest of men to mistake! to inform false judgments; -- to take falsehood for truth, and truth for falsehood; evil for good, and good for evil! What starts, what wanderings of imagination, are we continually subject to! And how many are the temptations which we have to expect even from these innocent infirmities!

6. "But can we expect to find any temptation from those that are perfected in love" This is an important question, and deserves a particular consideration. I answer, First, You may find every kind of temptation from those who suppose they are perfected when indeed they are not: And so you may, Secondly, from those who once really were so, but are now moved from their steadfastness. And if you are not aware of this, if you think they are still what they were once, the temptation will be harder to bear. Nay, Thirdly, even those who "stand fast in liberty wherewith Christ has made them free," [Gal. 5:1] who are now really perfect in love, may still be an occasion of temptation to you; for they are still encompassed with infirmities. They may be dull of apprehension; they may have natural heedlessness, or a treacherous memory; they may have too lively an imagination: And any of these may cause little improprieties, either in speech or behaviour, which, though not sinful in themselves, may try all the grace you have: Especially if you impute to perverseness of will (as it is very natural to do) what is really owing to defect of memory, or weakness of understanding; -- if these appear to you to be voluntary mistakes, which are really involuntary. So proper was the answer which a saint of God (now in Abraham's bosom) gave me some years ago, when I said, "Jenny, surely now your mistress and you can neither of you of you be a trial to the other, as God has saved you both from sin!" "O, Sir," said she, "if we are saved from sin, we still have infirmities enough to try all the grace that God has given us!"

2. In that execrable slaughter-house, the Romish Inquisition, (most unfortunately called, The House of Mercy!) it is the custom of those holy butchers, while they are tearing a man's sinews upon the rack, to have the physician of the house standing by. His business is, from time to time, to observe the eyes, the pulse, and other circumstances of the sufferer, and to give notice when the torture has continued so long as it can without putting an end to his life; that it may be preserved long enough for him to undergo the residue of their tortures. But notwithstanding all the physician's care, he is sometimes mistaken; and death puts a period to the sufferings of the patient before his tormentors are aware. We may observe something like this in our own case. In whatever sufferings or temptations we are, our great Physician never departs from us. He is about our bed, and about our path. He observes every symptom of our distress, that it may not rise above our strength. And he cannot be mistaken concerning us. He sees exactly how much we can endure with our present degree of strength. And if this is not sufficient, he can increase it to whatever degree it pleases him. Nothing, therefore, is more certain, than that, in consequence of his wisdom, as well as his justice, mercy, and faithfulness, he never will, he never can, suffer us to be tempted above that we are able: Above the strength which he either hath given already, or will give as soon as we need it. III. 1. "He will with the temptation also" (this is the Third point we are to consider) "make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it." The word ekbasin, which we render a way of to escape, is extremely significant. The meaning of it is nearly expressed by the English word out-let; but more exact by the old word out-gate, still frequently used by the Scottish writers. It literally means a way out. And this God will either find our make; which He that hath all wisdom, as well as all power in heaven and earth, can never be at a loss how to do.

He vows, if I do not carry you to prison without delay, I shall go thither myself." She answered, "You have done your part. The will of the Lord be done!" He said, "I will venture to make one trial more, and will come again in the morning." He came in the morning, and said, "Mrs. Chadsey, God has undertaken your cause. None can give you any trouble now; for your landlord died last night. But he has left no will; and no one knows who is heir to the estate." 3. Thus God is able to deliver out of temptations, by removing the occasion of them. But are there not temptations, the occasions of which cannot be taken away Is it not a striking instance of this kind, which we have in a late publication "I was walking," says the writer of the letter, "over Dover cliffs, in a calm, pleasant evening with a person whom I tenderly loved, and to whom I was to be married in a few days. While we were engaged in earnest conversation, her foot slipped, she fell down, and I saw her dashed to pieces of the beach. I lifted up my hands, and cried out. `This evil admits of no remedy. I must now go mourning all my days! My wound is incurable. It is impossible I should ever find such another woman! One so every way fitted for me.' I added in an agony, `This is such an affliction as even God himself cannot redress!' And just as I uttered the words, I awoke: For it was a dream!" Just so can God remove any possible temptation; making it like a dream when one waketh!

6. We may observe one more instance of a somewhat similar kind, in the Life of the Marquis de Renty. When his wife, whom he very tenderly loved, was exceeding ill, and supposed to be near death, a friend took the liberty to inquire how he felt himself on the occasion. He replied, "I cannot but say, that this trial affects me in the most tender part. I am exquisitely sensible of my loss. I feel more than it is possible to express. And yet I am so satisfied, that the will of God is done, and not the will of a vile sinner, that, were it not for fear of giving offence to others, I could dance and sing!" Thus the merciful, the just, the faithful God, will, in one way or other, "in every temptation make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it." 7. This whole passage is fruitful of instruction. Some of the lessons which we may learn from it are, First, "Let him that most assuredly standeth, take heed lest he fall" into murmuring; lest he say in his hear, "Surely no one's case is like mine; no one was ever tried like me." Yea, ten thousand. "There was no temptation taken you," but such as is "common to man;" such as you might reasonably expect, if you considered what you are; a sinner born to die; a sinful inhabitant of a mortal body, liable to numberless inward and outward sufferings; -- and where you are; in a shattered, disordered world. surrounded by evil men, and evil spirits. Consider this, and you will not repine at the common lot, the general condition of humanity. 8. Secondly. "Let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall;" lest he tempt God, by thinking or saying, "This is insupportable; this is too hard; I can never get through it; my burden is heavier that I can bear." Not so; unless something is too hard for God. He will not suffer you to be "tempted above that ye are able." He proportions the burden to your strength. If you want more strength, "ask, and it shall be given you."

11. But it may be inquired, In what manner does God work this entire, this universal change in the soul of a believer this strange work, which so many will not believe, though we declare it unto them Does he work it gradually, by slow degrees; or instantaneously, in a moment How many are the disputes upon this head, even among the children of God! And so there will be, after all that ever was, or ever can be said upon it. For many will still say, with the famous Jew, Non persuadebis, etiamsi persuaseris: That is, "Thou shalt not persuade me, though thou dost persuade me." And they will be the more resolute herein, because the Scriptures are silent upon the subject; because the point is not determined, at least not in express terms, in any part of the oracles of God. Every man therefore may abound in his own sense, provided he will allow the same liberty to his neighbour; provided he will not be angry at those who differ from his opinion, nor entertain hard thoughts concerning them. Permit me likewise to add one thing more: Be the change instantaneous or gradual, see that you never rest till it is wrought in your own soul, if you desire to dwell with God in glory.

4. But there is also another thing implied herein, which men of the most elevated spirits have preferred before all the pleasures of sense and of imagination put together; that is, honour, glory, renown: Virum volitare per ora. [The following is Dryden's translation of this quotation from Virgil, and of the words connected with it: -- "New ways I must attempt, my grovelling name To raise aloft, and wing my flight to fame." -- EDIT.] It seems, that hardly any principle in the human mind is of greater force than this. It triumphs over the strongest propensities of nature, over all our appetites and affections. If Brutus sheds the blood of his own children; if we see another Brutus, in spite of every possible obligation, in defiance of all justice and gratitude, Cringing while he stabs his friend; if a far greater man than either of these, Paschal Paoli, gave up ease, pleasure, everything, for a life of constant toil, pain, and alarms; what principle could support them They might talk of amor patriae, the love of their country; but this would never have carried them through, had there not been also the Laudum immensa cupido; "the immense thirst of praise." Now, the man we speak of has gained abundance of this: He is praised, if not admired, by all that are round about him. Nay, his name is gone forth into distant lands, as it were, to the ends of the earth. 5. Add to this, that he has gained abundance of wealth; that there is no end of his treasures; that he has laid up silver as the dust, and gold as the sand of the sea. Now, when a man has obtained all these pleasures, all that will gratify either the senses or the imagination; when he has gained an honourable name, and also laid up much treasure for many years; then he may be said, in an easy, natural sense of the word, to have "gained the whole world."

5. How different, alas! is the case with him who loses his own soul! The moment he steps into eternity, he meets with the devil and his angels. Sad convoy into the world of spirits! Sad earnest of what is to come! And either he is bound with chains of darkness, and reserved unto the judgment of the great day; or, at best, he wanders up and down, seeking rest, but finding none. Perhaps he may seek it (like the unclean spirit cast out of the man) in dry, dreary, desolate places; perhaps Where nature all in ruins lies, And owns her sovereign, death! And little comfort can he find here, seeing everything contributes to increase, not remove, the fearful expectation of fiery indignation, which will devour the ungodly. 6. For even this is to him but the beginning of sorrows. Yet a little while, and he will see "the great white throne coming down from heaven, and him that sitteth thereon, from whose face the heavens and the earth flee away, and there is found no place for them." And "the dead, small and great, stand before God, and are judged, every one according to his works." "Then shall the King say to them on his right hand," (God grant he may say so to YOU!) "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." And the angels shall tune their harps and sing, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, that the heirs of glory may come in." And then shall they 'shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars forever and ever." 7. How different will be the lot of him that loses his own soul! No joyful sentence will be pronounced on him, but one that will pierce him through with unutterable horror: (God forbid that ever it should be pronounced on any of you that are here before God!) "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!" And who can doubt, but those infernal spirits will immediately execute the sentence; will instantly drag those forsaken of God into their own place of torment! Into those Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace And rest can never dwell! Hope never comes, That comes to all, --

all the children of men who are on this side eternity. But not to them: The gulf is now fixed, over which they cannot pass. From the moment wherein they are once plunged into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone, their torments are not only without intermission, but likewise without end. For "they have no rest, day or night; but the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever!" III. Upon ever so cursory a view of these things, would not anyone be astonished, that a man, that a creature endued with reason, should voluntarily choose, I say choose; for God forces no man into inevitable damnation; he never yet Consign'd one unborn soul to hell, Or damn'd him from his mother's womb, -- should choose thus to lose his own soul, though it were to gain the whole world! For what shall a man be profited thereby upon the whole of the account But a little to abate our astonishment at this, let us observe the suppositions which a man generally makes before he can reconcile himself to this fatal choice. 1. He supposes, First, that "a life of religion is a life of misery." That religion is misery! How is it possible that anyone should entertain so strange a thought Do any of you imagine this If you do, the reason is plain; you know not what religion is. "No! but I do, as well as you." -- What is it then "Why, the doing no harm." Not so; many birds and beasts do no harm, yet they are not capable of religion. "Then it is going to church and sacrament." Indeed it is not. This may be an excellent help to religion; and everyone who desires to save his soul should attend them at all opportunities; yet it is possible you may attend them all your days, and still have no religion at all. Religion is an higher and deeper thing than any outward ordinance whatever.

But not to avail ourselves of authority, let us weigh the thing in the balance of reason. I ask, What can make a wicked man happy You answer, "He has gained the whole world." We allow it; and what does this imply He has gained all that gratifies the senses: In particular, all that can please the taste; all the delicacies of meat and drink. True; but can eating and drinking make a man happy They never did yet: And certain it is, they never will. This is too coarse food for an immortal spirit. But suppose it did give him a poor kind of happiness, during those moments wherein he was swallowing; what will he do with the residue of his time Will it not hang heavy upon his hands Will he not groan under many a tedious hour, and think swift-winged time flies too slow If he is not fully employed, will he not frequently complain of lowness of spirits an unmeaning expression; which the miserable physician usually no more understands than his miserable patient. We know there are such things as nervous disorders. But we know likewise, that what is commonly called nervous lowness is a secret reproof from God; a kind of consciousness that we are not in our place; that we are not as God would have us to be: We are unhinged from our proper centre. 8. To remove, or at least soothe, this strange uneasiness, let him add the pleasures of imagination. Let him bedaub himself with silver and gold, and adorn himself with all the colours of the rainbow. Let him build splendid palaces, and furnish them in the most elegant as well as costly manner. Let him lay out walks and gardens, beautified with all that nature and art can afford. And how long will these give him pleasure Only as long as they are new. As soon as ever the novelty is gone, the pleasure is gone also. After he has surveyed them a few months, or years, they give him no more satisfaction. The man who is saving his soul, has the advantage of him in this very respect. For he can say, In the pleasures the rich man's possessions display, Unenvied I challenge my part; While every fair object my eye can survey Contributes to gladden my heart.

9. "However, he has yet another resource: Applause, glory. And will not this make him happy" It will not: For he cannot be applauded by all men: No man ever was. Some will praise; perhaps many; but not all. It is certain some will blame: And he that is fond of applause, will feel more pain from the censure of one, than pleasure from the praise of many. So that whoever seeks happiness in applause will infallibly be disappointed, and will find, upon the whole of the account, abundantly more pain than pleasure. 10. But to bring the matter to a short issue. Let us take an instance of one who had gained more of this world than probably any man now alive, unless he be a sovereign prince. But did all he had gained make him happy Answer for thyself! Then said Haman, Yet "all this profiteth me nothing, while I see Mordecai sitting in the gate." Poor Human! One unholy temper, whether pride, envy, jealousy, or revenge, gave him more pain, more vexation of spirit, than all the world could give pleasure. And so it must be in the nature of things; for all unholy tempers are unhappy tempers. Ambition, covetousness, vanity, inordinate affection, malice, revengefulness, carry their own punishment with them, and avenge themselves on the soul wherein they dwell. Indeed what are these, more especially when they are combined with an awakened conscience, but the dogs of hell, already gnawing the soul, forbidding happiness to approach Did not even the Heathens see this What else means their fable of Tityus, chained to a rock, with a vulture continually tearing up his breast, and feeding upon his liver Quid rides "Why do you smile" says the poet: Mutato nomine, de te Fabula narratur. "It is another name; but thou art the man!" Lust, foolish desire, envy, malice, or anger, is now tearing thy breast: Love of money, or of praise, hatred or revenge, is now feeding on thy poor spirit. Such happiness is in vice! So vain is the supposition that a life of wickedness is a life of happiness!

Can such a choice be made by any that considers what eternity is Philip Melanchthon, the most learned of all the German Reformers, gives the following relation: (I pass no judgment upon it, but set it down nearly in his own words:) "When I was at Wirtemberg, as I was walking out one summer evening with several of my fellow-students, we heard an uncommon singing, and following the sound, saw a bird of an uncommon figure. One stepping up asked, "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, what art thou" It answered, "I am a damned spirit;" and, in vanishing away, pronounced these words: "O Eternity, Eternity! who can tell the length of Eternity" And how soon will this be the language of him who sold his soul for threescore years' pleasure! How soon would he cry out, "O Eternity, Eternity! who can tell the length of Eternity" 13. In how striking a manner is this illustrated by one of the ancient Fathers! "Supposing there were a ball of sand as big as the whole earth. Suppose a grain of this to be annihilated in a thousand years: Which would be more eligible, -- to be happy while this ball was wasting away at the rate of one grain in a thousand years, and miserable ever after -- or to be miserable, while it was wasting away at that proportion, and happy ever after" A wise man, it is certain, could not pause one moment upon the choice; seeing all the time wherein this ball would be wasting away, bears infinitely less proportion to eternity, than a drop of water to the whole ocean, or a grain of sand to the whole mass. Allowing then that a life of religion were a life of misery; that a life of wickedness were a life of happiness; and, that a man were assured of enjoying that happiness for the term of threescore years; yet what would he be profited if he were then to be miserable to all eternity

14. But it has been proved, that the case is quite otherwise, that religion is happiness, that wickedness is misery; and that no man is assured of living threescore days: And if so, is there any fool, any madman under heaven, who can be compared to him that casts away his own soul, though it were to gain the whole world For what is the real state of the case What is the choice which God proposes to his creatures It is not, "Will you be happy threescore years, and then miserable forever, or, will you be miserable threescore years, and then happy forever" It is not, "Will you have first a temporary heaven, and then hell eternal; or, will you have first a temporary hell, and then heaven eternal" But it is simply this: "Will you be miserable threescore years, and miserable ever after; or, will you be happy threescore years, and happy ever after Will you have a foretaste of heaven now, and then heaven forever; or will you have a foretaste of hell now and then hell forever Will you have two hells, or two heavens"

15. One would think, there needed no great sagacity to answer this question. And this is the very question which I now propose to you in the name of God. Will you be happy here and hereafter; in the world that now is, and in that which is to come Or will you be miserable here and hereafter, in time and in eternity What is your choice Let there be no delay: Now take one or the other! I take heaven and earth to record this day, that I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. O choose life! The life of peace and love now; the life of glory forever! By the grace of God, now choose that better part, which shall never be taken from you! And having once fixed your choice, never draw back; adhere to it at all events. Go on in the name of the Lord, whom ye have chosen, and in the power of his might! In spite of all opposition, from nature, from the world, from all the powers of darkness, still fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life! And then there is laid up for you a crown, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give you at that day!

2. But how are we to work out this salvation The Apostle answers, "With fear and trembling." There is another passage of St. Paul wherein the same expression occurs, which may give light to this: "Servants, obey your masters according to the flesh," -- according to the present state of things, although sensible that in a little time the servant will be free from his master, -- "with fear and trembling." This is a proverbial expression, which cannot be understood literally. For what master could bear, much less require, his servant to stand trembling and quaking before him And the following words utterly exclude this meaning: "In singleness of heart;" with a single eye to the will and providence of God; "not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;" doing whatever they do as the will of God, and, therefore, with their might. (Eph. 6:5, &c.) It is easy to see that these strong expressions of the Apostle clearly imply two things: First, that everything be done with the utmost earnestness of spirit, and with all care and caution: (Perhaps more directly referring to the former word, meta jobou, with fear:) Secondly, that it be done with the utmost diligence, speed, punctuality, and exactness; not improbably referring to the latter word, meta tromou, with trembling. 3. How easily may we transfer this to the business of life, the working out our own salvation! With the same temper, and in the same manner, that Christian servants serve their masters that are upon earth, let other Christians labour to serve their Master that is in heaven: that is, First, with the utmost earnestness of spirit, with all possible care and caution; and, secondly, with the utmost diligence, speed, punctuality, and exactness.

6. Meantime let us remember that God has joined these together in the experience of every believer; and therefore we must take care, not to imagine they are ever to be put asunder. We must beware of that mock humility which teacheth us to say, in excuse for our wilful disobedience, "O, I can do nothing!" and stops there, without once naming the grace of God. Pray, think twice. Consider what you say. I hope you wrong yourself; for if it be really true that you can do nothing, then you have no faith. And if you have not faith, you are in a wretched condition: You are not in a state of salvation. Surely it is not so. You can do something, through Christ strengthening you. Stir up the spark of grace which is now in you, and he will give you more grace. 7. Secondly, God worketh in you; therefore you must work: You must be "workers together with him," (they are the very words of the Apostle,) otherwise he will cease working. The general rule on which his gracious dispensations invariably proceed is this: "Unto him that hath shall be given; but from him that hath not," -- that does not improve the grace already given, -- "shall be taken away what he assuredly hath." (So the words ought to be rendered.) Even St. Augustine, who is generally supposed to favour the contrary doctrine, makes that just remark, Qui fecit nos sine nobis, non salvabit nos sine nobis: "He that made us without ourselves, will not save us without ourselves." He will not save us unless we "save ourselves from this untoward generation;" unless we ourselves "fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life; "unless we "agonize to enter in at the strait gate," "deny ourselves, and take up our cross daily," and labour by every possible means to "make our own calling and election sure."

But O! "who is sufficient for these things" Who is able to stem the general torrent to combat all the prejudices, not only of the vulgar, but of the learned and the religious world Yet nothing is too hard for God! Still his grace is sufficient for us. In his name, then, and by his strength I will endeavour. I. To explain the words of the Apostle. 1. And, First, let us consider, what it is to be rich. What does the Apostle mean by this expression The preceding verse fixes the meaning of that: "Having food and raiment," (literally coverings; for the word includes lodging as well as clothes) "let us be therewith content." "But they that will be rich;" that is, who will have more than these; more than food and coverings. It plainly follows, whatever is more than these is, in the sense of the Apostle, riches; whatever is above the plain necessaries, or at most conveniences, of life. Whoever has sufficient food to eat, and raiment to put on, with a place where to lay his head, and something over, is rich. 2. Let us consider, Secondly, What is implied in that expression, "They that will be rich" And does not this imply, First, they that desire to be rich, to have more than food and coverings; they that seriously and deliberately desire more than food to eat, and raiment to put on, and a place where to lay their head, more than the plain necessaries and conveniences of life All, at least, who allow themselves in this desire, who see no harm in it, desire to be rich. 3. And so do, Secondly, all those that calmly, deliberately, and of set purpose endeavour after more than food and coverings; that aim at and endeavour after, not only so much worldly substance as will procure them the necessaries and conveniences of life, but more than this, whether to lay it up, or lay it out in superfluities. All these undeniably prove their "desire to be rich" by their endeavours after it.

6. Under this imputation of "desiring to be rich," fall, Fifthly, all "lovers of money." The word properly means, those that delight in money; those that take pleasure in it; those that seek their happiness therein; that brood over their gold and silver, bills or bonds. Such was the man described by the fine Roman painter, who broke out into that natural Soliloquy:-- . . . Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo Ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplor in arca. [The following is Francis's translation of these lines from Horace: "Let them his on, While, in my own opinion fully blest, I count my money, and enjoy my chest." -- Edit.] If there are any vices which are not natural to man, I should imagine this is one; as money of itself does not seem to gratify any natural desire or appetite of the human mind; and as, during an observation of sixty years, I do not remember one instance of a man given up to the love of money, till he had neglected to employ this precious talent according to the will of his Master. After this, sin was punished by sin; and this evil spirit was permitted to enter into him. 7. But beside this gross sort of covetousness, the love of money, there is a more refined species of covetousness, mentioned by the great Apostle, pleonexia, -- which literally means a desire of having more; more than we have already. And those also come under the denomination of "they that will be rich." It is true that this desire, under proper restrictions, is innocent; nay, commendable. But when it exceeds the bounds, (and how difficult is it not to exceed them!) then it comes under the present censure.

8. But who is able to receive these hard sayings Who can believe that they are the great truths of God Not many wise not many noble, not many famed for learning; none, indeed, who are not taught of God. And who are they whom God teaches Let our Lord answer: "If any man be willing to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." Those who are otherwise minded will be so far from receiving it, that they will not be able to understand it. Two as sensible men as most in England sat down together, some time since, to read over and consider that plain discourse on, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth." After much deep consideration, one of them broke out, "Positively, I cannot understand it. Pray, do you understand it, Mr. L." Mr. L. honestly replied, "Indeed, not I. I cannot conceive what Mr. W. means. I can make nothing at all of it." So utterly blind is our natural understanding touching the truth of God! 9. Having explained the former part of the text, "They that will be rich," and pointed out in the clearest manner I could, the persons spoken of; I will now endeavour, God being my helper, to explain what is spoken of them: "They fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful desires, which drown men in destruction and perdition." "They fall into temptation." This seems to mean much more than simply, "they are tempted." They enter into the temptation: They fall plump down into it. The waves of it compass them about, and cover them all over. Of those who thus enter into temptation, very few escape out of it. And the few that do are sorely scorched by it, though not utterly consumed. If they escape at all, it is with the skin of their teeth, and with deep wounds that are not easily healed. 10. They fall, Secondly, "into a snare," the snare of the devil, which he hath purposely set in their way. I believe the Greek word properly means a gin, a steel trap, which shows no appearance of danger. But as soon as any creature touches the spring it suddenly closes; and either crushes its bones in pieces, or consigns it to inevitable ruin.

7. But some may say, "Whether you endeavour it or no, you are undeniably rich. You have more than the necessaries of life." I have. But the Apostle does not fix the charge, barely on possessing any quantity of goods, but on possessing more than we employ according to the will of the Donor. Two-and-forty years ago, having a desire to furnish poor people with cheaper, shorter, and plainer books than any I had seen, I wrote many small tracts, generally a penny a-piece; and afterwards several larger. Some of these had such a sale as I never thought of; and, by this means, I unawares became rich. But I never desired or endeavoured after it. And now that it is come upon me unawares, I lay up no treasures upon earth: I lay up nothing at all. My desire and endeavour, in this respect is to "wind my bottom round the year." I cannot help leaving my books behind me whenever God calls me hence; but, in every other respect, my own hands will be my executors.

4. It is certain, that many who sincerely fear God have cordially embraced this opinion. And their practice is suitable thereto: They make no scruple of conformity to the world, by putting on, as often occasion offers, either gold, or pearls, or costly apparel. And indeed they are not well pleased with those that think it their duty to reject them; the using of which they apprehend to be one branch of Christian liberty. Yea, some have gone considerably farther; even so far as to make it a point to bring those who had refrained from them for some time to make use of them again, assuring them that it was mere superstition to think there was any harm in them. Nay, farther still: A very respectable person has said, in express terms, "I do not desire that any who dress plain should be in our society." It is, therefore, certainly worth our while to consider this matter thoroughly; seriously to inquire whether there is any harm in the putting on of gold, or jewels, or costly apparel. 5. But, before we enter on the subject, let it be observed, that slovenliness is no part of religion; that neither this, nor any text of Scripture, condemns neatness of apparel. Certainly this is a duty, not a sin. "Cleanliness is, indeed, next to godliness." Agreeably to this, good Mr. Herbert advises every one that fears God: -- Let thy mind's sweetness have its operation Upon thy person, clothes, and habitation. And surely every one should attend to this, if he would not have the good that is in him evil spoken of. 6. Another mistake, with regard to apparel, has been common in the religious world. It has been supposed by some, that there ought to be no difference at all in the apparel of Christians. But neither these texts, nor any other in the book of God, teach any such thing, or direct that the dress of the master or the mistress should be nothing different from that of their servants. There may, undoubtedly, be a moderate difference of apparel between persons of different stations. And where the eye is single, this will easily be adjusted by the rules of Christian prudence.

6. From long experience and observation I am inclined to think, that whoever finds redemption in the blood of Jesus, whoever is justified, has then the choice of walking in the higher or the lower path. I believe the Holy Spirit at that time sets before him "the more excellent way," and incites him to walk therein, to choose the narrowest path in the narrow way, to aspire after the heights and depths of holiness, -- after the entire image of God. But if he does not accept this offer, he insensibly declines into the lower order of Christians. He still goes on in what may be called a good way, serving God in his degree, and finds mercy in the close of life, through the blood of the covenant. 7. I would be far from quenching the smoking flax, -- from discouraging those that serve God in a low degree. But I could not wish them to stop here: I would encourage them to come up higher, without thundering hell and damnation in their ears, without condemning the way wherein they were, telling them it is the way that leads to destruction, I will endeavour to point out to them what is in every respect "a more excellent way." 8. Let it be well remembered, I do not affirm that all who do not walk in this way are in the high road to hell. But this much I must affirm, they will not have so high a place in heaven as they would have had if they had chosen the better part. And will this be a small loss, -- the having so many fewer stars in your crown of glory Will it be a little thing to have a lower place than you might have had in the kingdom of your Father Certainly there will be no sorrow in heaven; there all tears will be wiped from our eyes; but if it were possible grief could enter there, we should grieve at that irreparable loss. Irreparable then, but not now. Now, by the grace of God, we may choose the "more excellent way." Let us now compare this, in a few particulars, with the way wherein most Christians walk.

3. But it has been questioned, whether it is the design of God, that the happiness which is at first enjoyed by all that know and love him, should continue any longer than, as it were, the day of their espousals. In very many, we must allow, it does not; but in a few months, perhaps weeks, or even days, the joy and peace either vanishes at once, or gradually decays. Now, if God is willing that their happiness should continue, how is this to be accounted for 4. I believe, very easily: St. Jude's exhortation, "Keep yourselves in the love of God," certainly implies that something is to be done on our part in order to its continuance. And is not this agreeable to that general declaration of our Lord, concerning this and every gift of God "Unto him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: But from him that hath not," that is, uses it not, improves it not, "shall be taken away even that which he hath." (Luke 8:18.) 5. Indeed, part of this verse is translated in our version, "That which he seemeth to have." But it is difficult to make sense of this. For if he only seemeth to have this, or any other gift of God, he really hath it not. And if so, it cannot be taken away: For no man can lose what he never had. It is plain, therefore, o dokei ecein, ought to be rendered, what he assuredly hath. And it may be observed, that the word dokev in various places of the New Testament does not lessen, but strengthens the sense of the word joined with it. Accordingly, whoever improves the grace he has already received, whoever increases in the love of God, will surely retain it. God will continue, yea, will give it more abundantly; Whereas, whoever does not improve this talent, cannot possibly retain it. Notwithstanding all he can do, it will infallibly be taken away from him.

11. But our choicest zeal should be reserved for love itself, - the end of the commandment, the fulfilling of the law. The church, the ordinances, outward works of every kind, yea, all other holy tempers, are inferior to this, and rise in value only as they approach nearer and nearer to it. Here then is the great object of Christian zeal. Let every true believer in Christ apply, with all fervency of spirit, to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that his heart may be more and more enlarged in love to God and to all mankind. This one thing let him do: let him "press on to this prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus." III. It remains only to draw some practical inferences from the preceding observations. 1. And, First, if zeal, true Christian zeal, be nothing but the flame of love, then hatred, in every kind and degree, then every sort of bitterness toward them that oppose us, is so far from deserving the name of zeal, that it is directly opposite to it. If zeal be only fervent love, then it stands at the utmost distance from prejudice, jealousy, evil surmising; seeing "love thinketh no evil." Then bigotry of every sort, and, above all, the spirit of persecution, are totally inconsistent with it. Let not, therefore, any of these unholy tempers screen themselves under that sacred name. As all these are the works of the devil, let them appear in their own shape, and no longer under that specious disguise deceive the unwary children of God. 2. Secondly. If lowliness be a property of zeal, then pride is inconsistent with it. It is true, some degree of pride may remain after the love of God is shed abroad in the heart; as this is one of the last evils that is rooted out, when God creates all things new; but it cannot reign, nor retain any considerable power, where fervent love is found. Yea, were we to give way to it but a little, it would damp that holy fervour, and, if we did not immediately fly back to Christ. would utterly quench the Spirit.

On Redeeming The Time "Redeeming the time." Eph. 5:16. 1. "See that ye walk circumspectly," says the Apostle in the preceding verse, "not as fools, but as wise men, redeeming the time;" saving all the time you can for the best purposes; buying up every fleeting moment out of the hands of sin and Satan, out of the hands of sloth, ease, pleasure, worldly business; the more diligently, because the present "are evil days," days of the grossest ignorance, immorality, and profaneness. 2. This seems to be the general meaning of the words. But I purpose, at present, to consider only one particular way of redeeming the time," namely, from sleep. 3. This appears to have been exceeding little considered, even by pious men. Many that have been eminently conscientious in other respects, have not been so in this. They seemed to think it an indifferent thing, whether they slept more or less; and never saw it in the true point of view, as an important branch of Christian temperance. That we may have a more just conception hereof, I will endeavour to show, I. What it is to "redeem the time" from sleep. II. The evil of not redeeming it. And III. The most effectual manner of doing it. I. 1. And, First, What is it to "redeem the time" from sleep It is, in general, to take that measure of sleep every night which nature requires, and no more; that measure which is the most conducive to the health and vigour both of the body and mind. 2. But it is objected, "One measure will not suit all men; -- some require considerably more than others. Neither will the same measure suffice even the same persons at one time as at another. When a person is sick, or, if not actually so, yet weakened by preceding sickness, he certainly wants more of this natural restorative, than he did when in perfect health. And so he will when his strength and spirits are exhausted by hard or long-continued labour."

3. All this is unquestionably true, and confirmed by a thousand experiments. Whoever, therefore, they are that have attempted to fix one measure of sleep for all persons did not understand the nature of the human body, so widely different in different persons; as neither did they who imagined that the same measure would suit even the same person at all times. One would wonder, therefore, that so great a man as Bishop Taylor should have formed this strange imagination; much more, that the measure which he has assigned for the general standard should be only three hours in four-and- twenty. That good and sensible man, Mr. Baxter, was not much nearer the truth; who supposes four hours in four and twenty will suffice for any man. I knew an extremely sensible man, who was absolutely persuaded that no one living needed to sleep above five hours in twenty-four. But when he made the experiment himself, he quickly relinquished the opinion. And I am fully convinced, by an observation continued for more than fifty years, that whatever may be done by extraordinary persons, or in some extraordinary cases (wherein persons have subsisted with very little sleep for some weeks, or even months,) a human body can scarce continue in health and vigour, without at least, six hours' sleep in four-and-twenty. Sure I am, I never met with such an instance: I never found either man or woman that retained vigorous health for one year, with a less quantity of sleep than this. 4. And I have long observed, that women, in general, want a little more sleep than men; perhaps, because they are, in common of a weaker, as well as a moister, habit of body. If, therefore, one might venture to name one standard, (though liable to many exceptions and occasional alterations,) I am inclined to think this would come near to the mark: Healthy men, in general, need a little above six hours' sleep, healthy women, a little above seven, in four-and-twenty. I myself want six hours and a half, and I cannot well subsist with less.

5. If anyone desires to know exactly what quantity of sleep his own constitution requires, he may very easily make the experiment which I made about sixty years ago: I then waked every night about twelve or one, and lay awake for some time. I readily concluded that this arose from my lying longer in bed than nature required. To be satisfied, I procured an alarum, which waked me the next morning at seven; (near an hour earlier than I rose the day before,) yet I lay awake again at night. The second morning I rose at six; but, notwithstanding this, I lay awake the second night. The third morning I rose at five; but, nevertheless, I lay awake the third night. The fourth morning I rose at four; (as, by the grace of God, I have done ever since;) and I lay awake no more. And I do not now lie awake (taking the year round) a quarter of an hour together in a month. By the same experiment, rising earlier and earlier every morning, may anyone find how much sleep he really wants. II. 1. "But why should anyone be at so much pains What need is there of being so scrupulous Why should we make ourselves so particular What harm is there in doing as our neighbours do -- suppose in lying from ten till six or seven in summer, and till eight or nine in winter" 2. If you would consider this question fairly, you will need a good deal of candour and impartiality; as what I am about to say will probably be quite new; different from anything you ever heard in your life; different from the judgment, at least from the example, of your parents and your nearest relations; nay, and perhaps of the most religious persons you ever were acquainted with. Lift up, therefore, your heart to the Spirit of truth, and beg of him to shine upon it, that without respecting any man's person, you may see and follow the truth as it in Jesus.

5. Perhaps you will say, "The advice is good; but it comes too late! I have made a breach already. I did rise constantly and for a season, nothing hindered me. But I gave way by little and little, and I have now left it off for a considerable time." Then, in the name of God, begin again! Begin to-morrow; or rather to-night, by going to bed early, in spite of either company or business. Begin with more self-diffidence than before, but with more confidence in God. Only follow these few rules, and, my soul for yours, God will give you the victory. In a little time the difficulty will be over; but the benefit will last for ever. 6. If you say, "But I cannot do now as I did then; for I am not what I was: I have many disorders, my spirits are low, my hands shake; I am all relaxed," -- I answer: All these are nervous symptoms; and they all partly arise from your taking too much sleep: Nor is it probable they will ever be removed, unless you remove the cause. Therefore, on this very account, (not only to punish yourself for your folly and unfaithfulness, but,) in order to recover your health and strength, resume your early rising. You have no other possible means of recovering, in any tolerable degree, your health both of body and mind. Do not murder yourself outright. Do not run on in the path that leads to the gates of death! As I said before, so I say again, In the name of God, this very day, set out anew. True, it will be more difficult than it was at the beginning. But bear the difficulty which you have brought upon yourself, and it will not last long. The Sun of Righteousness will soon arise again, and will heal both your soul and your body.

2. As to the particular method of treating the sick, you need not tie yourself down to any, but may continually vary your manner of proceeding as various circumstances may require. But it may not be amiss, usually, to begin with inquiring into their outward condition. You may ask whether they have the necessaries of life; whether they have sufficient food and raiment; if the weather be cold, whether they have fuel; whether they have needful attendance; whether they have proper advice, with regard to their bodily disorder; especially if it be of a dangerous kind. In several of these respects you may be able to give them some assistance yourself; and you may move those that are more able than you, to supply your lack of service. You might properly say in your own case, "To beg I am ashamed;" but never be ashamed to beg for the poor; yea, in this case, be an importunate beggar; do not easily take a denial. Use all the address, all the understanding, all the influence you have; at the same time trusting in Him that has the hearts of all men in his hands. 3. You will then easily discern, whether there is any good office which you can do for them with your own hands. Indeed, most of the things which are needful to be done, those about them can do better than you. But in some you may have more skill, or more experience, than them; and if you have, let not delicacy or honour stand in your way. Remember his word, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me;" and think nothing too mean to do for Him. Rejoice to be abased for his sake !

I. 1. And, First, I will endeavour, with God's assistance, to explain this history. "There was a certain rich man;" and, doubtless, on that very account, highly esteemed among men, -- "who was clothed in purple and fine linen;" and, consequently, esteemed the more highly, both as appearing suitably to his fortune, and as an encourager of trade; -- "and fared sumptuously every day." Here was another reason for his being highly esteemed, -- his hospitality and generosity, -- both by those who frequently sat at his table, and the tradesmen that furnished it. 2. "And there was a certain beggar;" one in the lowest line of human infamy; "named Lazarus," according to the Greek termination; in Hebrew, Eleazer. From his name we may gather, that he was of no mean family, although this branch of it was, at present, so reduced. It is probable he was well known in the city; and it was no scandal to him to be named. -- "Who was laid at his gate;" although no pleasing spectacle; so that one might wonder he was suffered to lie there; -- "full of sores;" of running ulcers; -- "and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table." So the complicated affliction of poverty, pain, and want of bread, lay upon him at once! But it does not appear that any creature took the least notice of the despicable wretch! Only "the dogs came and licked his sores:" All the comfort which this world afforded him!

8. "But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." Perhaps these words may supply us with an answer to an important question: How came this rich man to be in hell It does not appear that he was a wicked man, in the common sense of the word; that he was a drunkard, a common swearer, a Sabbath-breaker, or that he lived in any known sin. It is probable he was a Pharisee; and as such was, in all the outward parts of religion, blameless. How then did he come into "the place of torment" If there was no other reason to be assigned, there is a sufficient one implied in those words, ("he that hath ears to hear, let him hear!") "Thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things;" -- the things which thou hadst chosen for thy happiness. Thou hadst set thy affection on things beneath: And thou hadst thy reward: Thou didst receive the portion which thou hadst chosen, and canst have no portion above. "And likewise Lazarus evil things." Not his evil things; for he did not choose them. But they were chosen for him by the wise providence of God: And "now he is comforted, while thou art tormented." 9. "But beside all this, there is a great gulf fixed:" -- A great chasm, a vast vacuity Can any tell us what this is What is the nature, what are the bounds, of it Nay, none of the children of men; none but an inhabitant of the invisible world. -- "So that they who would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." Undoubtedly a disembodied spirit could pass through any space whatever. But the will of God, determining that none should go across that gulf, is a bound which no creature can pass.

But there is One that can, -- the Father of the fatherless, and the Husband of the widow. "The poor crieth unto the Lord; and he heareth him, and delivereth him out of all his troubles." Yet a little while, if ye truly turn to him, his angels shall carry you into Abraham's bosom. There ye shall "hunger no more, and thirst no more;" ye shall feel no more sorrow or pain; but "the Lamb shall wipe away all tears from your eyes, and lead you forth beside fountains of living waters." 4. But see, the scene is changed! "The rich man also died." What In spite of his riches Probably sooner than he desired. For how just is that word, "O death, how bitter art thou to a man that is at rest in the midst of his possessions!" However, if that would be a comfort, "he was buried." But how little did it signify, whether he was laid under a lofty monument, or among Graves with bending osier bound, That nameless heave the crumbled ground! And what followed "In hell he lifted his eyes." This, it is certain, ye need not do. God does not require it of you: "He willeth not that any should perish." Ye cannot, unless by your own wilful choice, -- intruding into those regions of woe, which God did not prepare for you, but for "the devil and his angels." 5. See the scene change again! "He seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." And he knew him; although, perhaps, he had only cast a glance at him while he "lay at his gates." Is any of you in doubt whether we shall know one another in the other world Here your doubts may receive a full solution. If a soul in hell knew Lazarus in paradise, as far off as he was, certainly those that are together in paradise will perfectly know each other.

3. First. It is free in all to whom it is given. It does not depend on any power or merit in man; no, not in any degree, neither in whole, nor in part. It does not in anywise depend either on the good works or righteousness of the receiver; not on anything he has done, or anything he is. It does not depend on his endeavors. It does not depend on his good tempers, or good desires, or good purposes and intentions; for all these flow from the free grace of God; they are the streams only, not the fountain. They are the fruits of free grace, and not the root. They are not the cause, but the effects of it. Whatsoever good is in man, or is done by man, God is the author and doer of it. Thus is his grace free in all; that is, no way depending on any power or merit in man, but on God alone, who freely gave us his own Son, and "with him freely giveth us all things." 4. But it is free for ALL, as well as IN ALL. To this some have answered, "No: It is free only for those whom God hath ordained to life; and they are but a little flock. The greater part of God hath ordained to death; and it is not free for them. Them God hateth; and, therefore, before they were born, decreed they should die eternally. And this he absolutely decreed; because so was his good pleasure; because it was his sovereign will. Accordingly, they are born for this, -- to be destroyed body and soul in hell. And they grow up under the irrevocable curse of God, without any possibility of redemption; for what grace God gives. he gives only for this, to increase, not prevent, their damnation."

5. This that decree of predestination. But methinks I hear one say, "This is not the predestination which I hold: I hold only the election of grace. What I believe is not more than this, -- that God, before the foundation of the world, did elect a certain number of men to be justified, sanctified, and glorified. Now, all these will be saved, and none else; for the rest of mankind God leaves to themselves: So they follow the imaginations of their own hearts, which are only evil continually, and, waxing worse and worse, are at length justly punished with everlasting destruction." 6. Is this all the predestination which you hold Consider; perhaps this is not all. Do not you believe God ordained them to this very thing If so, you believe the whole degree; you hold predestination in the full sense which has been above described. But it may be you think you do not. Do not you then believe, God hardens the hearts of them that perish: Do not you believe, he (literally) hardened Pharaoh's heart; and that for this end he raised him up, or created him Why, this amounts to just the same thing. If you believe Pharaoh, or any one man upon earth, was created for this end, -- to be damned, -- you hold all that has been said of predestination. And there is no need you should add, that God seconds his degree, which is supposed unchangeable and irresistible, by hardening the hearts of those vessels of wrath whom that decree had before fitted for destruction. 7. Well, but it may be you do not believe even this; you do not hold any decree of reprobation; you do not think God decrees any man to be damned, not hardens, irresistibly fits him, for damnation; you only say, "God eternally decreed, that all being dead in sin, he would say to some of the dry bones, Live, and to others he would not; that, consequently, these should be made alive, and those abide in death, -- these should glorify God by their salvation, and those by their destruction."

8. Is not this what you mean by the election of grace If it be, I would ask one or two question: Are any who are not thus elected saved or were any, from the foundation of the world Is it possible any man should be saved unless he be thus elected If you say, "No," you are but where you was; you are not got one hair's breadth farther; you still believe, that, in consequence of an unchangeable, irresistible decree of God, the greater part of mankind abide in death, without any possibility of redemption; inasmuch as none can save them but God, and he will not save them. You believe he hath absolutely decreed not to save them; and what is this but decreeing to damn them It is, in effect, neither more not less; it comes to the same thing; for if you are dead, and altogether unable to make yourself alive, then, if God has absolutely decreed he will make only others alive, and not you, he hath absolutely decreed your everlasting death; you are absolutely consigned to damnation. So then, though you use softer words than some, you mean the self-same thing; and God's decree concerning the election of grace, according to your account of it, amounts to neither more not less than what others call God's decree of reprobation. 9. Call it therefore by whatever name you please, election, preterition, predestination, or reprobation, it comes in the end to the same thing. The sense of all is plainly this, -- by virtue of an eternal, unchangeable, irresistible decree of God, on part of mankind are infallibly saved, and the rest infallibly damned; it being impossible that any of the former should be damned. or that any of the latter should be saved. 10. But if this be so, then is all preaching vain. It is needless to them that are elected; for they, whether with preaching or without, will infallibly be saved. Therefore, the end of preaching -- to save should -- is void with regard to them; and it is useless to them that are not elected, for they cannot possibly be saved: They, whether with preaching or without, will infallibly be damned. The end of preaching is therefore void with regard to them likewise; so that in either case our preaching is vain, as you hearing is also vain.

27. This is the blasphemy for which (however I love the persons who assert it) I abhor the doctrine of predestination, a doctrine, upon the supposition of which, if one could possibly suppose it for a moment, (call it election, reprobation, or what you please, for all comes to the same thing,) one might say to our adversary, the devil, "Thou fool, why dost thou roar about any longer Thy lying in wait for souls is as needless and useless as our preaching. Hearest thou not, that God hath taken thy work out of thy hands; and that he doeth it much more effectually Thou, with all thy principalities and powers, canst only so assault that we may resist thee; but He can irresistibly destroy both body and soul in hell! Thou canst only entice; but his unchangeable decrees, to leave thousands of souls in death, compels them to continue in sin, till they drop into everlasting burnings. Thou temptest; He forceth us to be damned; for we cannot resist his will. Thou fool, why goest thou about any longer, seeking whom thou mayest devour Hearest thou not that God is the devouring lion, the destroyer of souls, the murderer of men"

28. O how would the enemy of God and man rejoice to hear these things were so! How would he cry aloud and spare not! How would he lift up his voice and say, "To your tents, O Israel! Flee from the face of this God, or ye shall utterly perish! But whither will ye flee Into heaven He is there, Down to hell He is there also. Ye cannot flee from an omnipresent, almighty tyrant. And whether ye flee or stay, I call heaven, his throne, and earth, his footstool, to witness against you, ye shall perish, ye shall die eternally. Sing, O hell, and rejoice, ye that are under the earth! For God, even the mighty God, hath spoken, and devoted to death thousands of souls, form the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof! Here, O death, is they sting! They shall not, cannot escape; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Here, O grave is thy victory Nations yet unborn, or ever they have done good or evil are doomed never to see the light of life, but thou shalt gnaw upon them for ever and ever! Let all those morning stars sing together, who fell with Lucifer, son of the morning! Let all the sons of hell shout for joy! For the decree is past, and who shall disannul it"

7. When the vessels arrive at their destined port, the Negroes are again exposed naked, to the eyes of all that flock together, and the examination of their purchasers; then they are separated to the plantations of their several masters, to see each other no more. Here you may see mothers hanging over their daughters, bedewing their naked breasts with tears, and daughters clinging to their parents, till the whipper soon obliges them to part. And what can be more wretched than the condition they then enter upon? Banished from their country, from their friends and relations for ever, from every comfort of life, they are reduced to a state scarce any way preferable to that of beasts of burden. In general a few roots, not of the nicest kind, usually yams or potatoes, are their food, and two rags, that neither screen them from the heat of the day, nor the cold of the night their covering. Their sleep is very short, their labour continual, and frequently above their strength; so that death sets many of them at liberty, before they have lived out half their days. The time they work in the _West-Indies_, is from day-break to noon, and from two o’clock till dark: during which time they are attended by overseers, who, if they think them dilatory, or think any thing not so well done as it should be, whip them most unmercifully, so that you may see their bodies long after whealed and scarred usually from the shoulders to the waist. And before they are suffered to go to their quarters, they have commonly something to do, as collecting herbage for the horses, or gathering fewel for the boilers. So that it is often past twelve before they can get home. Hence if their food is not prepared, they are some times called to labour again, before they can satisfy their hunger. And no excuse will avail. If they are not in the field immediately, they must expect to feel the lash. Did the Creator intend that the noblest creatures in the visible world, should live such a life as this! “Are _these_ thy glorious works, Parent of Good?”

8. As to the punishment inflicted on them, says Sir _Hans Sloan_, “they frequently geld them, or chop off half a foot: after they are whipped till they are raw all over. Some put pepper and salt upon them: some drop melted wax upon their skin. Others cut off their ears, and constrain them to broil and eat them. For Rebellion,” (that is, asserting their native Liberty, which they have as much right to as to the air they breathe) “they fasten them down to the ground with crooked sticks on every limb, and then applying fire by degrees, to the feet and hands, they burn them gradually upward to the head.” 9. But will not the laws made in the plantations, prevent or redress all cruelty and oppression? We will take but a few of those laws for a specimen, and then let any man judge. In order to rivet the chain of slavery, the law of _Virginia_ ordains, “That no slave shall be set free, upon any pretence whatever, except for some meritorious services, to be adjudged and allowed by the _Governor and Council_: and that where any slave shall be set free by his owner, otherwise than is herein directed, the Church-wardens of the parish wherein such negro shall reside for the space of one month are hereby authorized and required, to _take up and sell_ the said negro, by _public outcry_.” 10. Will not these Law-givers take effectual care, to prevent cruelty and oppression? The law of _Jamaica_ ordains, “Every slave that shall run away, and continue absent from his master twelve months, shall be _deemed rebellious_:” And by another law, fifty pounds are allowed, to those who kill or bring in alive a _rebellious_ slave. So their law treats these poor men with as little ceremony and consideration, as if they were merely brute beasts! But the innocent blood which is shed in consequence of such a detestable law, must call for vengeance on the murderous abetters and actors of such deliberate wickedness.

Where is the justice of inflicting the severest evils, on those that have done us no wrong? Of depriving those that never injured us in word or deed, of every comfort of life? Of tearing them from their native country, and depriving them of liberty itself? To which an _Angolan_, has the same natural right as an _Englishman_, and on which he sets as high a value? Yea, where is the justice of taking away the lives of innocent, inoffensive men? Murdering thousands of them in their own land, by the hands of their own countrymen: many thousands, year after year, on shipboard, and then casting them like dung into the sea! And tens of thousands in that cruel slavery, to which they are so unjustly reduced? 3. But waving, for the present, all other considerations, I strike at the root of this complicated villany. I absolutely deny all slave-holding to be consistent with any degree of natural justice. I cannot place this in a clearer light, than that great ornament of his profession, Judge _Blackstone_ has already done. Part of his words are as follows: “The three origins of the right of slavery assigned by _Justinian_, are all built upon false foundations. 1. Slavery is said to arise from captivity in war. The conqueror having a right to the life of his captive, if he spares that, has then a right to deal with them as he speaks. But this is untrue, if taken generally, That by the laws of nations, a man has a right to kill his enemy. He has only a right to kill him in particular cases, in cases of absolute necessity for self-defence. And it is plain, this absolute necessity did not subsist, since he did not kill him, but made him prisoner. War itself is justifiable only on principles of self-preservation. Therefore it gives us no right over prisoners, but to hinder their hurting us by confining them. Much less can it give a right to torture, or kill, or even enslave an enemy when the war is over. Since therefore the right of making our prisoners slaves, depends on a supposed right of slaughter, that foundation failing, the consequence which is drawn from it must fail likewise.”

“It is said secondly, Slavery may begin, by one man’s selling himself to another. And it is true, a man may sell himself to work for another; but he can not sell himself to be a slave, as above defined. Every sale implies an equivalent given to the seller, in lieu of what he transfers to the buyer. But what equivalent can be given for life or liberty? His property likewise, with the very price which he seems to receive, devolves _ipso facto_ to his master, the instant he becomes his slave: in this case therefore the buyer gives nothing. Of what validity then can a sale be, which destroys the very principle upon which all sales are founded?” “We are told, Thirdly, that men may be _born slaves_, by being the children of slaves. But this being built upon the two former rights must fall together with them, if neither captivity, nor contract can by the plain law of nature and reason, reduce the parent to a state of slavery, much less can they reduce the offspring.” It clearly follows, that all slavery is as irreconcileable to justice as to mercy. 4. That slave-holding is utterly inconsistent with mercy, is almost too plain to need a proof. Indeed it is said, “That these negroes being prisoners of war, our captains and factors buy them, merely to save them from being put to death. And is not this mercy?” I answer, 1. Did Sir _John Hawkins_, and many others, seize upon men, women and children, who were at peace in their own fields and houses, merely to save them from death? 2. Was it to save them from death, that they knock’d out the brains of those they could not bring away? 3. Who occasioned and fomented those wars, wherein these poor creatures were taken prisoners? Who excited them by money, by drink, by every possible means, to fall upon one another? Was it not themselves? They know in their own conscience it was, if they have any conscience left. But 4. To bring the matter to a short issue. Can they say before God, That they ever took a single voyage, or bought a single negro from this motive? They cannot, they well know, to get money, not to save lives, was the whole and sole spring of their motions.

6. Perhaps you will say, “I do not _buy_ any Negroes: I only _use_ those left by my father.” So far is well: but is it enough to satisfy your own conscience? Had your father, have _you_, has any man living, a right to use another as a slave? It cannot be, even setting revelation aside. It cannot be that either war, or contract, can give any man such a property in another as he has in his sheep and oxen. Much less is it possible, that any child of man, should ever be _born a slave_. Liberty is the right of every human creature, as soon as he breathes the vital air. And no human law can deprive him of that right, which he derives from the law of nature. If therefore you have any regard to justice, (to say nothing of mercy, nor the revealed law of God) render unto all their due. Give liberty to whom liberty is due, that is to every child of man, to every partaker of human nature. Let none serve you but by his own act and deed, by his own voluntary choice. Away with all whips, all chains, all compulsion! Be gentle toward all men, and see that you invariably do unto every one, as you would he should do unto _you_. 7. O thou God of love, thou who art loving to every man, and whose mercy is over all thy works; thou who art the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and who art rich in mercy unto all; thou who has mingled of one blood, all the nations upon the earth; have compassion upon these outcasts of men, who are trodden down as dung upon the earth! Arise and help these that have no helper, whose blood is spilt upon the ground like water! Are not these also the work of thine own hands, the purchase of thy Son’s blood? Stir them up to cry unto thee in the land of their captivity; and let their complaint come up before thee; let it enter into thy ears! Make even those that lead them away captive to pity them, and turn their captivity as the rivers in the South. O burst thou all their chains in sunder; more especially the chains of their sins: Thou, Saviour of all, make them free, that they may be free indeed!

5 To purest joys she all invites, Chaste, holy, spiritual delights ; Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her flowery paths are peace. (> Happy the man who Wisdom gains ; Thrice happy, who his guest retains ! He owns, and shall for ever own, Wisdom, and Christ, and Heaven are one. HYMN 15. c. m. HAPPY the souls to Jesus join'd. And saved hy grace alone : Walking in all his ways, they find Their heaven on earth begun. 2 The church triumphant in thy love, Their mighty joys we know ; They sing the Lamb in hymns above, And ive in hymns below. 3 Thee in thy glorious realm they praise, And bow before thy throne ; We in the kingdom of thy grace; The kingdoms are but one. 4 The holy to the holiest leads ; From thence our spirits rise : And he that in thy statutes treads, Shall meet thee in the skies. The Pleasantness of Religion. £ I HYMN 16. l. m. 1 TTAPPY the souls that first believed, -*- -*- To Jesus and each other cleaved ; Join'd by the unction from above, In mystic fellowship of love. 2 Meek, simple followers of the Lamb, They lived, and spake, and thought the same ; They joyfully conspired to raise Their ceaseless sacrifice of praise. 3 With grace abundantly endued, A pure, believing multitude, They all were of one heart and soul, And only love inspired the whole. 4 O what an age of golden days ! O what a choice, peculiar race ! Wash'd in the Lamb's all-cleansing blood, Anointed Kings and Priests to God ! 5 Where shall I wander now to find The successors they left behind ? The faithful, whom I seek in vain, Are 'minish'd from the sons of men. 6* Ye different sects, who all declare, " Lo, here is Christ!" or, " Christ is there!1' Your stronger proofs divinely give, And show me where the Christians live. 7 Your claim, alas ! ye cannot prove ; Ye want the genuine mark of love : Thou only, Lord, thine own canst show ; For sure thou hast a church below. 8 The gates of hell cannot prevail ; The chinch on earth can never fail : &2 The Pleasantness of Religion.

Vouchsafe me now the victory : Weakness itself thou know'st I am, And cannot share the praise with thee. 4 Because I now can nothing do, Jesus, do all the work alone ; And bring my soul triumphant through, To wave its palm before thy throne. 5 Great God, unknown, invisible, Appear, my confidence to' abase ; To make me all my vileness feel, And blush at my own righteousness. 6 Thy glorious face in Christ display, That, silenced by thy mercy's power, My mouth I in the dust may lay, And never boast or murmur more. HYMN 127. l. m. 1 W HEREWITH, O God, shall I draw near, ' ^ And bow myself before thy face ? How in thy purer eyes appear ? What shall I bring to gain thy grace ? 2 Will gifts delight the Lord Most High ? Will multiplied oblations please ? Thousands of rams his favour buy, Or slaughter'd hecatombs appease ? 3 Can these avert the wrath of God ? Can these wash out my guilty stain ? Rivers of oil, and seas of blood, Alas ! they all must flow in vain. Convinced of Sin. 1.25 4 Whoe'er to thee themselves approve, Must take the path thy word hath show'd ; Justice pursue, and mercy love, And humbly walk by faith with God. 5 But though my life henceforth be thine, Present for past can ne'er atone : Though I to thee the whole resign, I only give thee back thine own. 6 What have I then wherein to trust ? I nothing have, I nothing am ; Excluded is my every boast, My glory swallow' d up in shame. 7 Guilty I stand before thy face ; On me I feel thy wrath abide ; 'Tis just the sentence should take place ; 'Tis just ; -- but, O, thy Son hath died ! 8 Jesus, the Lamb of God, hath bled ; He bore our sins upon the tree ; Beneath our curse he bow'd his head ; 'Tis finish' d ! he hath died for me ! 9 See where before the throne he stands, And pours the all -prevailing prayer ! Points to his side, and lifts his hands, And shows that I am graven there ! 10 He ever lives for me to pray ;

4 It cost thy blood my heart to win, To buy me from the power of sin, And make me love again : Come, then, my Loid, thy right assert Take to thyself my ransom'd heart ; Nor bleed, nor die in vain. Convin ced of Sin. 1 45 HYMN 147. 8's §• 6's. 1 /^V Love Divine, how sweet thou art ! ^-^ When shall I find my willing heart All taken up hy thee ? I thirst, I faint, I die to prove The greatness of redeeming Love, The love of Christ to me ! 2 Stronger his love than death or hell ; Its riches are unsearchable : The first-born sons of light Desire in vain its depths to see ; They cannot reach the mystery, The length, and breadth, and height 3 God only knows the love of God : O that it now were shed abroad In this poor stony heart ! For love I sigh, for love I pine : This only portion, Lord, be mine, Be mine this better part ! 4 O that I could for ever sit With Mary at the Master's feet ! Be this my happy choice : My only care, delight, and bliss, My joy, my heaven on earth, be this, To hear the Bridegroom's voice ! 1 T^ATHER of Jesus Christ, the Just, -*- My Friend and Advocate with thee, Pity a soul that fain would trust In him who lived and died for me : But only thou canst make him known, And in my heart reveal thy Son. i 4b For Mourners 2 If, drawn by tbine alluring grace, My want of living faitb I feel, Show me in Christ thy smiling face ; What flesh and blood can ne'er reveal, Thy co-eternal Son, display, And call my darkness into day. 3 The gift unspeakable impart ; Command the light of faith to shine ; To shine in my dark, drooping heart, And fill me with the life divine : Now bid the new creation be ; O God, let there be faith in me ! * HYMN 149. l. m. 1 r I ^HUS saith the Lord, -- 'tis God commands, A Workers with God, the charge obey, Remove whate'er his work withstands, Prepare, prepare his people's way. Lift up, for all mankind to see,

The standard of their dying God, And point them to the shameful tree, The cross, all stain'd with hallow'd blood. 2 The Lord hath glorified his grace ; Throughout the earth proclaim his Son : Say ye to all the sinful race, He died for all your sins to' atone. Sion, thy suffering God behold, Thy Saviour and Salvation too ; He comes, he comes, so long foretold, Clothed in a vest of bloody hue. 3 Himself prepares his people's hearts, Breaks and binds up, and wounds and heals ; A mystic death and life imparts, Empties the full, the emptied fills : He fills whom first he hath prepared ; With him the perfect grace is given , Convinced of Sin. 14/ Himself is here their great reward, Their future and their present heaven. HYMN 150. c. m. 1 rT,HOU hidden God, for whom I groan, A Till thou thyself declare, God inaccessible, unknown ; Regard a sinner's prayer ! A sinner weltering in his blood, Unpurged and unforgiven ; Far distant from the living God, As far as hell from heaven. 2 An unregenerate child of man, To thee for faith I call ; Pity thy fallen creature's pain, And raise me from my fall. The darkness, which through thee I feel, Thou only canst remove ; Thy own eternal power reveal, Thy Deity of love. 3 Thou hast in unbelief shut up, That grace may let me go ; In hope believing against hope, I wait the truth to know. Thou wilt in me reveal thy name, Thou wilt thy light afford : Bound and oppress'd, yet thine I am, The prisoner of the Lord. 4 I would not to thy foe submit ; I hate the tyrant's chain ; Send forth the prisoner from the pit, Nor let me cry in vain ! Show me the blood that bought my peace, The covenant blood apply, And all my griefs at once shall cease, And all my sins shall die. 1 4o For Mourners 5 Now, Lord, if thou art power, descend ; The mountain sin remove ; My unbelief and troubles end, If thou art Truth and Love : Speak, Jesu, speak into my heart What thou for me hast done ; One grain of living faith impart, And God is all my own ! HYMN 151. 6's £ 7's.

If I rightly read thy heart, If thou all compassion art, Bow thine ear, in mercy bow ! Pardon and accept me now. 6 Pity from thine eye let fall ; By a look my soul recall ; Now the stone to flesh convert, Cast a look, and break my heart. Now incline me to repent ; Let me now my fall lament ; Now my foul revolt deplore ; Weep, believe, and sin no more * HYMN 169. c. m. 1 TESUS, the all-restoring Word, *J My fallen spirit's hope, After thy lovely likeness, Lord, Ah, when shall I wake up ? 2 Thou, O my God, thou only art The Life, the Truth, the Way : Quicken my soul, instruct my heart My sinking footsteps stay. 3 Of all thou hast in earth below, In heaven above, to give, Give me thy only love to know, In thee to walk and live. 4 Fill me with all the life of love ; In mystic union join Me to thyself, and let me prove The fellowship divine. Convinced of Backsliding. 1 O / 5 Open the intercourse between My longing soul and thee, Never to be broke off again To all eternity. HYMN 170. 6-8's. 1 (~\ 'TIS enough, my God, my God ! ^-* Here let me give my wanderings o'er ; No longer trample on thy blood, And grieve thy gentleness no more ; No more thy lingering anger move, Or sin against thy light and love. 2 O Lord, if mercy is with thee, Now let it all on me be shown ; On me, the chief of sinners, me, Who humbly for thy mercy groan : Me to thy Father's grace restore ; Nor let me ever grieve thee more ! 3 Fountain of unexhausted love, Of infinite compassions, hear ! My Saviour and my Prince above, Once more in my behalf appear ; Repentance, faith, and pardon give ; O let me turn again and live ! 1 f\ GOD, if thou art love indeed, ^-^ Let it once more be proved in me, That I thy mercy's praise may spread, For every child of Adam free : O let me now the gift embrace ; O let me now be saved by grace ! 2 If all long-suffering thou hast shown On me, that others may believe, Now make thy lovingkindness known,

On me, the vilest reptile, me ! I take the blessing from above, And wonder at thy boundless love. 2 Me in my blood thy love pass'd by, And stopp'd, my ruin to retrieve ; Wept o'er my soul thy pitying eye ; Thy bowels yearn'd, and sounded, u Live ! " Dying, I heard the welcome sound, And pardon in thy mercy found. 3 Honour, and might, and thanks, and praise, I render to my pardoning God ; Extol the riches of thy grace, And spread thy saving name abroad ; That only name to sinners given, Which lifts poor dying worms to heaven. 4 Jesus, I bless thy gracious power, And all within me shouts thy Name : Thy Name let every soul adore, Thy power let every tongue proclaim ; Thy grace let every sinner know, And lind with me their heaven below. HYMN 207. 7's. 1 TESUS is our common Lord, ** He our loving Saviour is : By his death to life restored, Misery we exchange for bliss ; Bliss to carnal minds unknown : O 'tis more than tongue can tell ! Onlv to believers shown, Glorious and unspeakable ! For Believers Rejoicing. 2()o 2 Christ, our Brother and our Friend, Shows us his eternal love : Never shall our triumphs end, Till we take our seats above. Let us walk with him in white, For our bridal day prepare, For our partnership in light, For our glorious meeting there ! HYMN 208. c. m. 1 ^OOME, let us, who in Christ believe, ^--/ Our common Saviour praise ; To him with joyful voices give The glory of his grace. 2 He now stands knocking at the door Of every sinner's heart ; The worst need keep him out no more, Or force him to depart. 3 Through grace we hearken to thy voice, Yield to be saved from sin ; In sure and certain hope rejoice, That thou wilt enter in. 4 Come quickly in, thou heavenly guest, Nor ever hence remove ; But sup with us, and let the feast Be everlasting love. HYMN 209. 6-8's. 1 rT^HOU hidden Source of calm repose, -*- Thou all-sufficient Love Divine, My help and refuge from my foes, Secure I am, if thou art mine : And lo ! from sin, and grief, and shame, I hide me, Jesus, in thy Name.

And admitted the harlots and publicans in. They have heard the glad sound ; They have liberty found, Through the blood of the Lamb, And plentiful pardon in Jesus's name. 4 And shall we not sing Our Saviour and King ? Thy witnesses, we With rapture ascribe our salvation to thee ! Thou, Jesus, hast bless'd, And believers increased, Who thankfully own, We are freely forgiven through mercy alone. 5 His Spirit revives His work in our lives, His wonders of grace, So mightily wrought in the primitive days. O that all men might know His tokens below, Our Saviour confess, And embrace the glad tidings of pardon and peace ! 6 Thou Saviour of all, Effectually call For Believer's Rejoicing. 'Zio The sinners that stray ; And, O, let a nation be born in a day ! Thy sign let them see, And flow unto thee For the oil and the wine, For the blissful assurance of favour divine. 7 Our heathenish land Beneath thy command In mercy receive ; And make us a pattern to all that believe : Then, then let it spread, Thy knowledge and dread, Till the earth is o'erflovv'd, And the universe fill'd with the glory of God. 1 A LL glory to God in the sky, -^~*~ And peace upon earth be restored : O Jesus, exalted on high, Appear our omnipotent Lord ! Who, meanly in Bethlehem born, Didst stoop to redeem a lost race, Once more to thy creatures return, And reign in thy kingdom of grace ! 2 When thou in our flesh didst appear, All nature acknowledged thy birth ; Arose the acceptable year, And heaven was open'd on earth : Receiving its Lord from above, The world was united to bless The Giver of concord and love, The Prince and the Author of peace. 3 O wouldst thou again be made known, Again in thy Spirit descend, And set up in each of thine own, A kingdom that never shall end ! ^14 For Believers Rejoicing. Thou only art able to bless, And make the glad nations obey, And bid the dire enmity cense, And bow the whole world to thy sway 4 Come then to thy servants again, Who long thy appearing to know ; Thy quiet and peaceable reign In mercy establish below : All sorrow before thee shall fly,

Jesus, upheld by thy right hand, Though in the flesh I feel the thorn, I bless the day that I was born. Weary of life, through inbred sin, I was, but now defy its power ; When as a flood the foe comes in, My soul is more than conqueror ; I tread him down with holy scorn, And bless the day that I was born. Come, Lord, and make me pure within, And let me now be fill'd with God ! Live to declare I 'm saved from sin : And if I seal the truth with blood, My soul, from out the body torn, Shall bless the day that I was born ! HYMN 231. p.m. 1 A WAY with our fears ! The glad morning £*- appears, When an heir of salvation was born ! From Jehovah I came, For his glory I am, And to him I with singing return. 2 Thee, Jesus, alone, The fountain I own Of my life and felicity here ; And cheerfully sing My Redeemer and King, Till his sign in the heavens appear. 3 With thanks I rejoice In thy fatherly choice Of my state and condition below ; If of parents I came Who honour'd thy name, 'Twas thy wisdom appointed it so. 224 For Believers Rejoicing. 4 1 sing of thy grace, From my earliest days Ever near to allure and defend ; Hitherto thou hast been My preserver from sin, And I trust thou wilt save to the end. 5 O the infinite cares, And temptations, and snares Thy hand hath conducted me through ! O the blessings bestovv'd By a bountiful God, And the mercies eternally new ! 6 What a mercy is this, What a heaven of bliss, How unspeakably happy am I ! Gather'd into the fold, With thy people enrol I'd, With thy people to live and to die ! 7 O the goodness of God, Employing a clod His tribute of glory to raise ! His standard to bear, And with triumph declare His unspeakable riches of grace ! 8 O the fathomless love, That has deign'd to ap- prove And prosper the work of my hands ! With my pastoral crook I went over the brook, And, behold, I am spread into bands ! 9 Who, I ask in amaze, Hath begotten me these ?

For Believers Fighting. HYMN 265. s. m. 1 S~\ MAY thy powerful word ^-^ Inspire a feeble worm To rush into thy kingdom, Lord, And take it as by storm ! 2 O may we all improve The grace already given, To seize the crown of perfect love, And scale the mount of heaven ! HYMN 266. s. m. 1 C OLDIERS of Christ, arise, ^ And put your armour on, Strong in the strength which God supplies Through his eternal Son : Strong in the Lord of Hosts, And in his mighty power, Who in the strength of Jesus trusts, Is more than conqueror. 2 Stand then in his great might, With all his strength endued ; But take, to arm you for the fight, The Panoply of God : 2o4 For Believers Fighting. That having all things done, And all your conflicts pass'd, Ye may o'ercome, through Christ alone, And stand entire at last. 3 Stand then against your foes, In close and firm array : Legions of wily fiends oppose Throughout the evil day : But meet the sons of night, But mock their vain design, Arm'd in the arms of heavenly light, Of righteousness divine. 4 Leave no unguarded place, No weakness of the soul ; Take every virtue, every grace, And fortify the whole : Indissolubly join'd, To battle all proceed ; But arm yourselves with all the mind That was in Christ, your Head. HYMN 267. s. m. 1 T3UT, above all, lay hold -*-* On faith's victorious shield ; Arm'd with that adamant and gold, Be sure to win the field : If faith surround your heart, Satan shall be subdued ; Repell'd his every fiery dart, And quench'd with Jesu's blood. 2 Jesus hath died for you ! What can his love withstand ? Believe, hold fast your shield, and who Shall pluck you from his hand ? Believe that Jesus reigns ; All power to him is given : For Believers Fighting. 255 Believe, till freed from sin's remains ; Believe yourselves to heaven ! 3 To keep your armour bright, Attend with constant care, Still walking in your Captain's sight, And watching unto prayer. Ready for all alarms, Steadfastly set your face, And always exercise your arms, And use your every grace. 4 Pray, without ceasing pray ; Your Captain gives the word ; His summons cheerfully obey,

1 /^ OD of all grace and majesty, ^J Supremely great and good ! If I have mercy found with thee, Through the atoning blood ; The guard of all thy mercies give, And to my pardon join A fear lest 1 should ever grieve The gracious Spirit Divine. 2 If mercy is indeed with thee, May I obedient prove ; Nor e'er abuse my liberty. Or sin against thy love : This choicest fruit of faith bestow On a poor sojourner ; And let me pass my days below In humbleness and fear. For Believers IVatching. 2^7 Rather I would in darkness mourn The absence of thy peace, Than e'er by light irreverence turn Thy grace to wantonness : Rather I would, in painful awe. Beneath thine anger move, Than sin against the gospel law Of liberty and love. But, O ! thou would'st not have me live In bondage, grief, or pain ; Thou dost not take delight to grieve The helpless sons of men : Thy will is my salvation, Lord ; And let it now take place ! And let me tremble at the word Of reconciling grace. Still may I walk as in thy sight, My strict observer see ; And thou by reverent love unite My child-like heart to thee : Still let me, till my days are past. At Jesu's feet abide ; So shall he lift me up at last, And seat me by his side. HYMN 308. cm d. I WANT a principle within Of jealous, godly fear ; A sensibility of sin, A pain to feel it near. I want the first approach to feel Of pride, or fond desire ; To catch the wand'ring of my will, And quench the kindling fire. 298 For Believer* If \i telling. 2 That I from thee no more may part, No more thy goodness grieve, The filial awe, the fleshly heart, The tender conscience, give. Quick as the apple of an eye, O God, my conscience make ! Awake my soul, when sin is nigh, And keep it still awake. 3 If to the right or left I stray, That moment, Lord, reprove ; And let me weep my life away, For having grieved thy love. O may the least omission pain My well-instructed soul ; And drive me to the blood again, Which makes the wounded whole !

3 Thy nature be my law, Thy spotless sanctity, And sweetly every moment draw My happy soul to thee. Soul of my soul remain ! Who didst for all fulfil, In me, O Lord, fulfil again Thy heavenly Father's will. HYMN 341. l.m. O JESUS, let thy dying cry Pierce to the bottom of my heart, Its evils cure, its wants supply, And bid my unbelief depart Seeking for full Redemption. 3*2,3 2 Slay the dire root and seed of sin ; Prepare for thee the holiest place ; Then, O essential Love, come in ! And fill thy house with endless praise. 3 Let me, according to thy word, A tender, contrite heart receive, Which grieves at having grieved its Lord, And never can itself forgive : 4 A heart thy joys and griefs to feel, A heart that cannot faithless prove, A heart where Christ alone may dwell, All praise, all meekness, and all love. HYMN 342. cm. 1 /""^ OD of eternal truth and grace, ^^ Thy faithful promise seal ! Thy word, thy oath, to Abraham's race, In us, even us, fulfil. 2 Let us, to perfect love restored, Thy image here retrieve ; And in the presence of our Lord The life of angels live. 3 That mighty faith on me bestow, Which cannot ask in vain ; Which holds, and will not let thee go, Till I my suit obtain : 4 Till thou into my soul inspire The perfect love unknown, And tell my infinite desire, " Whate'er thou wilt, be done.'* 5 But is it possible that I Should live and sin no more ? Lord, if on thee I dare rely, The faith shall bring the power. o!s4 Seeking for full Redemption. 6 On me that faith divine bestow, Which doth the mountain move ; And all my spotless life shall show The' omnipotence of love. HYMN 343. c. m. 1 (~\ FOR a heart to praise my God, ^-^ A heart from sin set free ! A heart that always feels thy blood So freely spilt for me ! 2 A heart resign'd, submissive, meek, My great Redeemer's throne ; Where only Christ is heard to speak, Where Jesus reigns alone : 3 A humble, lowly, contrite heart, Believing, true, and clean ; Which neither life nor death can part From him that dwells within :

Through all its latent mazes there : Make me thy duteous child, that I Ceaseless may, " Abha, Father," cry! / Ah no ! ne'er will I backward turn ; Thine wholly, thine alone, I am ; Thrice happy he who views with scorn Earth's toys, for thee his constant flame O help, that I may never move From the blest footsteps of thy love. 8 Each moment draw from earth away My heart, that lowly waits thy call ; Speak to my inmost soul, and say, " I am thy Love, thy God, thy All ! " To feel thy power, to hear thy voice, To taste thy love, be all my choice. HYMN 345. 4-6'* §• 2-8\s I ^T'E ransom'd sinners, hear, ■*- The prisoners of the Lord, And wait till Christ appear, According to his word : Rejoice in hope, rejoice with me, We shall from all our sins be free. k2 Let others hug their chains, For sin and Satan plead, And say, from sin's remains They never can be fvca] : Rejoice in hope, rejoice with me, We shall from all our sins be free. Seeking for full Redemption. 327 3 In God we put our trust ; If we our sins confess, Faithful he is, and just, From all unrighteousness To cleanse us all, both you and me j We shall from all our sins be free. 4 Surely in us the hope Of glory shall appear ; Sinners, your heads lift up, And see Redemption near : Again I say, rejoice with me, We shall from all our sins be free. 5 Who Jesu's sufferings share, My fellow-prisoners now, Ye soon the wreath shall wear On your triumphant brow : Rejoice in hope, rejoice with me, We shall from all our sins be free. 6 The word of God is sure, And never can remove ; We shall in heart be pure, And perfected in love : Rejoice in hope, rejoice with me, We shall from all our sins be free. 7 Then let us gladly bring Our sacrifice of praise ; Let us give thanks, and sing, And glory in his grace : Rejoice in hope, rejoice with me, We shall from all our sins be free. HYMN 346. cm.

1 1 Ohedient faith, that waits on thee, Thou never wilt reprove : But thou wilt form thy Son in me, And perfect me in love. HYMN 361. c. m. 1 TV/TY God ! I know, I feel thee mine WA And will not quit my claim, Till all I have is lost in thine, And all renew* d I am. 2 I hold thee with a trembling hand, But will not let thee go, Till steadfastly by faith I stand, And all thy goodness know. 3 When shall I see the welcome hour, That plants my God in me ! Spirit of health, and life, and power, And perfect liberty ! 4 Jesus, thine all-victorious love Shed in my heart abroad ; Then shall my feet no longer rove, Rooted and fix'd in God. 5 Love only can the conquest win, The strength of sin subdue, (Mine own unconquerable sin,) And form my soul anew o4o Seeking for full Redemption. 6' Love can bow clown the stubborn neck. The stone to flesh convert, Soften, and melt, and pierce, and break, An adamantine heart. 7 O that in me the sacred tire Might now begin to glow, Burn up the dross of base desire, And make the mountains flow ' 8 O that it now from heaven might fall, And all my sins consume ! Come, Holy Ghost, for thee I call, Spirit of burning, come ! 9 Refining fire, go through my heart, Illuminate my soul ; Scatter thy life through every part, And sanctify the whole. 10 No longer then my heart shall mourn, While, purified by grace, I only for his glory burn, And always see his face. 1 1 My steadfast soul, from falling free, Shall then no longer move ; But Christ be all the world to me, And all my heart be love. HYMN 362. c. m. BE it according to thy word ; This moment let it be ! O that I now, my gracious Lord, Might lose my life lor thee! Seeking for full Redemption. 347 2 Now, Jesus, let thy powerful death Into my being come ; Slay the old Adam with thy breath : The man of sin consume. 3 Withhold whate'er my flesh requires ; Poison my pleasant food ; Spoil my delights, my vain desires, My all of creature-good. 4 My old affections mortify ;

Well-pleasing in thy sight. I ask no higher state ; Indulge me but in this, And soon or later then translate To my eternal bliss. Seeking for full Redemption. oDO HYMN 368. 7's §• 6Y 1 T^ATHER, see this living clod, -*- This spark of heavenly fire ; See my soul, the breath of God, Doth after God aspire : Let it still to heaven ascend, Till I my principle rejoin, Blended with my glorious end, And lost in love divine. 2 Lord, if thou from me hast broke The power of outward sin, Burst this Babylonish yoke, And make me free within : Bid my inbred sin depart, And I thy utmost word shall prove, Upright both in life and heart, And perfected in love. 3 God of all-sufficient grace, My God in Christ thou art ; Bid me walk before thy face, Till I am pure in heart ; Till, transform'd by faith divine, I gain that perfect love unknown, Bright in all thine image shine, By putting on thy Son. 4 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, In council join again, To restore thine image lost By frail, apostate man : O might I thy form express, Through faith begotten from above, Stamp'd with real holiness, And fill'd with perfect love. 354 Seeking for full Redemption* HYMN 369. l. m. 1 f\ GOD, most merciful and true ! ^^ Thy nature to my soul impart ; 'Stablish with me the cov'nant new, And write perfection on my heart. 2 To real holiness restored, 0 let me gain my Saviour's mind ! And, in the knowledge of my Lord, Fulness of life eternal find. 3 Remember, Lord, my sins no more, That them I may no more forget ; But sunk in guiltless shame adore, With speechless wonder, at thy feet. 4 O'erwhelm'd with thy stupendous grace, 1 shall not in thy presence move ; But breathe unutterable praise, And rapturous awe, and silent love. 5 Then every murmuring thought and vain Expires, in sweet confusion lost ; I cannot of my cross complain ; I cannot of my goodness boast. 6 Pardon'd for all that I have done, My mouth as in the dust I hide ; And glory give to God alone, My God for ever pacified ! HYMN 370. c. m

*3o4 Seeking for full Redemption. Surely we shall thy mercy find ; Who ask, shall all receive thy love; Nor canst thou it to me deny ; 1 ask, the chief of sinners I ! 4 O ye of fearful hearts, be strong! Your downcast eyes and hands lift up ! Ye shall not be forgotten long ; Hope to the end, in Jesus hope ! Tell him, ye wait his grace to prove, And cannot fail, if God is love ! 5 Prisoners of hope, be strong, be bold ; Cast off your doubts, disdain to fear! Dare to believe ; on Christ lay hold ! Wrestle with Christ in mighty prayer ; Tell him, " We will not let thee go, Till we thy name, thy nature know." 6 Hast thou not died to purge our sin, And risen, thy death for us to plead ? To write thy law of love within Our hearts, and make us free indeed? That we our Eden might regain, Thou diedst ; and couldst not die in vain 7 Lord, we believe, and wait the hour Which all thy great salvation brings ; The Spirit of love, and health, and power, Shall come, and make us priests and kings , Thou wilt perform thy faithful word, " The servant shall be as his Lord." 8 The promise stands for ever sure, And we shall in thine image shine, Partakers of a nature pure, Holy, angelical, divine ; In Spirit join'd to thee the Son, As thou art with tliv Father one Seeking for full Redemption. 365 9 Faithful and true, we now receive The promise ratified hy thee : To thee the when and how we leave, In time and in eternity ; We only hang upon thy word, " The servant shall be as his Lord.'* HYMN 381. Ts. 1 Tl^HEN, my Saviour, shall I be * * Perfectly resign'd to thee ? Poor and vile in my own eyes, Only in thy wisdom wise ! 2 Only thee content to know, Ignorant of all below ; Only guided by thy light ; Only mighty in thy might ! 3 So I may thy Spirit know, Let him as he listeth blow ; Let the manner be unknown, So I may with thee be one.

The man f sin consume ; Slay him with thy Spirit, Lord ; Reign thou in my heart alone ; Speak the sanctifying word, And seal me all thine own. HYMN 384. c. m. 1 KNOW that my Redeemer lives, A And ever prays for me ; A token of his love he gives, A pledge of liberty. 2 I find him lifting up my head, He brings salvation near ; His presence makes me free indeed, And he will soon appear. t)()o Seeking for fall Redemption. 3 He wills that I should holy he ; What can withstand his will ? The counsel of his grace in me He surely shall fulfil. 4 Jesus, I hang upon thy word ; I steadfastly believe Thou wilt return and claim me, Lord, And to thyself receive. 5 Joyful in hope, my spirit soars To meet thee from above, Thy goodness thankfully adores ; And sure I taste thy love. 6 Thy love I soon expect to find, In all its depth and height ; To comprehend the' Eternal Mind, And grasp the Infinite. 7 When God is mine, and I am his, Of paradise possest, I taste unutterable bliss, And everlasting rest. 8 The bliss of those that fully dwell, Fully in thee believe, 'Tis more than angel-tongues can tell, Or angel -minds conceive. 9 Thou only know'st, who didst obtain, And die to make it known ; The great salvation now explain, And perfect us in one ! HYMN 385. 8's§ 7's. I OVE Divine, all loves excelling, -" Joy of heaven, to earth come down ; Seeking for full Redemption. 369 Fix in us thy humble dwelling, All thy faithful mercies crown : Jesus, thou art all compassion ; Pure, unbounded love thou art ; Visit us with thy salvation ; Enter every trembling heart. 2 Come, almighty to deliver, Let us all thy grace receive ; Suddenly return, and never, Never more, thy temples leave : Thee we would be always blessing ; Serve thee as thy hosts above ; Pray, and praise thee, without ceasing, Glory in thy perfect love. 3 Finish, then, thy new creation, Pure and spotless let us be ; Let us see thy great salvation, Perfectly restored in thee : Changed from glory into glory, Till in heaven we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before thee,

3 Lord, I will not let thee go, Till the blessing thou bestow : Hear my Advocate Divine ! Lo ! to his my suit I join ; Join'd to his, it cannot fail : Bless me ; for I will prevail ! 4 Heavenly Father, Life Divine, Change my nature into thine ! Move and spread throughout my soul, Actuate and fill the whole ! Be it I no longer now Living in the flesh, but Thou. 5 Holy Ghost, no more delay ! Come, and in thy temple stay ! Now thine inward witness bear, Strong, and permanent, and clear : Spring of Life, thyself impart : Rise eternal in my heart ! o74 Seeking for full Redemption. HYMN 391. l.m. Ezekiel xxxvi. 25, &c. 1 /^ OD of all power, and truth, and grace, ^J Which shall from age to age endure ; Whose word, when heaven and earth shall pass, Remains and stands for ever sure : 2 That I thy mercy may proclaim, That all mankind thy truth may see, Hallow thy great and glorious name, And perfect holiness in me. 3 Thy sanctifying Spirit pour, To quench my thirst, and make me clean . Now, Father, let the gracious shower Descend, and make me pure from sin. 4 Purge me from every sinful blot ; My idols all be cast aside ; Cleanse me from every sinful thought, From all the filth of self and pride. 5 Give me a new, a perfect heart, From doubt, and fear, and sorrow free ; The mind which was in Christ impart, And let my spirit cleave to thee. (> O take this heart of stone away ! Thy sway it doth not, cannot own : In me no longer let it stay ; O take away this heart of stone ! 7 O that I now, from sin released, Thy word may to the utmost prove, Enter into the promised rest, The Canaan of thy perfect love ! HYMN 392. l. m. 1 T^ATHER, supply my every need ; r Sustain the life thyself hast given ; Seeking for full Redemption. 3/5 Call for the never-failing bread, The manna that comes down from heaven. 2 The gracious fruits of righteousness, Thy blessings' unexhausted store, In me abundantly increase ; Nor ever let me hunger more. 3 Let me no more, in deep complaint,

That I shall serve thee without fear, Shall find the pearl which others spurn, Holy, and pure, and perfect here : The servant as his Lord shall be ; All things are possible to me. 6 All things are possible to God, To Christ, the power of God in man, To me, when I am all renew'd, When I in Christ am form'd again, And witness, from all sin set free, All things are possible to me. HYMN 402. 7's8f6's. 1 f\ MIGHT I this moment cease ^S From every work of mine; Find the perfect holiness, The righteousness divine ! Let me thy salvation see ; Let me do thy perfect will ; Live in glorious liberty, And all thy fulness feel. Seeking for full Redemption. O cut short the work, and make Me now a creature new ; For thy truth and mercy's sake, The gracious wonder show : Call me forth thy witness, Lord ; Let my life declare thy power ; To thy perfect love restored, O let me sin no more ! Fain I would the truth proclaim, That makes me free indeed, Glorify my Saviour's Name, And all its virtues spread : Jesus all our wants relieves, Jesus, mighty to redeem, Saves, and to the utmost saves, All those that come to him. Perfect then thy mighty power In a weak, sinful worm ! All my sins destroy, devour, And all my soul transform ! Now apply thy Spirit's seal ; O come quickly from ahove ! Empty me of sin, and fill With all the life of love. HYMN 403. c. m. 1 ORD, 1 helieve a rest remains, ■*-^ To all thy people known, A rest where pure enjoyment reigns, And thou art loved alone : 2 A rest, where all our soul's desire Is fix'd on things ahove ; Where fear, and sin, and grief expire, Cast out by perfect love oo4 Seeking fur full Redemption. 3 O that I now the rest might know, Believe, and enter in ! Now, Saviour, now the power bestow, And let me cease from sin. 4 Remove this hardness from my heart, This unbelief remove : To me the rest of faith impart, The sabbath of thy love. 5 I would be thine, thou know'st I would,

And give thy servant to possess The land of rest from inbred sin, The land of perfect holiness. 7 Lord, 1 believe thy power the same ; The same thy truth and grace endure ; And in thy blessed hands I am, And trust thee for a perfect cure. 8 Come, Saviour, come, and make me whole ; Entirely all my sins remove ; To perfect health restore my soul, To perfect holiness and love. oJO Seeking Jar full Redemption. HYMN 409. c. m J TESUS, my Lord, I cry to thee *J Against the spirit unclean : I want a constant liberty, A perfect rest from sin. 2 Expel the fiend out of my heart, By love's almighty power ; Now, now command him to depart, And never enter more. 3 Thy killing and thy quick'ning power, Jesus, in me display ; The life of nature from this hour, My pride and passion, slay. 4 Then, then, my utmost Saviour, raise My soul, with saints above, To serve thy will, and spread thy praise, And sing thy perfect love. 5 This moment I thy truth confess ; This moment I receive The heavenly gift, the dew of grace, And by thy mercy live. 6 The next, and every moment, Lord, On me thy Spirit pour ; And bless me, who believe thy word, With that last glorious shower. HYMN 410. s. m. 1 T^ATHER, I dare believe ^ Thee merciful and true : Thou wilt my guilty soul forgive, My fallen soul renew. Seeking for full Redemption. 391 Come, then, for Jesu's sake, And bid my heart be clean ; An end of all my troubles make, An end of all my sin. 2 I will, through grace, I will, I do, return to thee ; Take, empty it, O Lord, and fill My heart with purity ! For power, I feebly pray : Thy kingdom now restore, To-day, while it is call'd to-day, And I shall sin no more. 3 I cannot wash my heart, But by believing thee, And waiting for thy blood to' impart The spotless purity : While at thy cross I lie, Jesus, thy grace bestow, Now thy all-cleansing blood apply, And I am white as snow. HYMN 411. 6-7's. 1 ^\^THY not now, my God, my God? * * Ready if thou always art, Make in me thy mean abode,

Art thou not willing too ? To change this old rebellious heart, To conquer and renew ? 6 Thou canst, thou wilt, I dare believe, So arm me with thy power, That I to sin shall never cleave, Shall never feel it more. HYMN 417. c. m. 1 /^OME, O my God, the promise seal, ^-^ This mountain, sin, remove : Now in my gasping soul reveal The virtue of thy love. 2 I want thy life, thy purity, Thy righteousness, brought in ; T ask, desire, and trust in thee, To be redeem'd from sin. *»yb For Believers Saved. 3 For this, as taught by thee, I pray, And can no longer doubt ; Remove from hence ! to sin I say ; Be cast this moment out ! 4 Anger and sloth, desire and pride, This moment be subdued ; Be cast into the crimson tide Of my Redeemer's blood. 5 Saviour, to thee my soul looks up, My present Saviour thou ! In all the confidence of hope, I claim the blessing now. 6 'Tis done : thou dost this moment save, With full salvation bless ; Redemption through thy blood I have, And spotless love and peace. For Believers Saved, HYMN 418. 7's8f6's. 1 /^1 OD ! who didst so dearly buy ^J These wretched souls of ours, Help us thee to glorify With all our ransom'd powers : Ours they are not, Lord, but thine ; O let the vessels of thy grace, Body, soul, and spirit, join In our Redeemer's praise ! 2 True and faithful witness, thee, O Jesus, we receive ; Fulness of the Deity, In all thy people live ! For Believers Saved. 397 First-begotten from the dead, Call forth thy living witnesses ; King of saints, thine empire spread O'er all the ransom'd race. 3 Grace, the fountain of all good, Ye happy saints, receive, With the streams of peace o'erflow'd, With all that God can give ; He who is, and was, in peace, And grace, and plenitude of power, Comes, your favour'd souls to bless, And never leave you more. 4 Let the Spirit before his throne, Mysterious One and Seven, In his various gifts sent down, Be to the churches given ; Let the pure seraphic joy From Jesus Christ, the Just, descend ; Holiness without alloy, And bliss that ne'er shall end. HYMN 419. l. m.

1 /^UICKEN'D with our immortal Head, ^^ Who daily, Lord, ascend with thee, Redeem'd from sin, and free indeed, We taste our glorious liberty. 2 Saved from the fear of hell and death, With joy we seek the things above ; And all thy saints the spirit breathe Of power, sobriety, and love. 3 Power o'er the world, the fiend, and sin, We through thy gracious Spirit feel ; Full power the victory to win, And answer all thy righteous will. oJo For Believers Saved 4 Pure love to God thy members find, Pure love to every soul of man ; And in thy sober, spotless mind, Saviour, our heaven on earth we gain. HYMN 420. l. m. Resurrection. 1 \^E faithful souls, who Jesus know, -*- If risen indeed with him ye are, Superior to the joys below, His resurrection's power declare. 2 Your faith by holy tempers prove , By actions show your sins forgiven ! And seek the glorious things above, And follow Christ, your Head, to heaven, 3 There your exalted Saviour see, Seated at God's right hand again, In all his Father's majesty, In everlasting pomp, to reign. 4 To him continually aspire, Contending for your native place ; And emulate the angel-choir, And only live to love and praise. 5 For who by faith your Lord receive, Ye nothing seek or want beside ; Dead to the world and sin ye live ; Your creature- love is crucified. 6 Your real life, with Christ conceal'd, Deep in the Father's bosom lies ; And, glorious as your Head reveal'd, Ye soon shall meet him in the skies. For Believers Saved. o99 HYMN 421. s. m. 2 Tim. iv. 7- 1 " T THE good fight have fought," -*- O when shall I declare ? The victory by my Saviour got, I long with Paul to share. 0 may I triumph so, When all my warfare 's past ; And, dying, find my latest foe Under my feet at last ! 2 This blessed word be mine Just as the port is gain'd, " Kept by the power of grace divine, 1 have the faith maintain'd." The' Apostles of my Lord, To whom it first was given, They could not speak a greater word, Nor all the saints in heaven. HYMN 422. l. m.

Though our bodies continue below ; The redeem'd of the Lord, We remember his word, And with singing to Paradise go. 3 With singing we praise The original grace, By our heavenly Father bestow'd ; Our being receive From his bounty, and live To the honour and glory of God. 4 For thy glory we are, Created to share Both the nature and kingdom divine ; Created again, That our souls may remain In time and eternity thine. 4bU For the Society giving Thanks. 5 With thanks we approve The design of thy love, Which hath join'd us in Jesus's name ; So united in heart, That we never can part, Till we meet at the feast of the Lamb. 6 There, there at his feet We shall suddenly meet, And be parted in body no more ! We shall sing to our lyres, With the heavenly choirs, And our Saviour in glory adore. 7 Hallelujah we sing, To our Father and King, And his rapturous praises repeat : To the Lamb that was slain, Hallelujah again, Sing all heaven, and fall at his feet ! 8 In assurance of hope, We to Jesus look up, Till his banner unfurl' d in the air From our graves we shall see, And cry out, M It is he!" And fly up to acknowledge him there. HYMN 492. l. m. 1 \^THAT shall we offer our good Lord, * » Poor nothings ! for his boundless grace ? Fain would we his great name record, And worthily set forth his praise. 2 Great Object of our growing love, To whom our more than all we owe, Open the Fountain from above, And let it our full souls o'erflow. .'J So shall our lives thy power proclaim, Thy grace for every sinner free ; Till all mankind shall learn thy name, Shall all stretch out their hands to thee. 4 Open a door which earth and hell May strive to shut, but strive in vain ; Let thy word richly in us dwell, And let our gracious fruit remain. For the Society giving Thanks. 4b I 5 O multiply the sower's seed ! And fruit we every hour shall bear, Throughout the world thy gospel spread. Thy everlasting truth declare. 6 We all, in perfect love renew'd,

3 Make us of one heart and mind, Courteous, pitiful, and kind, 476 For the Society Praying. Lowly, meek, in thought and word, Altogether like our Lord. 4 Let us for each other care, Each the other's harden bear, To thy church the pattern give, Show how true believers live. 5 Free from anger and from pride, Let us thus in God abide ; All the depths of love express, All the heights of holiness ! 6 Let us then with joy remove To the family above ; On the wings of angels fly ; Show how true believers die. 1 nPHOU God of truth and love, J- We seek thy perfect way, Ready thy choice to' approve, Thy providence to' obey ; Enter into thy wise design, And sweetly lose our will in thine. 2 Why hast thou cast our lot In the same age and place ? And why together brought To see each other's face ? To join with softest sympathy, And mix our friendly souls in thee? 3 Didst thou not make us one, That we might one remain, Together travel on, And bear each other's pain ; Till all thy utmost goodness prove, And rise renew'd in perfect love ? For the Society Praying. 477 4 Surelv thou didst unite Our kindred spirits here, That all hereafter might Before thy throne appear; Meet at the marriage of the Lamb, And all thy glorious love proclaim. 5 Then let us ever hear The blessed end in view, And join, with mutual care, To fight our passage through ; And kindly help each other on, Till all receive the starry crown. 6 O may thy Spirit seal Our souls unto that day, With all thy fulness fill, And then transport away ! Away to our eternal rest, Away to our Redeemer's breast ! HYMN 511. 6-8' s. 1 T^ORGIVE us, for thy mercy's sake, -*- Our multitude of sins forgive ! And for thy own possession take, And bid us to thy glory live ; Live in thy sight, and gladly prove Our faith, by our obedient love. 2 The cov'nant of forgiveness seal, And all thy mighty wonders show ! Our inbred enemies expel ; And conquering them to conquer go, Till all of pride and wrath be slain. And not one evil thought remain ! 3 O put it in our inward parts,

CHRIST, whose glory fills the skies, That famous Plant thou art : Tree of Life eternal, rise In every longing heart ! Bid us find the food in thee, For which our deathless spirits pine, Fed with immortality, And fill'd with love divine. Long we have our burden borne, Our own unfaithfulness, Object of the Heathens' scorn, Who mock'd our scanty grace : Jesus, our reproach remove ; Let sin no more thy people shame ! Show us rooted in thy love. In life and death the same. For the Society Praying. 495 In thy spotless people show Thy power and constancy ; Give us thus to feel and know Our fellowship with thee : Give us all thy mind to' express, And blameless in our Lord to' abide, Transcripts of thy holiness, Thy fair unspotted bride. ! /^OME, let us use the grace divine, ^^ And all, with one accord, In a perpetual Covenant join Ourselves to Christ the Lord : 2 Give up ourselves, through Jesu's power His name to glorify ; And promise, in this sacred hour, For God to live and die. 3 The Covenant we this moment make, Be ever kept in mind : -- We will no more our God forsake, Or cast his words behind. 4 We never will throw off his fear, Who hears our solemn vow : -- And if thou art well pleased to hear, Come down, and meet us now ! 5 Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Let all our hearts receive ; Present with the celestial host, The peaceful answer give ! 6 To each the covenant blood apply, Which takes our sins away ; And register our names on high, And keep us to that day ! For the Society at Parting. 1 T ORD, we thy will obey, -*-* And in thy pleasure rest ; We, only we, can say, " Whatever is, is best ; " Joyful to meet, willing to part, Convinced we still are one in heart. 2 Hereby we sweetly know Our leve proceeds from thee, -- We let each other go, From every creature free, And cry, in answer to thy call, " Thou art, O Christ, our all in all ! 3 Our Husband, Brother, Friend, Our Counsellor Divine ! Thy chosen ones depend

On no support but thine : Our everlasting Comforter! We cannot want, if thou art here. 4 Still let us, gracious Lord, Sit loose to all below ; And to thy love restored, No other portion know ; Stand fast in glorious liberty, And live and die wrapt up in thee ! BLEST be the dear uniting love, That will not let us part : Our bodies may far off remove,-- We still are one in heart. For the Society at Parting. 497 2 Join'd in one spirit to our Head, Where he appoints we go ; And still in Jesu's footsteps tread, And show his praise below. 3 O may we ever walk in him, And nothing know beside ; Nothing desire, nothing esteem, But Jesus Crucified. 4 Closer and closer let us cleave To his beloved embrace ; Expect his fulness to receive, And grace to answer grace. 5 Partakers of the Saviour's grace, The same in mind and heart, Nor joy, nor grief, nor time, nor place. Nor life, nor death can part. 6 But let us hasten to the day, Which shall our flesh restore, When death shall all be done away, And bodies part no more ! HYMN 535. d. s. m. 1 A ND let our bodies part, -l~V To different climes repair, -- Inseparably join'd in heart The friends of Jesus are. Jesus, the Corner-stone, Did first our hearts unite, And still he keeps our spirits one, Who walk with him in white. 2 O let us still proceed In Jesu's work below ; And, following our triumphant Head, To farther conquests go ! 2 1 49o For the Society at Parting. The vineyard of their Lord Before his labourers lies ; And, lo ! we see the vast reward Which waits us in the skies. 3 O let our heart and mind Continually ascend, That haven of repose to find Where all our labours end ; Where all our toils are o'er, Our suffering and our pain : -- Who meet on that eternal shore, Shall never part again. 4 O happy, happy place, Where saints and angels meet ! There we shall see each other's face, And all our brethren greet. The Church of the first-born, We shall with them be blest, And, crown'd with endless joy, return To our eternal rest. 5 With joy we shall behold,

The following Supplement is designed to furnish a greater number of hymns suitable for public worship, for festivals, and for occasional services, than are found in that invaluable collection, in common use, which the piety and genius of the Wesleys bequeathed to the societies raised up by their ministry. It is compiled chiefly from the festival and other hymns which Mr. Charles Wesley published in separate pamphlets ; and from his unpublished poetry, which, by purchase from his heir, along with other papers, has lately become the property of the Connexion. To these, some hymns have been added from other authors, chiefly from Dr. Watts ; and a few which, though they sink below the rank of the Wesley poetry, are inserted because of some excellence which will be found in the sentiment, and the greater choice of subjects which they afford. Most of the hymns of this class, however, were inserted in the Morning Hymn Book, prepared by Mr. Wesley for the London congregations, or in a smaller collection published by him; and so had his sanction. A few others have been introduced because of their popular character, and their being favourites with many of our people. Limited as this Supplement is, it will render our congregations more familiar than they have ever been with some noble hymns of Mr. Charles Wesley, only to be found in collections which are in the hands of compara- tively few persons ; whilst it brings into use, for the first time, a number of his compositions not inferior to those which he himself published. The Preachers will here find hymns adapted to various suojects on which they address the people ; and our fine occasional hymns, which were seldom used, because not in the hands of the congregations generally, will be ready for festival occasions ; and will be found in many instances adapted also, at least in some of their stanzas, to general use. As several of the hymns in this collection are selected from the papers of Mr. Charles Wesley above referred to, and have not before been published, a copy-right is established in this Supplement ; and all pirated editions are rendered liable to legal process. To guard against such attempts to turn to private profit, what is sacredly applied to the support of the work of God, this collection has been regularly entered at Stationers' Hall.

Who shall ascend the heavenly place, And stand upon the mount of God, And see his Maker face to face ? 4 The man whose hands and heart are clean That blessed portion shall receive ; Whoe'er by grace is saved from sin, Hereafter shall in glory live. 5 He shall obtain the starry crown ; And, number' d with the saints above. The God of his salvation own, The God of his salvation love Hymns of Adoration. 535 HYMN 573. s. m Public Worship. 1 OOME, sound his praise abroad, ^-^ And hymns of glory sing ; Jehovah is the sovereign God, The universal King. 2 He form'd the deeps unknown ; He gave the seas their bound ; The watery worlds are all his own, And all the solid ground. 3 Come, worship at his throne ; Come, bow before the Lord : We are his works, and not our own ; He form'd us by his word. 4 To-day attend his voice, Nor dare provoke his rod ; Come, as the people of his choice, And own your gracious God. HYMN 574, 6-8\s. Psalm lxxxiv. 1 TTOW lovely are thy tents, O Lord ! X J. Where'er thou choosest to record Thy name, or place thy house of prayer, My soul outflies the angel -choir, And faints, o'erpower'd with strong desire, To meet thy special presence there. 2 Happy the men to whom 'tis given, To dwell within that gate of heaven, And in thy house record thy praise ; Whose strength and confidence thou art, Who feel thee, Saviour, in their heart. The Wav, the Truth, the Life of grace : 536 Hymns of Adoration. 3 Who, passing through the mournful vale, Drink comfort from the living well, That flows replenish'd from above ; From strength to strength advancing here, Till all before their God appear, And each receives the crown of love, 4 Better a day thy courts within Than thousands in the tents of sin ; How base the noblest pleasures there ! How great the weakest child of thine ! His meanest task is all divine, And kings and priests thy servants are. 5 The Lord protects and cheers his own, Their light and strength, their shield and sun He shall both grace and glory give : Unlimited his bounteous grant ; No real good they e'er shall want ;

3 The foolish builders, scribe and priest, Reject it with disdain ; Yet on this rock the church shall rest, And envy rage in vain. 4 What though the gates of hell withstood, Yet must this building rise : 'Tis thine own work, almighty God, And wondrous in our eyes. HYMN 621. 7's8r6's. Christ crucified. 1 f~^ OD of unexampled grace, ^J Redeemer of mankind, Matter of eternal praise We in thy passion find : Still our choicest strains we bring, Still the joyful theme pursue, Thee the Friend of sinners sing, Whose love is ever new. 2 Endless scenes of wonder rise From that mysterious tree, Crucified before our eyes, Where we our Maker see : Jesus, Lord, what hast thou done ? Publish we the death divine, Stop, and gaze, and fall, and own Was never love like thine ! 3 Never love nor sorrow was Like that mv Saviour show'd : Sufferings, fyc, of Christ. o71 See him stretch'd on yonder cross. And crush' d beneath our load ! Now discern the Deity, Now his heavenly birth declare ! Faith cries out, " 'Tis He, 'tis He, Mv God, that suffers there!" HYMN 622. cm. Confidence in Christ. 1 \1TH0M Jesu's blood doth sanctify, ' ▼ Need neither sin nor fear; Hid in our Saviour's hand we lie, And laugh at danger near : His guardian hand doth hold, protect, And save, by ways unknown, The little flock, the saints elect, Who trust in him alone. 2 Our Prophet, Priest, and King, to thee We joyfully submit ; And learn, in meek humility, Our lesson at thy feet : Spirit and life thy words impart, And blessings from above ; And drop, in every listening heart, The manna of thy love. HYMN 623. l. m. The Crucifixion. 1 V\THEN I survey the wondrous cross * ▼ On which the Prince of glory died. My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride. 2 Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ, my God : All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood. 0/2 Incarnation, 3 See, from his head, his hands, his feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down : Did e er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown ?

The knowledge of thyself impart ; Our ear, our inmost soul we bow : Speak, Lord, thy servants hearken now. HYMN 644. Vs §• 6>s. Christ's Intercession. COMING through our great High-Priest, We find a pard'ning God : Jesu's Spirit in our breast Bears witness with the blood, 3J\) Incarnation, Speaks our Father pacified Toward every soul that Christ receives i Tells us, once our Surety died, And now for ever lives. 2 Christ for ever lives to pray For all that trust in him ; J my soul on Jesus stay, Almighty to redeem : He shall purify my heart, Who in his blood forgiveness have, All his hallowing power exert, And to the utmost save. 3 Basis of our steadfast hope, Saviour, thy ceaseless prayer Sanctifies and lifts us up To meet thee in the air : Yes, thine interceding grace Preserves us every moment thine, Till we rise to see thy face, And share the throne divine. HYMN 645. 4-6's §• 2-8'*. The Year of Jubilee. T3LOW ye the trumpet, blow *** The gladly solemn sound : Let all the nations know, To earth's remotest bound, The year of Jubilee is come; Return, ye ransom' d sinners, home. Jesus, our great High-Priest, Hath full atonement made : Ye weary spirits, rest ; Ye mournful souls, be glad ; The year, &c Sufferings, $•<?., of Christ. 591 3 Extol the Lamb of God, The all-atoning Lamb ; Redemption through his blood Throughout the world proclaim i The year, &c. 4 Ye slaves of sin and hell, Your liberty receive ; And safe in Jesus dwell, And blest in Jesus live : The year, &c. 5 Ye who have sold for nought Your heritage above, Receive it back unbought, The gift of Jesu's love : The year, &c. (5 The gospel trumpet hear, The news of heavenly grace ; And, saved from earth, appear Before your Saviour's face : The year, &c. HYMN 646. c. m. Christ's Compassion for the Tempted. 1 VJI7TTH joy we meditate the grace ' * Of our High -Priest above ; His heart is made of tenderness, His bowels yearn with love. 2 Touch'd with a sympathy within, He knows our feeble frame ; He knows what sore temptations mean For he hath felt the same. 3 He in the days of feeble flesh

Fear not, Abraham; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." 1 npHE God of Abraham praise, A Who reigns enthroned above Ancient of everlasting days, And God of Love : Jehovah, Great I AM, By earth and heaven confest ; 1 bow and bless the sacred Name. For ever blest. 2 The God of Abraham praise, At whose supreme command, From earth I rise, and seek the joys At his right hand : I all on earth forsake, Its wisdom, fame, and power ; And Him my only portion make, My shield and tower. 010 The Experience, Sfc, 3 The God of Abraham praise, Whose all-sufficient grace Shall guide me all my happy days, In all my ways. He calls a worm his friend, He calls himself my God ; And he shall save me to the end, Through Jesu's blood. 4 He by himself hath sworn, I on his oath depend ; I shall, on eagles' wings up-borne, To heaven ascend : I shall behold his face, I shall his power adore, And sing the wonders of his grace For evermore. HYMN 670. p. m. 1 HT^HOUGH nature's strength decay, ■*■ And earth and hell withstand, To Canaan's bounds I urge my way, At his command. The watery deep 1 pass, With Jesus in my view ; And through the howling wilderness My way pursue. 2 The goodly land I see, With peace and plenty blest ; A land of sacred liberty, And endless rest. There milk and honey flow ; And oil and wine abound ; And trees of life for ever grow, With mercy crown' d. of Believers. Gil 3 There dwells the Lord our King, The Lord our Righteousness, Triumphant o'er the world and sin, The Prince of Peace ; On Sion's sacred height, His kingdom still maintains ; And glorious with his saints in light For ever reigns. 4 He keeps his own secure, He guards them by his side, Arrays in garments white and pure His spotless bride : With streams of sacred bliss, With groves of living joys, With all the fruits of Paradise, He still supplies. HYMN 671. p. m. 1 T3EF0RE the great Three-One -U They all exulting stand,

Shall silence keep before the Lord ; And earth, and hell, and sin shall flee At Jesu's everlasting word. Looking to Christ. 1 A UTHOR of faith, appear ; ^JL Be thou its finisher ! Upward still for this we gaze, Till we feel the stamp divine, Thee behold with open face, Bright in all thy glory shine. 2 Leave not thy work undone, But ever love thine own ; Let us all thy goodness prove Let us to the end believe ; Show thine everlasting love, Save us, to the utmost save t>22 The Experience, §-c, 3 O that our life might be One looking up to thee ! Ever hastening to the day, When our eyes shall see thee near ; Come, Redeemer, come away, Glorious in thy saints appear. 4 Jesu, the heavens bow, We long to meet thee now ! Now in Majesty come down, Pity thine elect, and come : Hear us in thy Spirit groan, Take the weary exiles home. 5 Now let thy face be seen Without a veil between : Come, and change our faith to sight Swallow up mortality ; Plunge us in a sea of light ; Christ, be all in all to me. HYMN 684. fs £ 6's. Deliverance in Danger.. 1 f~^ OD of Daniel, hear my prayer, ^J And let thy power be seen ; Stop the lion's mouth, and bear Me safe out of his den : Save me in this dreadful hour ! Earth, and hell, and nature join ; All stand ready to devour This helpless soul of mine. 2 Thee I serve, my Lord, my God ; In me thy power display : Save me, save me, and defraud The lion of his prey. Angel of the Covenant, Jesus, mighty to retrieve, of Believers. 623 Let him to my help be sent : In Jesus I believe. 3 Save me for thine own great name, That all the world may know, Daniel's God is still the same, And reigns supreme below : Him let all mankind adore, Spread his glorious name abroad ; Tremble all, and bow before The great, the living God. 4 Absolute, unchangeable, O'er all his works he reigns ; His dominion cannot fail, But undisturb'd remains : His dominion standeth fast, Is when time no more shall be ; Still shall his dominion last Through all eternity.

To love my God alone : Give me, Lord, the grace to feel, The length, and breadth, and depth, and height ; Then thy glorious self reveal, And turn my faith to sight. HYMN 689. 2-6's §■ 4-7's. " To Him every knee shall how 9i 1 TESU, my God and King, •J Thy regal state I sing : Thou, and only thou, art great, High thine everlasting throne ; Thou the sovereign Potentate, Bless'd, immortal, thou alone. 2 Essay your choicest strains, The King Messiah reigns ! Tune your harps, celestial choir, Joyful all your voices raise ; Christ, than earth-born monarchs higher, Sons of men and angels praise. 3 Hail your dread Lord and ours, Dominions, thrones, and powers ! Source of power, He rules alone : Veil your eyes, and prostrate fall ; Cast your crowns before his throne, Hail the Cause, the Lord of all ! 4 Let earth's remotest bound With echoing joys resound ; Christ to praise let all conspire ; Praise doth all to Christ belong : Shout, ye first-born sons of fire ; Earth, repeat the glorious song. 5 Worthy, O Lord, art thou, That every knee shall bow, The Kingdom of Christ. b27 Every tongue to thee confess ; Universal nature join, Strong and mighty, thee to bless, Gracious, merciful, benign. 6 Wisdom is due to thee, And might, and majesty ; Thee in mercy rich we prove ; Glory, honour, praise receive ; Worthy thou of all our love, More than all we pant to give. 7 Justice and truth maintain Thine everlasting reign : One with thine almighty Sire, Partner of an equal throne, King of saints, let all conspire, Gratefully thy sway to own. Christ's Kingdom. 1 Y? ARTH, rejoice, our Lord is King ! *-^ Sons of men, his praises sing ; Sing ye in triumphant strains, Jesus our Messiah reigns ! 2 Power is all to Jesus given, Lord of hell, and earth, and heaven! Every knee to him shall bow ; Satan, hear, and tremble now! 3 Angels and archangels join, All triumphantly combine ; All in Jesu's praise agree, Carrying on his victory. 4 Though the sons of night blaspheme, More there are with us than them : God with us, we cannot fear ; Fear, ye fiends, for Christ is here ! 628 The Kingdom s

-■^ Though Satan rage, and kingdoms rise • He utters his almighty voice, The nations melt, the tumult dies. 2 The Lord of old for Jacob fought ; And Jacob's God is still our aid : bo +* The Kingdom Behold the works his hand hath wrought! What desolations he hath made ! 3 From sea to sea, through all their shores, He makes the noise of battle eease ; When from on high his thunder roars, He awes the trembling world to peace. 4 He breaks the bow, he cuts the spear ; Chariots he burns with heavenly flame : Keep silence, all the earth, and hear The sound and glory of his name : 5 " Be still, and learn that I am God Exalted over all the lands ; I will be known and fear'd abroad ; For still my throne in Sion stands." 6 O Lord of hosts, almighty King ! While we so near thy presence dwell, Our faith shall rest secure, and sing Defiance to the gates of hell. " Be thou exulted in the whole earth" 1 A RM of the Lord, awake, awake, ^*- The terrors of the Lord display ; Out of their sins the nations shake, Tear their vain confidence away; Conclude them all in unbelief, And fill their hearts with sacred grief 2 Of judgment now the world convince, The end of Jesu's coming show ; To sentence their usurping prince, Him and his works destroy below ; To finish and abolish sin, And bring the heavenly nature in. 3 Then the whole earth again shall rest, And see its paradise restored; of Christ. 633 Then every soul, in Jesus blest, Shall bear the image of its Lord, Jn finish' d holiness renew'd, Immeasurably fill'd with God. 4 O vvouldst thou bring the final scene, Accomplish the redeeming plan, Thy great millennial reign begin ; That everv ransom'd child of man, That every soul, may bow the knee, And rise to reign with God in thee ! HYMN 697. I- m. Psalm lxxii. 1 TESUS shall reign where'er the sun *J Doth his successive journeys run ; His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, Till suns shall rise and set no more. 2 For him shall endless prayer be made, And praises throng to crown his head ; His name like sweet perfume shall rise With every morning sacrifice.

Bestow thy promised rest ; With purest love thy servant fill, And number with the blest. HYMN 711. l. m. For New Years Day. 1 INTERNAL source of every joy, -*-- ' Well may thy praise our lips employ, While in thy temple we appear, Whose goodness crowns the circling year. 644 Time, Death, and 2 The flowery spring*, at thy command, Embalms the air, and paints the land ; The summer-rays with vigour shine, To raise the corn, and cheer the vine. 3 Thy hand in autumn richly pours Through all our coasts redundant stores ; And winters, soften 'd by thy care, No more a face of horror wear. 4 Seasons, and months, and weeks, and days, Demand successive songs of praise : Still be the cheerful homage paid With opening light, and evening shade. 5 Here in thy house shall incense rise, As circling Sabbaths bless our eyes ; Still will we make thy mercies known Around thy board, and round our own. 6 O may our more harmonious tongue In worlds unknown pursue the song ; And in those brighter courts adore, Where days and years revolve no more. HYMN 712. c. m. The same. 1 O ING to the Great Jehovah's praise ! ^ All praise to him belongs : Who kindly lengthens out our days, Demands our choicest songs. 2 His providence hath brought us through Another various year : We all with vows and anthems new, Before our God appear. 3 Father, thy mercies past we own, Thy still continued care ; the future State. 645 To Thee presenting, through thy Son, Whate'er we have or are. 4 Our lips and lives shall gladly show The wonders of thy love, While on in Jesu's steps we go To see thy face ahove. 5 Our residue of days or hours Thine, wholly thine, shall be , And all our consecrated powers A sacrifice to thee : 6 Till Jesus in the clouds appear To saints on earth forgiven, And bring the grand sabbatic year, The Jubilee of heaven. The same 1 ^I^TTSDOM ascribe, and might, and praise, ' » To God, who lengthens out our days ; Who spares us yet another year, And makes us see his goodness here : O may we all the time redeem, And henceforth live and die to Him !

And reach the heavenly land. 4 Our old companions in distress We haste again to see, And eager long for our release And full felicity : Miscellaneous Hymns. 665 Even now by faith we join our hands With those that went before ; And greet the blood-besprinkled bands On the eternal shore. 5 Our spirits too shall quickly join, Like theirs with glory crown'd, And shout to see our Captain's sign, To hear his trumpet sound. O that we now might grasp our Guide ! O that the word were given ! Come, Lord of hosts, the waves divide, And land us all in heaven ! HYMN 736. l. m. On opening a Place of TVorship. 1 /^ RE AT God, thy watchful care we bless, ^J Which guards these sacred courts in peace Nor dare tumultuous foes invade To fill thy worshippers with dread. 2 These walls we to thy honour raise, Long may they echo to thy praise ! And thou, descending, fill the place With choicest tokens of thy grace. 3 And in the great decisive day, When God the nations shall survey, May it before the world appear, That crowds were born to glory here. OOO Miscellaneous Hymns. HYMN 737. Ts §• 6's. On laying the Foundation of a Chapel. 1 HHHOU, who hast in Sion laid -1 The true Foundation-stone, And with those a covenant made, Who build on that alone : Hear us, Architect divine ! Great builder of thy church below ; Now upon thy servants shine, Who seek thy praise to show. 2 Earth is thine ; her thousand hills Thy mighty hand sustains ; Heaven thy awful presence fills ; O'er all thy glory reigns : Yet the place of old prepared, By regal David's favour' d son, Thy peculiar blessing shared, And stood thy chosen throne. 3 We, like Jesse's son, would raise A temple to the Lord ; Sound throughout its courts His praise, His saving name record ; Dedicate a house to Him, Who, once in mortal weakness shrined, Sorrow'd, suffer'd, to redeem, To rescue all mankind. 4 Father, Son, and Spirit, send The consecrating flame ; Now in majesty descend, Inscribe the living name; That great name by which we live, Now write on this accepted stone; Us into thy hands receive, Our temple make thv throne. Miscellaneous Hymns. 667 HYMN 738. l. m

Lowly I wept, and strongly vow'd : But ah ! the feebleness of man ! Have I not vow'd and wept in vain ? 2 Return, O Lord of Hosts, return ! Behold thy servant in distress ; My faithlessness again I mourn ; Again forgive my faithlessness ; And to thine arms my spirit take, And bless me for the Saviour's sake. 3 In pity of the soul thou lov'st, Now bid the sin thou hat'st expire ; Let me desire what thou approv'st, -- Thou dost approve what I desire ; And thou wilt deign to call me thine, And I will dare to call thee mine. 4 This day the Covenant I sign, The bond of sure and promised peace ; Nor can I doubt its power divine, Since seal'd with Jesu's blood it is ; That blood T take, that blood alone, And make the cov'nant peace mine own. 5 But, that my faith no more may know Or change, or interval, or end, -- Help me in all thy paths to go, And now, as e'er, my voice attend, And gladden me with answers mild, And commune, Father, with thy child ! b/4 Miscellaneous Hymns. After the Renewal of the Covenant. 1 (~\ HOW shall a sinner perform ^^ The vows he hath vow'd to the Lord ? A sinful and impotent worm, How can I be true to my word ? I tremble at what I have done : O send me thy help from above ; The power of thy Spirit make known, The virtue of Jesus's love ! 2 My solemn engagements are vain, My promises empty as air ; My vows, I shall break them again, And plunge in eternal despair ; Unless my omnipotent God The sense of his goodness impart, And shed by his Spirit abroad The love of himself in my heart. 3 O Lover of sinners, extend To me thy compassionate grace ; Appear my affliction to end, Afford me a glimpse of thy face! That light shall enkindle in me A flame of reciprocal love ; And then I shall cleave unto thee, And then I shall never remove. 4 O come to a mourner in pain, Thy peace in my conscience reveal ! And then I shall love thee again, And sing of the goodness I feel : Constrain'd by the grace of my Lord,

My soul shall in all things obey, And wait to be fully restored, And long to be summon'd away Miscellaneous Hymns. 6/0 HYMN 750. l. m. Renewal of Self-Dedication. 1 r\ HAPPY day that fix'd my choice ^-^ On thee, my Saviour and my God ! Well may this glowing heart rejoice, And tell its raptures all abroad. 2 O happy bond, that seals my vows To Him who merits all my love ! Let cheerful anthems fill his house, While to that sacred shrine I move. 3 'Tis done, the great transaction 's done I am my Lord's, and he is mine ; He drew me, and I folio w'd on, Charm'd to confess the voice divine. 4 Now rest my long-divided heart ; Fix'd on this blissful centre, rest : Nor ever from thy Lord depart, With Him of every good possest. 5 High Heaven, that heard the solemn vow, That vow renew'd shall daily hear, • Till in life's latest hour I bow, And bless in death a bond so dear. HYMN 751. c. m. The Lord's Supper. 1 " r I AHE promise of my Father's love -*- Shall stand for ever good," He said ; and gave his soul to death, And seal'd the grace with blood. 2 To this sure covenant of thy word I set my worthless name ; I seal the' engagement to my Lord, And make my humble claim. 07b Miscellaneous Hymns. 3 Thy light, and strength, and pardoning grace, And glory shall be mine ; My life and soul, my heart and flesh, And all my powers are thine. 4 I call that legacy my own, Which Jesus did bequeath ; 'Twas purchased with a dying groan, And ratified in death. 5 Sweet is the memory of his name, Who blest us in his Will, And to his Testament of love Made his own life the seal. HYMN 752. 2-6's §• 4-7'*. The same. FROM Jesu's sacrifice And sacrament we rise, Borne on wings of faith and love To the mansions of the blest, Triumph with the saints above, Share that everlasting feast. 2 The Truth, the Deity, We there unveil* d shall see ; Lose in that transporting sight All we felt or fear'd below ; Torrents of unmix'd delight There our raptured souls o'erflow. 3 O blessed, blessed hope ! From earth it lifts us up :

taken by storm, 265 Knocking at the door of the heart, 208 Knowledge of Christ, 681 Know/edge of God desired, 113, 118 121 128, 130, 144, 156, 283, 284, 302 Labouring. See Working. Lamb of God, spotless, 167, 175 Languishing for Christ, 146, 147, 378, 379, Lateness of conversion, lamented, 210 Law, a shadow of good things, 619 written on the heart, 340, 438, 511 Lepers cleansed, 32, 135 Leprosy of sin, 395 Liberty from sin, 171. See Freedom. Life, Christ the believer's, 79, 213. 230 291, 347 hidden, 125, 420, 537 human, short, 47 passing away, 41, 46 spiritual, desired, 666 uncertain, 42, 46, 59, 722 Light, God is, 647 of the Gentiles, 129, 203, 444 spiritual, 121, 134, 148, 252,353 Lion, the devil, 310 Living to Christ, 246, 321-325, 362, 426Living water, 36 ILook of Christ, producing repentance, 106. Looking of Christ on the sinner, 106 to Jesus, 1, 387, 6S3 Lord's prayer, 235-237, 594 Love, Almighty, 158, 288 constraining power of, 137 desired, 137, 146, 147, 155, 210, 285, 344, 361, 373, 379, 385, 399, 415, 538 excellency of, 379, 385, 134, 680 infinite, 216, 513 mutual, 522 of Christ to sinners, 22-28, 30, 33, 34, the sweetness of, 1 17 •01 Love, universality of, 216 Lore-feast, 519-522 Lukewarmmss, 454 Mahometan!;, their salvation desired, 443 MajestyofGoA, 38, 90, 240, 21 1, 24 1, 247, 248 Malefactor's prayer, 759, 760 Mariners' hymns, 761-764 Marriage hymn, 510 Mary and Martha, 325 Master, duty of a, to his family, 470--472 Means of grace, 91, 92 improved, 529 Meditation on the Scriptures, 328 on God, 437 Meekness desired, 270, 304, 338, 343 Meeting of believers in heaven, 534-537, 539 on earth, 478, 4S0-482, 484-486 Members of Christ's body, 423, 518 Mercy of God, 584 embraced, 11 implored, 125, 133, 151, 168, 176, 249, 307, 440 infinite, 110, 189, 190, 201 Messiah, person and office of the, 565, 566. See Christ. Millennial reign, 46, 61, 696 Mind of Christ desired, 153, 270, 355, 363, 364, 504, 520 Ministerial fidelity, 279, 433, 439, 440 Ministers, blessing on, 747 Miracles performed by Christ, 32, 135, 136, 138, 139, 611, 612 spiritual, 40, 135, 136, 395, 396-398, 611", 612 Misery of man, as a sinner, 109, 110, 112, 115-117, 127, 135, 136, 150-152, 154, 158, 163, 164, 166 Missionary hymns, 1, 39, 441--452, 457, 563,

Earth from afar . 305 Earth then a scale 107 Earth, tremble on 216 Easy to be entreat- 441 Effectual let the . 512 Effulgence of the . 335 Eighteen, or eight 378 Empty of Him who 1 16 End of my every . 307 Endless scenes of 570 EngTaved as in . 553 Enlarge, inflame 407 Enlarge my heart 278 Enter into theRock 424 Entering into my 118 Equal with God . 190 Errorand ignorance443 Essay your choicest 626 Eternal are thy . 635 Eternal life to all 344 Eternal Spirit . 446 Eternal Sun of . 243 Eternal Triune . 244 Eternal, undivided 592 Eternity thy foun- 232 Even now our Lord 458 Even now we think 467 Ever upward let us 578 Every day the Lord 267 Every eye shall now 68 Every fresh alarm- 63 Every one that . 140 Expand thy wings 88 Fxpel the fiend out 390 Extend to me . 542 Fxtend to these thy 83 Extol his kingly . 264 Extol the Lamb . 591 F.xtort the crv . 84 Eye hath not seen 72 Faded my virtuous 94 Fain 1 would the . 383 Fain would 1 all 118 Fain would I go . 27!) Fain would 1 know 99 Fain would I learn 371 Faint we were . 330 Fainting soul, be 140 Fairer than the . 4<'H Faith in thy chan- 378 Faith in thy power 344 Faith lends it- re- 95 Faith, mighty faith 344 Faith to be beal'd 136

There the pompous 577 There we shall meet499 There we shall see 18 There we shal 1 with 578 There your exalted 398 Therefore shall ye 193 These are the men 616 These clouds of . 592 These eves shall see 500 These lively hopes 651 These temples of 540 These walls we . 665 They chant the . 543 They die in Jesus 647 They go from . . 506 They drink the . 663 They mark'd the . 658 They saw him in 573 They that be whole 377

ne arm hath . 263 ne earthly Sab- 541 ne eve observ'd 188 ne, Lord, is . 233 ne, only thine 507 ne the kingdom 628 ngs that are not 344 s blessed word 399 is day let our . 542 s day the co- . 673 s day with this 550 s delight I fain 164 s earth is affect- 50 is eucharistic . 677 s happiness in 70 heart shall be 385 s holy calm . 542 s instant now 575 s is the bond of 471 s is the dear . 387 is is the faith . s is the grace . s is the strait . s is the time . s is thy will . s languishing . s moment I thy 390 s only thing do 23 is only woe I . 157 s sacred stream 618 s s' umber from 295 ^ the universal 25 s, this is our . 273 ther may we . 56 ther our faith- 687 Those amaranthine 69 Those feeble types 569 Those mighty orbs 252 Thou all our works 409 Thou art darkness 366 Thou art merciful 235 Thou art my daily 189 Thou art our . . 575 Thou art the an- 621 Th»u art the ear- 599 Thou art thyself 46 Thou bidst us knock 1 1 8 Thou callest me to 208 Thou canst o'er- . 137 Thou canst, thou 395 Thou didst the meek3 1 4 Thou didst under- 342 Thou dost with . 120 Thou Earth, thy , 564 Thou every \. here 613 Thou God of. .187 Thou God that an- 679 Thou great and . 552 Thou great tremen- 102 Thou hast a great 282 Thou hast in unbe- 147 Thou hast my flesh 405 Thou hast obtain'd 158 Thou hast on us . 24J Thou hast our bonds46'l Thou hast pro- . 130 Thou hear'st rne . 395 Thou holdest my 196 Thou, in thy youth- 55 Thou know'st lor 344 Thou know'st, in 655 Thou know'st the 99 181, 545 Thou, Lord, our . 24 Thou, Lord, the .

2 The task Thy wisdom hath assigned, O let me cheerfully fulfill; in all my works Thy presence find, and prove thy good and perfect will.

1. Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of Heav'n to Earth come down, Fix in us thy humble dwelling, All thy faithful mercies crown; Jesus, thou art all compassion, Pure, unbounded love thou art; Visit us with thy salvation, Enter ev'ry trembling heart. 2. Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit Into ev'ry troubled breast; Let us all in thee inherit, Let us find thy promised rest; Take away our love of sinning; Alpha and Omega be; End of faith as its beginning, Set our hearts at liberty. 3. Come, Almighty to deliver; Let us all thy grace receive; Suddenly return, and never, Never more thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing, Serve thee as thy host above, Pray, and praise thee without ceasing, Glory in thy perfect love. 4. Finish, then, thy new creation; Pure and spotless let us be; Let us see thy great salvation Perfectly restored in thee; Changed from glory into glory Till in Heav'n we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before thee, Lost in wonder, love, and praise!

1. Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of Heav'n to Earth come down, Fix in us thy humble dwelling, All thy faithful mercies crown; Jesus, thou art all compassion, Pure, unbounded love thou art; Visit us with thy salvation, Enter ev'ry trembling heart.

2. Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit Into ev'ry troubled breast; Let us all in thee inherit, Let us find thy promised rest; Take away our love of sinning; Alpha and Omega be; End of faith as its beginning, Set our hearts at liberty.

4 He breaks the power of cancelled sin, he sets the prisoner free; his blood can make the foulest clean; his blood availed for me.

3. On the contrary, what will the consequence be, if they do not adopt this resolution -- if family religion be neglected -- if care be not taken of the rising generation Will not the present revival of religion in a short time die away Will it not be as the historian speaks of the Roman state in its infancy, -- res unius aetatis -- "an event that has its beginning and end within the space of one generation" Will it not be a confirmation of that melancholy remark of Luther's, that "a revival of religion never lasts longer than one generation" By a generation, (as he explains himself,) he means thirty years. But, blessed be God, this remark does not hold with regard to the present instance; seeing this revival, from its rise in the year 1729, has already lasted above fifty years. 4. Have we not already seen some of the unhappy consequences of good men's not adopting this resolution Is there not a generation arisen, even within this period, yea, and from pious parents, that know not the Lord that have neither his love in their hearts, nor his fear before their eyes How many of them already "despise their fathers, and mock at the counsel of their mothers!" How many are utter strangers to real religion, to the life and power of it! And not a few have shaken off all religion, and abandoned themselves to all manner of wickedness! Now, although this may sometimes be the case, even of children educated in a pious manner, yet this case is very rare: I have met with some, but not many, instances of it. The wickedness of the children is generally owing to the fault or neglect of their parents. For it is a general, though not universal rule, though is admits of some exceptions, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." 5. But what is the purport of this resolution, "I and my house will serve the Lord" In order to understand and practice this, let us, First, inquire, what it is to "serve the Lord." Secondly, Who are included in that expression, "my house." And, Thirdly, What can we do, that we and our house my serve the Lord.

2. But you cannot dismiss you wife, unless for the cause of fornication, that is adultery. What can then be done, if she is habituated to any other open sin I cannot find in the Bible that a husband has authority to strike his wife on any account, even suppose she struck him first, unless his life were in imminent danger. I never have known one instance yet of a wife that was mended thereby. I have heard, indeed, of some such instances; but as I did not see them, I do not believe them. It seems to me, all that can be done in this case is to be done partly by example, partly by argument of persuasion, each applied in such a manner as is dictated by Christian prudence. If evil can ever be overcome, it must be overcome by good. It cannot by overcome by evil: We cannot beat the devil with his own weapons. Therefore, if this evil cannot be overcome by good, we are called to suffer it. We are then called to say, "This is the cross which God hath chosen for me. He surely permits it for wise ends; `let him do what seemeth him good.' Whenever he sees it to be best, he will remove this cup from me." Meanwhile continue in earnest prayer, knowing that with God no word is impossible; and that he will either in due time take the temptation away, or make it a blessing to your soul. 3. Your children, while they are young, you may restrain from evil, not only by advice, persuasion, and reproof, but also by correction; only remembering, that this means is to be used last, -- not till all other have been tried, and found to be ineffectual. And even then you should take the utmost care to avoid the very appearance of passion. Whatever is done should be done with mildness; nay, indeed, with kindness too. Otherwise your own spirit will suffer loss, and the child will reap little advantage.

6. You should particularly endeavour to instruct your children, early, plainly, frequently, and patiently. Instruct them early, from the first hour that you perceive reason begins to dawn. Truth may then begin to shine upon the mind far earlier than we are apt to suppose. And whoever watches the first openings of the understanding, may, by little and little, supply fit matter for it to work upon, and may turn the eye of the son, toward good things, as well as toward bad or trifling ones. Whenever a child begins to speak, you may be assured reason begins to work. I know no cause why a parent should not just then begin to speak of the best things, the things of God. And from that time no opportunity should be lost, of instilling all truths as they are capable of receiving. 7. But the speaking to them early will not avail, unless you likewise speak to the plainly. Use such words as little children may understand, just such as they use themselves. Carefully observe the few ideas which they have already, and endeavour to graft what you say upon them. To take a little example: Bid the child look up; and ask. "What do you see there" "The sun." "See, how bright it is! Feel how warm it shines upon you hand! Look, how it makes the grass green! But God, though you cannot see him, is above the sky, and is a deal brighter than the sun! It is he, it is God that makes the grass and the flowers grow; that makes the trees green, and the fruit to come upon them! Think what he can do! He can do whatever he pleases. He can strike me or you dead in a moment! But he loves you; he loves to do you good. He loves to make you happy. Should not you then love him And he will teach you how to love him."

8. While you are speaking in this, or some such manner, you should be continually lifting up your heart to God, beseeching him to open the eyes of their understanding, and to pour his light upon them. He, and he alone, can make them to differ herein from the beasts that perish. He alone can apply your words to their hearts; without which all your labour will be in vain. But whenever the Holy Ghost teaches, there is no delay in learning. 9. But if you would see the fruit of your labour, you must teach them not only early and plainly, but frequently too. It would be of little or no service to so it only once or twice a week. How often do you feed their bodies Not less than three times a day. And is the soul of less value than the body Will you not then feed this as often If you find this a tiresome task, there is certainly something wrong in your own mind. You do not love them enough; or you do not love Him who is your Father and their Father. Humble yourself before him! Beg that he would give you more love; and love will make the labour light. 10. But it will not avail to teach them both early, plainly, and frequently, unless you persevere therein. Never leave off, never intermit your labour of love, till you see the fruit of it. But in order to this, you will find the absolute need of being endued with power from on high; without which, I am persuaded, none ever had, or will have, patience sufficient for the work. Otherwise, the inconceivable dullness of some children, and the giddiness or perverseness of others, would induce them to give up the irksome task, and let them follow their own imagination.

16. We may suppose your sons have now been long enough at school, and you are thinking of some business for them. Before you determine anything on this head, see that your eye be single. Is it so Is it you view to please God herein It is well if you take him into your account! But surely, if you live or fear God yourself, this will be your first consideration, -- "In what business will your son be most likely to love and serve God In what employment will he have the greatest advantage for laying up treasure in heaven" I have been shocked above measure in observing how little this is attended to, even by pious parents! Even these consider only how he may get most money; not how he may get most holiness! Even these, upon this glorious motive, send him to a heathen master, and into family where there is not the very form, much less the power of religion! Upon this motive they fix him in a business which will necessarily expose him to such temptations as will leave him not a probability, if a possibility, of serving God. O savage parents! unnatural, diabolical cruelty. -- if you believe there is another world. "But what shall I do" Set God before your eyes, and do all things with a view to please him. Then you will find a master, of whatever profession, that loves, or at least fears, God; and you will find a family wherein is the form of religion, if not the power also. Your son may nevertheless serve the devil if he will; but it is probable he will not. And do not regard, if he get less money, provided he get more holiness. It is enough, though he have less of earthly goods, if he secure the possession of heaven.

18. It is undoubtedly true, that if you are steadily determined to walk in this path; to endeavour by every possible means, that you and your house may thus serve the Lord; that every member of you family may worship him, not only in form, but in spirit and in truth; you will have need to use all the grace, all the courage, all the wisdom which God has given you; for you will find such hinderances in the way, as only the mighty power of God can enable you to break through. You will have all the saints of the world to grapple with, who will think you carry things too far. You will have all the powers of darkness against you, employing both force and fraud; and, above all, the deceitfulness of your own heart; which, if you will hearken to it, will supply you with many reasons why you should be a little more conformable to the world. But as you have begun, go on in the name of the Lord, and in the power of his might! Set the smiling and the frowning world, with the prince thereof, at defiance. Follow reason and the oracles of God; not the fashions and customs of men. "Keep thyself pure." Whatever others do, let you and your house "adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour." Let you, your yoke-fellow, your children, and your servants, be all on the Lord's side; sweetly drawing together in one yoke, walking in all his commandments and ordinances, till every one of you "shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour!"

On The Education Of Children "Train up a child in the way wherein he should go: And when he is old, he will not depart from it." Prov. 22:6. 1. We must not imagine that these words are to be understood in an absolute sense, as if no child that had been trained up in the way wherein he should go had ever departed form it. Matter of fact will by not means agree with this: So far form it, that it has been a common observation, "Some of the best parents have the worst children." It is true, this might sometimes be the case, because good men have not always a good understanding; and, without this, it is hardly to be expected that they will know how to train up their children. Besides, those who are in other respects good men have often too much easiness of temper; so that they go no farther in restraining their children form evil, than an old Eli did, when he said gently, "Nay, my sons, the report I hear of you is not good." This, then, is no contradiction to the assertion; for their children are not "trained up in the way wherein they should go." But it must be acknowledged, some have been trained therein with all possible care and diligence; and yet before they were old, yea, in the strength of their years, they did utterly depart form it. 2. The words, then, must be understood with some limitation, and then they contain an unquestionable truth. It is a general, though not an universal, promise; and many have found the happy accomplishment of it. As this is the most probable method for making their children pious which any parents can take, so it generally, although not always, meets with the desired success. The God of their fathers is with their children; he blesses their endeavours; and they have the satisfaction of leaving their religion, as well as their worldly substance, to those that descend from them. 3. But what is "the way wherein a child should go" and how shall we "train him up" therein The ground of this is admirably well laid by Mr. Law, in his "Serious Call to a Devout Life." Part of his words are, --

15. Thus may we counteract, and, by the grace of God assisting us, gradually cure, the natural Atheism of our children. But what can we do to cure their self-will It is equally rooted in their nature, and is, indeed, the original idolatry, which is not confined to one age or country, but is common to all the nations under heaven. And how few parents are to be found even among Christians, even among them that truly fear God, who are not guilty in this matter! Who do not continually feed and increase this grievous distemper in their children! To let them have their own will, does this most effectually. To let them take their own way, is the sure method of increasing their self-will sevenfold. But who has the resolution to do otherwise One parent in a hundred! Who can be so singular, so cruel, as not, more or less, to humour her child "And why should you not What harm can there be in this, which everybody does" The harm is, that it strengthens their will more and more, till it will neither bow to God nor man. To humour children is, as far as in us lies, to make their disease incurable. A wise parent, on the other hand, should begin to break their will the first moment it appears. In the whole art of Christian education there is nothing more important than this. The will of the parent is to a little child in the place of the will of God. Therefore studiously teach them to submit to this while they are children, that they may be ready to submit to his will when they are men. But in order to carry this point, you will need incredible firmness and resolution; for after you have once begun, you must never more give way. You must hold on still in an even course; you must never intermit your attention for one hour; otherwise you lose your labour.

16. If you are not willing to lose all the labour you have been at, to break the will of your child, to bring his will into subjection to yours, that it may be afterward subject to the will of God, there is one advice which, though little known, should be particularly attended to. It may seem a small circumstance; but it is of more consequence than one can easily imagine. It is this: Never, on any account, give a child anything that it cries for. For it is a true observation, (and you may make the experiment as often as you please,) if you give a child what he cries for you pay him for crying; and then he will certainly cry again. "But if I do not give it to him when he cries, he will scream all day long." If he does it is your own fault; for it is in your power effectually to prevent it: For no mother need suffer a child to cry aloud after it is a year old. "Why, it is impossible to hinder it." So many suppose, but it is an entire mistake. I am a witness of the direct contrary; and so are many others. My own mother had ten children, each of whom had spirit enough; yet not one of them was ever heard to cry aloud after it was a year old. A gentlewoman of Sheffield (several of whose children I suppose are alive still) assured me she had the same success with regard to her eight children. When some were objecting to the possibility of this, Mr. Parson Greenwood (well-known in the north of England) replied, "This cannot be impossible: I have had the proof of it in my own family. Nay, of more than this. I had six children by my former wife; and she suffered none of them to cry aloud after they were ten months old. And yet none of their spirits were so broken, as to unfit them for any of the offices of life." This, therefore, may be done by any woman of sense, who may thereby save herself abundance of trouble, and prevent that disagreeable noise, the squalling of young children, from being heard under her roof.

And yet none of their spirits were so broken, as to unfit them for any of the offices of life." This, therefore, may be done by any woman of sense, who may thereby save herself abundance of trouble, and prevent that disagreeable noise, the squalling of young children, from being heard under her roof. But I allow, none but a woman of sense will be able to effect this; yea, and a woman of such patience and resolution as only the grace of God can give. However, this is doubtless the more excellent way: and she that is able to receive it, let her receive it! 17. It is hard to say whether self-will or pride be the more fatal distemper. It was chiefly pride that threw down so many of the stars of heaven, and turned angels into devils. But what can parents do in order to check this until it can be radically cured

19. Next to self-will and pride, the most fatal disease with which we are born, is "love of the world." But how studiously do the generality of parents cherish this in its several branches! They cherish "the desire of the flesh," that is, the tendency to seek happiness in pleasing the outward senses, by studying to enlarge the pleasure of tasting in their children to the uttermost; not only giving them before they are weaned other things beside milk, the natural food of children; but giving them, both before and after, any sort of meat or drink that they will take. Yea, they entice them, long before nature requires it, to take wine or strong drink; and provide them with comfits, gingerbread, raisins, and whatever fruit they have a mind to. They feed in them "the desire of the eves," the propensity to seek happiness in pleasing the imagination, by giving them pretty playthings, glittering toys, shining buckles or buttons, fine clothes, red shoes, laced hats, needless ornaments, as ribbons, necklaces, ruffles; yea, and by proposing any of these as rewards for doing their duty, which is stamping a great value upon them. With equal care and attention they cherish in them the Third branch of the love of the world, "the pride of life;" the propensity to seek their happiness in "the honour that cometh of men." Nor is the love of money forgotten; many an exhortation do they hear on securing the main chance; many a lecture, exactly agreeing with that of the old Heathen, _____ "Get money, honestly if you can; but if not, get money." And they are carefully taught to look on riches and honour as the reward of all their labours.

20. In direct opposition to all this, a wise and truly kind parent will take the utmost care, not to cherish in her children the desire of the flesh; their natural propensity to seek happiness in gratifying the outward senses. With this view she will suffer them to taste no food but milk, till they are weaned; which a thousand experiments show is most safely and easily done at the end of the seventh month. And then accustom them to the most simple food, chiefly of vegetables. She may inure them to taste only one kind of food, beside bread, at dinner, and constantly to breakfast and sup on milk, either cold or heated, but not boiled. She may use them to sit by her at meals; and ask for nothing, but take what is given them. She need never, till they are at least nine or ten years old, let them know the taste of tea; or use any other drink at meals but water or small beer. And they will never desire to taste either meat or drink between meals, if not accustomed thereto. If fruit, comfits, or anything of the kind be given them, let them not touch it but at meals. And never propose any of these as a reward; but teach them to look higher than this. But herein a difficulty will arise; which it will need much resolution to conquer. Your servants, who will not understand your plan, will be continually giving little things to your children, and thereby undoing all your work. This you must prevent, if possible, by warning them when they first come into your house, and repeating the warning from time to time. If they will do it notwithstanding, you must turn them away. Better lose a good servant than spoil a good child.

Possibly you may have another difficulty to encounter, and one of a still more trying nature. Your mother or your husband's mother, may live with you; and you will do well to show her all possible respect. But let her on no account have the least share in the management of your children. She would undo all that you had done; she would give them their own will in all things. She would humour them to the destruction of their souls, if not of their bodies too. In fourscore years I have not met with one woman that knew how to manage grandchildren. My own mother, who governed her children so well, could never govern one grandchild. In every other point obey your mother. Give up your will to hers. But with regard to the management of your children, steadily keep the reins in your own hands. 21. A wise and kind parent will be equally cautious of feeding "the desire of the eyes" in her children. She will give them no pretty playthings, no glittering toys, shining buckles or buttons, fine or gay clothes; no needless ornaments of any kind; nothing that can attract the eye. Nor will she suffer any other person to give them what she will not give them herself. Anything of the kind that is offered may be either civilly refused, or received and laid by. If they are displeased at this, you cannot help it. Complaisance, yea, and temporal interest, must needs be set aside when the eternal interest of your children is at stake. Your pains will be well requited, if you can inspire them early with a contempt of all finery; and, on the other hand, with a love and esteem for neat plainness of dress: Teaching them to associate the ideas of plainness and modesty; and those of a fine and a loose woman. Likewise, instil into them, as early as possible, a fear and contempt of pomp and grandeur; an abhorrence and dread of the lo love of money; and a deep conviction; that riches cannot give happiness. Wean them therefore from all these false ends; habituate them to make God their end in all things; and inure them, in all they do, to aim at knowing, loving, and serving God.

24. Most parents increase the natural tendency to injustice in their children, by conniving at their wronging each other; if not laughing at, or even applauding, their witty contrivances to cheat one another. Beware of everything of this kind; and from their very infancy sow the seeds of justice in their hearts, and train them up in the exactest practice of it. If possible, teach them the love of justice, and that in the least things as well as the greatest. Impress upon their mind the old proverb: "He that will steal a penny will steal a pound." Habituate them to render unto all their due, even to the uttermost farthing. 25. Many parents connive likewise at the ill-nature of their children, and thereby strengthen it. But truly affectionate parents will not indulge them in any kind or degree of unmercifulness. They will not suffer them to vex their brothers or sisters, either by word or deed. They will not allow them to hurt, or give pain to, anything that has life. They will not permit them to rob birds' nests; much less to kill anything without necessity, -- not even snakes, which are as innocent as worms, or toads, which, notwithstanding their ugliness, and the ill name they lie under, have been proved over and over to be as harmless as flies. Let them extend in its measure the rule of doing as they would be done by, to every animal whatsoever. Ye that are truly kind parents, in the morning, in the evening, and all the day beside, press upon all your children, "to walk in love, as Christ also loved us, and gave himself for us;" to mind that one point, "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him."

2. You will easily observe, that by parents the Apostle means both fathers and mothers, as he refers us to the Fifth Commandment, which names both the one and the other. And, however human laws may vary herein, the law of God makes no difference; but lays us under the same obligation of obeying both the one and the other. 3. But before we consider how we are to obey our parents, it may be inquired, how long we are to obey them. Are children to obey only till they run alone, till they go to school, till they can read and write, or till they are as tall as their parents, or, attain to years of discretion Nay, if they obey only [because they cannot help it, only] because they fear to be beaten, or because otherwise they cannot procure food and raiment, what avails such obedience Those only who obey their parents when they can live without them, and when they neither hope nor fear anything from them, shall have praise from God. 4. "But is a man that is at age, or a woman that is married, under any farther obligation to obey their parents" With regard to marriage, although it is true that a man is to leave father and mother, and cleave unto his wife; and, by parity of reason, she is to leave father and mother, and cleave unto her husband; (in consequence of which there may be some particular cases wherein conjugal duty must take [the] place" of filial;) yet I cannot learn, either from Scripture or reason, that marriage either cancels or lessens the general obligation of filial duty. Much less does it appear that it is either cancelled or lessened by our having lived one-and-twenty years. I never understood it so in my own case. When I had lived upwards of thirty years, I looked upon myself to stand just in the same relation to my father as I did when I was ten years old. And when I was between forty and fifty, I judged myself full as much obliged to obey my mother in everything lawful, as I did when I was in my leading-strings [or hanging-sleeve coat].

7. It is with admirable wisdom that the Father of spirits has given this direction, that as the strength of the parents supplies the want of strength, and the understanding of the parents the want of understanding, in their children, till they have strength and understanding of their own; so the will of the parents may [should] guide that of their children till they have wisdom and experience to guide themselves. This, therefore, is the very first thing which children have to learn, -- that they are to obey their parents, to submit to their will, in all things. And this they may be inured to, long before they understand the reason of it; and, indeed, long before they are capable of understanding any of the principles of religion. Accordingly, St. Paul directs all parents to bring up their children "in the discipline and doctrine of the Lord." For their will may be broken by proper discipline, even in their early infancy; whereas it must be a considerable time after, before they are capable of instruction. This, therefore, is the first point of all: Bow down their wills from the very first dawn of reason; and, by habituating them to submit to your will, prepare them for submitting to the will of their Father which is in heaven.

8. But how few children do we find, even of six or eight years old, that understand anything of this! Indeed, how should they understand it, seeing they have none to teach them Are not their parents, father as well as mother, full as ignorant of the matter as themselves Whom do you find, even among religious people, that have the least conception of it Have not you seen the proof of it with your own eyes Have not you been present when a father or mother has said, "My child, do so or so" The child, without any ceremony, answered peremptorily, "I won't." And the parent quietly passes it by, without any further notice. And does he or she not see, that, by this cruel indulgence, they are training up their child, by flat rebellion against their parents, to rebellion against God Consequently they are training him up for the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels! Did they duly consider this they would neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep, till they had taught him a better lesson, and made him thoroughly afraid of ever giving that diabolical answer again. 9. Let me reason this case a little farther with you parents that fear God. If you do fear God, how dare you suffer a child above a year old to say, "I will do" what you forbid, or, "I won't do" what you bid, and to go unpunished Why do not you stop him at once, that he may never dare to say so again Have you no bowels, no compassion for your child No regard for his salvation or destruction Would you suffer him to curse or swear in your presence, and take no notice of it Why, disobedience is as certain a way to damnation as cursing and swearing. Stop him, stop him at first, in the name of God. Do not "spare the rod, and spoil the child." If you have not the heart of a tiger, do not give up your child to his own will, that is, to the devil. Though it be pain to yourself, yet pluck your offspring out of the lion's teeth. Make them submit, that they may not perish. Break their will, that you may save their soul.

10. I cannot tell how to enforce this point sufficiently. To fix it upon your minds more strongly, permit me to add part of a letter on the subject, printed some years ago: -- "In order to form the minds of children, the first thing to be done is to conquer their will. To inform their understanding is a work of time, and must proceed by slow degrees; but the subjecting the will is a thing which must be done at once; and the sooner the better. For by our neglecting timely correction they contract a stubbornness which is hardly ever to be conquered, and never without using that severity which would be as painful to us as to the children. Therefore, I call those cruel parents who pass for kind and indulgent; who permit their children to contract habits which they know must be afterwards broken. "I insist upon conquering the wills of children betimes; because this is the only foundation for a religious education. When this is thoroughly done, then a child is capable of being governed by the reason of its parent, till its own understanding comes to maturity. "I cannot yet dismiss this subject. As self-will is the root of all sin and misery, so whatever cherishes this in children, ensures their after-wretchedness and irreligion; and whatever checks and mortifies it, promotes their future happiness and piety. This is still more evident if we consider that religion is nothing else but the doing the will of God, and not our own; and that self-will being the grand impediment to our temporal and eternal happiness, no indulgence of it can be trivial; no denial of it unprofitable. Heaven or hell depends on this alone. So that the parent who studies to subdue it in his children, works together with God in the saving of a soul. The parent who indulges it does the devil's work, makes religion impracticable, salvation unattainable; and does all that in him lies to damn his child, soul and body, for ever!

"This, therefore, I cannot but earnestly repeat, -- break their wills betimes; begin this great work before they can run alone, before they can speak plain, or perhaps speak at all. Whatever pains it cost, conquer their stubbornness: break the will, if you would not damn the child. I conjure you not to neglect, not to delay this! Therefore, (1.) Let a child, from a year old, be taught to fear the rod and to cry softly. In order to this, (2.) Let him have nothing he cries for; absolutely nothing, great or small; else you undo your own work. (3.) At all events, from that age, make him do as he is bid, if you whip him ten times running to effect it. Let none persuade you it is cruelty to do this; it is cruelty not to do it. Break his will now, and his soul will live, and he will probably bless you to all eternity. 11. On the contrary, how dreadful are the consequences of that accursed kindness which gives children their own wills, and does not bow down their necks from their infancy! It is chiefly owing to this, that so many religious parents bring up children that have no religion at all; children that, when they are grown up, have no regard for them, perhaps set them at nought, and are ready to pick out their eyes! Why is this, but because their wills were not broken at first -- because they were not inured from their early infancy to obey their parents in all things, and to submit to their wills as to the will of God -- because they were not taught from the very first dawn of reason, that the will of their parents was, to them, the will of God; that to resist it was rebellion against God, and an inlet to all ungodliness

II. 1. This may suffice for the explication of the text: I proceed to the application of it. And permit me, First, to apply to you that are parents, and, as such concerned to teach your children. Do you know these things yourselves Are you thoroughly convinced of these important truths Have you laid them to heart and have you put them in practice, with regard to your own children Have you inured them to discipline, before they were capable of instruction Have you broken their wills from their earliest infancy; and do you still continue so to do, in opposition both to nature and custom Did you explain to them, as soon as their understanding began to open, the reasons of your proceeding thus Did you point out to them the will of God as the sole law of every intelligent creature; and show them it is the will of God that they should obey you in all things Do you inculcate this over and over again till they perfectly comprehend it O never be weary of this labour of love! and your labour will not always be in vain.

2. At least, do not teach them to disobey, by rewarding them for disobedience. Remember! you do this every time you give them anything because they cry for it. And herein they are apt scholars: If you reward them for crying, they will certainly cry again. So that there is no end, unless you make it a sacred rule, to give them nothing which they cry for. And the shortest way to do this is, never suffer them to cry aloud. Train them up to obedience in this one instance, and you will easily bring them to obey in others. Why should you not begin to-day Surely you see what is the most excellent way; best for your child, and best for your own soul. Why then do you disobey Because you are a coward; because you want resolution. And doubtless it requires [no small resolution to begin and persist herein. It certainly requires] no small patience, more than nature ever gave. But the grace of God is sufficient for you; you can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth you. This grace is sufficient to give you diligence, as well as resolution; otherwise laziness will be as great a hindrance as cowardice. For without much pains you cannot conquer: Nothing can be done with a slack hand; labour on; never tire, lay line upon line, till patience has its perfect work. 3. But there is another hindrance that is full as hard to be conquered as either laziness or cowardice. It is called fondness, and is usually mistaken for love: But, O, how widely different from it! It is real hate; and hate of the most mischievous kind, tending to destroy both body and soul in hell! O give not way to it any longer, no, not for a moment. Fight against it with your might! for the love of God; for the love of your children; for the love of your own soul!

4. I have one word more to say to parents; to mothers in particular. If, in spite of all the Apostle can say, you encourage your children by your example to "adorn" themselves "with gold, or pearls, or costly apparel," you and they must drop into the pit together. But if they do it, though you set them a better example, still it is yours, as well as their fault; for if you did not put any ornament on your little child that you would not wear yourself, (which would be utter distraction, and far more inexcusable than putting it on your own arms or head), yet you did not inure them to obey you from their infancy, and teach them the duty of it, from at least two years old. Otherwise, they would not have dared to do anything, great or small, contrary to your will. Whenever, therefore, I see the fine-dressed daughter of a plain-dressed mother, I see at once the mother is defective either in knowledge or religion. Either she is ignorant of her own or her child's duty, or she has not practised what she knows.

5. I cannot dismiss this subject yet. I am pained continually at seeing religious parents suffer their children to run into the same folly of dress, as if they had no religion at all. In God's name, why do you suffer them to vary a hair's breadth from your example "Why, they will do it" They will! Whose fault is that Why did not you break their will from their infancy At least do it now; better late than never. It should have been done before they were two years old: It may be done at eight or ten, though with far more difficulty. However, do it now; and accept that difficulty as the just reward for your past neglect. Now, at least carry your point, whatever it costs. Be not mealy-mouthed; say not, like foolish Eli, "Nay, my children, it is no good report which I hear of you," instead of restraining them with a strong hand; but speak (though as calmly as possible, yet) firmly and peremptorily, "I will have it so;" and do as you say. Instil diligently into them the love of plain dress, and hatred of finery. Show them the reason of your own plainness of dress, and show it is equally reasonable for them. Bid defiance to indolence, to cowardice, to foolish fondness, and at all events carry your point; if you love their souls, make and keep them just as plain as yourselves. And I charge you, grandmothers before God, do not hinder your daughters herein. Do not dare to give the child anything which the mother denies. Never take the part of the children against their parent; never blame her before them. If you do not strengthen her authority, as you ought to do, at least do not weaken it; but if you have either sense or piety left, help her on in the work of real kindness

4. But we may bring this matter to a short issue by recurring to the very words of the text. They that have voluntarily connected themselves with such a pastor as answers the description given therein; such as do in fact, "watch over their souls, as they that shall give account;" such as do "nourish them up with the words of eternal life;" such as feed them as with the "pure milk of the word," and constantly apply it to them "for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness;" -- all who have found and chosen guides of this character, of this spirit and behaviour, are undoubtedly required by the Apostle to "obey and submit themselves" to them. III. 1. But what is the meaning of this direction This remains to be considered. In what sense, and how far, does the Apostle direct them to "obey and submit" to their spiritual guides If we attend to the proper sense of the two words here used by the Apostle, we may observe that the former of them peiqesqe, (from peiqv to persuade) refers to the understanding, the latter, upeikete to the will, and outward behaviour. To begin with the former. What influence ought our spiritual guides to have over our understanding! We dare no more call our spiritual fathers Rabbi, than the "fathers of our flesh." We dare no more yield implicit faith to the former than to the latter. In this sense "one is our Master," (or rather Teacher,) "who is in heaven." But whatever submission, of even our understanding, is short of this, we may, nay, we ought to yield to them. 2. To explain this a little farther. St. James uses a word which is nearly allied to the former of these: "The wisdom which is from above is, eupeiqhs, easy to be convinced, or to be persuaded." Now, if we ought to have and to show this wisdom toward all men, we ought to have it in a more eminent degree, and to show it upon every occasion, toward those that "watch over our souls." With regard to these, above all other men, we should be "easy to be entreated;" easily convinced of any truth, and easily persuaded to anything that is not sinful.

3. A word of nearly the same import with this is frequently used by St. Paul; namely, epieikhs. In our translation it is more than once rendered gentle. But perhaps it might be more properly rendered (if the word may be allowed) yielding; ready to yield, to give up our own will, in everything that is not a point of duty. This amiable temper every real Christian enjoys, and shows in his intercourse with all men. But he shows it in a peculiar manner toward those that watch over his soul. He is not only willing to receive any instruction from them, to be convinced of anything which he did not know before; lying open to their advice, and being glad to receive admonition, or reproof; but is ready to give up his own will, whenever he can do it with a clear conscience. Whatever they desire him to do, he does; if it be not forbidden in the Word of God. Whatever they desire him to refrain from, he does so; if it be not enjoined in the Word of God. This is implied in those words of the Apostle: "Submit yourselves to them;" yield to them; give up your own will. This is meet, and right, and your bounden duty, if they do indeed watch over your souls as they that shall give account. If you do thus "obey and submit yourselves" to them, they will give an account of you "with joy, not with groaning," as they must otherwise do; for although they should be clear of your blood, yet "that would be unprofitable to you;" yea, a prelude to eternal damnation.

11. I speak all this on supposition, (though that is a supposition not to be made,) that the Bible was silent on this head; that the Scriptures said nothing concerning dress, and left it to everyone's own discretion. But if all other texts were silent, this is enough: "Submit yourselves to them that are over you in the Lord." I bind this upon your consciences, in the sight of God. Were it only in obedience to this direction, you cannot be clear before God unless you throw aside all needless ornaments, in utter defiance of that tyrant of fools, fashion; unless you seek only to be adorned with good works, as men and women professing godliness. 12. Perhaps you will say, "This is only a little thing: it is a mere trifle." I answer, If it be, you are the more inexcusable before God and man. What! will you disobey a plain commandment of God for a mere trifle God forbid! Is it a trifle to sin against God, -- to set his authority at nought Is this a little thing Nay, remember, there can be no little sin, till we can find a little God! Meantime be assured of one thing: The more conscientiously you obey your spiritual guides, the more powerfully will God apply the word which they speak in his name to your heart! The more plentifully will he water what is spoken with the dew of his blessing; and the more proofs will you have, it is not only they that speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaketh in them.

6. But may I not add one thing more (only he that heareth, let him understand:) Good works are so far from being hindrances of our salvation; they are so far from being insignificant, from being of no account in Christianity; that, supposing them to spring from a right principle, they are the perfection of religion. They are the highest part of that spiritual building whereof Jesus Christ is the foundation. To those who attentively consider the thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, it will be undeniably plain that what St. Paul there describes as the highest of all Christian graces, is properly and directly the love of our neighbour [1 Cor. 13]. And to him who attentively considers the whole tenor both of the Old and New Testament, it will be equally plain, that works springing from this love are the highest part of the religion therein revealed. Of these our Lord himself says, "Hereby is my Father glorified, that ye bring forth much fruit." Much fruit! Does not the very expression imply the excellency of what is so termed Is not the tree itself for the sake of the fruit By bearing fruit, and by this alone, it attains the highest perfection it is capable of, and answers the end for which it was planted. Who, what is he then, that is called a Christian, and can speak lightly of good works II. 1. From these general reflections, I proceed to consider that institution in particular, for the promotion of which we are now assembled. And in doing this, I shall, First, observe the rise of this institution; Secondly, the success; and, Thirdly, the excellency of it: After which you will give me leave to make a short application. (I.) On the First head, the rise of this institution, I may be very brief, as a great part of you know it already.

"I. The Society will publish, in the most extensive manner possible, the proper methods of treating persons in such circumstances. "II. They will distribute a premium of two guineas among the first persons who attempt to recover anyone taken out of the water as dead. And this reward will be given, even if the attempt is unsuccessful, provided it has been pursued two hours, according to the method laid down by the Society. "III. They will distribute a premium of four guineas, where the person is restored to life. "IV. They will give one guinea to any that admits the body into his house without delay, and furnishes the necessary accommodations. "V. A number of medical gentlemen, living near the places where these disasters commonly happen, will give their assistance gratis." (II.) Such was the rise of this admirable institution. With what success it has been attended, is the point which I purpose, in the next place, very briefly to consider. And it must be allowed to be not only far greater than those who despised it had imagined, but greater than the most sanguine expectations of the gentlemen who were immediately engaged in it. In the short space, from its first establishment in May, 1774, to the end of December, eight persons, seemingly dead, were restored to life. In the year 1775, forty-seven were restored to life: Thirty-two of them, by the direct encouragement and assistance of the gentlemen of this Society; and the rest, by medical gentlemen and others, in consequence of their method of treatment being generally known. In the year 1776, forty-one persons were restored to life by the assistance of this Society. And eleven cases of those who had been restored elsewhere were communicated to them. So the number of lives preserved and restored, in two years and a half, since their first institution, amounts to one hundred and seven! Add to these those that have been since restored; and out of two hundred and eighty-four persons, who were dead, to all appearance, no less than an hundred and fifty-seven have been restored to life. Such is the success which has attended them in so short a time! Such a blessing has the gracious providence of God given to this infant undertaking!

2. Next to cruelty, malice, and similar tempers, with the words and actions that naturally spring therefrom, nothing is more disgusting, not only to persons of sense and religion, but even to the generality of men, than pride, haughtiness of spirit, and its genuine fruit, an assuming, arrogant, overbearing behaviour. Even uncommon learning, joined with shining talents, will not make amends for this; but a man of eminent endowments, if he be eminently haughty, will be despised by many, and disliked by all. Of this the famous Master of Trinity College in Cambridge, was a remarkable instance. How few persons of his time had a stronger understanding, or deeper learning, than Dr. Bentley! And yet how few were less beloved! unless one who was little, if at all, inferior to him in sense or learning, and equally distant from humility, -- the author of "The Divine Legation of Moses." Whoever, therefore, desires to please his neighbour for his good, must take care of splitting upon this rock. Otherwise the same pride which impels him to seek the esteem of his neighbour, will infallibly hinder his attaining it. 3. Almost as disgustful to the generality of men as haughtiness itself, is a passionate temper and behaviour. Men of a tender disposition are afraid even to converse with persons of this spirit. And others are not fond of their acquaintance; as frequently (perhaps when they expected nothing less) meeting with shocks, which if they bear for the present, yet they do not willingly put themselves in the way of meeting with again. Hence passionate men have seldom many friends; at least, not for any length of time. Crowds, indeed, may attend them for a season, especially when it may promote their interest. But they are usually disgusted one after another, and fall off like leaves in autumn. If therefore you desire lastingly to please your neighbour for his good, by all possible means avoid violent passion.

3. If you desire to please your neighbour for his good to edification you should, Thirdly, labour and pray that you may be meek as well as lowly in heart. Labour to be of a calm, dispassionate temper; gentle towards all men; and let the gentleness of your disposition appear in the whole tenor of your conversation. Let all your words and all your actions be regulated thereby. Remember, likewise that advice of St. Peter: As an addition to your gentleness, be merciful; "be courteous;" be pitiful; be tenderly compassionate to all that are in distress; to all that are under any affliction of mind, body, or estate. Let The various scenes of human woe Excite your softest sympathy! Weep with them that weep. If you can do no more, at least mix your tears with theirs; and give them healing words, such as may calm their minds, and mitigate their sorrows. But if you can, if you are able to give them actual assistance, let it not be wanting. Be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame, a husband to the widow and a father to the fatherless. This will greatly tend to conciliate the affection, and to give a profitable pleasure not only to those who are immediate objects of your compassion, but to others likewise that "see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

4. And while you are pitiful to the afflicted, see that you are courteous toward all men. It matters not in this respect whether they are high or low, rich or poor, superior or inferior to you. No, nor even whether good or bad, whether they fear God or not. Indeed, the mode of showing your courtesy may vary, as Christian prudence will direct; but the thing itself is due to all; the lowest and worst have a claim to our courtesy. [But what is courtesy] It may either be inward or outward; either a temper or a mode of behaviour. Such a mode of behaviour as naturally springs from courtesy of heart. Is this the same with good breeding, or politeness (which seems to be only a high degree of good-breeding:) Nay, good breeding is chiefly the fruit of education; but education cannot give courtesy of heart. Mr. Addison's well-known definition of politeness seems rather to be a definition of this: "A constant desire of pleasing all men, appearing through the whole conversation." Now, this may subsist, even in a high degree, where there has been no advantage of education. I have seen as real courtesy in an Irish cabin, as could be found in St. James's or the Louvre.

6. These two considerations will yield a full answer to all the common objections which have been made against constant communion; indeed to all that ever were or can be made. In truth, nothing can be objected against it, but upon supposition that, [at] this particular time, either the communion would be no mercy, or I am not commanded to receive it. Nay, should we grant it would be no mercy, that is not enough; for still the other reason would hold: Whether it does you any good or none, you are to obey the command of God. 7. However, let us see the particular excuses which men commonly make for not obeying it. The most common is, "I am unworthy; and `he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself.' Therefore I dare not communicate, lest I should eat and drink my own damnation." The case is this: God offers you one of the greatest mercies on this side heaven, and commands you to accept it. Why do not you accept this mercy, in obedience to his command You say, "I am unworthy to receive it." And what then You are unworthy to receive any mercy from God. But is that a reason for refusing all mercy God offers you a pardon for all your sins. You are unworthy of it, it is sure, and he knows it; but since he is pleased to offer it nevertheless, will not you accept of it He offers to deliver your soul from death: You are unworthy to live; but will you therefore refuse life He offers to endue your soul with new strength; because you are unworthy of it, will you deny to take it What can God himself do for us farther, if we refuse his mercy because we are unworthy of it

22. It has been particularly shown, First, that unworthiness is no excuse; because though in one sense we are all unworthy, yet none of us need be afraid of being unworthy in St. Paul's sense, of "eating and drinking unworthily." Secondly, that the not having time enough for preparation can be no excuse; since the only preparation which is absolutely necessary, is that which no business can hinder, nor indeed anything on earth, unless so far as it hinders our being in a state of salvation. Thirdly, that its abating our reverence is no excuse; since he who gave the command, "Do this," nowhere adds, "unless it abates your reverence." Fourthly, that our not profiting by it is no excuse; since it is our own fault, in neglecting that necessary preparation which is in our own power. Lastly, that the judgment of our own Church is quite in favour of constant communion. If those who have hitherto neglected it on any of these pretences, will lay these things to heart, they will, by the grace of God, come to a better mind, and never forsake their own mercies.

5. But how then came this supposition to prevail so long and so generally in the world I know not but it may be accounted for from hence: Great and little are relative terms; and all men judge of greatness and littleness by comparing things with themselves. Therefore it is not strange, if we think men are larger now than they were when we were children. I remember a remarkable instance of this in my own case: After having left it seven years, I had a great desire to see the school where I was brought up. When I was there, I wondered that the boys were so much smaller than they used to be when I was at school. "Many of my school-fellows, ten years ago, were taller by the head than me; and few of them that are at school now reach up to my shoulders." Very true: But what was the reason of this Indeed a very plain one: It was not because they were smaller, but because I was bigger than I was ten years before. I verily believe this is the cause, why men in general suppose the human race to decrease in stature. They remember the time when most of those round about them were both taller and bigger than themselves. Yea, and all men have done the same in their successive generations. Is it any wonder then that all should have run into the same mistake, when it has been transmitted unawares from father to son, and probably will be to the end of time.

6. But there is likewise a general supposition that the understanding of man and all his mental abilities were of a larger size in the ancient days than they are now; and that the ancient inhabitants of the earth had far greater talents than the present. Men of eminent learning have been of this mind, and have contended for it with the utmost vehemence. It is granted that many of the ancient writers, both philosophers, poets, and historians will not easily be excelled, if equalled, by those of later ages. We may instance in Homer and Virgil, as poets; Thucydides and Livy, as historians. But this, mean time, is to be remarked concerning most of these writers; that each of them spent his whole life in composing and polishing one book. What wonder then if they were exquisitely finished, when so much labour was bestowed upon them! I doubt whether any man in Europe, or in the world, has taken so much pains in finishing any treatise: Otherwise it might possibly have equalled, if not excelled, any that went before.

9. It is certain, this has been the common cry from generation to generation. And if it is not true, whence should it arise How can we account for it Perhaps another remark of the same poet may help us to an answer. May it not be extracted from the general character which he gives of old men Difficilis, querulus, laudator temporis acti Se puero, censor, castigatorque minorum. [The following is Boscawen's translation of this quotation from Horace: -- "Fastidious, peevish, prone to praise What pass'd when in their youthful days, And with severe censorious tongue Correct the follies of the young." -- Edit.] Is it not the common practice of old men to praise the past and condemn the present time And this may probably operate much farther than one would at first imagine. When those that have more experience than us, and therefore we are apt to think more wisdom, are almost continually harping upon this, the degeneracy of the world; those who are accustomed from their infancy to hear how much better the world was formerly than it is now, (and so it really seemed to them when they were young, and just come into the world, and when the cheerfulness of youth gave a pleasing air to all that was round about them,) the idea of the world's being worse and worse would naturally grow up with them. And so it will be, till we, in our turn, grow peevish, fretful, discontented, and full of melancholy complaints, "How wicked the world is grown!' How much better it was when we were young, in the golden days that we can remember!"

10. But let us endeavour, without prejudice or prepossession, to take a view of the whole affair. And, upon cool and impartial consideration, it will appear that the former days were not better than these; yea, on the contrary, that these are, in many respects, beyond comparison better than them. It will clearly appear, that as the stature of men was nearly the same from the beginning of the world, so the understanding of men, in similar circumstances, has been much the same, from the time of God's bringing a flood upon the earth unto the present hour. We have no reason to believe that the uncivilized nations of Africa, America, or the South-Sea Islands, had ever a better understanding, or were in a less barbarous state than they are now. Neither, on the other hand, have we any sufficient proof that the natural understandings of men in the most civilized countries, -- Babylon, Persia, Greece, or Italy, -- were stronger or more improved, than those of the Germans, French, or English, now alive. Nay, have we not reason to believe, that, by means of better instruments, we have attained that knowledge of nature which few, if any, of the ancients ever attained So that, in this respect, the advantage (and not a little one is clearly on our side: And we ought to acknowledge, with deep thankfulness to the Giver of every good gift, that the former days were not to be compared to these wherein we live. 11. But the principal inquiry still remains: Were not "the former days better than these," with regard to virtue or, to speak more properly, religion This deserves a full consideration. By religion I mean the love of God and man filling the heart and governing the life. The sure effect of this is, the uniform practice of justice, mercy, and truth. This is the very essence of it; the height and depth of religion, detached from this or that opinion, and from all particular modes of worship. And I would calmly inquire, "Which of the former times were better than these, with regard to this to the religion experienced and practised by Archbishop Fenelon, in France; Bishop Ken, in England; and Bishop Bedell, in Ireland'

10. And have we any proof that the Priests who succeeded them were more holy than them, than Hophni and Phinehas; not only till God permitted ten of the tribes to be separated from their brethren, and from the worship he had appointed; but even till Judah, as well as Israel, for the wickedness of the priests, as well as the people, were carried into captivity 11. What manner of men they were about the time of the Babylonish captivity, we learn from various passages in the prophecy of Jeremiah: From which it manifestly appears, that people and priests wallowed in all manner of vices. And how little they were amended, after they were brought back into their own land, we may gather from those terrible words in the prophecy of Malachi: "And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my Name, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will send even a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: Yea, I have cursed them already, because ye would not lay it to heart. Behold, I will curse your seed, and I will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it." (Mal. 2:1-3.) 12. Such were the priests of God in their several generations, till he brought the great High Priest into the world! And what manner of men were they during the time that he ministered upon earth A large and particular account of their character we have in the twenty-third chapter of St. Matthew; [Matt. 23] and a worse character it would be difficult to find in all the oracles of God. But may it not be said, "Our Lord does not there direct his discourse to the priests, but to the Scribes and Pharisees" He does; but this is the same thing. For the scribes were what we now term Divines, -- the public teachers of the people. And many, if not most, of the Priests, especially all the strictest sort of them, were Pharisees; so that in giving the character of the Scribes and Pharisees he gives that of the Priests also.

21. There is another circumstance in our Lord's conduct, which is worthy of our peculiar consideration. He calls to him the twelve, and sends them forth, two by two, to preach the gospel. (Mark 6:7.) And as they did not go the warfare at their own cost, the very "devils were subject unto them." Now, one of these was Judas Iscariot. And did our Lord know that "he had a devil" St. John expressly tells us he did. Yet he was coupled with another of the Apostles, and joined with them all in the same communion: Neither have we any reason to doubt but God blessed the labour of all his twelve ambassadors. But why did our Lord send him among them Undoubtedly for our instruction: For a standing, unanswerable proof, that he "sendeth by whom he will send;" that he can and doth send salvation to men even by those who will not accept of it themselves. 22. Our Lord gives us farther instruction upon this head: In Matthew 23:1-3, we have those very remarkable words, "Then Jesus spoke to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' chair: All things, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, observe and do; but do not according to their works: For they say, and do not." [Matt. 23:1-3] Of these very men, he gives the blackest character in the following verses. Yet is he so far from forbidding either the multitude, or his own disciples, to attend their ministrations, that he expressly commands them so to do, even in those words, "All things whatsoever they bid you observe, observe and do." These words imply a command to hear them: For how could they "observe and do what they bid them, if they did not hear it I pray consider this, ye that say of the successors of these ungodly men, "They say, and do not; therefore, we ought not to hear them." You see, your Master draws no such inference; nay, the direct contrary. O be not wiser than your Master! Follow his advice and do not reason against it!

30. Consider, a little farther, the dreadful consequences of affirming that wicked Ministers do no good; that the ordinances administered by them do not convey saving grace to those that attend them. If it be so, then well nigh all the Christians from the time of the Apostles to that of the Reformation are perished! For what manner of men were well nigh all the Clergy during all those centuries Consult the history of the church in every age, and you will find more and more proofs of their corruption. It is true, they have not been so openly abandoned since; but ever since that happy period there has been a considerable change for the better in the Clergy as well as the laity. But still there is reason to fear that even those who now minister in holy things, who are outwardly devoted to God for that purpose, (yea, and in Protestant as well as Romish countries,) are nevertheless far more devoted to the world, to riches, honour, or pleasure, (a few comparatively excepted,) than they are to God: So that in truth they are as far from Christian holiness as earth is from heaven. If then no grace is conveyed by the ministry of wicked men, in what a case is the Christian world! How hath God forgotten to be gracious! How hath he forsaken his own inheritance! O think not so! Rather say with our own Church, (though in direct opposition to the Church of Rome, which maintains, "If the Priest does not minister with a pure intention," which no wicked man can do, "then the sacrament is no sacrament at all,") the unworthiness of the Minister doth not hinder the efficacy of God's ordinance. The reason is plain, because the efficacy is derived, not from him that administers, but from Him that ordains it. He does not, will not suffer his grace to be intercepted, though the messenger will not receive it himself.

On Conscience "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience." 2 Cor. 1:12. 1. How few words are there in the world more common than this, Conscience! It is in almost every one's mouth. And one would thence be apt to conclude, that no word can be found which is more generally understood. But it may be doubted whether this is the case or no; although numberless treatises have been written upon it. For it is certain, a great part of those writers have rather puzzled the cause than cleared it; that they have usually "darkened counsel by uttering words without knowledge." 2. The best treatise on the subject which I remember to have seen is translated from the French of Mons. Placette, which describes in a clear and rational manner the nature and offices of conscience. But though it was published near a hundred years ago, it is in very few hands; and indeed a great part of those that have read it complain of the length of it. An octavo volume of several hundred pages, upon so plain a subject, was likely to prove a trial of patience to most persons of understanding. It seems, therefore, there is still wanting a discourse upon the subject, short, as well as clear. This, by the assistance of God, I will endeavor to supply, by showing, First, the nature of conscience; and, Then, the several sorts of it; after which, I shall conclude with a few important directions.

2. The Second sort of faith, if you allow a Materialist to have any, is the faith of a Deist. I mean, one who believes there is a God, distinct from matter; but does not believe the Bible. Of these we may observe two sorts. One sort are mere beasts in human shape, wholly under the power of the basest passions, and having "a downright appetite to mix with mud." Other Deists are, in most respects, rational creatures, though unhappily prejudiced against Christianity: Most of these believe the being and attributes of God; they believe that God made and governs the world; and that the soul does not die with the body, but will remain for ever in a state of happiness or misery. 3. The next sort of faith is the faith of Heathens, with which I join that of Mahometans. I cannot but prefer this before the faith of the Deists; because, though it embraces nearly the same objects, yet they are rather to be pitied than blamed for the narrowness of their faith. And their not believing the whole truth, is not owing to want of sincerity, but merely to want of light. When one asked Chicali, an old Indian Chief, "Why do not you red men know as much as us white men" he readily answered, "Because you have the great Word, and we have not." 4. It cannot be doubted, but this plea will avail for millions of modern Heathens. Inasmuch as to them little is given, of them little will be required. As to the ancient Heathens, millions of them, likewise were savages. No more therefore will be expected of them, than the living up to the light they had. But many of them, especially in the civilized nations, we have great reason to hope, although they lived among Heathens, yet were quite of another spirit; being taught of God, by His inward voice, all the essentials of true religion. Yea, and so was that Mahometan, and Arabian, who, a century or two ago, wrote the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdan. The story seems to be feigned; but it contains all the principles of pure religion and undefiled.

5. But why will ye still bring forth wild grapes What excuse can ye make Hath God been wanting on his part Have you not been warned over and over Have ye not been fed with "the sincere milk of the word" Hath not the whole word of God been delivered to you, and without any mixture of error Were not the fundamental doctrines both of free, full, present justification delivered to you, as well as sanctification, both gradual and instantaneous Was not every branch both of inward and outward holiness clearly opened, and earnestly applied; and that by Preachers of every kind, young and old, learned and unlearned But it is well if some of you did not despise the helps which God had prepared for you. Perhaps you would hear none but Clergymen; or, at least, none but men of learning. Will you not then give God leave to choose his own messengers to send by whom he will send It is well if this bad wisdom was not one cause of your bringing forth wild grapes! 6. Was not another cause of it your despising that excellent help, union with a Christian society Have you not read, "How can one be warm alone" and, "Woe be unto him that is alone when he falleth" But you have companions enough. Perhaps more than enough; more than are helpful to your soul. But have you enough that are athirst for God, and that labour to make you so Have you companions enough that watch over your soul, as they that must give account; and that freely and faithfully warn you, if you take any false step, or are in danger of doing so I fear you have few of these companions, or else you would bring forth better fruit!

3. Riches are equally a hinderance to the loving our neighbour as ourselves; that is, to the loving all mankind as Christ loved us. A rich man may indeed love them that are of his own party, or his own opinion. He may love them that love him: "Do not even Heathens," baptized or unbaptized, "the same" But he cannot have pure, disinterested good-will to every child of man. This can only spring from the love of God, which his great possessions expelled from his soul. 4. From the love of God, and from no other fountain, true humility likewise flows. Therefore, so far as they hinder the love of God, riches must hinder humility likewise. They hinder this also in the rich, by cutting them off from that freedom of conversation whereby they might be made sensible of their defects, and come to a true knowledge of themselves. But how seldom do they meet with a faithful friend; with one that can and will deal plainly with them! And without this we are likely to grow grey in our faults; yea, to die "with all our imperfections on our head." 5. Neither can meekness subsist without humility; for "of pride" naturally "cometh contention." Our Lord accordingly directs us to learn of Him at the same time "to be meek and lowly in heart" Riches therefore are as great a hinderance to meekness as they are to humility. In preventing lowliness of mind, they of consequence prevent meekness; which increases in the same proportion as we sink in our own esteem; and, on the contrary, necessarily decreases as we think more highly of ourselves. 6. There is another Christian temper which is nearly allied to meekness and humility; but it has hardly a name. St. Paul terms it epieikeia. Perhaps, till we find a better name, we may call it yieldingness; a readiness to submit to others, to give up our own will. This seems to be the quality which St. James ascribes to "the wisdom from above," when he styles it ,-- which we render, easy to be entreated; easy to be convinced of what is true; easy to be persuaded. But how rarely is this amiable temper to be found in a wealthy man! I do not know that I have found such a prodigy ten times in above threescore and ten years!

3. The rich are equally surrounded with temptations from the "desire of the eyes;" that is, the seeking happiness in gratifying the imagination, the pleasures of which the eyes chiefly minister. The objects that give pleasure to the imagination are grand, or beautiful, or new. Indeed, all rich men have not a taste for grand objects; but they have for new and beautiful things, especially for new; the desire of novelty being as natural to men as the desire of meat and drink. Now, how numerous are the temptations to this kind of idolatry, which naturally springs from riches! How strongly and continually are they solicited to seek happiness (if not in grand, yet) in beautiful houses, in elegant furniture, in curious pictures, in delightful gardens! perhaps in that trifle of all trifles,--rich or gay apparel! Yea, in every new thing, little or great, which fashion, the mistress of fools, recommends. How are rich men, of a more elevated turn of mind, tempted to seek happiness, as their various tastes lead, in poetry, history, music, philosophy, or curious arts and sciences! Now, although it is certain all these have their use, and therefore may be innocently pursued, yet the seeking happiness in any of them, instead of God, is manifest idolatry; and therefore, were it only on this account, that riches furnish him with the means of indulging all these desires, it might well be asked, "Is not the life of a rich man, above all others, a temptation upon earth" 4. What temptation, likewise, must every rich man have to seek happiness in "the pride of life!" I do not conceive the Apostle to mean thereby pomp, or state, or equipage; so much as "the honour that cometh of men," whether it be deserved or not. A rich man is sure to meet with this: It is a snare he cannot escape. The whole city of London uses the words rich and good as equivalent terms. "Yes," say they, "he is a good man; he is worth a hundred thousand pounds." And indeed everywhere, "if thou doest well unto thyself," if thou increasest in goods, "men will speak well of thee." All the world is agreed, A thousand pound supplies The want of twenty thousand qualities.

And who can bear general applause without being puffed up,-- without being insensibly induced to think of himself "more highly than he ought to think" 5. How is it possible that a rich man should escape pride, were it only on this account,--that his situation necessarily occasions praise to flow in upon him from every quarter For praise is generally poison to the soul; and the more pleasing, the more fatal; particularly when it is undeserved. So that well might our Poet say,-- Parent of evil, bane of honest deeds, Pernicious flattery! thy destructive seeds, In an ill hour, and by a fatal hand, Sadly diffused o'er virtue's gleby land, With rising pride amid the corn appear, And check the hope and promise of the year! And not only praise, whether deserved or undeserved, but every thing about him tends to inspire and increase pride. His noble house, his elegant furniture, his well-chosen pictures, his fine horses, his equipage, his very dress, yea, even "the embroidery plastered on his tail,"--all these will be matter of commendation to some or other of his guests, and so have an almost irresistible tendency to make him think himself a better man than those who have not these advantages. 6. How naturally, likewise, do riches feed and increase the self-will which is born in every child of man! as not only his domestic servants and immediate dependants are governed implicitly by his will, finding their account therein; but also most of his neighbours and acquaintance study to oblige him in all things: So his will being continually indulged, will of course be continually strengthened; till at length he will be ill able to submit to the will either of God or men. 7. Such a tendency have riches to beget and nourish every temper that is contrary to the love of God. And they have equal tendency to feed every passion and temper that is contrary to the love of our neighbour: Contempt, for instance, particularly of inferiors, than which nothing is more contrary to love:-- Resentment of any real or supposed offence; perhaps even revenge, although God claims this as his own peculiar prerogative:--At least anger; for it immediately rises in the mind of a rich man, "What! to use me thus! Nay, but he shall soon know better: I am now able to do myself justice!"

I cannot in anywise believe this. My reason recoils at it. I cannot reconcile myself to the thought, that the soul is either earth, water, or fire; or a composition of all of them put together; were it only for this plain reason: -- All these, whether separate or compounded in any possible way, are purely passive still. None of them has the least power of self-motion; none of them can move itself. "But," says one, "does not that ship move" Yes; but not of itself; it is moved by the water on which it swims. "But then the water moves." True; but the water is moved by the wind, the current of air. "But the air moves." It is moved by the ethereal fire, which is attached to every particle of it; and this fire itself is moved by the almighty Spirit, the source of all the motion in the universe. But my soul has front Him an inward principle of motion, whereby it governs at pleasure every part of the body. 9. It governs every motion of the body; only with this exception., which is a marvellous instance of the wise and gracious providence of the great Creator: There are some motions of the body, which are absolutely needful for the continuance of life; such as the dilation and contraction of the lungs, the systole and diastole of the heart, the pulsation of the arteries, and the circulation of the blood. These are not governed by me at pleasure: They do not wait the direction of my will. And it is well they do not. It is highly proper, that all the vital motions should be involuntary; going on, whether we advert to them or not. Were it otherwise, grievous inconveniences might follow. A man might put an end to his own life whenever hoe pleased, by suspending the motion of his heart, or of his lungs; or he might lose his life by mere inattention, -- by not remembering, not adverting to, the circulation of his blood. But these vital motions being excepted, I direct the motion of my whole body. By a single act of my will, I put my head, eyes, hands, or any part of my body into motion: Although I no more comprehend how I do this, than I can comprehend how the "THREE that bear record in heaven are ONE."

11. I am conscious to myself of one more property, commonly called liberty. This is very frequently confounded with the will; but is of a very different nature. Neither is it a property of the will, but a distinct property of the soul; capable of being exerted with regard to all the faculties of the soul, as well as all the motions of the body. It is a power of self-determination; which, although it does not extend to all our thoughts and imaginations, yet extends to our words and actions in general, and not with many exceptions. I am full as certain of this, that I am free, with respect to these, to speak or not to speak, to act or not to act, to do this or the contrary, as I am of my own existence. I have not only what is termed, a "liberty of contradiction," -- power to do or not to do; but what is termed, a "liberty of contrariety," -- a power to act one way, or the contrary. To deny this would be to deny the constant experience of all human kind. Every one feels that he has an inherent power to move this or that part of his body, to move it or not, and to move this way or the contrary, just as lie pleases. I can, as I choose, (and so can every one that is born of a woman,) open or shut my eyes; speak, or be silent; rise or sit down; stretch out my hand, or draw it in; and use any of my limbs according to my pleasure, as well as my whole body. And although I have not an absolute power over my own mind, because of the corruption of my own nature; yet, through the grace of God assisting me, I have a power to choose and do good, as well as evil. I am free to choose whom I will serve; and if I choose the better part, to continue therein even unto death. 12. But tell me, frighted nature, what is death Blood only stopp'd, and interrupted breath The utmost limit of a narrow span And even of motion, which with life began

On Discoveries Of Faith "Now faith is the evidence of things not seen." Heb. 11:1. 1. For many ages it has been allowed by sensible men, Nihil est in intellectu quod non fuit prius in sensu: That is, "There is nothing in the understanding which was not first perceived by some of the senses." All the knowledge which we naturally have is originally derived from our senses. And therefore those who want any sense cannot have the least knowledge or idea of the objects of that sense; as they that never had sight have not the least knowledge or conception of light or colours. Some indeed have of late years endeavoured to prove that we have innate ideas, not derived from any of the senses, but coeval with the understanding. But this point has been now thoroughly discussed by men of the most eminent sense and learning. And it is agreed by all impartial persons that, although some things are so plain and obvious that we can very hardly avoid knowing them as soon as we come to the use of our understanding, yet the knowledge even of these is not innate, but derived from some of our senses. 2. But there is a great difference between our senses, considered as the avenues of our knowledge. Some of them have a very narrow sphere of action, some a more extensive one. By feeling we discern only those objects that touch some part of our body; and consequently this sense extends only to a small number of objects. Our senses of taste and smell (which some count species of feeling) extend to fewer still. But on the other hand our nobler sense of hearing has an exceeding wide sphere of action; especially in the case of loud sounds, as thunder, the roaring of the sea, or the discharge of cannon; the last of which sounds has been frequently heard at the distance of near an hundred miles. Yet the space to which the hearing itself extends is small, compared to that through which the sight extends. The sight takes in at one view, not only the most unbounded prospects on earth, but also the moon, and the other planets, the sun, yea, the fixed stars; though at such an immeasurable distance, that they appear no larger through our finest telescopes than they do to the naked eye.

23. There can be no doubt but from this love to God and man a suitable conversation will follow. His "communication," that is, discourse, will "be always in grace, seasoned with salt, and meet to minister grace to the hearers." He will always "open his mouth with wisdom, and there will be in his tongue the law of kindness." Hence his affectionate words will "distil as the dew, and as the rain upon the tender herb." And men will know, it is not he only that speaks, but the Spirit of the Father that speaketh in him. His actions will spring from the same source with his words; even from the abundance of a loving heart. And while all these aim at the glory of God, and tend to this one point, whatever he does, he may truly say, -- End of my every action thou, In all things thee I see: Accept my hallow'd labour now, I do it as to thee! 24. He to whom this character belongs, and he alone, is a Christian. To him the one, eternal, omnipresent, all-perfect Spirit, is the "Alpha and Omega, the first and the last;" not his Creator only, but his Sustainer, his Preserver, his Governor; yea, his Father, his Savior, Sanctifier, and Comforter. This God is his God, and his All, in time and in eternity. It is the benevolence springing from this root which is pure and undefiled religion. But if it be built on any other foundation, as it is of no avail in the sight of God, so it brings no real, solid, permanent happiness to man, but leaves him still a poor, dry, indigent, and dissatisfied creature.

(4.) That my fellow-labourers and I may more effectually assist each other, to save our own souls and those that hear us, I judge it necessary to meet the Preachers, or at least the greater part of them, once a year. (5.) In those Conferences we fix the stations of all the Preachers for the ensuing year. But all this is not separating from the Church. So far from it that whenever I have opportunity I attend the Church service myself, and advise all our societies so to do. 16. Nevertheless as [to] the generality even of religious people, who do not understand my motives of acting, and who on the one hand hear me profess that I will not separate from the Church, and on the other that I do vary from it in these instances, they will naturally think I am inconsistent with myself. And they cannot but think so, unless they observe my two principles: The one, that I dare not separate from the Church, that I believe it would be a sin so to do; the other, that I believe it would be a sin not to vary from it in the points above mentioned. I say, put these two principles together, First, I will not separate from the Church; yet, Secondly, in cases of necessity I will vary from it (both of which I have constantly and openly avowed for upwards of fifty years,) and inconsistency vanishes away. I have been true to my profession from 1730 to this day.

3. What a mystery is this, that Christianity should have done so little good in the world! Can any account of this be given Can any reasons be assigned for it Does it not seem that one reason it has done so little good is this, -- because it is so little known Certainly it can do no good where it is not known. But it is not known at this day to the far greater part the inhabitants of the earth. In the last century, our ingenious and laborious countryman, Mr. Brerewood, travelled over great part of the known world on purpose to inquire, so far as was possible, what proportion the Christians bear to the Heathens and Mahometans. And, according to his computation, (probably the most accurate which has yet been made,) I suppose mankind to be divided into thirty parts, nineteen parts of these are still open Heathens, having no more knowledge of Christianity than the beasts that perish. And we may add to these the numerous nations which have been discovered in the present century. Add to these such as profess the Mahometan religion, and utterly scorn Christianity; and twenty-five parts out of thirty of mankind are not so much as nominally Christians. So then five parts of mankind out of six are totally ignorant of Christianity. It is, therefore, no wonder that five in six of mankind, perhaps nine in ten, have no advantage from it.

12. I am distressed. I know not what to do. I see what I might have done once. I might have said peremptorily and expressly, " Here I am: I and my Bible. I will not, I dare not, vary from this book, either in great things or small. I have no power to dispense with one jot or tittle what is contained therein. I am determined to be a Bible Christian, not almost, but altogether. Who will meet me on this ground Join me on this, or not at all." With regard to dress, in particular, I might have been as firm (and I now see it would have been far better) as either the people called Quakers, or the Moravian Brethren: -- I might have said, "This is our manner of dress, which we know is both scriptural and rational. If you join with us, you are to dress as we do; but you need not join us, unless you please." But, alas! the time is now past; and what I can do now, I cannot tell. 13. But to return to the main question. Why has Christianity done so little good, even among us among the Methodists, -- among them that hear and receive the whole Christian doctrine, and that have Christian discipline added thereto, in the most essential parts of it Plainly, because we have forgot, or at least not duly attended to, those solemn words of our Lord, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." It was the remark of a holy man, several years ago, "Never was there before a people in the Christian Church, who had so much of the power of God among them, with so little self-denial." Indeed the work of God does go on, and in a surprising manner, notwithstanding this capital defect; but it cannot go on in the same degree as it otherwise would; neither can the word of God have its full effect, unless the hearers of it "deny themselves, and take up their cross daily."

6. There are some of these who have been bold to claim that great and good man Dr. Watts, as one of their own opinion; and in order to prove him so they have quoted that fine soliloquy which is published in his posthumous works. Yet impartial men will not allow their claim without stronger proof than has yet appeared. But if he is clear of this charge, he is not equally clear of "knowing Christ after the flesh" in another sense. I was not aware of this, but read all his works with almost equal admiration, when a person of deep piety as well as judgment was occasionally remarking that some of the hymns printed in his Horae Lyricae, dedicated to Divine Love, were (as he phrased it) "too amorous, and fitter to be addressed by a lover to his fellow-mortal, than by a sinner to the most High God." I doubt whether there are not some other writers who, though they believe the Godhead of Christ, yet speak in the same unguarded manner. 7. Can we affirm that the hymns published by a late great man (whose memory I love and esteem) are free from this fault Are they not full of expressions which strongly savour of "knowing Christ after the flesh" Yea, and in a more gross manner than anything which was ever before published in the English tongue. What pity is it that those coarse expressions should appear in many truly spiritual hymns! How often, in the midst of excellent verses, are lines inserted which disgrace those that precede and follow! Why should not all the compositions in that book be not only as poetical, but likewise as rational and as scriptural, as many of them are acknowledged to be

III. 1. It remains to consider, in the Third place, our Lord's important question: "If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" The plain meaning is, if that principle which ought to give light to thy whole soul, as the eye does to the body; to direct thy understanding, passions, affections, tempers, -- all thy thoughts, words, and actions; if this principle itself be darkened, -- be set wrong, and put darkness for light; how great must that darkness be! how terrible its effects! 2. In order to see this in a stronger point of view, let us consider it in a few particular instances. Begin with one of no small importance. Here is a father choosing an employment for his son. If his eye be not single; if he do not singly aim at the glory of God in the salvation of his soul; if it be not his one consideration, what calling is likely to secure him the highest place in heaven; not the largest share of earthly treasure, or the highest preferment in the Church; -- the light which is in him is manifestly darkness. And O how great is that darkness! The mistake which he is in, is not a little one, but inexpressibly great. What! do not you prefer his being a cobbler on earth, and a glorious saint in heaven, before his being a lord on earth, and a damned spirit in hell If not, how great, unutterably great, is the darkness that covers your soul! What a fool, what a dolt, what a madman is he, how stupid beyond all expression, who judges a palace upon earth to be preferable to a throne in heaven! How unspeakably is his understanding darkened, who, to gain for his child the honour that cometh of men, will entail upon him everlasting shame in the company of the devil and his angels!

3. I cannot dismiss this subject yet, as it is of the utmost importance. How great is the darkness of that execrable wretch (I can give him no better title, be he rich or poor) who will sell his own child to the devil, who will barter her own eternal happiness for any quantity of gold or silver! What a monster would any man be accounted, who devoured the flesh of his own offspring! And is he not as great a monster who, by his own act and deed, gives her to be devoured by that roaring lion as he certainly does (so far as is in his power) who marries her to an ungodly man. "But he is rich; but he has ten thousand pounds!" What, if it were a hundred thousand The more the worse; the less probability will she have of escaping the damnation of hell. With what face wilt thou look upon her, when she tells thee in the realms below, "Thou hast plunged me into this place of torment. Hadst thou given me to a good man, however poor, I might have now been in Abraham's bosom. But, O! what have riches profited me They have sunk both me and thee into hell!"

6. Take another case. Suppose a young woman, of an independent fortune, to be addressed at the same time by a man of wealth without religion, and a man of religion without wealth; in other words, by a rich child of the devil, and a poor child of God. What shall we say, if, other circumstances being equal, she prefer the rich man to the good man It is plain, her eye is not single; therefore her foolish heart is darkened; and how great is that darkness which makes her judge gold and silver a greater recommendation than holiness! which makes a child of the devil, with money, appear more amiable to her than a child of God without it! What words can sufficiently express the inexcusable folly of such a choice What a laughing-stock (unless she severely repent) will she be to all the devils in hell, when her wealthy companion has dragged her down to his own place of torment! 7. Are there any of you that are present before God who are concerned in any of these matters Give me leave with "great plainness of speech," to apply to your consciences "in the sight of God." You, whom God hath entrusted with sons or daughters, is your eye single in choosing partners for them What qualifications do you seek in your sons and daughters in law -- religion or riches Which is your first consideration Are you not of the old Heathen's mind, Quaerenda pecunia primum, Virtus post nummos Seek money first: Let virtue then be sought. Bring the matter to a point. Which will you prefer a rich Heathen, or a pious Christian -- a child of the devil, with an estate; or the child of God, without it -- a lord or gentleman, with the devil in his heart; (he does not hide it, his speech bewrayeth him;) or a tradesman, who, you have reason to believe, has Christ dwelling in his heart O how great is that darkness which makes you prefer a child of the devil to a child of God! Which causes you to prefer the poor trash of worldly wealth, which flies as a shadow, to the riches of eternal glory!

On Worldly Folly "But God said unto him, Thou fool!" Luke 12:20. But one of these fools is commonly wiser in his own eyes "than seven men that can render a reason." If it were possible for a Christian, for one that has the mind which was in Christ, to despise any one, he would cordially despise those who suppose "they are the men, and wisdom shall die with them." You may see one of these, painted to the life, in the verses preceding the text. "The ground of a certain rich man," says our blessed Lord, "brought forth plenteously." (Luke 12:16, &c.) "And he reasoned within himself, saying, What shall I do for I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thy ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool!" I propose, by the assistance of God, I. To open and explain these few full words; and, II. To apply them to your conscience.

2. "And he said, This will I do;" -- without asking God's leave, or thinking about Him any more than if there were no God in heaven or on earth; -- "I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my goods and all my fruits." My fruits! They are as much thine as the clouds that fly over thy head! As much as the winds that blow around thee; which, doubtless, thou canst hold in thy fists! "And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years!" "Soul, thou hast much goods!" Are then corn, and wine, and oil, the goods of an immortal spirit "Laid up for many years!" Who told thee so Believe him not; he was a liar from the beginning. He could not prolong thy life, if he would. (God alone is the giver of life and death.) And he would not, if he could; but would immediately drag thee to his own sad abode. "Soul, take thy ease; eat, drink, and be merry!" How replete with folly and madness is every part of this wonderful soliloquy! "Eat and drink" Will thy spirit then eat and drink Yea, but not of earthly food. Thou wilt soon eat livid flame, and drink of the lake of fire burning with brimstone. But wilt thou then drink and be merry "Nay, there will be no mirth in those horrid shades; those caverns will resound with no music, "but weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth!" 3. But while he was applauding his own wisdom, "God said unto him, Thou fool! This night shall thy soul be required of thee. And then whose shall those things be which thou hast prepared"

4. Let us consider his words a little more attentively. He said within himself, "What shall I do" And is not the answer ready Do good. Do all the good thou canst. Let thy plenty supply thy neighbour's wants; and thou wilt never want something to do. Canst thou find none that need the necessaries of life, that are pinched with cold or hunger; none that have not raiment to put on, or a place where to lay their head; none that are wasted with pining sickness; none that are languishing in prison If you duly considered our Lord's words, "The poor have you always with you," you would no more ask, "What shall I do" 5. How different was the purpose of this poor madman! "I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my goods." You may just as well bury them in the earth, or cast them into the sea. This will just as well answer the end for which God entrusted thee with them. 6. But let us examine a little farther the remaining part of his resolution. "I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thy ease, eat, drink, and be merry." What, are these the goods of a never-dying spirit As well may thy body feed on the fleeting breeze, as thy soul on earthly fruits. Excellent counsel then to such a spirit, to eat and drink! to a spirit made equal to angels, made an incorruptible picture of the God of glory, to feed not on corruptible things, but on the fruit of the tree of life, which grows in the midst of the paradise of God. 7. It is no marvel, then, that God should say unto him, "Thou fool!" For this terrible reason, were there no other: "This night shall thy soul be required of thee!" And art thou born to die, To lay this body down And must thy trembling spirit fly Into a land unknown -- A land of deepest shade, Unpierced by human thought; The dreary regions of the dead, Where all things are forgot "And whose then shall all the things be which thou hast provided"

Human Life A Dream "Even like as a dream when one awaketh; so shalt thou make their image to vanish out of the city." Ps. 73:20. 1. Anyone that considers the foregoing verses will easily observe that the Psalmist is speaking directly of the wicked, that prosper in their wickedness. It is very common for these utterly to forget that they are creatures of a day; to live as if they were never to die; as if their present state was to endure for ever; or, at least as if they were indisputably sure that they "had much goods laid up for many years:" So that they might safely say, "Soul, take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry." But how miserable a mistake is this! How often does God say to such a one, "Thou fool! this night shall thy soul be required of thee!" Well then may it be said of them, "O, how suddenly do they consume!" -- perish, and come to a fearful end. Yea, "even like as a dream when one awaketh; so shalt thou make their image to vanish out of the city." 2. But I would at present carry this thought farther; I would consider it in a general sense, and show how near a resemblance there is between human life and a dream. An ancient poet carries the comparison farther still, when he styles life, "the dream of a shadow." And so does Cowley, when he cries out, O life, thou nothing's younger brother! So like, that we mistake the one for the' other! But, setting these and all other flights of poetry aside, I would seriously inquire, wherein this resemblance lies; wherein the analogy between the one and the other does properly consist.

5. I cannot therefore but think, that all those who are with the rich man in the unhappy division of hades, will remain there, howling and blaspheming, cursing God and looking upwards, till they are cast into "the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And, on the other hand, can we reasonably doubt but that those who are now in paradise, in Abraham's bosom, -- all those holy souls who have been discharged from the body, from the beginning of the world unto this day, -- will be continually ripening for heaven; will be perpetually holier and happier, till they are received into "the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world" 6. But who can inform us in what part of the universe hades is situated, -- this abode of both happy and unhappy spirits, till they are re-united to their bodies It has not pleased God to reveal anything concerning it in the Holy Scripture; and, consequently, it is not possible for us to form any judgment, or even conjecture, about it. Neither are we informed, how either one or the other are employed, during the time of their abode there. Yet may we not probably suppose that the Governor of the world may sometimes permit wicked souls "to do his gloomy errands in the deep;" or, perhaps, in conjunction with evil angels, to inflict vengeance on wicked men Or will many of them be shut up in the chains of darkness, unto the great judgment of the great day In the mean time, may we not probably suppose, that the spirits of the just, though generally lodged in paradise, yet may sometimes, in conjunction with the holy angels, minister to the heirs of salvation May they not Sometimes, on errands of love, Revisit their brethren below It is a pleasing thought, that some of these human spirits, attending us with, or in the room of, angels, are of the number of those that were dear to us while they were in the body. So that there is no absurdity in the question: Have ye your own flesh forgot, By a common ransom bought Can death's interposing tide Spirits one in Christ divide

So little could even the most improved reason discover concerning the invisible and eternal world! The greater cause have we to praise the Father of Lights, who hath opened the eyes of our understanding, to discern those things which could not be seen by eyes of flesh and blood; that He who of old time shined out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, and enlightened us with the light of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, "the author and finisher of our faith;" "by whom he made the worlds;" by whom he now sustains whatever he hath made; for, Till nature shall her Judge survey, The King Messiah reigns. These things we have believed upon the testimony of God, the Creator of all things, visible and invisible; by this testimony we already know the things that now exist, though not yet seen, as well as those that will exist in their season, until this visible world will pass away, and the Son of Man shall come in his glory. 18. Upon the whole, what thanks ought we to render to God, who has vouchsafed this "evidence of things unseen" to the poor inhabitants of earth, who otherwise must have remained in utter darkness concerning them! How invaluable a gift is even this imperfect light, to the benighted sons of men! What a relief is it to the defects of our senses, and consequently, of our understanding; which can give us no information of anything, but what is first presented by the senses! But hereby a new set of senses (so to speak) is opened in our souls; and by this means, The things unknown to feeble sense, Unseen by reason's glimmering ray, With strong, commanding evidence, Their heavenly origin display. Faith lends its realizing light: The clouds disperse, the shadowns fly; The Invisible appears in sight, And GOD is seen by mortal eyes! London, January 17, 1791

I. 1. To begin with this: "The heart of man is desperately wicked." In considering this, we have no need to refer to any particular sins; these are no more than the leaves, or, at most, the fruits, which spring from that evil tree;) but rather to the general root of all. See how this was first planted in heaven itself, by "Lucifer, son of the morning;" -- till then undoubtedly "one of the first, if not the first archangel:" "Thou saidst, I will sit upon the side of the north." See self-will, the first-born of Satan! "I will be like the Most High." See pride, the twin sister of self-will. Here was the true origin of evil. Hence came the inexhaustible flood of evils upon the lower world. When Satan had once transfused his own self-will and pride into the parents of mankind, together with a new species of sin, -- love of the world, the loving the creature above the Creator, -- all manner of wickedness soon rushed in; all ungodliness and unrighteousness; shooting out into crimes of every kind; soon covering the whole face of the earth with all manner of abominations. It would be an endless task to enumerate all the enormities that broke out. Now the fountains of the great deep were broken up. The earth soon became a field of blood: Revenge, cruelty, ambition, with all sorts of injustice, every species of public and private wrongs, were diffused through every part of the earth. Injustice, in ten thousand forms, hatred, envy, malice, blood-thirstiness, with every species of falsehood, rode triumphant; till the Creator, looking down from heaven, would be no more entreated for an incorrigible race, but swept them off from the face of the earth. But how little were the following generations improved by the severe judgment! They that lived after the flood do not appear to have been a whit better than those that lived before it. In a short time, probably before Noah was removed from the earth, all unrighteousness prevailed as before.

9. Who then knoweth the hearts of all men Surely none but He that made them. Who knoweth his own heart Who can tell the depth of its enmity against God Who knoweth how deeply it is sunk into the nature of Satan III. 1. From the preceding considerations, may we not learn, First, "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool" For who that is wise would trust one whom he knows to be "desperately wicked" especially, whom he hath known, by a thousand experiments, to be "deceitful above all things" What can we expect, if we still trust a known liar and deceiver, but to be deceived and cheated to the end 2. We may hence, in the Second place, infer the truth of that other reflection of Solomon: "Seest thou a man that is wise in his own eyes there is more hope of a fool than of him." For at what a distance from wisdom must that man be who never suspected his want of it And will not his thinking so well of himself prevent his receiving instruction from others Will he no be apt to be displeased at admonition, and to construe reproof into reproach Will he not therefore be less ready to receive instruction than even one that has little natural understanding Surely no fool is so incapable of amendment as one that imagines himself to be wise. He that supposes himself not to need a physician, will hardly profit by his advice. 3. May we not learn hence, Thirdly, the wisdom of that caution, "Let him who thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" Or, to render the text more properly,) "Let him that assuredly standeth take heed lest he fall." How firmly soever he may stand, he has still a deceitful heart. In how many instances has he been deceived already! And so he may again. Suppose he be not deceived now, does it follow that he never will Does he not stand upon slippery ground And is he not surrounded with snares Into which he may fall and rise no more

Let a musician be ever so skilful, he will make but poor music if his instrument be out of tune. From a disordered brain (such as is, more or less, that of every child of man) there will necessarily arise confusedness of apprehension, showing itself in a thousand instances; false judgment, the natural result thereof, and wrong inferences; and from these, innumerable mistakes will follow, in spite of all the caution we can use. But mistakes in the judgment will frequently give occasion to mistakes in practice; they will naturally cause our speaking wrong in some instances, and acting wrong in others; nay, they may occasion not only wrong words or actions, but wrong tempers also. If I judge a man to be better than he really is; in consequence I really love him more than he deserves. If I judge another to be worse than he really is; I shall, in consequence, love him less than he deserves. Now both these are wrong tempers. Yet possibly it may not be in my power to avoid either the one or the other. 2. Such are the unavoidable consequences of "having these treasures in earthen vessels." Not only death, and its forerunners, -- sickness, weakness, and pain, and a thousand infirmities, -- but likewise error, in ten thousand shapes, will be always ready to attack us. Such is the present condition of humanity! Such is the state of the wisest men! Lord, "what is man, that thou art still mindful of him; or the son of man, that thou regardest him" 3. Something of this great truth, that the "corruptible body presses down the soul," -- is strongly expressed in those celebrated lines of the ancient poet. Speaking of the souls of men he says: Igneus est ollis vigor, et coelestis origo Semnibus; quantum non noxia corpora tardant, Terrenique hebetant artus, moribundaque membra. These seeds of heavenly fire, With strength innate, would to their source aspire, But that their earthly limbs obstruct their flight, And check their soaring to the plains of light.

12. But before this universal change there may be many partial changes in a natural man, which are frequently mistaken for it, whereby many say, "Peace, peace!" to their souls, when there is no peace. There may be not only a considerable change in the life, so as to refrain from open sin, yea, the easily besetting sin; but also a considerable change of tempers, conviction of sin, strong desires, and good resolutions. And here we have need to take great care, not, on the one hand, to despise the day of small things; nor, on the other, to mistake any of these partial changes for that entire, general change, the new birth; that total change from the image of the earthly Adam into the image of the heavenly, from an earthly, sensual, devilish mind, into the mind that was in Christ. 13. Settle it therefore in your hearts, that however you may be changed in many other respects, yet in Christ Jesus, that is, according to the Christian institution, nothing will avail without the whole mind that was in Christ, enabling you to walk as Christ walked. Nothing is more sure than this: "If any man be in Christ," a true believer in him, "he is a new creature: Old things," in him, "are passed away; all things are become new."

3. And beware of forming a hasty judgment concerning the fortune of others. There may be secrets in the situation of a person, which few but God are acquainted with. Some years since, I told a gentleman, "Sir, I am afraid you are covetous." He asked me, "What is the reason of your fear" I answered, "A year ago, when I made a collection for the expense of repairing the Foundery, you subscribed five guineas. At the subscription made this year you subscribed only half a guinea." He made no reply; but after a time asked, "Pray, Sir, answer me a question: Why do you live upon potatoes" (I did so between three and four years.) I replied, "It has much conduced to my health." He answered, "I believe it has. But did you not do it likewise to save money" I said, "I did; for what I save from my own meat, will feed another that else would have none." "But, Sir", said he, "if this be your motive you may save much more. I know a man that goes to the market at the beginning of every week: There he buys a pennyworth of parsnips, which he boils in a large quantity of water. The parsnips serve him for food, and the water for drink, the ensuing week So his meat and drink together cost him only a penny a week." This he constantly did, though he had then two hundred pounds a year, to pay the debts which he had contracted before he knew God! And this was he, whom I had set down for a covetous man!

4. But there are those who are conscious before God that they are rich. And, doubtless, some among you are of the number. You have more of the goods of this world than is needful either for yourself or your family. Let each consider for himself. Do your riches increase Do not you understand that plain expression Have you not more money, or more of money's worth, than you had ten or twenty years ago, or at this time last year If you keep any account, you can easily know this. Indeed you ought to know; otherwise, you are not a good steward, even in this respect, of the mammon of unrighteousness. And every man, whether engaged in trade or not, ought to know whether his substance lessens or increases. 5. But many have found out a way never to be rich, though their substance increase ever so much. It is this: As fast as ever money comes in, they lay it out, either in land, or enlarging their business. By this means, each of these, keeping himself bare of money, can still say, "I am not rich;" yea, though he has ten, twenty, a hundred times more substance than he had some years ago. This may be explained by a recent case: A gentleman came to a merchant in London, a few years since, and told him, "Sir, I beg you will give me a guinea for a worthy family that is in great distress." He replied, "Really, Mr. M., I cannot well afford to give you it just now; but if you will call upon me when I am worth ten thousand pounds, upon such an occasion I will give you ten guineas." Mr. M., after some time, called upon him again, and said, "Sir, I claim your promise; now you are worth ten thousand pounds." He replied, "That is very true: But I assure you, I cannot spare one guinea so well as I could then."

6. It is possible for a man to cheat himself by this ingenious device. And he may cheat other men; for as long "as thou doest good unto thyself, men will speak well of thee." "A right good man," says the Londoner, "he is worth a plum" (a hundred thousand pounds). But, alas! he cannot deceive God; and he cannot deceive the devil. Ah, no! The curse of God is upon thee already, and on all that thou hast. And to-morrow, when the devil seizes thy soul, will he not say, "What do all thy riches profit thee" Will they purchase a pillow for thy head, in the lake of fire burning with brimstone Or will they procure thee a cup of "water to cool thy tongue," while thou art tormented in that flame" O follow the wise direction here given! that God may not say unto thee, "Thou fool!" 7. This shift, therefore, will not avail. It will not be any protection, either against the wrath of God, or the malice and power of the devil. Thou art convicted already of "setting thy heart" upon thy riches, if thou layest all thou hast above the conveniences of life, on adding money to money, house to house, or field to field, without giving at least a tenth of thine income (the Jewish proportion) to the poor. By whatsoever means thy riches increase, whether with or without labour; whether by trade, legacies, or any other way; unless thy charities increase in the same proportion; unless thou givest a full tenth of thy substance, of thy fixed and occasional income; thou dost undoubtedly set thy heart upon thy gold, and it will "eat thy flesh as fire!"

10. But let us descend to particulars; and see that each of you deal faithfully with his own soul. If any of you have now twice, thrice, or four times as much substance as when you first saw my face, faithfully examine yourselves, and see if you do not set your hearts, if not directly on money or riches themselves, yet on some of the things that are purchasable thereby; which comes to the same thing. All those the Apostle John includes under that general name, the world; and the desire of them, or to seek happiness in them, under that form, "the love of the world." This he divides into three branches, "the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life." Fairly examine yourselves with regard to these. And, First, as to "the desire of the flesh." I believe this means the seeking of happiness in the things that gratify the senses. To instance in one: Do not you seek your happiness in enlarging the pleasure of tasting. To be more particular: Do you not eat more plentifully, or more delicately, than you did ten or twenty years ago Do not you use more drink, or drink of a more costly kind, than you did then Do you sleep on as hard a bed as you did once, suppose your health will bear it To touch on one point more: do you fast as often, now you are rich, as you did when you was poor Ought you not, in all reason, to do this rather more often than more seldom I am afraid your own heart condemns you. You are not clear in this matter.

11. The Second branch of the love of the world, "the desire of the eyes," is of a wider extent. We may understand thereby, the seeking our happiness in gratifying the imagination, (which is chiefly done by means of the eyes,) by grand, or new, or beautiful objects; -- If they may not all be reduced to one head; since neither grand nor beautiful objects are pleasing when the novelty of them is gone. But are not the veriest trifles pleasing as long as they are new Do not some of you, on the score of novelty, seek no small part of your happiness in that trifle of trifles -- dress Do not you bestow more money, or (which is the same) more time or pains, upon it than you did once I doubt this is not done to please God. Then it pleases the devil. If you laid aside your need less ornaments some years since, -- ruffles, necklaces, spider-caps, ugly, unbecoming bonnets, costly linen, expensive laces, -- have you not, in defiance of religion and reason, taken to them again

But as perfect holiness is not found on earth, so neither is perfect happiness. [In this life adult Christians are saved from all sin, and are made perfect in love. See Mr. Wesley's "Plain Account of Christian Perfection." -- Edit.] Some remains of our disease will ever be felt, and some physic be necessary to heal it. Therefore we must be, more or less, subject to the pain of cure, as well as the pain of sickness. And, accordingly, neither do "the wicked" here "cease from troubling," nor can "the weary be at rest." Who, then will "deliver" us "from the body of this death" Death will deliver us. Death shall set those free in a moment, who "were all their life-time subject to bondage." Death shall destroy at once the whole body of sin, [This doctrine, that we are saved from sin by death, is nowhere taught in sacred Scripture, as Mr. Wesley afterwards perceived, and demonstrated in the treatise just mentioned, and in several of his Sermons. -- Edit.] and therewith of its companion, -- pain. And therefore, "there the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest." The Scriptures give us no account of the place where the souls of the just remain from death to the resurrection; but we have an account of their state in these words: In explaining which I shall consider, I. How the wicked do here trouble good men; and, II. How the weary are there at rest." [I.] Let us consider, First, how the "wicked" here "trouble" good men. And this is a spacious field. Look round the world; take a view of all the troubles therein: How few are there whereof the wicked are not the occasion! "From whence come wars and fightings among you" Whence all the ills that embitter society; that often turn that highest of blessings into a curse, and make it "good for man to be alone" "Come they not hence," from self-will, pride, inordinate affection in one word, from wickedness And can it be otherwise, so long as it remains upon earth As well may "the Ethiopian change his skin," as a wicked man cease to trouble both himself and his neighbour, but especially good men: Inasmuch as, while he is wicked he is continually injuring either them, or himself, or God.

2. Grievous enough is this calamity, which multitudes every day suffer. But I do not know whether many more do not labour under a still more grievous calamity. It is a great affliction to be deprived of bread; but it is a still greater to be deprived of our senses. And this is the case with thousands upon thousands of our countrymen at this day. Wide-spread poverty (though not in so high a degree) I have seen several years ago. But so widespread a lunacy I never saw, nor, I believe the oldest man alive. Thousands of plain, honest people throughout the land are driven utterly out of their senses, by means of the poison which is so diligently spread through every city and town in the kingdom. They are screaming out for liberty while they have it in their hands, while they actually possess it; and to so great an extent, that the like is not known in any other nation under heaven; whether we mean civil liberty, a liberty of enjoying all our legal property, -- or religious liberty, a liberty of worshipping God according to the dictates of our own conscience. Therefore all those who are either passionately or dolefully crying out, "Bondage! Slavery!" while there is no more danger of any such thing, than there is of the sky falling upon their head, are utterly distracted; their reason is gone; their intellects are quite confounded. Indeed, many of these have lately recovered their senses; yet are there multitudes still remaining, who are in this respect as perfectly mad as any of the inhabitants of Bedlam. 3. Let not anyone think, this is but a small calamity which has fallen upon our land. If you saw, as I have seen, in every county, city, town, men who were once of a calm, mild, friendly temper, mad with party-zeal, foaming with rage against their quiet neighbours, ready to tear out one another's throats, and to plunge their swords into each other's bowels; if you had heard men who once feared God and honoured the king, now breathing out the bitterest invectives against him, and just ripe, should any occasion offer, for treason and rebellion; you would not then judge this to be a little evil, a matter of small moment, but one of the heaviest judgments which God can permit to fall upon a guilty land.

4. Such is the condition of Englishmen at home. And is it any better abroad I fear not. From those who are now upon the spot, I learn that in our colonies also many are causing the people to drink largely of the same deadly wine; thousands of whom are thereby inflamed more and more, till their heads are utterly turned, and they are mad to all intents and purposes. Reason is lost in rage; its small still voice is drowned by popular clamour. Wisdom is fallen in the streets. And where is the place of understanding It is hardly to be found in these provinces. Here is slavery, real slavery indeed, most properly so called. For the regular, legal, constitutional form of government is no more. Here is real, not imaginary, bondage: Not the shadow of English liberty is left. Not only no liberty of the press is allowed, -- none dare print a page, or a line, unless it be exactly conformable to the sentiments of our lords, the people, -- but no liberty of speech. Their tongue is not their own. None must dare to utter one word, either in favour of King George, or in disfavour of the idol they have set up, -- the new, illegal, unconstitutional government, utterly unknown to us and to our forefathers. Here is no religious liberty; no liberty of conscience for them that "honour the king," and whom, consequently, a sense of duty prompts them to defend from the vile calumnies continually vented against him. Here is no civil liberty; no enjoying the fruit of their labour, any further than the populace pleases. A man has no security for his trade, his house, his property, unless he will swim with the stream. Nay, he has no security for his life, if his popular neighbour has a mind to cut his throat: For there is no law; and no legal magistrate to take cognizance of offences. There is the gulf of tyranny, -- of arbitrary power on one hand, and of anarchy on the other. And, as if all this were not misery enough, see likewise the fell monster, war! But who can describe the complicated misery which is contained in this Hark! the cannons roar! A pitchy cloud covers the face of the sky. Noise, confusion, terror, reign over all! Dying groans are on every side.

10. And "now let my counsel be acceptable to" you, to every one of you present before God. "Break off thy sins by repentance, and thy iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility," --of what degree of it still remains among us. Show mercy more especially to the poor widows, to the helpless orphans, of your countrymen who are now numbered among the dead, who fell among the slain in a distant land. Who knoweth but the Lord will yet be entreated, will calm the madness of the people, will quench the flames of contention, and breathe into all the spirit of love, unity, and concord Then brother shall not lift up sword against brother, neither shall they know war any more. Then shall plenty and peace flourish in our land, and all the inhabitants of it be thankful for the innumerable blessings which they enjoy, and shall "fear God, and honour the king." London, Nov. 7, 1775

And when sloth and luxury are joined together, will they not produce an abundant offspring This they certainly have done in these parts. I was surprised a few years ago at a letter I received from Philadelphia, wherein were (nearly) these words: "You think the women in England (many of them, I mean) do not abound in chastity. But yet the generality of your women, if compared with ours, might almost pass for vestal virgins." Now this complication of pride, luxury, sloth, and wantonness, naturally arising from vast wealth and plenty, was the grand hindrance to the spreading of true religion through the cities of North-America. II. Let us now see the other wheel of divine providence. 1. It may reasonably be supposed that the colonies in New-England had, from their very beginning, an hankering after independency. It could not be expected to be otherwise, considering their families, their education, their relations, and the connections they had formed before they left their native country. They were farther inclined to it by the severe and unjust treatment which many of them had met with in England. This might well create in them a fear lest they should meet with the like again, a jealousy of their governors, and a desire of shaking off that dependence, to which they were never thoroughly reconciled. The same spirit they communicated to their children, from whom it descended to the present generation. Nor could it be effaced by all the favours and benefits which they continually received from the English Government. 2. This spirit generally prevailed, especially in Boston, as early as the year 1737. In that year, my brother, being detained there some time, was greatly surprised to hear almost in every company, whether of Ministers, gentlemen, merchants, or common people, where anything of the kind was mentioned, "We must be independent! We will be independent! We will bear the English yoke no longer! We will be our own governors!" This appeared to be even then the general desire of the people; although it is not probable that there was at that time any formed design. No; they could not be so vain as to think they were able to stand alone against the power of Great Britain.

5. Matters being now, it was judged, in sufficient forwardness, an association was formed between the northern and southern colonies; both took up arms, and constituted a supreme power which they termed the Congress. But still they affirmed, their whole design was to secure their liberty; and even to insinuate that they aimed at anything more, was said to be quite cruel and unjust. But in a little time they threw off the mask, and boldly asserted their own independency. Accordingly, Dr. Witherspoon, President of the College in New-Jersey, in his address to the Congress (added to a Fast-Sermon, published by him, August 3, 1776,) uses the following words: -- "It appears now, in the clearest manner, that till very lately those who seemed to take the part of America, in the British Parliament, never did it on American principles. They either did not understand, or were not willing to admit, the extent of our claim. Even the great Lord Chatham's Bill for Reconciliation would not have been accepted here, and did not materially differ from what the Ministry would have consented to." Here it is avowed, that their claim was independency; and that they would accept of nothing less. 6. By this open and avowed defection from, and defiance of, their mother-country, (whether it was defensible or not, is another question,) at least nine parts in ten of their immense trade to Europe, Asia, Africa, and other parts of America were cut off at one stroke. In lieu of this they gained at first, perhaps, an hundred thousand pounds a year by their numerous privateers. But even then, this was, upon the whole, no gain at all; for they lost as many ships as they took. Afterwards they took fewer and fewer; and in the meantime they lost four or five millions yearly, (perhaps six or seven,) which their trade brought them in. What was the necessary consequence of this Why, that, as the fountain of their wealth was dammed up, the streams of it must run lower and lower, till they were wholly exhausted; so that at present these provinces are no richer than the poorest parts either of Scotland or Ireland.

15. From these we learn that the spiritual blessings are what God principally intends in all these severe dispensations. He intends they should all work together for the destruction of Satan's kingdom, and the promotion of the kingdom of his dear Son; that they should all minister to the general spread of "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." But after the inhabitants of these provinces are brought again to "seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness," there can be no doubt, but all other things, all temporal blessings, will be added unto them. He will send through all the happy land, with all the necessaries and conveniences of life, not independency, (which would be no blessing, but an heavy curse, both to them and their children,) but liberty, real, legal liberty; which is an unspeakable blessing. He will superadd to Christian liberty, liberty from sin, true civil liberty; a liberty from oppression of every kind; from illegal violence; a liberty to enjoy their lives, their persons, and their property; in a word, a liberty to be governed in all things by the laws of their country. They will again enjoy true British liberty, such as they enjoyed before these commotions: Neither less nor more than they have enjoyed from their first settlement in America. Neither less nor more than is now enjoyed by the inhabitants of their mother country. If their mother-country had ever designed to deprive them of this, she might have done it long ago; and that this was never done, is a demonstration that it was never intended. But God permitted this strange dread of imaginary evils to spread over all the people that he might have mercy upon all, that he might do good to all, by saving them from the bondage of sin, and bringing them into "the glorious liberty of the children of God!"

4. But has there, indeed, been any extraordinary work of God wrought in England during this century This is an important question: It is certainly worthy of our serious consideration; and it is capable of being answered to the full satisfaction of every fair inquirer. He may easily be informed, what work it is, and in what manner it has been wrought. It is true, I am in one respect an improper person to give this information; as it will oblige me frequently to speak of myself, which may have the appearance of ostentation: But, with regard to this, I can only cast myself upon the candour of my hearers, being persuaded they will put the most favourable construction upon what is not a matter of choice, but of necessity. For there is no other person, if I decline the task, who can supply my place, -- who has a perfect knowledge of the work in question, from the beginning of it to this day. We may consider, First, the rise and progress of this work: Secondly, the nature of it. I. 1. As to the rise of it. In the year 1725, a young student at Oxford was much affected by reading Kempis's "Christian Pattern," and Bishop Taylor's "Rules of Holy Living and Dying." He found an earnest desire to live according to those rules, and to flee from the wrath to come. He sought for some that would be his companions in the way, but could find none; so that, for several years, he was constrained to travel alone, having no man either to guide or to help him. But in the year 1729, he found one who had the same desire. They then endeavoured to help each other; and, in the close of the year, were joined by two more. They soon agreed to spend two or three hours together every Sunday evening. Afterwards they sat two evenings together, and, in a while, six evenings, in the week; spending that time in reading the Scriptures, and provoking one another to love and to good works.

9. "It is likewise rational. It is as pure from enthusiasm as from superstition. It is true the contrary has been continually affirmed; but to affirm is one thing, to prove is another. Who will prove that it is enthusiasm to love God, yea, to love him with all our heart Who is able to make good this charge against the love of all mankind (I do but just touch on the general heads.) But if you cannot make it good, own this religion to be sober, manly, rational, divine. 10. "It is also pure from bigotry. Those who hold it are not bigoted to opinions. They would hold right opinions; but they are peculiarly cautious not to rest the weight of Christianity there. They have no such overgrown fondness for any opinions, as to think those alone will make them Christians; or to confine their affection, or esteem, to those that agree with them therein. Nor are they bigoted to any particular branch even of practical religion; they are not attached to one point more than another; they aim at uniform, universal obedience. They contend for nothing circumstantial, as if it were essential to religion; but for everything in its own order. 11. "They dread that bitter zeal, that spirit of persecution, which has so often accompanied the spirit of reformation. They do not approve of using any kind of violence, on any pretence, in matters of religion. They allow no method of bringing any to the knowledge of the truth, except the methods of reason and persuasion; and their practice is consistent with their profession. They do not, in fact, hinder their dependents from worshipping God, in every respect, according to their own conscience." But if these things are so, may we not well say, "What hath God wrought!" For such a work, if we consider the extensiveness of it, the swiftness with which it has spread, the depth of the religion so swiftly diffused, and its purity from all corrupt mixtures, we must acknowledge cannot easily be paralleled, in all these concurrent circumstances, by anything that is found in the English annals, since Christianity was first planted in this island.

14. Near twenty years ago, immediately after their solemn consultation on the subject, a Clergyman, who had heard the whole, said, with great earnestness, "In the name of God, let nothing move you to recede from this resolution. God is with you, of a truth; and so he will be, while you continue in the Church: But whenever the Methodists leave the Church, God will leave them." Lord, what is man! In a few months after, Mr. Ingham himself left the Church, and turned all the societies under his care into congregations of Independents. And what was the event The same that he had foretold! -- They swiftly mouldered into nothing. Some years after, a person of honour told me, "This is the peculiar glory of the Methodists: However convenient it might be, they will not, on any account or pretence whatever, form a distinct sect or party. Let no one rob you of this glorying." I trust none will, as long as I live. But the giver of this advice entirely forgot it in a very short time, and has, almost ever since, been labouring to form Independent congregations. 15. This has occasioned many to ask, "Why do you say the Methodists form no distinct party, -- that they do not leave the Church Are there not thousands of Methodists who have, in fact, left the Church; who never attend the Church Service; never receive the Lord's Supper there; nay, who speak against the Church, even with bitterness, both in public and private; yea, who appoint and frequent meetings for divine service at the same hour How, then, can you affirm that the Methodists do not leave the Church" I am glad of so public an opportunity of explaining this; in order to which, it will be necessary to look back some years. The Methodists at Oxford were all one body, and, as it were, one soul; zealous for the religion of the Bible, of the primitive church, and, in consequence, of the Church of England; as they believed it to come nearer the scriptural and primitive plan than any other national Church upon earth.

On the Death of Rev. Mr. John Fletcher PREACHED ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF THE REV. MR. JOHN FLETCHER VICAR OF MADELEY, SHROPSHIRE TO THE READER It was a consciousness of my own inability to describe in a manner worthy of the subject such a person as Mr. Fletcher, which was one great reason of my not writing this sooner. I judged only an Apelles was proper to paint an Alexander. But I at length submitted to importunity, and hastily put together some memorials of this great man; intending, if God permit, when I have more leisure and more materials, to write a fuller account of his life. London, Nov. 9, 1785 John Wesley "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: For the end of that man is peace." Ps. 37:37. In the preceding verses, taken together with this, there is a beautiful contrast between the death of a wicked and that of a good man. "I myself," says the Psalmist, "have seen the ungodly in great power, and flourishing like a green bay tree. I went by and lo, he was gone: I sought him, but his place could nowhere be found." Dost thou desire to be found happy, both in life and in death Then "keep innocency, and take heed unto the thing that is right; for that shall bring a man peace at the last." The words are rendered in the new translation, with far more force and elegance: "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: For the end of that man is peace." It is not improbable that David, while he uttered these words, had a particular instance before his eyes. Such an instance was that of the great and good man whom God has not long ago taken to himself. In discoursing on these words I purpose, First, briefly to inquire, Who is the person that is here spoken of, "the perfect, the upright man." I will endeavour, Secondly, to explain the promise, "That shall bring a man peace at the last;" or, as it is expressed in the other version, "The end of that man is peace." I will then, with the divine assistance, show a little more at large, in how glorious a manner it was fulfilled in the end of that "perfect and upright man" who has been lately removed from us.

7. That circular letter was the happy occasion of his writing those excellent "Checks to Antinomianism," in which one knows not which to admire most, the purity of the language, (such as a foreigner scarce ever wrote before,) the strength and clearness of the argument, or the mildness and sweetness of the spirit which breathes throughout the whole; insomuch that I nothing wonder at a clergyman that was resolved never to part with his dear decrees, who, being pressed to read them, replied, "No, I will never read Mr. Fletcher's writings; for if I did, I should be of his mind." He now likewise wrote several other valuable tracts. Meantime, he was more abundant in his ministerial labours, both in public and private; visiting his whole parish, early and late, in all weathers; regarding neither heat nor cold, rain nor snow, whether he was on horseback or on foot. But this insensibly weakened his constitution, and sapped the foundation of his health; which was still more effectually done by his intense and uninterrupted studies, at which he frequently continued with scarce any intermission, fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen hours a day. Meantime, he did not allow himself necessary food. He seldom took any regular meals, unless he had company; but twice or thrice in four and twenty hours ate some bread and cheese, or fruit; instead of which he sometimes took a draught of milk, and then wrote on again. When one reproved him for this, for not allowing himself a sufficiency of necessary food, he replied, with surprise, "Not allow myself food Why, our food seldom costs my housekeeper and me less than two shillings a week!" 8. Being informed that his health was greatly impaired, I judged nothing was so likely to restore it as a long journey: So I proposed his taking a journey with me into Scotland, to which he willingly consented. We set out in spring, and after travelling eleven or twelve hundred miles, returned to London in autumn. I verily believe, had he travelled with me a few months longer, he would have quite recovered his health; but being stopped by his friends, he quickly relapsed, and fell into a true pulmonary consumption.

When he had any nauseous medicines to take, he seemed to enjoy the cross, according to a word he used often to repeat, that we are to seek a perfect conformity to the will of God, and leave him to give us what comfort he saw good. I asked him, whether he had any advice to leave me, if he should be taken from me: He replied, `I have nothing particular to say: The Lord will open all before thee.' I said, `Have you any conviction that God is about to take you' He said,`No; not in particular; only I always see death so inexpressibly near that we both seem to stand on the very verge of eternity.' While he slept a little I besought the Lord, if it was his good pleasure, to spare him to me a little longer; but my prayer seemed to have no wings, and I could not help mingling continually therewith, `Lord, give me perfect resignation.' This uncertainty made me tremble, lest God was going to put into my hand the bitter cup which he lately threatened my husband. Some weeks before, I myself was ill of the fever. My husband then felt the whole parting scene, and struggled for perfect resignation. He said: `O Polly, shall I ever see the day when thou must be carried out to bury How will the little things which thy tender care has prepared for me in every part of the house, -- how will they wound and distress me! How is it I think I feel jealousy! I am jealous of the worms. I seem to shrink at giving my dear Polly to the worms!'

"Now all these reflections returned upon my heart with the weight of a millstone. I cried to the Lord, and those words were deeply impressed on my spirit, "Where I am, there shall my servants be, that they may behold my glory.' This promise was full of comfort to my soul. I saw that in Christ's immediate presence was our home, and that we should find our re-union in being deeply centred in him. I received it as a fresh marriage for eternity. As such I trust for ever to hold it. All that day, whenever I thought of that expression, `to behold my glory,' it seemed to wipe away every tear, and was as the ring whereby we were joined anew. "Awaking some time after he said: `Polly, I have been thinking it was Israel's fault that they asked for signs. We will not do so; but abandoning our whole selves into the hands of God, we will lie patiently before him, assured that he will do all things well.' "`My dear love,' said I, `if ever I have done or said anything to grieve thee, how will the remembrance wound my heart, shouldst thou be taken from me!' "He entreated and charged me, with inexpressible tenderness, not to allow the thought; declaring his thankfulness for our union, in a variety of words written on my heart as with the adamantine pen of friendship, deeply dipped in blood. "On Wednesday, after groaning all day under the weight of the power of God, he told me he had received such a manifestation of the full meaning of those words, `God is love,' as he could never be able to tell. `It fills me,' said he, `every moment. O Polly, my dear Polly, God is love! Shout, shout aloud! I want a gust of praise to go to the ends of the earth! But it seems as if I could not speak much longer. Let us fix on a sign between ourselves;' (tapping me twice with his fingers;) `-- now I mean, God is love; and we will draw each other into God. Observe! By this we will draw each other into God!"

True Christianity "How is the faithful city become an harlot!" Isa. 2:21. [The following Sermon was found in a mutilated manuscript among Mr. Wesley's papers. It is dated June 24, 1741. A Latin copy of the same Discourse has also been discovered. Mr. Pawson, with great care, copied the former, and I have supplied the deficiencies out of the latter. On collating both Sermons, I find several variations, and though not of any great importance, yet sufficient, in my judgment, to vindicate the propriety of translating and publishing the Latin one, not merely as a matter of curiosity, but of utility. The Sermon, no doubt, was written with the design of being preached before the University of Oxford; but whether it ever were preached there, cannot be determined. A. Clarke.] 1. "When I bring the sword upon a land, saith the Lord, if the watchman blow the trumpet, and warn the people; then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take away any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand." (Ezek. 33:2-6.) 2. It cannot be doubted, but that word of the Lord is come unto every Minister of Christ also. "So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: Therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die: If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand." 3. Nor ought any man, therefore, to be accounted our enemy because he telleth us the truth: The doing of which is indeed an instance of love to our neighbour, as well as of obedience to God. Otherwise, few would undertake so thankless a task: For the return they will find, they know already. The Scripture must be fulfilled: "Me the world hateth," saith our Lord, "because I testify of it that the deeds thereof are evil."

10. I would not be understood, as if I despised these things, as if I undervalued right opinions, true morality, or a zealous regard for the constitution we have received from our fathers. Yet what are these things, being alone What will they profit us in that day What will it avail to tell the Judge of all) "Lord, I was not as other men were; not unjust, not an adulterer, not a liar, not an immoral man" Yea, what will it avail, if we have done all good, as well as done no harm, -- if we have given all our goods to feed the poor, -- and have not charity How shall we then look on those who taught us to sleep on and take our rest, though "the love of the Father was not in us" or who, teaching us to seek salvation by works, cut us off from receiving that faith freely, whereby alone the love of God could have been shed abroad in our hearts To these miserable corrupters of the gospel of Christ, and the poison they have spread abroad, is chiefly owing, II. Secondly, that general corruption in practice as well as in doctrine. There is hardly to be found (O tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon!) either the form of godliness, or the power! So is "the faithful city become an harlot!"

On Mourning For The Dead PREACHED AT EPWORTH, JANUARY 11, 1726, AT THE FUNERAL OF JOHN GRIFFITH: A HOPEFUL YOUNG MAN. "Now he is dead, wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back again I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." 2 Sam. 12:23. The resolution of a wise and good man, just recovering the use of his reason and virtue, after the bitterness of soul he had tasted from the hourly expectation of the death of a beloved son, is comprised in these few but strong words. He had fasted and wept, and lay all night upon the earth, and refused not only comfort, but even needful sustenance, whilst the child was still alive, in hopes that God would be gracious, as well in that as in other instances, and reverse the just sentence he had pronounced. When it was put in execution, in the death of the child, he arose and changed his apparel, having first paid his devotions to his great Master, acknowledging, no doubt, the mildness of his severity, and owning, with gratitude and humility, the obligation laid upon him, in that he was not consumed, as well as chastened, by his heavy hand; he then came into his house, and behaved with his usual composure and cheerfulness. The reason of this strange alteration in his proceedings, as it appeared to those who were ignorant of the principles upon which he acted, he here explains, with great brevity, but in the most beautiful language, strength of thought, and energy of expression: "Now he is dead, wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back again I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me."

"To what end," saith the resigned mourner, "should I fast, now the child is dead Why should I add grief to grief; which, being a volunteer, increases the affliction I already sustain Would it not be equally useless to him and me Have my tears or complaints the power to refix his soul in her decayed and forsaken mansion Or, indeed, would he wish to change, though the power were in his hands, the happy regions of which lie is now possessed, for this land of care, pain, and misery O vain thought! Never can he, never will he, return to me: Be it my comfort, my constant comfort, when my sorrows bear hard upon me, that I shall shortly, very shortly, go to him! that I shall soon awake from this tedious dream of life, which will soon be at an end; and then shall I gaze upon him; then shall I behold him again, and behold him with that perfect love, that sincere and elevated affection, to which even the heart of a parent is here a stranger! when the Lord God shall wipe away all tears from my eyes; and the least part of my happiness shall be that the sorrow of absence shall flee away!" The unprofitable and bad consequences, the sinful nature, of profuse sorrowing for the dead, are easily deduced from the former part of this reflection; in the latter, we have the strongest motives to enforce our striving against it, -- a remedy exactly suited to the disease, -- a consideration which, duly applied, will not fail, either to prevent this sorrow, or rescue us from this real misfortune. Grief, in general, is the parent of so much evil, and the occasion of so little good to mankind, that it may be justly wondered how it found a place in our nature. It was, indeed, of man's own, not of God's creation; who may permit, but never was the author of, evil. The same hour gave birth to grief and sin, as the same moment will deliver us from both. For neither did exist before human nature was corrupted, nor will it continue when that is restored to its ancient perfection.

Indeed, in this present state of things, that wise Being, who knows well how to extract good out of evil, has shown us one way of making this universal frailty highly conducive both to our virtue and happiness. Even grief, if it lead us to repentance, and proceed from a serious sense of our faults, is not to be repented of; since those who thus sow in tears shall reap in joy. If we confine it to this particular occasion, it does not impair, but greatly assist, our imperfect reason; pain, either of body or mind, acting quicker than reflection, and fixing more deeply in the memory any circumstance it attends. From the very nature of grief; which is an uneasiness in the mind on the apprehension of some present evil, it appears, that its arising in us, on any other occasion than that of sin, is entirely owing to our want of judgment. Are any of those accidents, in the language of men termed misfortunes, such as reproach, poverty, loss of life, or even of friends, real evils So far from it, that, if we dare believe our Creator, they are often positive blessings. They all work together for our good. And our Lord accordingly commands us, even when the severest loss, that of our reputation, befals us, if it is in a good cause, as it must be our own fault if it be not, to "rejoice, and be exceeding glad." But what fully proves the utter absurdity of almost all our grief; except that for our own failings, is, that the occasion of it is always past before it begins. To recal what has already been, is utterly impossible, and beyond the reach of Omnipotence itself. Let those who are fond of misery, if any such there be, indulge their minds in this fruitless inquietude. They who desire happiness will have a care how they cherish such a passion, as is neither desirable in itself; nor serves to any good purpose, present or future.

Against this fault, which is inconsistent with those virtues, and, therefore, tacitly forbidden in the precepts that enjoin them, St. Paul warns us in express words: "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him: -- Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." (1 Thess. 4:13, 14, 18.) And these, indeed, are the only words which can give lasting comfort to a spirit whom such an occasion hath wounded. Why should I be so unreasonable, so unkind, as to desire the return of a soul now in happiness to me, -- to this habitation of sin and misery; since I know that the time will come, yea, is now at hand, when, in spite of the great gulf fixed between us, I shall shake off these chains and go to him What he was, I am both unable to paint in suitable colours, and unwilling to attempt it. Although the chief; at least the most common, argument for those laboured encomiums on the dead, which for many years have so much prevailed among us, is, that there can be no suspicion of flattery; yet we all know, that the pulpit, on those occasions, has been so frequently prostituted to those servile ends, that it is now no longer capable of serving them. Men take it for granted, that what is there said are words of course; that the business of the speaker is to describe the beauty, not the likeness, of the picture; and, so it be only well drawn, he cares not whom it resembles: In a word, that his business is to show his own wit, not the generosity of his friend, by giving him all the virtues he can think on.

This, indeed, is an end that is visibly served in those ill-timed commendations; of what other use they are, it is hard to say. It is of no service to the dead to celebrate his actions; since he has the applause of God and his holy angels, and also that of his own conscience. And it is of very little use to the living; since he who desires a pattern may find enough proposed as such in the sacred writings. What! must one be raised from the dead to instruct him, whilst Moses, the Prophets, and the blessed Jesus are still presented to his view in those everlasting tables Certain it is, that he who will not imitate these, would not be converted, though one literally rose from the dead. Let it suffice to have paid my last duty to him, (whether he is now hovering over these lower regions, or retired already to the mansions of eternal glory,) by saying, in a few plain words, such as were his own, and were always agreeable to him, that he was to his parents an affectionate, dutiful son; to his acquaintance, an ingenuous, cheerful, good-natured companion; and to me, a well-tried, sincere friend. At such a loss, if considered without the alleviating circumstances, who can blame him that drops a tear The tender meltings of a heart dissolved with fondness, when it reflects on the several agreeable moments which have now taken their flight never to return, give an authority to some degree of sorrow. Nor will human frailty permit an ordinary acquaintance to take his last leave of them without it. Who then can conceive, much less describe, the strong emotion, the secret workings of soul which a parent feels on such an occasion None, surely, but those who are parents themselves; unless those few who have experienced the power of friendship; than which human nature, on this side of the grave, knows no closer, no softer, no stronger tie!

At the tearing asunder of these sacred bands, well may we allow, without blame, some parting pangs; but the difficulty is, to put as speedy a period to them as reason and religion command us. What can give us sufficient ease after that rupture, which has left such an aching void in our breasts What, indeed, but the reflection already mentioned, which can never be inculcated too often, -- that we are hastening to him ourselves; that, pass but a few years, perhaps hours, which will soon be over, and not only this, but all other desires will be satisfied; when we shall exchange the gaudy shadow of pleasure we have enjoyed, for sincere, substantial, untransitory happiness With this consideration well imprinted in our minds, it is far better, as Solomon observes, to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting The one embraces the soul, disarms our resolution, and lays us open to an attack: The other cautions us to recollect our reason, and stand upon our guard and infuses that noble steadiness, and seriousness of temper, which it is not in the power of an ordinary stroke to discompose. Such objects naturally induce us to lay it to heart, that the next summons may be our own; and that since death is the end of all men without exception, it is high time for the living to lay it to heart. If we are, at any time, in danger of being overcome by dwelling too long on the gloomy side of this prospect, to the giving us pain, the making us unfit for the duties and offices of life, impairing our faculties of body or mind, -- which proceedings, as has been already shown, are both absurd, unprofitable, and sinful; let us immediately recur to the bright side, and reflect, with gratitude as well as humility, that our time passeth away like a shadow; and that, when we awake from this momentary dream, we shall then have a clearer view of that latter day in which our Redeemer shall stand upon the earth; when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall be clothed with immortality; and when we shall sing, with the united choirs of men and angels, "O death, where is thy sting O grave, where is thy victory"

These are the methods of those corrupters of the word, who act in the sight of men, not of God. He trieth the hearts, and will receive no service in which the lips only are concerned. But their words have no intercourse with their thoughts. Nor is it proper for them that they should. For if their real intention once appeared, it must make itself unsuccessful. They purpose, it is true, to do good by the gospel of Christ; but it is to themselves, not to others. Whereas they that use sincerity in preaching the gospel, in the good of others seek their own. And that they are sincere, and speak as commissioned officers, in the sight of Him whose commission they bear, plainly appears from the direct contrariety between their practice, and that of the dissemblers above described. [II. 1.] First. Consider, it is not their own word they preach, but the word of Him that sent them. They preach it genuine and unmixed. As they do not only profess, but really believe, that, "if any man add unto the word of God, He will add unto him all the plagues that are written in it," they are fearful of doing it in the least instance. You have the gospel from them, if in a less elegant manner, yet fair, and as it is; without any mixture of errors [heresy] to pollute it, or misinterpretation to perplex it; [2.] explained in the most natural, obvious manner, by what precedes and what follows the place in question; and commented on by the most sure way, the least liable to mistake or corruption, the producing of those parallel places that express the same thing the more plainly.

[4.] Lastly. They who speak in sincerity, and as in the sight of Him who deputes them, show that they do so, by the manner in which they speak. They speak with plainness and boldness, and are not concerned to palliate their doctrine, to reconcile it to the tastes of men. They endeavour to set it always in a true light, whether it be a pleasing one or not. They will not, they dare not, soften a threatening, so as to prejudice its strength, neither represent sin in such mild colours as to impair its native blackness. Not that they do not choose mildness, when it is likely to be effectual. Though they know "the terrors of the Lord," they desire rather to "persuade men." This method they use, and love to use it, with such as are capable of persuasion. With such as are not, they are obliged, if they will be faithful, to take the severer course. Let the revilers look to that; it harms not them: and if they are blamed or reviled for so doing, let the revilers look to that: Let the hearers accommodate themselves to the word; the word is not, in this sense, to be accommodated to the hearers. The Preacher of it would be no less in fault, in a slavish obsequiousness on one side, than in an unrelenting sternness on the other.

On The Resurrection Of The Dead "But some man will say, how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come" 1 Cor. 15:35. [This Sermon was originally written by Benjamin Calamy, D.D., Vicar of St. Lawrence, Jewry, London. It occurs, p. 275, in a volume of Sermons which bears his name, published in 1704; and is here abridged and revised by Mr. Wesley. -- EDIT.] The Apostle having, in the beginning of this chapter, firmly settled the truth of our Saviour's resurrection, adds, "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead" It cannot now any longer seem impossible to you that God should raise the dead; since you have so plain an example of it in our Lord, who was dead and is alive; and the same power which raised Christ must also be able to quicken our mortal bodies.

The best thing we can say of this house of earth, is, that it is a ruinous building, and will not be long before it tumbles into dust; that it is not our home, -- we look for another "house, eternal in the heavens;" that we shall not always be confined here, but that in a little time we shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, from this burden of flesh, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. What frail things these bodies of ours are! How soon are they disordered! To what a troop of diseases, pains, and other infirmities are they constantly subject! And how does the least distemper disturb our minds, and make life itself a burden! Of how many parts do our bodies consist! and if one of these be disordered, the whole man suffers. If but one of these slender threads, whereof our flesh is made up be stretched beyond its due proportion, or fretted by any sharp humour, or broken, what torment does it create! Nay, when our bodies are at the best, what pains do we take to answer their necessities, to provide for their sustenance, to preserve them in health, and to keep them tenantable, in some tolerable fitness for our souls' use! And what time we can spare from our labour is taken up in rest, and refreshing our jaded bodies, and fitting them for work again. How are we forced, even naturally, into the confines of death; even to cease to be; -- at least to pass so many hours without any useful or reasonable thoughts, merely to keep them in repair! But our hope and comfort are, that we shall shortly be delivered from this burden of flesh: When "God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." O when shall we arrive at that happy hand where no complaints were ever heard, where we shall all enjoy uninterrupted health both of body and mind, and never more be exposed to any of those inconveniences that disturb our present pilgrimage.

But our hope and comfort are, that we shall shortly be delivered from this burden of flesh: When "God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." O when shall we arrive at that happy hand where no complaints were ever heard, where we shall all enjoy uninterrupted health both of body and mind, and never more be exposed to any of those inconveniences that disturb our present pilgrimage. When we shall have once passed from death unto life, we shall be eased of all the troublesome care of our bodies, which now takes up so much of our time and thoughts. We shall be set, now undergo to support our lives. Yon robes of light, with which we shall be clothed at the resurrection of the just will not stand in need of those careful provisions which it is so troublesome to us here either to procure or to be without. But then, as our Lord tells us, those who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world "neither marry nor are given in marriage, neither can they die any more, but they are equal to the angels." Their bodies are neither subject to disease, nor want that daily sustenance which these mortal bodies cannot be without. "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God will destroy both it and them." This is that perfect happiness which all good men shall enjoy in the other world, -- a mind free from all trouble and guilt, in a body free from all pains and diseases. Thus our mortal bodies shall he raised immortal. They shall not only be always preserved from death, (for so these might be, if God pleased,) but the nature of them shall be wholly changed, so that they shall not retain the same seeds of mortality; -- they cannot die any more.

This excellency of our heavenly bodies will probably arise, in great measure, from the happiness of our souls. The unspeakable joy that we then shall feel will break through our bodies, and shine forth in our countenances; as the joy of the soul, even in this life, has some influence upon the countenance, by rendering it more open and cheerful: So Solomon tells us, "A man's wisdom makes his face to shine." Virtue, as it refines a man's heart, so it makes his very looks more cheerful and lively. 3. Our bodies shall be raised in power. This expresses the sprightliness of our heavenly bodies, the nimbleness of their motion, by which they shall be obedient and able instruments of the soul. In this state, our bodies are no better than clogs and fetters, which confine and restrain the freedom of the soul. The corruptible body presses down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weighs down the mind. Our dull, sluggish, inactive bodies are often unable, or backward, to obey the commands of the soul. But in the other life, "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint:" Or, as another expresses it, "they shall run to and fro like sparks among the stubble." The speed of their motion shall be like that of devouring fire in stubble; and the height of it, above the towering of an eagle; for they shall meet the Lord in the air when he comes to judgment, and mount up with him into the highest heaven. This earthly body is slow and heavy in all its motions, listless and soon tired with action. But our heavenly bodies shall be as fire; as active and as nimble as our thoughts are.

4. Our bodies shall be raised spiritual bodies. Our spirits are now forced to serve our bodies, and to attend their leisure, and do greatly depend upon them for most of their actions. But our bodies shall then wholly serve our spirits, and minister to them, and depend upon them. So that, as by "a natural body" we understand one fitted for this lower, sensible world for this earthly state; so "a spiritual body" is one that is suited to a spiritual state, to an invisible world, to the life of angels. And, indeed, this is the principal difference between a mortal and a glorified body. This flesh is the most dangerous enemy we have: We therefore deny and renounce it in our baptism. It constantly tempts us to evil. Every sense is a snare to us. All its lusts and appetites are inordinate. It is ungovernable, and often rebels against reason. The law in our members wars against the law of our mind. When the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak; so that the best of men are forced to keep it under, and use it hardly, lest it should betray them into folly and misery. And how does it hinder us in all our devotions! How soon does it jade our minds when employed on holy things! How easily, by its enchanting pleasures, does it divert them from those noble exercises! But when we have obtained the resurrection unto life, our bodies will be spiritualized, purified, and refined from their earthly grossness; then they will be fit instruments for the soul in all its divine and heavenly employment; we shall not be weary of singing praises to God through infinite ages. Thus, after what little we have been able to conceive of it, it sufficiently appears, that a glorified body is infinitely more excellent and desirable than this vile body. The only thing that remains is,

Let this especially, fortify us against the fear of death: It is now disarmed, and can do us no hurt. It divides us, indeed, from this body awhile; but it is only that we may receive it again more glorious. As God, therefore, said once to Jacob, "Fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will go down with thee, and will surely bring thee up again;" so may I say to all who are born of God, "Fear not to go down into the grave; lay down your heads in the dust; for God will certainly bring you up again, and that in a much more glorious manner." Only "be ye steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord;" and then let death prevail over, and pull down, this house of clay; since God hath undertaken to rear it up again, infinitely more beautiful, strong, and useful.

And the more frequently we offend him, the more we weaken his influences in our souls. For frequent breaches will necessarily occasion estrangement between us; and it is impossible that our intercourse with him can be cordial, when it is disturbed by repeated interruptions. So a man will forgive his friend a great many imprudences, and some wilful transgresions; but to find him frequently affronting him, all his kindness will wear off by degrees; and the warmth of his affection, even towards him who had the greatest share of it, will die away; as he cannot but think that such a one does not any longer either desire or deserve to maintain a friendship with him. II. I come now to consider by what kinds of sin the Holy Spirit is more especially grieved. These sins are, in genera], such as either at first wholly disappoint his grace of its due effect upon our souls, or are afterwards directly contrary to his gracious and merciful assistances. Of the former sort, I shall only mention, at present, inconsiderateness; of the latter, sins of presumption.

The First I shall mention, as being more especially grievous to the Holy Spirit, is inconsiderateness and inadvertence to his holy motions within us. There is a particular frame and temper of soul, a sobriety of mind, without which the Spirit of God will not concur in the purifying of our hearts. It is in our power, through his preventing and assisting grace, to prepare this in ourselves; and he expects we should, this being the foundation of all his after-works. Now, this consists in preserving our minds in a cool and serious disposition, in regulating and calming our affections, and calling in and checking the inordinate pursuits of our passions after the vanities and pleasures of this world; the doing of which is of such importance, that the very reason why men profit so little under the most powerful means, is, that they do not look enough within themselves, they do not observe and watch the discords and imperfections of their own spirit nor attend with care to the directions and remedies which the Holy Spirit is always ready to suggest. Men are generally lost in the hurry of life, in the business or pleasures of it, and seem to think that their regeneration, their new nature, will spring and grow up within them, with as little care and thought of their own as their bodies were conceived and have attained their full strength and stature; whereas, there is nothing more certain than that the Holy Spirit will not purify our nature, unless we carefully attend to his motions, which are lost upon us while, in the Prophet's language, we "scatter away our time," -- while we squander away our thoughts upon unnecessary things, and leave our spiritual improvement, the one thing needful, quite unthought of and neglected.

On Love "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing." 1 Cor. 13:3. [1.] There is great reason to fear that it will hereafter be said of most of you who are here present, that this scripture, as well as all those you have heard before, profited you nothing. Some, perhaps, are not serious enough to attend to it; some who do attend, will not believe it; some who do believe it, will yet think it a hard saying, and so forget it as soon as they can; and, of those few who receive it gladly for a time, some, having no root of humility, or self-denial, when persecution ariseth because of the word, will, rather than suffer for it, fall away. Nay, even of those who attend to it, who believe, remember, yea, and receive it so deeply into their hearts, that it both takes root there, endures the heat of temptation, and begins to bring forth fruit, yet will not all bring forth fruit unto perfection. The cares or pleasures of the world, and the desire of other things, (perhaps not felt till then,) will grow up with the word, and choke it. [2.] Nor am I that speak the word of God any more secure from these dangers than you that hear it. I, too, have to bewail "an evil heart of unbelief." And whenever God shall suffer persecution to arise, yea, were it only the slight one of reproach, I may be the first that is offended. Or, if I be enabled to sustain this, yet, should he let loose the cares of the world upon me, or should he cease to guard me against those pleasures that do not lead to him, and the desire of other things [than knowing and loving him], I should surely be overwhelmed, and, having preached to others, be myself a castaway.

And, First, without love nothing can so profit us as to make our lives happy. By happiness I mean, not a slight, trilling pleasure, that perhaps begins and ends in the same hour; but such a state of well-being as contents the soul, and gives it a stead, lasting satisfaction. But that nothing without love can profit us, as to our present happiness, will appear from this single consideration: You cannot want it, in any one single instance, without pain; and the more you depart from it, the pain is the greater. Are you wanting in longsuffering Then, so far as you fall short of this, you fall short of happiness. The more the opposite tempers -- anger, fretfulness, revenge -- prevail, the more unhappy you are. You know it; you feel it; nor can the storm be allayed, or peace ever return to your soul, unless meekness, gentleness, patience, or, in one word, love, take possession of it. Does any man find in himself ill-will, malice, envy, or any other temper opposite to kindness Then is misery there; and the stronger the temper, the more miserable he is. If the slothful man may be said to eat his own flesh, much more the malicious, or envious. His soul is the very type of hell; -- full of torment as well as wickedness. He hath already the worm that never dieth, and he is hastening to the fire that never can be quenched. Only as yet the great gulf is not fixed between him and heaven. As yet there is a Spirit ready to help his infirmities; who is still willing, if he stretch out his hands to heaven, and bewail his ignorance and misery, to purify his heart from vile affections, and to renew it in the love of God, and so lead him by present, up to eternal, happiness. Secondly. Without love, nothing can make death comfortable.

But, over and above these, we charge it, Secondly, with affording the fairest means to exercise and to increase covetousness. This it done by the occasion it gives to all who please to lay wagers with one another, which commonly brings so strong a desire of possessing what is another's, as will hardly cease when that one point is decided; but will be exceedingly likely to leave such a thirst in the mind, as not all the winning in the world will satisfy. And what amends can the trifling sport of a thousand people make for one soul thus corrupted and ruined Therefore, on this account too, till a way is known to secure all that frequent it from this danger, well may this sport itself be an abomination to Him who values one soul more than the whole world. May we not well fear, that it is an abomination to the Lord because of a Third effect of it because it is so apt to inflame those passions which he so earnestly commands us to quench because many people are so heated on such occasions, as they never ought to be on any occasion supposing it possible that a man might be angry, and not sin; yet hardly upon such occasions, or in such a degree as those who are angry upon such occasions commonly are. This consequence, too, let him separate from such a diversion, who would prevent its being displeasing to God.

Are you a poor man, who have gone or given anything to this diversion Then it has done you most hurt of all. It has made you throw away, for an idle sport abroad, what your wife and family wanted at home. If so, you have denied the faith, and are far worse than an infidel. But suppose it cost you no money, was it not hurt enough if it cost you any of your time What had you to do to run after trifling diversions, when you ought to have been employed in honest labour Surely if the rich think, God hath given them more than they want, (though it will be well if they do not one day think otherwise,) yet you have no temptation to think so. Sufficient for your day is the labour thereof.

I have but a few words to add, -- and those I speak not to them who are unwilling to hear, whose affections are set upon this world, and therefore their eyes are blinded by it; but I speak to them in whom is an understanding heart, and a discerning spirit; -- who, if they have formerly erred, are now resolved, by the grace of God, to return no more to the error of their ways; but for the time come, not only to avoid, but also earnestly to oppose, whatsoever is contrary to the will of God. To these I say, Are ye young So much the rather scorn all employments that are useless, but much more if they are sinful; For you are they, whose wisdom and glory it is to remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Are you elder So much the rather bestow all the time which you can spare from the necessary business of this life, in preparing yourself and those about you for their entrance into a better life. For your day is far spent, your night is at hand. Redeem therefore the little time you have left. Are you rich Then you have particular reason to labour that you may be rich in good works: For you are they to whom much is given, not to throw away, but to use well and wisely; and of you much shall be required. Are ye poor Then you have particular reason to work with your hands, that you may provide for your own household. Nor when you have done this have you done all; for then you are to labour that you may give to him that needeth, -- not to him that needeth diversions, but to him that needeth the necessaries of nature, -- that needeth clothes to cover him, food to support his life, or a house where to lay his head.

This description of Christ was a proper inducement to Jews to believe on him; and it is still a necessary instruction to Christians, to regulate their expectations from him. But [we] think this age has made it particularly necessary to be well assured what Christ is to us: When that question is so differently resolved by the pious but weak accounts of some pretenders to faith on one hand, and by the clearer, but not perfectly Christian, accounts of some pretenders to reason on the other: While some derive from him a "righteousness of God," but in a sense somewhat improper and figurative; and others no more than a charter of pardon, and a system of morality: While some so interpret the gospel, as to place the holiness they are to be saved by in something divine, hut exterior to themselves; and others, so as to place it in things really within themselves, but not more than human. Now, the proper cure of what indistinctness there is one way, and what infidelity in the other, seems to be contained in the doctrine of my text: "The Lord is that Spirit." In treating of which words, I will consider, I. The nature of our fall in Adam; by which it will appear, that if "the Lord" were not "that Spirit," he could not be said to save or redeem us from our fallen condition. II. I will consider the person of Jesus Christ; by which it will appear that "the Lord is that Spirit." And, III. I will inquire into the nature and operations of the Holy Spirit, as bestowed upon Christians. I. I am to consider the nature of our fall in Adam. Our first parents did enjoy the presence of the Holy Spirit; for they were created in the image and likeness of God, which was no other than his Spirit. By that he communicates himself to his creatures, and by that alone they can bear any likeness to him. It is, indeed, his life in them; and so properly divine, that, upon this ground, angels and regenerate men are called his children.

8. After long inquiring, but inquiring in vain, for a -school free from these palpable blemishes, at last a thought came into my mind, of setting up a school myself. The first point was, to find a proper situation; not too far from a great town; which I saw would be highly inconvenient for a large family: nor yet too near, and much less in it; which would have been attended with greater evils. After mature consideration, I chose a spot in the middle of Kingswood, three miles from Bristol. It was quite private, remote from all high roads, on the side of a small hill sloping to the west, sheltered from the east and north, and affording room for large gardens. I built the house capable of containing fifty children, besides Masters and servants; reserving one room, and a little study, for my own use. 9. I then set myself to procure Masters. And in this respect I had such an advantage as few besides have, in being acquainted with every part of the nation: and yet I found it no easy thing to procure such as I desired; for I was not satisfied that they had learning sufficient for their several departments, unless they had likewise the fear of God, producing an unblamable conversation. I saw none would answer my intention, but men who were truly devoted to God; who sought nothing on earth, neither pleasure, nor ease, nor profit, nor the praise of men; but simply to glorify God, with their bodies and spirits, in the best manner they were capable of.

16. It is true, I have for many years suspended the execution of this part of my design. I was indeed thoroughly convinced, ever since I read Milton's admirable "Treatise on Education," that it was highly expedient for every youth to begin and finish his education at the same place. I was convinced nothing could be more irrational and absurd, than to break this off in the middle, and to begin it again at a different place, and in a quite different method. The many and great inconveniences of this, I knew by sad experience. Yet I had so strong a prejudice in favour of our own Universities, that of Oxford in particular, that I could hardly think of any one's finishing his education without spending some years there. I therefcre encouraged all I had any influence over, to enter at Oxford or Cambridge; both of which I preferred, in many respects, to any University I had seen abroad. Add to this, that several of the young persons at Kingswood had themselves a desire of going to the University. I cannot say I am yet quite clear of that prejudice. I love the very sight of Oxford: I love the manner of life; I love and esteem many of its institutions. But my prejudice in its favour is considerably abated: I do not admire it as I once did. And whether I did or not, I am now constrained to make a virtue of necessity. The late remarkable occurrence of the six young students expelled from the University, and the still more remarkable one of Mr. Seagar, refused the liberty of entering into it, (by what rule of prudence, I cannot tell, any more than of law or equity,) have forced me to see, that neither I, nor any of my friends, must expect either favour or justice there. I am much obliged to Dr. Nowell, and the other gentlemen who exerted themselves on either of those transactions, for not holding me longer in suspense, but dealing so frankly and openly. And, blessed be God, I can do all the business which I have in hand without them. Honour or preferment I do not want, any more than a feather in my cap; and I trust most of those who are educated at our school are, and will be, of the same mind.

Honour or preferment I do not want, any more than a feather in my cap; and I trust most of those who are educated at our school are, and will be, of the same mind. And as to the knowledge of the tongues, and of arts and sciences, with whatever is termed academical learning; if those who have a tolerable capacity for them do not advance more here in three years, than the generality of students at Oxford or Cambridge do in seven, I will bear the blame for ever. 17. It may be objected, "But they cannot have many advantages here which they have at the University: there the Professors are men of eminent learning; and so are also many of the Tutors. There they have public exercises of various kinds; and many others in their several Colleges. Above all, they have there such choice of company as is not to be found elsewhere in all the kingdom."

20. "However, there is no such choice of company elsewhere as there is at Oxford or Cambridge." That is most true; for the moment a young man sets his foot either in one or the other, he is surrounded with company of all kinds, except that which would do him good; with loungers and triflers of every sort; (nequid gravius dicam; *) with men who no more concern themselves with learning than with religion; "who waste away In gentle inactivity the day," to say the best of them; for it is to be feared they are not always so innocently employed. It cannot be denied, there is too much choice of this kind of company in every College. There are likewise gentlemen of a better kind: but what chance is there, that a raw young man should find them? seeing the former will everywhere obtrude themselves upon him, while the latter naturally stand at a distance. Company, therefore, is usually so far from being an advantage to those who enter at either University, that it is the grand nuisance, as well as disgrace, of both; the pit that swallows unwary youths by thousands. I bless God we have no such choice of company at Kingswood; nor ever will till my head is laid. There is no trifler, no lounger, no drone there; much less any drunkard, Sabbath-breaker, or common swearer. Whoever accounts this a disadvantage, may find a remedy at any College in Oxford or Cambridge. 21. "Be this as it may, there are other advantages of which no other place can boast. There are exhibitions, scholarships, studentships, fellowships, canonries; to say nothing of headships, and professorships, which are not only accompanied with present honour and large emoluments, but open the way to the highest preferments both in Church and State."

Sometime Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford Wesley’s Journal, Volume I. 1. Iv was in pursuance of an advice given by Bishop Taylor, in his * Rules for Holy Living and Dying,’ that, about fifteen years ago, J began to take a more exact account than I had done before, of the manner wherein I spent my time, writing down how I had employed every hour. This I continued to do, wherever I was, till the time of my leaving England. The variety of scenes which I then passed through, induced me to transcribe, from time to time, the more matetial parts of my diary, adding here and there such little reflections as occurred te my mind. Of this journal thus occasionally compiled, the following is a short extract: It not being my design to relate all those particulars, which I wrote for my own use only; and which would answer no valuable end to others, however important they were to me. 2. Indeed I had no design or desire to trouble the world with any of my little affairs: As cannot but appear to every impartial mind, from my having been so long “as one that heareth not;” notwithstanding the loud and frequent calls I have had to answer for myself. Neither should I have done it now, had not Captain Williams’s affidavit, published as soon as he had left England, laid an obligation upon me, to do what in me lies, in obedience to that command of God, “ Let not the good which is in you be evil spoken of.) With this view I do at length “ give an answer to every man that asketh me a reason of the hope which is in me,” that in all these things “I have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men.” 3. I have prefixed hereto a letter, wrote several years since, containing a plain account of the rise of that little society in Oxford, which has been so variously represented. Part of this was published in 1733; but without my consent or knowledge. It now stands as it was wrote ; without any addition, diminution, or amendment; it being my only concern herein nakedly to “ declare the thing as it is.”

In one practice for which you blamed your son, I am only concerned as a friend, not as a partner. That, therefore, I shall consider first. _ Your own account of it was in effect this :--“ He frequently went into poor people’s houses, in the villages about Holt, called their children together, and instructed them in their duty to God, their neighbour, and themselves. He likewise explained to them the necessity of private as well as public prayer, and provided them with such forms as were best suited to their several capacities: and being well apprized how much the success of his endeavours depended on their good will toward him, to win upon their affections, he sometimes distributed among them a little of that money which he had saved from gaming, and the other fashionable expenses of the place.” This is the first charge against him; upon which all that I shall observe is, that 1 will refer it to your own judgment, whether it be fitter to have a place in the catalogue of his faults, or of those virtues for which he is now “numbered among the sons of God.” If all the persons concerned in ‘that ridiculous society, whose follies yor1 have so often heard repeated,” could but give such a proot of their deserving the glorious title* which was once bestowed upon them, they would be contented that their “lives” too should be “counted madness, and their end” thought to be “without honour.” But the truth is their title to holiness stands upon much less stable founda- * The Holy Club. tions ; as you will easily perceive when you know the ground of this wonderful outcry, which it seems England is not wide enough to contain.

Part of his answer, dated September 21, 1730, was this :--* And now as to your own designs and employments, what can I say less of them than, Valde probo:* and that I have the highest reason to bless God, that he has given me two sons together at Oxford, to whom he has given grace and courage to turn the war against the world and the devil, which is the best way to conquer them. They have but one more enemy to combat with, the flesh; which if they take care to subdue by fasting and prayer, there will be no more for them to do, but to proceed steadily in the same course, and expect ‘the crown which fadeth not away.’ You have reason to bless God, as I do, that you have so fast a friend as Mr. M. who, I see, in the most difficult service, is ready to break the ice for you. You do not know of how much good that poor wretch who killed his wife has been the providential occasion. I think I must adopt Mr. M. to be my son, together with you and your brother Charles ; and when I have such a ternion to prosecute that war, wherein I am now miles emeritus,t I shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate. “T am afraid lest the main objection you make against your going on in the business with the prisoners may secretly proceed from flesh and blood. For ‘who can harm you if you are followers of that which is so good ;’ and which will be one of the marks by which the Shepherd of Israel will know his sheep at the last day ?--Though if it were possible for you to suffer a little in the cause, you would have a confessor’s reward. You own none but such as are out of their senses would be prejudiced against your acting in this manner; but say * I greatly approve. t A soldier past service.

Soon after, a gentleman of Merton college, who was one of our little company, which now consisted of five persons, acquainted us that he had been much rallied the day before for being a member of The Holy Club; and that it was become a common topic of mirth at his college, where they had found out several of our customs, to which we were ourselves utter strangers. Upon this I consulted my father again, in whose answer were these words :-- “© December 1. “‘ This day I received both yours, and this evening, in the course of our reading, I thought I found an answer that would be more proper than any | myself could dictate; though since it will not be easily translated, I send it in the original. IWoAAy mor xavxnoig UmEp UpLwye TETANPWMO TH TapaxAnTsl, vMEpTEpITCEVoLON TH yopa:* 2 Cor. vii, 4. What would you be? Would you be angels? I question whether a mortal can arrive to a greater degree of perfection, than steadily to do good, and for that very reason patiently and meekly to suffer evil. For my part, on the present view of your actions and designs, my daily prayers are, that God would keep you humble; and then I am sure that if you continue ‘to suffer for righteousness’ sake,’ though it be but in a lower degree, ‘the Spirit of glory and of God’ shall, in some good measure, ‘rest upon you.’ Be never weary of well-doing: never lock back ; for you know the prize and the crown are before you: though * Great is my glorying of you I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful. 8 d INTRODUCTORY LETTER. { can scarce think so meanly of you, as that you would be discouragea with ‘the crackling of thorns under a pot.’ Be not high-minded, but fear. Preserve an equal temper of mind under whatever treatment you meet with from a not very just or well-natured world. Bear no more sai than is necessary, but steer steady. The less you value yourselves for these unfashionable duties, (as there is no such thing as works of supererogation,) the more all good and wise men will value you, if they see your actions are of a-piece ; or, which is infinitely more He by whom actions and intentions are weighed, will both accept, esteem, and reward you.”

I asked, “ Whither he was to go next?” He said, “I have thoughts of going to Pennsylvania. But what God will do with me, I know not. Lam blind. Iamachild. My Father knows ; and I am ready to go wherever he calls.” Fri. 13.--Some of the Indians sent us word of their intention to come down to us. In our course of reading to-day, were these words : “ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord,” Zech. vii, 20-22. Sat. 14.--About one, Tomo Chachi, his nephew Thleeanouhee, his wife Sinauky, with two more women, and two or three Indian children, came on board. As soon as we came in, they all rose and shook us by the hand ; and Tomo Chachi (one Mrs. Musgrove interpreted) spoke as follows :--- “IT am glad you are come. When I was in England, I desired that some would speak the great Word to me; and my nation then desired to hear it; but now we are all in confusion. Yet I am glad you are come. I will go up and speak to the wise men of our nation; and I hope they will hear. But we would not be made Christians as 20 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. TFeb. 1736. the Spaniards make Christians: we would be taught, before we are baptized.” _ I answered, “ There is but One, He that sitteth in heaven, who is able to teach man wisdom. Though we are come so far, we know not whether he will please to teach you by us or no. If he teaches you, you will learn wisdom, but we can do nothing.” We then withdrew. Sun. 15.--Another party of Indians came ; they were all tall, wellproportioned men, and had a remarkable softness in their speech, and gentleness in their whole behaviour. In the afternoon they all returned home but three, who staid to go with Mr. Oglethorpe.

Yet, notwithstanding these plain declarations of our Lord,--notwith standing my own repeated experience,--notwithstanding the experi ence of all the sincere followers of Chnst whom I have ever talked with, read or heard of; nay, and the reason of the thing evincing to a demonstration that all who love not the light must hate Him who is continually labouring to pour it in upon them; I do here bear witness against myself, that when I saw the number of people crowding into the church, the deep attention with which they received the word, and the seriousness that afterward sat on all their faces; I could scarce refrain from giving the lie to experience and reason and Scripture all together. I could hardly believe that the greater, the far greater part of this attentive, serious people, would hereafter trample under foot that word, and say all manner of evil falsely of him that spake it. O who can believe what their heart abhors? Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! Let us love thy cross; then shall we believe, “ if we suffer with thee, we shall also reign with thee !” This evening one of the Germans, who had been long ill of a consumption, found himself much worse. On my mentioning it to Bishop Nitschman he smiled and said, “‘ He will soon be well ; he is ready for the Bridegroom.” Sun. 14.--Having before given notice of my design to do so, every Sunday and holiday, according to the rules of our Church, I administered the holy communion to eighteen persons. Which of these will endure to the end ? Mon. 15.--Mr. Quincy going for Carolina, I removed into the minister’s house.. It is large enough for a larger family than ours, and has many conveniencies, besides a good garden. I could not but reflect on the well-known epigram, Ayoos Axatpercds yevouny more’ vuv de Mevirrs.* How short a time will it be before its present possessor is removed ! pezhaps to be no more seen !

In every one of the six following days, I had some fresh proofs of the absolute necessity of following that wise advice of the apostle: “ Judge nothing before the time; until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” Sat. 17.--We set out for Savannah, and reached it on Tuesday evening. O blessed place, where, having but one end in view, dissembling and fraud are not; but each of us.can pour out his heart withou fear into his brother’s bosom ! Not finding, as yet, any door open for the pursuing our main design, we considered in what manner we might be most useful to the little flock at Savannah. And we agreed, 1. To advise the more serious among them to form themselves into a sort of little society, and to meet 24 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. | May 1736. once or twice a week, in order to reprove, instruct, and exhort one another. 2. To select out of these a smaller number for a more intimate union with each other, which might be forwarded, partly by our conversing singly with each, and partly by inviting them all together to our house ; and this, accordingly, we determined to do every Sunday in the afternoon. Wed. May 5.--I was asked to baptize a child of Mr. Parker’s, second bailiff of Savannah; but Mrs. Parker told me, ‘“ Neither Mr. F. nor I will consent to its being dipped.” I answered, “ If you ‘certify that your child is weak, it will suffice (the rubric says) to pour water upon it.’ She replied, “ Nay, the child is not weak, but I am resolved it shall not be dipped.” This argument I could not confute. So I went home ; and the child was baptized by another person. Sun. 9.--I began dividing the public prayers, according to the original appointment of the Church: (still observed in a few places in England:) the Morning service began at five ; the Communion office (with the sermon) at eleven; the Evening service about three; and this day I began reading prayers in the court house: a large and convenient place.

June, 1736. ] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 25 (to which he had said he was going ;) he said, “ To be sure, it is a fine place. But I don’t mind that; I don’t care what place I am in. Let God put me where he will, or do with me what he will, so I may but set forth his honour and glory.” ' Thur. 3.--Being Ascension day, we had the holy communion ; but only Mr. Hird’s family joined with us in it. One reason why there were nO more, was, because a few words which a woman had inadvertently spoken, had set almost all the town in a flame. Alas! how shall a city stand that is thus divided against itself? Where there is no brotherly love, no meekness, no forbearing, or forgiving one another; but envy, malice, revenge, suspicion, anger, clamour, bitterness, evil speaking, without end! Abundant proof that there can be no true love of man, unless it be built on the love of God. Sun. 6.--Calling on Mr. Lassel, and asking how he did, “ My departure,” said he,“ I hope is at hand.” I asked, “ Are you troubled at that?”’ He replied, “ O no; to depart, and to be with Christ, is far better. I desire no more of this bad world. My hope and my joy and my love is there.” The next time I saw him, he said, “I desire nothing more, than for God to forgive my many and great sins. I would be humble. I would be the humblest creature living. My heart is humble and broken for my sins. Tell me, teach me, what shall I do to please God. I would fain do whatever is his will.” I said, “ It is his will you should suffer.” He answered, “ Then I will suffer. I will gladly suffer whatever pleases him.” Mon. '7.--Finding him weaker, I asked, “Do you still desire to die?” He said, “Yes; but I dare not pray for it, for fear I should displease my heavenly Father. His will be done. Let him work his will, in my life, or in my death.”

Sat. 19.--Mr. Oglethorpe returned from the south, and gave orders on Sunday, the 20th, that none should profane the day (as was usual before) by fishing or fowling upon it. In the afternoon I summed up. what I had seen or heard at Frederica, inconsistent with Christianity, and, consequently, with the prosperity of the place. The event was as it ought: some of the hearers were profited, and the rest deeply offended. This day, at half an hour past ten, God heard the prayer of his servant; and Mr. Lassel, according to his desire, was “ dissolved that he might be with Christ.” Tues. 22.--Observing much coldness in Mr. ’s behaviour, | asked him the. reason of it. He answered, “I like nothing you do. All your sermons are satires upon particular persons, therefore I will never hear you more ; and all the people are of my mind, for we won’t hear ourselves abused. ‘“‘ Beside, they say, they are Protestants. But as for you, they cannot tell what religion you are of. ‘They never heard of such a religion before. They do not know what to make of it. And then your private behaviour :--all the quarrels that have been here since you came, have been long of you. Indeed there is neither man nor woman in the town, who minds a word you say. And so you may preach long enough; but nobody will come to hear you.” He was too warm for hearing an answer. So I had nothing to do but to thank him for his openness, and walk away. Wed. 23.--I had a long conversation with Mr. , upon the nature of true religion. I then asked him, why he did not endeavour to recommend it to all with whom he conversed. He said, “I did so once; and, for some time, I thought I had done much good by it. But I afterward found they were never the better, and I myself was the worse. Therefore now, though I always strive to be inoffensive in my conversation, [do not strive to make people religious, unless those that have a desire to be so, and are, consequently, willing to hear me. But I have not yet (I speak not of you or your brother) found one such person in America.”

Wed. 30.--I hoped a door was opened for going up immediately to the Choctaws, the least polished, that is, the least corrupted, of all the Indian nations. But upon my informing Mr. Oglethorpe of our design, he objected, not only the danger of being intercepted, or killed by the French there ; but much more, the inexpediency of leaving Savannah destitute of a minister. These objections I related to our brethren in the evening, who were all of opinion, “ We ought not to o yet.” ? Thur. July 1.--The Indians had an audience ; and another on Saturday, when Chicali, their head man, dined with Mr. Oglethorpe. After dinner, I asked the grey-headed old man, what he thought he was made for. He said, ** He that.is above knows what he made us for. We anow nothing. Weare inthe dark. But whitemenknow much. And yet white men build great houses, as if they were to live for ever. But white men cannot live for ever. In a little time, white men’will be dust as well as I.” I told him, “If red men will learn the good book, they may know as much as white men. But neither we nor you can understand that book, unless we are taught by Him that is above: and He will not teach, unless you avoid what you already know is not good.” He answered, “I believe that. He will not teach us while our hearts are not white. And our men do what they know is not good: they kill their own children. And our women do what they know is not good: they kill the child before it is born. Therefore, He that is above does not send us the good book.” Hearing the younger of the Miss Boveys was not well, I called upon them this evening. I found she had only the prickly heat, a sort of | rash, very common here in summer. We soon fell into serious conversation, after I had asked, if they did not think they were too young to trouble themselves with religion yet; and, whether they might not defer it ten or a dozen years. To which one of them replied, “If it will be reasonable ten years hence to be religious, it is so now: Iam not for deferring one moment.”

Wed. '7.--I called there again, being determined now to speak more closely. But meeting company there, prudence induced me to put it off till another opportunity. 28 _ REV. J. WESLEY 8 JOURNAL. [July, 1736. Thur. 8. --Mr. O. being there again and casually speaking of sudden death, Miss Becky said, “If it was the will of God, I should choose to die without a lingering illness.” Her sister said, “ Are you, | then, always prepared to die?” She replied, “ Jesus Christ is always prepared to help me. And little stress is to be laid on such a preparation for death as is made in a fit of sickness.” Sat. 10.--Just as they had done drinking tea, Mrs. Margaret, seeing her colour change, asked if she was well? She did not return any answer; and Dr. Talser soon after going by, she desired him to step in, and said, “Sir, my sister, I fear, is not well.” He looked earnestly at her, felt her pulse, and replied, “ Well! madam; your sister is dying!” However, he thought it not impossible bleeding might help. She bled about an ounce, leaned back, and died! As soon as I heard of it I went to the house, and begged they would not lay her out immediately, there being a possibility, at least, she might only be in a swoon ; of which, indeed, there was some slight hope, she not only being as warm as ever, but having a fresh colour in her cheeks, and a few drops of blood starting out upon bending her arm ; but there was no pulse and no breath; so that, having waited some hours, we found her “ spirit was indeed returned to God that gave it.” I never saw so beautiful a corpse in my life. Poor comfort to its late inhabitant! I was greatly surprised at her sister. ‘There was, in all her behaviour, such an inexpressible mixture of tenderness and resignation. The first time I spoke to her, she said, “ All my afflictions are nothing to this. I have lost not only a sister, but a friend. But it is the will of God. Irely on him; and doubt not but he will support me under it.”

A. Yes, but we know not if he will. We have now so many enemies round about us, that I think of nothing but death. And if I am to die, I shall die, and I will die like a man. But if he will have me to live, I shall live. ‘Though I had ever so many enemies, he can destroy them all. Q. How do you know that? A. From what I have seen. When our enemies came against us before, then the beloved clouds came for us. And often much rain, and sometimes hail, has come upon them; and that in a very hot day. And I saw, when many French, and Choctaws, and other nations, came against one of our towns; and the ground made a noise under them, and the beloved ones in the air behind them; and they were afraid, and went away, and left their meat and drink, and their guns. I tell no lie. All these saw it too. . Have you heard such noises at other times ? . Yes, often; before and after almost every battle. . What sort of noises were they? . Like the noise of drums, and guns, and shouting. Have you heard any such lately? Yes ; four days after our last battle with the French. Then you heard nothing before it ? . The night before, I dreamed I heard many drums up there; and many trumpets there, and much stamping of feet and shouting. Till then I thought we should all die. But then I thought the beloved ones were come to help us. And the next day I heard above a hundred guns go off before the fight began; and I said, “* When the sun is there, the beloved ones will help us; and we shall conquer our enemies.” And we did so. Q. Do you often think and talk of the beloved ones? A. We think of them always, wherever we are. We talk of them, and to them, at home and abroad; in peace, in war, before and after we fight; and, indeed, whenever and wherever we meet together. Q. Where do you think your souls go after death?

** Our general method is this: --A young gentleman who came with me, teaches between thirty and forty children to read, write, and cast accounts. Before school in the morning, and after school in the afternoon, he catechises the lowest class, and endeavours to fix something of what was said in their understandings as well as their memories. In the evening, he instructs the larger children. On Saturday, in the afternoon, I catechise them all. The same I do on Sunday before the Evening service. And in the church, immediately after the Second lesson, a select number of them having repeated the Catechism, and been examined in some part of it, I endeavour to explain at large, and to enforce, that part, both on them and the congregation. “Some time after the Evening service, as many of my parishioners as desire it, meet at my house, (as they do also on Wednesday evening,) and spend about an hour in prayer, singing, and mutual exhortation. A smaller number (most of those who design to communicate the next day) meet here on Saturday evening; and a few of these come 1o me on the other evenings, and pass half an hour in the same employment.” Fri. March 4.--I writ the Trustees for Georgia an account of our year’s expense, from March 1, 17736, to March 1, 1737 ; which, deducting extraordinary expenses, such as repairing the parsonage house, and journeys to Frederica, amounted, for Mr. Delamotte and me, to 44l. 4s. 4d. From the directions I received from God this day, touching an affair of the greatest importance, I could not but observe, as I had done April, 1737. ] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 35 many times before, the entire mistake of those who assert, “God will not answer your prayer, unless your heart be wholly resigned to his will.” My heart was not wholly resigned to his will. Therefore, not daring to depend on my own judgment, I cried the more earnestly to him to supply what was wanting in me. And I know, and am assured, he heard my voice and did send forth his light and his truth.

Sat. 23.--Mentioning to Mr. Thompson, minister of St. Bartholomew’s, near Ponpon, my being disappointed of a passage home by water, he offered me one of his horses, if I would go by land, which 1 gladly accepted of. He went with me twenty miles, and sent his servant to guide me the other twenty to his house. Finding a young negro there, who seemed more sensible than the rest, I asked her how long she had been in Carolina: she said two or three years ; but that she was born in Barbadoes, and had lived there in a minister’s family from a child. I asked whether she went to church there: she said, “Yes, every Sunday,--to carry my mistress’s children.” I asked, what she had learned at church: she said, ‘ Nothing : I heard a deal, but did not understand it.”” But what did your master teach you at home? “Nothing.” Nor your mistress? ‘ No.” I asked, “ But don’t you know, that your hands and feet, and this you call your body, will turn to dust ina little time?”? She answered, “ Yes.” ‘ But there is something in you that will not turn to dust, and this is what they call your soul. Indeed, you cannot see your soul, though it is within you; as you cannot see the wind, though it is all about you. But if you had not a soul in you, you could no more see, or hear, or feel, than this table can. What do you think will become of your soul, when your body turns to dust?” “If don’t know.” “ Why, it will go out of your body, and go up there, above the sky, and live always. God lives there. Do you know who God is?” “No.” “You cannot see him any more than you can see your own soul. It is he that made you and me, and all men and women, and all beasts and birds, and all the world. Itis he that makes the sun shine, and rain fall, and corn and fruits to grow out of the ground. He makes all these for us. But why do you think he made us?) Whatdid he make you and me for?’ I can’t tell.” “He made you to live with himself above the sky. And so you will, ina little time,--if you are good.

And so you will, ina little time,--if you are good. If you are good, when your body dies, your soul will go up and want nothing, and have whatever you can desire. No one will beat or hurt you there. You will never be sick. You will never be sorry any nore, nor afraid of any thing. I can’t tell you, I don’t know how happy you will be; for you will be with God.” May, 1737.] _ REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 37 The attention with which this poor creature listened to instruction is inéxpressible. The next day she remembered all, readily answered every question ; and said, she would ask Him that made her, to show her how to be good. Sun. 24.--I preached twice at Ponpon chapel, on the thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. O how will even those men of Carolina who come eight, ten, or twelve miles to hear the Gospel, rise in judgment against those who hear it not, when it is oreached at their own doors ! % Prec Wed. 27.--I came to Mr. Belinger’s plantation at Chulifinny, where the rain kept me till Friday. Here I met with a half Indian, (one that had an Indian mother and a Spanish father,) and several negroes, who were very desirous of instruction. One of them said, “ When J was at Ashley Ferry, I went to church every Sunday; but here we are buried in the woods. Though if there was any church within five or six miles, Iam so lame I cannot walk, but I would crawl thither.” _ Mr. Belinger sent a negro lad with me to Purrysburg, or, rather, to the poor remains of it. O how hath God stretched over this place ‘the lines of confusion, and the stones of emptiness!” Alas for those whose lives were here vilely cast away, through oppression, through divers plagues and troubles! O earth! how long wilt thou hide their blood? How long wilt thou cover thy slain ?

But first, I sent Mr. Causton the following note :-- “S1r,--To this hour you have shown yourself my friend: I ever have and ever shall acknowledge it. And it is my earnest desire, that He who hath hitherto given me this blessing, would continue it still. “But this cannot be, unless you will allow me one request, which is not so easy a one as it appears: do not condemn me for doing, in the execution of my office, what I think it my duty to do. “If you can prevail upon yourself to allow me this, even when I act without respect to persons, I am persuaded there will never be, at least not long, any misunderstanding between us. For even those who seek it, shall, I trust, find no occasion against me, ‘ except it be concerning the law of my God.’ Iam, &c. “ July 5, 1737.” Wed. 6--Mr. Causton came to my house, with Mr. Bailiff Parker, and Mr. Recorder, and warmly asked, ‘ How could you possibly think I should condemn you for executing any part of your office?” I said short, “ Sir, what if I should think it the duty of my office to repel one of your family from the holy communion ?”” He replied, “If you Suly, 1737. REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 33 repel me or my wife, I shall require a legalreason. But I snall trouble myself about none else. Let them look to themselves.” Sat. 9.--Meeting with a Frenchman of New Orleans on the Mississippi, who had lived several months among the Chicasaws, he gave us a full and particular account of many things which had been variously related. And hence we could not but remark, what is the religion of © nature, properly so called; or, that religion which flows from natural reason, unassisted by Revelation: and that even in those who have the knowledge of many truths ; and who converse with their beloved ones day and night. But too plainly does it appear by the fruits, “ that the gods of these Heathens too are but devils.”

**So many as intend to be partakers of the holy communion, shall signify their names to the curate, at least some time the day before.’ This you did not do. «And if any of these--have done any wrong to his neighbours, by word or deed, so that the congregation be thereby offended, the curate -- shall advertise him, that in any wise he presume not to come to the Lord’s table, until he hath openly declared himself to have truly repented.’ “Tf you offer yourself at the Lord’s table on Sunday, I will advertise you, (as I have done more than once,) wherein you have done wrong. And when you have openly declared yourself to have truly repented, I will administer to you the mysteries of God. “ August 11, 1787. Joun WESLEY.” Mr. Delamotte carrying this, Mr. Causton said, among many other warm sayings, ‘‘I am the person that am injured. The affront is offered to me; and I will espouse the cause of my niece. J am ill used; and { will have satisfaction, if it be to be had in the world.” Which way this satisfaction was to be had, I did not yet conceive. But on Friday and Saturday it began to appear :--Mr. Causton declared ’ to many persons, that “ Mr. Wesley had repelled Sophy from the holy communion, purely out of revenge; because he had made proposals of marriage to her, which she rejected, and married Mr. Williamson.” I could not but observe the gracious providence of God, in the course of the Lessons all this week. On Monday evening God spake to us in these words :--* Call to remembrance the former days, in which ye endured a great fight of afflictions: partly whilst you were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.--Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward ; for ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise,” Heb. x, 32-36.

Fri. Sep. 2.--Was the third court at which I appeared since my being carried before Mr. P. and the recorder. I now moved for an immediate hearing on the first bill, being the only one of a civil nature : but it was refused. I made the same motion .n the afternoon; but was put off till the next court day. On the next court day I appeared again; as also at the two courts tollowing: but could not be heard, because (the judge said) Mr. Williamson was gone out of town. The sense of the minority of the grand jurors themselves (tor they were by no means unanimous) concerning these presentments, may appear from the following paper, which they transmitted to the Trustees :-- “ To the Honourable the Trustees for Georgia. “Whereas two presentments have been made, the one of August 23, the other of August 31, by the grand jury for the town and county of Savannah, in Georgia, against John Wesley, clerk. “ We, whose names are underwritten, being members of the said grand jury, do humbly beg leave to signify our dislike of the said presentments ; being, by many and divers circumstances, thoroughly persuaded in ourselves, that the whole charge against Mr. Wesley, is an artifice of Mr. Causton’s, designed rather to blacken the character of Mr. Wesley, than to free the colony from religious tyranny, as he was pleased, in his charge to us, to term it. But as these circumstances will be too tedious to trouble your honours with, we shall only beg leave to give the reasons of our dissent from the particular bills. : “ With regard to the first bill, we,do not apprehend that Mr. Wesley acted against any law, by writing or speaking to Mrs. Williamson, since it does not appear to us, that the said Mr. Wesley has either spoke in private, or wrote to the said Mrs. Williamson, since March 12, (the day of her marriage,) except one letter of July the 5th, which he wrote at the request of her uncle, asa pastor, to exhort and reprove her.

2. The land is of four sorts,--pine barren, oak land, swamp, and marsh. The pine land is of far the greatest extent, especially near the sea coasts. The soil of this isa dry, whitish sand, producing shrubs of several sorts, and between them a spiry, coarse grass, which cattle do not love to feed on. But here and there is a little of a better kind, especially in the savannahs ; (so they call the low, watery meadows, which are usually intermixed with pine lands.) It bears naturally two sorts of fruit,--hurtle-berries, (much like those in England,) and chincopin- nuts; a dry, harsh nut, about the size of a small acorn. A laborious man may, in one year, clear and plant four or five acres of this land: it will produce the first year from two to four bushels of Indian corn, and from four to eight of Indian peas, per acre. ‘The second year it usually bears half as much; the third, less; the fourth, nothing. 3. Vines, mulberries, and peach trees, it bears well. ‘The white mulberry is not good to eat. The black is about the size of a blackberry, and has much the same flavour. In fresh pine land, Indian potatoes grow well; (which aye more luscious and larger than the Irish. ) And so do watermelons and sewee-beans, about the size of our scarlet, but to be shelled and eaten like Windsor beans. 4. Oak land commonly lies in narrow streaks between pine land and some swamp, creek, or river. The soil is a blackish sand, producing several kinds of oak, (though none exactly like the English,) bay, laurel, ash, walnut, sumac trees, gum trees, (a sort of sycamore,) dog trees, (covered in spring with large white flowers,) and many hickory trees, which bear a bad kind of walnut. In the moistest part of this land some persimmon trees grow, (which bear a sort of yellow, clear, luscious plum,) and a few mulberry and cherry trees. ‘The common wild grapes are of two sorts,--both red: the fox grape grows two or three only on a stalk, is thick-skinned, large-stoned, of a harsh taste, and of the size of a small Kentish cherry. The cluster grape is of a harsh taste too, and about the size of a white currant.

17. Five miles southwest of Savannah, on a small rise, stands the vulage of Highgate. It has pine land on three sides, and a swamp on the fourth. Twelve families were placed here in 1733 ; nine whereof remain there. A mile eastward of this is Hampstead, settled with twelve families also, a little before Highgate; five of which are still remaining. 18. Six miles southeast of Savannah is Thunderbolt. Three families are settled here, near a small, ruinous fort. Four miles south of this is the island of Skidoway : on the northeast point whereof ten families were placed in 1734; (a small fort was built here likewise ;) but nine of them are either dead, or removed to other places. A small creek divides Skidoway from Tybee Island, on the southeast part of which, fronting the inlet, the lighthouse is built. Ten families were settled here in 1734; but they are part dead, and part removed, so that the island is now again without any fixed inhabitant. 19. T'welve miles southward from Savannah (by land) is Mr. Houstoun’s plantation: and forty or fifty miles from him, up Ogeechy river, that where Mr. Sterling for some time lived. Fort Argyle stands twenty Dec. 1737.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. | 49 miles from this, on a high bluff, by the river Ogeechy. It is a small, square, wooden fort, musket-proof. Ten freeholders were settled near it; but eight of them are gone, and the land they had cleared lying waste, will, in a few years, be as it was before. 20. The southernmost settlement in Georgia is Fort St. Andrew. It stands fifty miles south of F'rederica, on the southwest side of Cumberland Island, upon a high neck of land, which commands the river both ways. The walls are of woud, filled up with earth, round which are a ditch and palisade. _ 21. It is hard to pick out any consistent account of the Georgian Indians, from the contradictory relations of their traders. The following is extracted, partly from those wherein all, or the generality of them, agree ; partly from the relations of such as have been occasionally amongst them, and have no interest in making them better or worse than they are. pene

22. Of the Georgian Indians in general it may be observed, that they are not so properly nations, as tribes or clans, who have wandered thither at different times; perhaps expelled their native countries by stronger tribes ; but how or when they cannot tell, being none of them able to give any rational account of themselves. They are inured to hardships of all kinds, and surprisingly patient of pain. But as they have no letters, so they have no religion, no laws, no civil government. Nor have they any kings or princes, properly speaking ; their meekos, or headmen, having no power either to command or punish, no man obeying them any further than he pleases. So that every one doeth what is right in his own eyes ; and if it appears wrong to his neighbour, the person aggrieved usually steals on the other unawares, and shoots him, scalps him, or cuts off his ears: having only two short rules of proceeding,--to do what he will, and what he can. 23. They are likewise all, except, perhaps, the Choctaws, gluttons, drunkards, thieves, dissemblers, liars. They are implacable, unmerciful; murderers of fathers, murderers of mothers, murderers of their own children: it being a common thing for a son to shoot his father or mother, because they are old and past labour ; and for a woman either to procure abortion, or to throw her child into the next river, because she will go with her husband to the war. Indeed, hasbands, strictly speaking, they have none; for any man leaves his wife (so called) at pleasure, who frequently, in return, cuts the throats of all the children she has had by him. Whoredom they account no crime, and few instances appear of a young Indian woman’s refusing any one. Nor have they any fixed punishment for adultery; only, if the husband take his wife with another man, he will do what he can to both, unless speedily pacified by the present of a gun or a blanket.

24. The Choctaws only have some appearance of an entire nation, possessing a large extent of land, eight or nine hundred miles west ot Savannah, and many well inhabited towns. They are said to have six thousand fighting men, united under one head. At present they are in league with the French, who have sent some priests among them ; by whom (if one may credit the Choctaw traders) ten or twelve have been baptized. ; ‘ 25. Next to these, to the northeast, are the Chicasaws. Their country 50 _ REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [Dec. W727. is flat, full of meadows, springs, and rivers. In their fields, though six or seven hundred miles from the sea, are found sea shells in great numbers. ‘They have about nine huadred fighting men, ten towns, and one meeko, at least, in every one. They are eminently gluttons, eating, drinking, and smoking all day, and almost all night. They are extremely indolent and lazy, except in war; then they are the most indefatigable, and the most valiant of all the Indians: but they are equally cruel with the rest, torturing and burning all their prisoners, whether Indian or European. 26. East of them, in the latitude of 35° and 36°, about three or four hundred miles from Savannah, lie the Cherokees. Their country is very mountainous, fruitful, and pleasant. They have fifty-two towns, and above three thousand fighting men. In each town are three or more headmen, who keep up a sort of shadow of government, having power to set the rest to work, and to punish such as will not join in the common labour. They are civil to strangers, and will do any thing for them, for pay; being always willing, for a small piece of money, to carry a message for fifty or sixty miles, and, if required, a heavy burden too: but they are equally cruel to prisoners with the Chicasaws, though not equally valiant. They are seldom intemperate in drinking, but when they can be so on free cost. Otherwise love of drink yields to covetousness : a vice scarcely to be found in any Indian but a Cherokee.

“ After my return from my third journey, Count Zinzendorf sent to Gorlitz, the minister of Bertholdsdorf being dead, for Mr. Rothe, who. was in a gentieman’s family there, to be minister of that place. Mr. Rothe told him of me; and he writ to me to come to him; and when I came, said, ‘ Let as many as will of your friends come hither ; I wil! give them land to build on, and Christ will give them the rest.’ I went immediately into Moravia, and told them God had now found out a place for us. Ten of them followed me then; ten more the next year; one more in my following journey. The Papists were now alarmed, set a price upon my head, and levelled the house I had lodged in even with the ground. I made, however, eleven journeys thither in all, and conducted as many as desired it to this place; the way to which was now so well known, that many more came of themselves. Se ee ee 88 REV. J. WESLEY S JOURNAL. [ Aug. 1738. “ Kighteen years ago we built the first house. We chose to be near the great road rather than at Bertholdsdorf, (for the Count gave us our choice,) hoping we might thereby find opportunities of instructing some that travelled by us. In two years we were increased to a hundred and | fifty; when I contracted an intimate acquaintance with a Calvinist, who after some time brought me over to his opinion touching election and reprobation : and by me were most of our brethren likewise brought over to the same opinions. About this time we were in great straits, wherewith many were much dejected. I endeavoured to comfort them with the sense of God’s love toward them. But they answered, ‘ Nay, it may be he hath no love toward us; it may be we are not of the election: but God hated us from eternity, and, therefore, he has suffered all these things to come uponus.’ .

* N.B. That is, in the year 1737. Several years before which, he was elected one of the four public teachers of the Church; which office he retains to this dw. Now which of the two consequences will you choose, (for one or the other is unavoidable,) either that a man may preach the Gospel (yea, and with the demonstration of the Spirit) who has no faith: or that a man who has a degree of true faith, may yet have doubts and fears ? ~~ Aug. 1738.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 93 more clear to me by the account I received in the afternoon from a student at Hernhuth, Arsinus Turoporus Freprr :-- “J,” said he, “for three years fought against sin with all my might, by fasting and prayer, and all the other means of grace. But notwithstanding all my endeavours, I gained no ground; sin still prevailed over me; till at last, not knowing what to do further, I was on the very brink of despair. Then it was, that, having no other refuge left, I fled to my Saviour as one lost and undone, and that had no hope but in his power and free mercy. In that moment I found my heart at rest, in good hope that my sins were forgiven; of which I had a stronger assurance six weeks after, when I received the Lord’s Supper here. But I dare not affirm, Iam a child of God; neither have I the seal of the Spirit. Yet I go on quietly doing my Saviour’s will, taking shelter in his wounds, from all trouble and sin, and knowing he will perfect his work in his own time.

“Martin Doéber, when I described my state to him, said he had known very many believers, who, if he asked the question, would not have dared to affirm, that they were the children of God. And he added, “It is very common for persons to receive remissjon of sins, or justification through faith m the blood of Christ, before they receive the full assurance of faith; which Ged many times withholds, till he has tried whether they will work together with him in the use of the first gift. Nor. is there any need (continued he, Déber) to incite any one to seek that assurance by telling him, the faith he has is nothing. This will be more likely to drive him to despair, than to encourage him to press forward. His single business, who has received the first gift, is, credendo credere et in credendo perseverare : (to believe on, and to hold fast that whereunto he hath attained :) to go on doing his Lord’s will, according to the ability God hath already given; cheerfully and faithfully to use what he has received, without solicitude for the rest.’ ” In the conversation I afterward had with Augustine Neusser, a knife smith, (another of the pastors or teachers of the Church, about sixty years of age,) as also with his brothers, Wensel, and Hantz Neusser, the nature of true faith and salvation was yet further explained to me. Aveustine Nevussrr spoke to this effect:--“ By experience I know, that we cannot be justified through the blood of Christ, till we feel that all our righteousness and good works avail nothing toward our justification. ‘Therefore, what men call a good life, is frequently the greatest of all hinderances to their coming to Christ. For it will not let them see that they are lost, undone sinners; and if they see not this, they cannot come unto him.

“Two days passed, and no man asked me any question ; when, doubting what I ought to do, I went into a neighbouring wood, and, going into a little cave, fell on my face and prayed, ‘ Lord, thou seest I am ready to do what thou wilt. If it be thy will I should be cast into prison, thy will be done. If it be thy will, that I should leave my wife and children, I am ready. Only show me thy will. Immediately I heard a loud voice saying, Fort, fort, fort, ‘Goon, go on.’ [rose joyful and satisfied ; went home and told my wife, it was God’s will I should now leave her; but that I hoped to return in a short time, and take her and my children with me. I went out of the door; and in that moment was filled with peace, and joy, and comfort. “We had above two hundred miles to go, (thirty-five German,) and neither I, nor my friend who went with me, had one kreutzer.* But God provided things convenient for us, so that in all the way we wanted nothing. “In AN journey God gave me the full assurance that my sins were forgiven. This was twelve years ago; and ever since it has been confirmed more and more, by my receiving from him every day fresh supplies of strength and comfort. “ By comparing my experience with that of others, you may perceive how different ways God leads different souls. But though a man should be led in a way different from that of all other men; yet, if his eye be at all times fixed on his Saviour; if his constant aim be to do his will; if all his desires tend to him; if in all trials he can draw strength from him ; if he fly to him in all troubles, and in all temptations find salvation in his blood; in this there can be no delusion: and whosoever is thus minded, however or whenever it began, is surely reconciled to God through his Son.”

6. These extraordinary circumstances seem to have been designed by God for the further manifestation of his work, to cause his power to be known, and to awaken the attention ofa drowsy world. And yet, even from these some have drawn their grand objection against the whole work: “‘‘ We never saw it,’ say they, ‘on this fashion ;’ therefore the work is not of God.” To prove which further, they have not only greatly misrepresented many circumstances that really were, but have added many that were not, often without any regard either to truth or probability. A bare recital of those facts, which were “not done in a corner,” is the best answer to this sort of objections. To those which have been judged to be of more weight, I have occasionally given a more particular answer. 7. Yet I know even this will by no means satisfy the far greater part of those who are now offended. And for a plain reason,--because they will never read it: they are resolved to hear one side, and one only. I know also, that many who do read it will be just of the same mind they were before ; because they have fixed their judgment already, and do not regard any thing which such a fellow can say. Let them see to that. Ihave done my part. I have delivered mine own soul. Nay, I know that many will be greatly offended at this very account. It must be so from the very nature of the things which are therein related. And the best appellation I expect from them, is that of a fool, a madman, an enthusiast. All that in me lies is, to relate simple truth in as inoffensive a manner asl can. Let God give it the effect which pleaseth him, and which is most for his glory! 8. May “He who hath the key of the house of David, who openeth and no man shutteth,” open “a great and effectual door” by whom it pleaseth him, for his everlasting Gospel! May he “send by whom he will send,” so it may “run and be glorified” more and more! May he “ride on conquering and to conquer,” until “the fulness of the Gentiles” be come in; and “the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea!”

Sun. 28.--I went, (having been long importuned thereto,) about five in the evening, with four or five of my friends, to a house where was one of those commonly called French prophets. After a time, she came in. She seemed about four or five and twenty, of an agreeable speech and behaviour. She asked, why we came. I said, “ To try the spirits, whether they be of God.” Presently after shc leaned back in her chair, and seemed to have strong workings in her breast, with deep sighings intermixed. Her head and hands, and, by turns, every part of her body seemed also to be in a kind of convulsive motion. This continued about ten minutes, till, at six, she began to speak, {though the workings, sighings, and contortions of her body were so intermixed with her words, that she seldom spoke half a sentence together,) with a clear, strong voice, “ Father, thy will, thy will be done. ‘Thus saith the Lord, If of any of you that is a father, his child ask break, will he give him a stone? If he ask a fish, will he give him a scorpion? Ask bread of me, my children, and I will give you bread, I will not, will not give you a scorpion. By this judge of what ye shall now hear.” She spoke much (all as in the person of God, and mostly in Scripture words) of the fulfilling of the prophecies, the coming of Christ now at hand, and the spreading of the Gospel over all the earth. Then she exhorted us not to be in haste in judging her spirit, to be or not to be of God; but to wait upon God, and he would teach us, if we conferred not with flesh and blood. She added, with many enforcements, that we must watch and pray, and take up our cross, and be still before God. Two or three of our company were much affected, and believed she spoke by the Spirit of God. But this was in no wise clear to me. The motion might be either hysterical or artificial. And the same words, any person of a good understanding and well versed in the Scriptures might have spoken. But I let the matter alone; knowing this, that “ if it be not of God, it will come to nought.”

During my stay here, I was fully employed, between our own society in Fetter-lane, and many others, where I was continually desired to expound ; so that I had no thought of leaving London, when I received, after several others, a letter from Mr. Whitefield, and another from Mr. Seward, intreating me, in the most pressing manner, to come to Bristol] without delay. ‘This I was not at all forward to do; and perhaps a little the less inclined to it (though I trust I do not count my life dear unto myself, so I may finish my course with joy) because of the remarkable scriptures which offered as often as we inquired, touching the consequence of this removal: probably permitted for the trial of our faith : “Get thee up into this mountain ;--and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people,” Deut. xxxii, 49, 50. “And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days,” Deut. xxxiv, 8. ‘I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake,” Acts ix, 16. ‘And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him,” Acts viii, 2.

Dear Sir, Oxon, Dec. 10, 1734. “1. The authority of a parent and the call of Providence are things of so sacred a nature, that a question in which these are any way concerned deserves the most serious consideration. I am, therefore, greatly obliged to you for the pains you have taken to set our question in a clear light; which I now intend to consider more at large, with the utmost attention of which Iam capable. And I shall the more cheerfully do it, as being assured of you joining with me in imploring His guidance, who will not suffer those that trust in him to seek death in the error of their life. “2. I entirely agree ‘that the glory of God, and the different degrees of promoting it, are to be our sole consideration and direction in the choice of any course of life ;? and consequently, that it must wholly turn upon this single point,--which I ought to prefer,--a college life, or that of rector of a parish. I do not say the glory of God is to be my first or my principal consideration: but my only one; since all that are not implied in this, are absolutely of no weight. In presence of this, they all vanish away: they are less than the small dust of the balance. “3. And indeed, till all other considerations were set aside, I could never come to any clear determination: till my eye was single, my whole mind was full of darkness. Whereas, so long as it is fixed on the glory of God, without any other consideration, I have no more doubt of the way wherein I should go, than of the shining of the mid-day sun. “4, Now that life tends most to the glory of God, wherein we most promote holiness in ourselves and others; I say, in ourselves and others; as being fully persuaded that these can never be put asunder. And if not, then whatever state is best on either of these accounts, is so on the other likewise. Ifit be in the whole best, for others, so it is for ourselves: if it be. best for ourselves, it is so for them.

““5. However, when two ways of life are proposed, I would choose to consider first, Which have I reason to believe will be best for my own soul? Will most forward me in holiness? By holiness meaning, not fasting, (as you seem to suppose,) or bodily austerities; but the mind that was in Christ: a renewal of soul in the image of God. And I believe the state wherein I am will most forward me in this, because of the peculiar advantages I now enjoy. “6. The first of these is, daily converse with my friends. I know no other place under heaven, where I can have some always at hand, of the same judgment, and engaged in the same studies; persons who are awakened into a full conviction, that they have but one work to do upon earth; who see at a distance what that one work is, even the recovery of a single eye and a clean heart; who, in order to this, have, according to their power, absolutely devoted themselves to God, and follow after their Lord, denying themselves, and taking up their cross daily. To have even a small number of such friends constantly watching over my soul, and administering, as need is, reproof or advice with all plainness and gentleness, is a blessing I know not where to find in any other part of the kingdom. “7. Another blessing which I enjoy here in a greater degree than I could expect elsewhere, is retirement. I have not only as much, but as little company asI please. Trifling visitants I have none. No one takes it into his head to come within my doors unless I desire him, or he has business with me. And even then, as soon as his business is done, he immediately goes away. “8. Both these blessings are greatly endeared to me when I spend but one week out of this place. The far greatest part of the conversation J meet with abroad, even with the better sort of men, turns on points that are quite wide of my purpose, that no way forward the end of my life. Now, if they have time to spare, I have not. It is absolutely needful for e. Se eee - March, 1739.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. -- 123

15. I need but just glance on several other reasons why I am more sikely to be useful here than elsewhere; as, because I have the advice of many friends in any difficulty, and their encouragement in any danger: because we have the eyes of multitudes upon us, who, even without designing it, perform the most substantial office of friendship ; apprizing us, if we have already done any thing wrong, and guarding us against doing so again: lastly, because we have a constant fund to supply the bodily wants of the poor, and thereby open a way for their souls to receive instruction. 16. If you say, ‘ the love of the people of Epworth to me may balance these advantages ;’ I ask, How long will it last? Only till I come to tel] i ~~ £ 6%, Marcn, 1739.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 125° 6% % ‘them plainly that their deeds are evil; and particularly to apply the. LAY Ks general sentence, to say to each, ‘Thou art the man!’ Alas, sir, do not I2s D, SD = know what love they had to you once? And how have many of them e eS oo os used you since? Why, just as every one will be used, whose business it %, : %S. is to bring light to them that love darkness. Sa, “17. Notwithstanding, therefore, their present prejudice in my favour, . I cannot see that I am likely to do that good, either at Epworth or any % other place which I may hope to do in Oxford. And yet one terrible objection lies in the way: ‘Have you found it so in fact? What have you done there in fourteen years? Have not your very attempts to do good there, for want either of a particular turn of mind for the business you engaged in, or of prudence to direct you in the right method of doing it, been always unsuccessful ? Nay, and brought such contempt upon you, as has, in some measure, disqualified you for any future success? And are there not men in Oxford, who are not only better and holier than you, but who, having preserved their reputation, and being universally esteemed, are every way fitter to promote the glory of God in that place?’

“18. I am not careful to answer in this matter. It is not my part to say whether God hath done good by my hands; whether I have a particular turn of mind for this, or not; and whether want of success (where our attempts did not succeed) was owing to imprudence, or to other causes. But the latter part of the objection, ‘that one who is despised can do no good; that without reputation a man cannot be useful,’ being the strong hold of all the unbelieving, the vainglorious, the cowardly Christians, (so called,) I will, by the grace of God, see what reason there is for this thus continually to exalt itself against the Gospel of Christ.

April 1.--In the evening (Mr. Whitefield being gone) I begun expounding our Lord’s sermon on the mount, (one pretty remarkable precedent of field preaching, though I suppose there were churches at that time also,) to a little society which was accustomed to meet once or twice a week in Nicholas-street. JMon. 2.--At four in the after- nN) a ee April, 1739.) REV. J. WESLEY'S JOURNAL. 127 noon, I submitted to be more vile, and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation, speaking from a little eminence in a ground adjoining to the city, to about three thousand people. The Scripture on which I spoke was this, (is it possible any one should be ignorant, that it is fulfilled in every true minister of Christ?) “ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the broken hearted ; to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind: to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” At seven I began expounding the Acts of the Apostles, to a society meeting in Baldwin-street ; and the next day the Gospel of St. John in the chapel at Newgate; where I also daily read the morning service of the Church. Wed. 4.--At Baptist Mills, (a sort of a suburb or village about half a mile from Bristol,) I offered the grace of God to about fifteen hundred persons from these words, ‘I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.” In the evening three women agreed to meet together weekly, with the same intention as those at London, viz. “To confess their faults one to another, and pray one for another, that they may be healed.” At eight, four young men agreed to meet, in pursuance of the same design. How dare any man deny this to be (as to the substance of it) a means of grace, ordained by God? Unless he will affirm (with Luther in the fury of his Solifidianism) that St. James’s Epistle is an epistle of straw.

these words: “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God :” and again in the afternoon, at Rose Green. to I believe eight or nine thousand. In the evening, not being permitted to meet in Baldwin-street, we met in the shel! of our new society room. ‘The scripture which came in course to be explained, was, “ Marvel not if the world hate you.” We sung Arm of the Lord, awake, awake! Thine own immortal strength put on! “And God, even our own God,” gave us his blessing. _ Mon. 4.--Many came to me and earnestly advised me not to preach abroad in the afternoon, because there was a combination of several persons, who threatened terrible things. This report being spread abroad, brought many thither of the better sort of people ; (so called ;) . and added, I believe, more than a thousand to the ordinary congregation. The scripture to which, not my choice, but the providence of God, directed me, was, *“ Fear not thou, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help. thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” The power of God came with his word: so that none scoffed, or interrupted, or opened his mouth.

“If you ask, ‘ How can this be? How can one do good, of whom men say all manner of evil?’ I will put you in mind, (though you once knew this, yea, and much established me in that great truth,) the more evil men say of me for my Lord’s sake, the more good will he do by me. That it is for his sake, I know, and he knoweth, and the event agreeth thereto ; for he mightily confirms the words I speak, by the Holy Ghost given unto those that hear them. O my friend, my heart is moved toward you. I fear you have herein ‘made shipwreck of the faith.’ I fear, ‘Satan, transformed into an angel of light,’ hath assaulted you, and prevailed also. I fear, that offspring of hell, worldly or mystic prudence, has drawn you away from the simplicity of the Gospel. How else could you ever conceive that the being reviled and ‘hated of all men,’ should make us less fit for our Master’s service? How else could you ever think of ‘saving yourself and them that hear you,’ without being ‘the filth and offscouring of the world?’ 'To this hour is this scripture true ; and I therein rejoice; yea, and will rejoice. Blessed be God, I enjoy the reproach of Christ! O may you also be vile, exceeding vile, for hissake! God forbid that you should ever be other than generally scandalous; I had almost said universally. If any man tell you, there is a new way of following Christ, ‘ he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.’ Tam,” &c. i" June, 1739. ] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 139

At eleven I preached at Bearfield to about three thousand, on the spirit of nature, of bondage, and of adoption. Returning in the evening, I was exceedingly pressed to go back to a young woman in Kingswood. (The fact I nakedly relate, and leave every man to his own judgment of it.) Iwent. She was nineteen or twenty years old; but, it seems, could not write or read. I found her on the bed, two or three persons holding her. It was a terrible sight. Anguish, horror, and despair, above all description, appeared in her pale face. The thousand distortions of her whole body, showed how the dogs of hell were gnawing her heart. The shrieks intermixed were scarce to be endured. But her stony eyes could not weep. She screamed out, as soon as words could find their way, “I am damned, damned ; lost for ever. Six days ago you might have helped me. But it is past. I am the devil’s now. Ihave given myself to him. HisIlam. Him I must serve. With him I must go to hell. Iwill be his. Iwill serve him. 1! will go with him _ to hell. I cannot be saved. I will not be saved. I must, I will, I will be damned.” She then began praying to the devil. We began, Arm of the Lord, awake, awake! She immediately sunk down as asleep; but, as soon as we left off, broke out again, with inexpressible vehemence : “ Stony hearts, break ! I am a warning to you. Break, break, poor stony hearts! Will you not break? What can be done more for stony hearts? I am damned, that you may be saved. Now break, now break, poor stony hearts! You need not be damned, though I must.” She then fixed her eyes on the corner of the ceiling and said, * There he is; ay, there he is ; come, good devil, come. Take me away. You said, you would dash ‘my brains out; come, do it quickly. I am yours. I will be yours.

Why do these cares my soul divide, If thou indeed hast set me free ? Why am I thus, if God hath died, If God hath died to purchase me ? Around me clouds of darkness roll ; In deepest night I still walk on: Heavily moves my damned soul---- Here we were obliged to interrupt her: we again betook ourselves to prayer, and her heart was eased, though not set at liberty. Thur. Noy. 1.--I set out, and the next evening came to Reading, where a little company of us met in the evening, at which the zealous mob was so enraged, they were ready to tear the house down. Therefore I hope God has a work to do in this places In thy time let it be fulfilled! About this time I received a letter from the author of those reflections which I mentioned July 31. An extract of which I have subjoined :-- “ ReverenpD Sir,--As I wrote the Rules and Considerations, (in No. 25 of ‘Country Common Sense,”) with an eye to Mr. Whitefield, yourself, and your opposers, from a sincere desire to do some service to Christianity, according to the imperfect notions I had at that time of the real ete I st oe Pad ae , 164 REV. J. WESLEY 8 JOURNAL. [Nov. 1739. merits of the cause: I, at the same time, resolved to take any opportunity that should offer for my better information.

**T shall conclude this letter with putting you in mind, in all your sermons, writings, and practice, nakedly to follow the naked Jesus: I mean, to preach the pure doctrine of the Gospel without respect of persons or things. Many preachers, many reformers, many missionaries, have fallen by not observing this; by not having continually in mind, ‘ Whoever shall break the least of these commandments, and teach men so, he shall be salled the least in the kingdom of heaven.’ ” # When | had wuited, (for they spake not, but stood still, and answered no more,) I said, I will answet also my part, I also will show mine opinion. Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person neither let me give flattering titles unto man. For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my Maker would soon take me away, Job xxxii, 16, 17, 21, 22. MORE ESPECIALLY THAT PART OF IT NOW OR LATELY RESIDING IN ENGLAND. 1. I am constrained, at length, to speak my present sentiments concerning you, according to the best light I have; and this, not only upon my own account, that, if { judge amiss, I may receive better information; but for the sake of all those who either love or seek the Lord Jesus in sincerity. Many of these have been utterly at aloss how to judge; and the more so, because they could not but observe, (as I have often done with sorrow of heart,) that scarce any have wrote concerning you, (unless such as were extravagant in your commendation,) who were not evidently prejudiced against you. Hence they either spoke falsely, laying to your charge things which you knew not; or, at least, unkindly ; putting the worst construction on things of a doubtful nature, and setting what perhaps was not strictly right in the very worst light it would bear. Whereas, (in my apprehension,) none is capable of judging right, or assisting others to judge right concerning you, unless ue can speak of you as he does of the friend who is as his own soul.

texts, so that they shall mean just nothing ; so that they shall express far less of inward religion than the writings of Plato or Hierocles. And whoever “ guards” them thus (but God forbid I should do it) will undoubtedly avoid all danger of either driving people into this despair, or leading them into this enthusiasm. Tues. 2'7.--I writ Mr. D. (according to his request) a short account of what had been done in Kingswood, and of our present undertaking there. The account was as follows :-- ‘“*Few persons have lived long in the west of England, who have not heard of the colliers of Kingswood; a people famous, from the beginning hitherto, for neither fearing God nor regarding man: so ignorant of the things of God, that they seemed but one remove from the beasts that perish ; and therefore utterly without desire of instruction, as well as without the means of it. ‘Many last winter used tauntingly to say of Mr. Whitefield, ‘If he will convert Heathens, why does not he go to the colliers of Kingswood?’ In spring he did so. And as there were thousands who resorted to no place of public worship, he went after them into their own wilderness, ‘ to seek and save that which was lost.’ When he was called away, others went into ‘the highways and hedges to compel them to come in.’ And, by the grace of God, their labour was not in vain. The scene is already changed. Kingswood does not now, as a year ago, resound with cursing _ and blasphemy. It is no more filled with drunkenness and uncleanness, and the idle diversions that naturally lead thereto. It is no longer full of wars and fightings, of clamour and bitterness, of wrath and envyings. Peace and love are there. Greatijnumbers of the peopie are mild, gentle, and easy to be intreated. They ‘do not cry, neither strive,’ and hardly is their ‘ voice heard in the streets; or indeed in their own wood; unless when they are at their usual evening diversion, singing praise unto God their Saviour.

“That their children too might know the things which make for their peace, it was some time since proposed to build a house in Kingswood ; and after many foreseen and unforeseen difficulties, in June last the found- » ation was laid. The ground made choice of was in the middle of the wood, between the London and Bath roads, not far from that called Two Mile-Hill, about three measured miles from Bristol. “Here a large room was begun for the school, having four small rooms at either end for the schoolmasters (and, perhaps, if it should please God, some poor children) to lodge in. Two persons are ready to teach, so soon as the house is fit to receive them, the shell of which is nearly finished ; so that it is hoped the whole will be completed in spring, or early in the summer. “Tt is true, although the masters require no pay, yet this undertaking is attended with great expense. But let Him that ‘feedeth the young ravens’ see to that. He hath the hearts of all men in his hand. If he put it into your heart, or into that of any of your friends, to assist in bringing this his work to perfection, in this world look for no recompense ; but it shall be remembered in that day, when our Lord shall say, : Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me.’” Wed. 28.--We left Tiverton, and the next day reached Bristol. On Friday many of us joined in prayer, for one that was grievously tormented. She raged more and more for about two hours, and then our Lord gave her rest. Five were in the same agony in the evening. I ordered them to be removed to the door, that their cries might neither j _ Dec. 1739.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 171 : drown my voice, nor interrupt the attention of the congregation. But after sermon, they were brought into the room again, where a few of us continued in prayer to God (being determined not to go till we had an answer of peace) till nine the next morning. Before that time, three of them sang praise to God: and the others were eased, though no set at liberty.

‘ed. 12.--I found a little time (having been much importuned) to spend with the soldier in Bridewell, who was under sentence of death. This I continued to do once a day; whereby there was also an opportunity of declaring the Gospel of peace to several desolate ones that were confined in the same place. Tues. 18.--In the evening, just after I had explained, as they came in course, those comfortable words of God to St. Paul, “‘ Be not afraid; but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for J have much people in this city,”--a person spoke aloud in the middle of the room, “ Sir, I am come to give you notice, that, at the next quarter sessions, you will be prosecuted for holding a seditious conventicle.” Tues. 25.--The morning exposition began at five, as I hope it will always for the time to come. Thursday, 27, I had an interview with Joseph Chandler, a young Quaker, who had sometimes spoke in their meeting, with whom I had never exchanged a word before ; as indeed I knew him not either by face or name. But some had been at the pains of carrying him, as from me, a formal challenge to dispute ; and had afterward told him that I had declared, in the open society, I challenged Joseph Chandler to dispute ; and he promised to come, but broke his word. Joseph immediately sent to know, from my own mouth, if these things were so. If those who probably count themselves better Christians, had but done like this honest Quaker, how many idle tales, which they now potently believe, would, like this, have vanished into air! Fri. 28.--From these words, “Then was Jesus led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil,” I took occasion to describe that wilderness state, that state of doubts, and fears, and strong temptation, which so many go through, though in different degrees, after they have received remission of sins.

Tues. April 1.--While I was expounding the former part of the twenty-third chapter of the Acts, (how wonderfully suited to the occasion! though not by my choice,) the floods began to lift up their voice. Some or other of the children of Belial had laboured to disturb us several nights before: but now it seemed as if all the host of the aliens were come together with one consent. Not only the court and the alleys, but all the street, upward and downward, was filled with people, shouting, cursing, and swearing, and ready to swallow the ground with fierceness and rage. The mayor sent order, that they should disperse. But they set him at nought. The chief constable came next in person, who was, till then, sufficiently prejudiced against us. But they insulted him also in so gross a manner, as, I believe, fully opened his eyes. At length the mayor sent several of his officers, who took the ringleaders into custody, and did not go till all the rest were dispersed. Surely he hath been to us “ the minister of God for good.” Wed. 2.--The rioters were brought up to the court, the quarter sessions being held that day. They began to excuse themselves by saying many things of me. But the mayor cut them all short, saying, “What Mr. Wesley is, is nothing to you. I will keep the peace: I will have no rioting in this city.” Calling at Newgate in the afternoon, I was informed that the poor wretches under sentence of death were earnestly desirous to speak with me; but that it could not be; Alderman Beecher having just then sent an express order that they should not. I cite Alderman Beecher to answer for these souls at the judgment seat of Christ.

In the evening Mr. Acourt complained, that Mr. Nowers had hindered his going into our society. Mr. Nowers answered, “It was by Mr. C. Wesley’s order.” ‘*What,” said Mr. Acourt, ‘do you refuse admitting a person into your society, only because he differs from you in opinion?” I answered, “* No; but what opinion do you mean?” He said, “* That of election. I hold, a certain number is elected from eternity. And these must and shall be saved. And the rest of mankind must and shall be damned. And many of your society hold the same.” I replied, ‘I never asked whether they hold it orno. Only iet them not trouble others by disputing about it.” He said, « Nay, but I will dispute about it.” ‘What, wherever you come?” “Yes, wherever [ come.” ‘ Why then would you come among us, who you know are of another mind?” ‘ Because you are all wrong, and I am resolved to set you all right.” “I fear your coming with this view, would neither profit you nor us.” He concluded, “ Then I will go and tell all the world, that you and your brother are false prophets. And I tell you, in one fortnight, you will all be in confusion.” Fri, 20.--I mentioned this to our society, and, without entering into the controversy, besought all of them who were weak in the faith. not 186 _ REY. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [June, 1740 to “receive one another to doubtful disputations ;” but simply to follow after holiness, and the things that make for peace. Sun. 22.--Finding there was no time to delay, without utterly destroying the cause of God, I began to execute what I had long designed.--to strike at the root of the grand delusion. Accordingly, from those words of Jeremiah, “Stand ye in the way, ask for the old paths,” I took occasion to give a plain account, both of the work which God had begun among us, and of the manner wherein the enemy had sown his tares among the good seed, to this effect :--

Tues. 22.--Mr. Chapman, just come from Germany, gave me a letter from one of our (once) brethren there ; wherein, after denying the gift of God, which he received in England, he advised my brother and me, no longer to take upon us to teach and instruct poor souls; but to deliver them up to the care of the Moravians, who alone were able to instruct them. ‘ You,” said he, “only instruct them in such errors, that they will be damned at last ;”’ and added, “ St. Peter justly describes you, who ‘have eyes full of adultery, and cannot cease from sin ;’ and take upon you to guide unstable souls, and lead them in the way of damnation.” Wed. 23.--Our little company met at the Foundery, instead of Fetter-lane. About twenty-five of our brethren God hath given us already, all of whom think and speak the same thing; seven or eight and forty likewise, of the fifty women that were in band, desired to cast in their lot with us. Fri. Aug. 1.--I described that “rest” which “remaineth for the people of God.” Sunday, 3.--At St. Luke’s, our parish church, was such a sight as, I believe, was never seen there before: several hundred communicants, from whose very faces one might judge, that they indeed sought him that was crucified. Mon. 4.--I dined with one, who told me, in all simplicity, “ Sir, I thought last week, there could be no such rest as you described; none in this world, wherein we should be so free as not to desire ease in pain. But God has taught me better. For on Friday and Saturday, when I was in the strongest pain, I never once had one moment’s desire of ease; but only, that the will of God might be done.”

Wed. 17.--A poor woman gave me an account of what, I think, ought never to be forgotten. It was four years, she said, since her son, Peter Shaw, then nineteen or twenty years old, by hearing a sermon of Mr. Wh -y’s, fell into great uneasiness. She thought he was ill, and would have sent for a physician; but he said, “ No, no. Send for Mr. Wh .” He was sent for, and came; and after asking her a few questions, told her, “ The boy is mad. Get a coach and carry him to Dr. M Use my name. I have sent several such to him.” Accordingly, she got a coach, and went with him immediately to Dr. M ’s house. When the Doctor came in, the voung man rose and said, “Sir, Mr. Wh has sent me to you.” SY Sone NEP te -- Oct. 1740. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 195 The Doctor asked, “Is Mr. Wh your minister?” and bid him put out his tongue. Then, without asking any questions, he told his mother, “ Choose your apothecary, and I will prescribe.” According to his prescriptions they, the next day, blooded him largely, confined him to a dark room, and put a strong blister on each of his arms, with another over all his head. But still he was as “mad” as before, praying, or singing, or giving thanks continually: of which having laboured to cure him for six weeks in vain, though he was now so weak he could not stand alone, his mother dismissed the doctor and apothecary, and let him be “beside himself” in peace.

Sun. 4.--I showed the absolute necessity of “ forgetting the things that are behind,” whether works, sufferings, or gifts, if we would “ press toward the mark r the prize of our high calling.” In the evening, all 200 KEV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [Jan. 1741. the bands being present, both of Bristol and Kingswood, I simply related what God had done by me, for them of Kingswood in particular; and what return many of them had made, for several months last past, by their continual disputes, divisions, and offences; causing me to go heavily all the daylong. Wed. '7.-I found another believer, patiently waiting for the salvation of God; desiring neither health, nor ease, nor life, nor death; but only that his will should be done. Thur. 8.--I expounded the twenty-third psalm; and many were led forth by the waters of comfort: two especially, who never knew till then, that their “iniquities were forgiven, and their sin covered.” Sun. 11.--I met with a surprising instance of the power of the devil. While we were at the room, Mrs. J. s, sitting at home, took the Bible to read; but on a sudden threw it away, saying, “I am good enough ; I will neverread or pray more.”” She was in the same mind when I came; often repeating, “I used to think I was full of sin, and. that I sinned in every thing I did; but now I know better: I am a good Christian ;\I never did any harm in my life; I don’t desire to be any better than Iam.” She spoke many things to the same effect, plainly showing, that the spirit ef pride, and of lies, had the full dominion over her. Monday, 12.--I asked, “Do you desire to be healed?” She said, “I am whole.” <‘¢ But do you desire to be saved?” She replied, “Tam saved; [I ail nothing; I am happy.” Yet it was easy to discern, she was in the most violent agony, both of body and mind; sweating exceedingly, notwithstanding the severe frost, and not continuing in the same posture a moment. . Upon our beginning to pray, she raged beyond measure ; but soon sunk down as dead. In a few minutes she revived, and joined in prayer. We left her, for the present, in peace.

Mon. 12.--In tue evening our souls were so filled with the spirit of prayer and thanksgiving, that I could scarce tell how to expound, till I found where it is written, ‘“* My song shall be always of the loving kindness of the Lord. With my mouth will I ever be showing thy truth, from one generation to another.” All this day, Mrs. J s was in a violent agony, till, starting up in . the evening, she said, ‘‘ Now they have done. They have just done. C prayed and Humphreys preached. (And indeed so they did.) And they are coming hither as fast as they can.” Quickly after they came in. She immediately cried out, “« Why, what do you come for? You can’t pray. You know you can’t.” And they could not open their mouths; so that, after a short time, they were constrained to leave her as she was. Many came to see her on Tuesday ;--to every one of whom she spoke, concerning either their actual or their heartsins, and that so closely, that several of them went away in more haste than they came. In the afternoon Mr. J sent to Kingswood for me. She told him, “ Mr. Wesley won’t come to-night; he will come in the morning. But God has begun, and he will end the work by himself. Before six in the morning I shall be well.” And about a quarter before six the next morning, after lying quiet awhile, she broke out, “* Peace be unto thee; (her husbaud;) peace be unto this house. The peace of God is come to my soul. I know that my Redeemer liveth.” And for several days her mouth was filled with his praise, and her “ talk was wholly of his wondrous works.” i a Feb. 1741.1 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 201 Thur. 15.--I went to one of our brothers, who, being (as was supposed) struck with death, was rejoicing with joy unspeakable. His mouth overflowed with praise, and his eyes with tears, in hope of going soon to Him he loved. Mon. 18.--I found, from several accounts, it was absolutely necessary for me to be at London. I therefore desired the society to meet in the evening, and having settled things in the best ~ manner I could, on Tuesday set out, and on Wednesday evening met

Wed. 4.--Being the general fast-day, I preached in the morning on those words, “ Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?” Coming from the service at St. Luke’s, I'found our house so crowded, that the people were ready to tread one upon another. I had not designed to preach ; but seeing such a congregation, I could. not think it nght to send them empty away ;-and therefore expounded the parable of the barren fig tree. O that it may at length bear fruit! From hence I went to Deptford, where many poor wretches were got together, utterly void both of common sense and common decency. ‘They cried aloud, as if just A ty ‘ i i oe vO Nee 202 | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [Feb. 1741. come from “ among the tombs :” but they could not prevail against the Holy One of God. Many of them were altogether confounded, and, I trust, will come again with a better mind. Tues. 10.--(Being Shrove Tuesday.) Before I began to preach, many men of the baser sort, having mixed themselves with the women, behaved so indecently, as occasioned much disturbance. A constable commanded tnem te keep the peace: in answer to which they knovked him down. Some who were near seized on two of them, and, by shutting the doors, prevented any further contest. Those two were afterward carried hefore a magistrate ; but on their promise of better behaviour, were discharged. Thur. 12.--My brother returned from Oxford, and preached on the true way of waiting for God: thereby dispelling at once the fears of some, and the vain hopes of others ; who had confidently affirmed that Mr. Charles Wesley was still already, and would come to London no more.

expelled themselves. About forty were by this means separated from us; I trust only fora season. Sat. 28.--I met the Kingswood bands again, and heard all who desired it at large: after which, I read the following paper :-- “By many witnesses it appears, that several members of the Band Society in Kingswood have made it their common practice to scoff at the preaching of Mr. John and Charles Wesley: That they have censured and spoken evil of them behind their backs, at the very time they professed love and esteem to their faces: That they have studiously endeavoured to prejudice other members of that society against them; and, in order thereto, have belied and slandered them in divers instances. There- * fore, not for their opinions, nor for any of them, (whether they be right or wrong,) but for the causes above mentioned, viz. for their scoffing at the word and ministers of God, for their tale-bearing, backbiting, and evil-speaking, for their dissembling, lying, and slandering: “JT, John Wesley, by the consent and approbation of the Band Society in Kingswood, do declare the persons above mentioned to be no longer members thereof. Neither will they be so accounted, until they shall openly confess their fault, and thereby do what in them lies, to remove the scandal they have given.” At this they seemed a little shocked at first; but Mr. C pdt: B . and A. A , soon recovered, and said, they had heard both my brother and me many times preach Popery. However, they would join with us if we would; but that they would not own they had done any thing amiss. I desired them to consider of it yet again, and give us their answer the next evening. The next evening, March 1, they gave the same answer as before. However, I could not tell how to part; but exhorted them to wait yet a.little longer, and wrestle with God, that they might know his will concerning them.

Fri. 6.--Being still fearful of doing any thing rashly, or contrary to the great law of love, I consulted again with many of our brethren, concerning the further steps I should take. In consequence of which, on Saturday, 7, all who could of the society being met together, I told them, open dealing was best; and I would therefore tell them plainiy what I thought (setting all opinions aside) had been wrong in many of them, viz. “1, Their despising the ministers of God, and slighting his ordinances: 2. Their not speaking or praying when met together, till they were sensibly moved thereto: and, 3. Their dividing themselves from the-r brethren, and forming a separate society. That we could not approve of delaying this matter, because the confusion that was already, increased daily. That, upon the whole, we believed the only way to put a stop to these growing evils was, for every one now to take his choice, and quit one society or the other.” T B replied, “It is our holding election is the true cause of your separating from us.” I answered, “ You know in your own conscience it is not. There are several Predestinarians in our societies both at London and Bristol; nor did I ever yet put any one out of either because he held that opinion.” He said, “ Well, we will break up our society, on condition you will receive and employ Mr C----- as you did before.” I replied, “ My brother has wronged me much. But he doth not say, ‘I repent.’”” Mr. C said, “ Unless in not speaking in your defence, I do not know that I have wronged one, - March, 1741.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 205 you at all.” T rejoined, “It seems then nothing remains, but for each to choose which society he pleases.” Then, after a short time spent in prayer, Mr. C-- --- went out, and about half of those who were present, with him.

_ Sun. 8.--After preaching at Bristol, on the abuse and the right use cf the Lord’s Supper, I earnestly besought them at Kingswood to beware of offending “ in tongue,” either against justice, mercy, or truth. After sermon, the remains of our society met, and found we had great reason to bless God, for that, after fifty-two were withdrawn, we had still upward of ninety left. O may these, at least, hold “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace!” I will shut up this melancholy subject with part of a letter wrote by my brother about this time :-- “Tf you think proper, you may show Brother C---- what follows.” (N. B. I did not think it proper then.) “My dearest brother John C , in much love and tenderness I speak. You came to Kingswood upon my brother’s sending for you. You served under him in the Gospei as a son. I need not say how well he loved you. You used the authority he gave you, to overthrow his doctrine: you every where contradicted it; (whether true or false is not the question;) but you ought first to have fairly told him, ‘I preach contrary to you. Are you willing, notwithstanding, that I should continue in your house gainsaying you? If you are not, I have no place in these regions. You have a right to this open dealing. JI now give you fair warning: shall I stay here opposing you, or shall J depart ”’ “My brother, have you dealt thus honestly and openly with him? No; but you have stolen away the people’s heart from him. And when some of them basely treated their best friend, God only excepted, how patiently did you take it? When did you ever vindicate us, as we have you? Why did you not plainly tell them, ‘ You are eternally indebted to these men. Think not that I will stay among you, to head a party against my dearest friend--and brother, as he suffers me to call him, having humbled himself for my sake, and given me (no bishop, priest, or deacon,) the right hand of fellowship. If I hear that one word more is spoken against him, { will leave you that moment, and never see your face more.’

Wh » concerning the letter he had published, said to be in answer to my sermon on free grace. The sum of what I observed to him was this, 1. That it was quite imprudent to publish it at all, as being only the putting of weapons into their hands, who loved neither the one nor the other. 2. That if he was constrained to bear his testimony (as he termed it) against the error I was in, he might have done it by publishing a treatise on this head, without ever calling my name in question. 3. That what he had published was a mere burlesque upon an answer, leaving four of my eight arguments untoucked, and handling the other four in so gentle a manner, as if he was afraid they would burn his fingers: however, that, 4, he had said enough of what was wholly foreign to the question, to make an open (and probably, irreparable) breach between him and me: seeing “ for a treacherous wound, and for the bewraying of secrets, every friend will depart.” Mon. 6.--I had a long conversation with Peter Bohler. I marvel how I refrain from joining these men. I scarce ever see any of them but my heart burns within me. I long to be with them; and yet [am kept from them. Tues. '7.--I dined with one who had been a professed Atheist for upward of twenty years. But coming some months since to make sport with the word of God, it cut him to the heart. And he could have no rest day nor night, till the God whom he had denied spoke peace to his soul. In the evening, having desired all the bands to meet, I read over the names of the United Society ; and marked those who were of a doubtful character, that full inquiry might be made concerning them. On Thursday, at the meeting of that society, I read over the names of these, and desired to speak with each of them the next day, as soon as they had opportunity. Many of them afterward gave sufficient proof, that they were seeking Christ in sincerity. The rest I determined to keep on trial, till the doubts concerning them were removed.

Sat. 16.--I mentioned this to Peter Bohler. But he told me, “ The:e is no such state on earth. Sin will and must always remain in the soul. The old man will remain till death. The old nature is like an old tooth: you may break off one bit, and another, and another ; but you can never get it all away: the stump of it will stay as long as you live; und sometimes will ache too.” Mon. 18.--At the pressing instanee of my brother, I left London, and the next evening met him at. Bristol. I was a little surprised when I came into the room, just after he had ended his sermon. Some wept aloud; some clapped their hands , some shouted: and the rest sang praise; with whom (having svon recovered themselves) the whole congregation joined. So I trust, Ae hae . June, 1741.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 21, it ever God were pleased that we should suffer for the truth’s sake, alt other sounds would soon be swallowed up in the voice of praise and thanksgiving. * Wed. 20.--I spent most of the morning in speaking with the new members of the society. In the afternoon I saw the sick; but not one - in fear, neither repining against God. Thur. 21.--In the evening I published the great decree of God, eternal, unchangeable, (so miserably misunderstood and misrepresented by vain men that would be wise,) “ He that believeth shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned.” Sat. 23.--At a meeting of the stewards of the society, (who receive and expend what is contributed weekly,) it was found needful to retrench the expenses; the contributions not answering thereto. And it was accordingly agreed to discharge two of the schoolmasters at Bristol; the present fund being barely sufficient to keep two masters and a mistress here, and one master and a mistress at Kingswood.

Tues. 16.--In the evening I came to London, and preached on those words, Gal. v, 15, “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” After reading Luther’s miserable comment upon the text, I thought it my bounden duty openly to warn the congregation against that dangerous treatise ; and to retract whatever recommendation I might ignorantly have given of it. Wed. -- 17.--I set out, and rode slowly toward Oxford ; but before I came to Wycombe my horse tired. There I hired another, which tired also before I came to Tetsworth. I hired a third here, and reached Oxford in the evening. Thur. 18.--I inquired concerning the exercises previous to the degree of Bachelor in Divinity, and advised with Mr. Gambo!d concerning the subject of my sermon before the University ; but he seemed to think it of no moment: “ For,” said he, “all here are so prejudiced, that they will mind nothing you say.” I know not that. However, I am to deliver my own soul, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. I found a great change among the poor people here. Out of twenty-five or thirty weekly communicants, only two were left. Not one continued to attend the daily prayers of the Church. And those few that were once united together, were now torn asunder, and scattered abroad.

Mon. 22.--The words on which my book opened at the society, in the evening, were these :--‘ Ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. But ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee ? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God! And what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance?” Mal. iii, 7, 13. Wed. 24.--I read over, and partly transcribed, Bishop Bull’s Harmonia Apostolica. The position with which he sets out is this : “‘ That all good works, and not faith alone, are the necessarily previous condition of justification,” or the forgiveness of our sins. But in the middle of the treatise he asserts, “ That faith alone is the condition of justification :” “ For faith,” says he, “ referred to justification, means all inward and outward good works.” In the latter end, he affirms, “that there are two justifications ; and that only inward good works necessarily precede the former, but both inward and outward, the latter.” Sat. 27.--I rode to London, and enforced, in the evening, that solemn declaration of the great Apostle, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law.” Sun. 28.--] showed in the morning at large, “* Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty ;”’ liberty from sin ; liberty to be, to do, and to suffer, according to the written word. At five I preached at Charles’ Square, to the largest congregation that, I believe, was ever seen there on, “Almost July, 1741.] REV. J WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 215 thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” As soon as I had done, [ quite lost my voice. But it was immediately restored, when I came to our little flock, with the blessing of the Gospel of peace; and I spent an hour and half in exhortation and prayer, without any hoarseness, faintness, or weariness. Jon. 29.--I preached in the morning, on, “ Ye are saved through faith.” In the afternoon I expounded, at Windsor, the story of the Pharisee and Publican. I spent the evening at Wycombe, and the next morning, Tuesday, 30, returned to Oxford.

In the same state of mind, though weaker and weaker in body, she continued till Tuesday following ; when several of those who had been in her bend being present, she fixed her eyes upon them, and fell into a kind of agonizing prayer, that God would keep them from the evil one. But in the afternoon, when I came, she was quite calm again, and all her words were prayer and praise. The same spirit she breathed when Mr. Maxfield called the next day; and soon after he went, she slept in peace.--‘ A mother in Israel” hast thou been, and «thy works shall-praise thee in the gates !” Sat. Aug. 1.--I had a long conversation with Mr. Ingham. We both agreed, 1. That none shall finally be saved, who have not, as they had opportunity, done all good works; and, 2. That if a justified person does not do good, as he has opportunity, he will lose the grace he has received; and if he “repent” not, “and do the former works,’ will perish eternally. But with regard to the unjustified, (if I understand him,) we wholly disagreed. He believed, it is not the will of God, that they should wait for faith in doing good. I believe, this is the will of God; and that they will never find him, unless they seek him in this way. Sun. 2.--I went, after having been long importuned by Dr. Deleznot, to the chapel in Great Hermitage-street, Wapping. Mr. Meriton (a clergyman from the Isle of Man) read prayers. I then a 218 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ Aug. 1741 preached on these words in the former lesson, “ Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself? Because he hath humbled himself, I will not bring this evil in his days:” and took occasion thence to exhort all unbelievers, to use the grace God had alrea’y given them ; and in keeping his law, according to the power they now had, to wait for the faith of the Gospel.

a believer there is no commandment at all. 2. That it does imply liberty to conform to the world,* by talking on useless, if not trifling subjects ; by joining in worldly diversions in order to do good; by putting on of gold and costly apparel,t or by continuing in those professions, the gain of which depends on ministering hereto. 3. That it does imply liberty to avoid persecution, by { not reproving even those who sin in your sight; by not letting your light shine before those men who love darkness rather than light; by not using plainness of speech, and a frank, open carriage toallmen. Nay, by a close, dark, reserved conversation, and behaviour, especially toward strangers. And in many of you I have more than once found (what you called, ‘“‘ being wise as serpents”) much subtlety, much evasion and disguise, much guile and dissimulation. You appeared to be what you were not, or not to be what you were. You so studied “ to become all things to all men,” as to take the colour and shape of any that were near you. So that your practice was indeed no proof of your judgment; but only an indication of your design, nulli laedere os ; [to hurt a bone of none ;] and of your conformity to that (not scriptural) maxim, Sinere mundum vadere ut vult: Nam vult vadere, (To let the world go as it will; for it will go.) 5. Secondly, With regard to that faith through which we are saved, I have heard many of you say, “ A man may have justifying faith and not know it.” Others of you, who are now in England, (particularly Mr. Molther,) I have heard affirm,§ that there is no such thing as weak faith; that there are no degrees in faith; that there is no justifying faith, where there is ever any doubt; that there is no justifying faith without the plerophory of faith, the clear, abiding witness of the Spirit; that there is no justifying faith, where there is not, in the full, proper sense, a new or clean heart; and that those who have not these two gifts, are only awakened, not justified.

13. In conformity to the Mystics, you likewise greatly check joy in the Holy Ghost, by such cautions against sensible comforts, as have no tittle of Scripture to support them. Hence also your brethren here damp the zeal of babes in Christ, talking much of false zeal, forbidding them to declare what God hath done for their souls, even when their hearts burn within them to declare it, and comparing those to uncorked bottles, who simply and artlessly speak of the ability which God giveth. 14. Hence, Lastly, it is, that you undervalue good works, (especially works of outward mercy,) never publicly insisting on the necessity of them, nor declaring their weight and excellency. Hence, when some of your brethren have spoken of them, they put them on a wrong foot; viz. “If you find yourself moved, if your heart is free to it, then reprove, exhort, relieve.” By this means, you wholly avoid the taking up your cross, in order to do good; and also substitute an uncertain, precarious inward motion, in the place of the plain written word. Nay, one of your members has said of good works in general, (whether works of piety or of charity,) “ A believer is no more obliged to do these works of the Law, than a subject of the king of England is obliged to obey the laws of the king of France.” 15. My brethren, whether ye will hear, or whether ye will forbear, I have now delivered my own soul. And this I have chosen to do in an artless manner, that if any thing should come heme to your hearts, the effect might evidently flow, not from the wisdom of man, but from the power of God. August 8, 1740.

Tues. 26.--I explained at Chelsea, the faith which worketh by love. I was very weak when I went into the room ; but the more “ the beasts of the people” increased in madness and rage, the more was | strengthvned, both in body and soul; so that I believe few in the house, which was exceeding full, lost one sentence of what I spoke. Indeed they could not see me, nor one another at a few yards’ distance, by reason of the exceeding thick smoke, which was occasioned by the wild-fire and things of that kind, continually thrown into the room. But they who could praise God in the midst of the fires, were not to be affrighted by a little smoke. Wed. 2'77.--I buried the body of Saran Wuiskin, a young woman late of Cambridge; a short account of whom follows, in the words of one that was with her, during her last struggle for eternity :--- “The first time she went, intending to hear Mr. Wesley, was January 3; but he was then ill. She went again, Tuesday, 5, and was not dis- a -- o Jan. 1742.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 241 appointed. From that time she seemed quite taken up with the things above, and could willingly have been always hearing, or praying, or sing ing hymns. Wednesday, 13, she was sent for into the country ; at which news she cried violently, being afraid to go lest she should again be conformable to the world. With tears in her eyes, she asked me, ‘ What shall I do? I am in a great strait.’ And being advised to commit her cause to God, and pray that his will might be done, not her own, she said she would defer her journey three days, to wait upon God, that he might show his will concerning her. The next day she was taken ill of a fever ; but being something better on Friday, she sent and took a place in the Cambridge coach, for the Tuesday following. Her sister asked her if she thought it was the will of God she should go. She answered, ‘I leave it to the Lord; and am sure he will find a way to prevent it, if it is ‘not for my good.’ Sunday, 17, she was ill again, and desired me to write

“Sun. 24.--I asked her, ‘ How have you rested ?? She answered, ‘ Very well; though I have had no sleep; and I wanted none; for I have had the Lord with me. O let us not be ashamed of him, but proclaim him upon the house-top; and I know, whatever IJ ask in the name of Jesus, ac- cording to his will, I shall have.’ Soon after she called hastily to me, and said, ‘I fear I have deceived myself; I thought the Amen was sealed in my heart; but I fear it is not. Go down and pray for me, and let Him , not go, till he has given my heart’s desire.’ Soon after she broke out into singing, and said, ‘I was soon delivered of my fears; I was only afraid of a flattering hope; but if it had been so, I would not have let him go.’ ‘“‘ Her sister that was come to see her was much upon her mind. ‘ You,’ said she, ‘are in pain for her; but I have faith for this little child: God has a favour unto her.’ In the afternoon she desired me to write a bill for her. I asked, ‘What shall I write?’ She said, ‘Return thanks for what God has done for me, and pray that he would manifest himself to my relations also. Go to the preaching. Leave but one with me~ Soon lad ve [a 242 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ Feb. 1742.

“On Wednesday night he wrestled much with God in prayer. At last, throwing his arms open, he cried, ‘Come, come, Lord Jesus! I am thine. Amen and amen.’ He said, ‘God answers me in my heart, Be of good cheer, thou hast over.ome the world ;? and immediately after, he was filled with love and joy unspeakable. He said to his mother, ‘ That school was the saving of my soul; for there I began to seek the Lord. But how is it, that a person no sooner begins to seek the Lord, but Satan straight stirs up all his instruments against him?’ When he was in agony of pain, he cried out, ‘O Saviour, give me patience! Thou hast given me patience, but give me more. Give me thy love, and pain is nothing: I have deserved all this, and a thousand times more; for there is no sin but I have been guilty of.’ “A while after, he said, ‘O mother, how is this? If a man does not do his work, the masters in the world will not pay him his wages. But it is not so with God; he gives me good wages, and yet | am sure I have done nothing to gain them. O it is a free gift; it is free for every soul, for Christ has died for all.2 On Thursday morning his mother asked him how he did: he said, ‘I have had much struggling to-night, but my Saviour is so loving to me, I do not mind it; it is no more than nothing to me.’ Then he said, ‘I desire to be buried from the Room; and I desire Mr. Wesley would preach a sermon over me, on those words of David, (unless he thinks any other to be more fit,) Before I was afflicted I went astray ; but now I have kept thy word.’

“ Tasked him, ‘ how do you find yourself now?’ He said, ‘In great pain, but full of love.’ I asked him, ‘ But does not the love of God overcome pain? He answered, ‘ Yes! pain is nothing to me: I did sing praises to the Lord in the midst of my greatest pain; and I could not help it.’ I asked him, if he was willing to die: he replied, ‘O yes, with all my heart.’ I said, ‘ But if life and death were set before you, what would you choose then’ He answered, ‘To die, and to be with Christ: I long to be out of . March, 1742.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. - 245 this wicked world.’ On Thursday night he slept much sweeter than he had done for some time before. In the morning he begged to see Mr. John Wesley. When Mr. Wesley came, and, after some other questions, asked him what he should pray for; he said, that God would give him a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within him. When prayer was ended, he seemed much enlivened, and said, ‘I thought I should have died to-day: but ] must not be in haste; I am content to stay. I will tarry the Lord’s leisure.’ On Saturday, one asked, if he still chose to die: he said, ‘J have no will; my will is resigned to the will of God. But I shall die: mother, be not troubled; I shall go away like a lamb.’

Wed. 10.--I was with a gentlewoman whose distemper has puzzled the most eminent physicians, for many years; it being such as they could neither give any rational account of, nor find any remedy for. The plain case is, she is tormented by an evil spirit, following her day and night. Yea, try all your drugs over and over; but at length it will plainly appear, that “this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” Fri. 12.--I read part of Dr. Cheyne’s “ Natural Method of curing Diseases ;” of which I cannot but observe, it is one of the most ingenious books which I ever saw. But what epicure will ever regard it? for “the man talks against good eating and drinking !” Our Lord was gloriously present with us at the watch-night ; so that my voice was lost in the cries of the people. After midnight, about a hundred of us walked home together, singing, and rejoicing, and praising God.

fe So [held Christ without, and the devil within. This is a mystery, that I should feel myself safe and pure, and yet the devil to be in me Judge who gave me this purity, and taught me to be thus perfect in Christ! But ere long that began to break forth in action, which I had conceived in my heart. But it was the Lord’s will I should not go far, before I was again brought under tne law. Then did I stand stripped and naked of that knowledge. I wish all who are so deceived as I was, were brought under the law, that they might learn what it is to come to Jesus Christ. And I wish them not to pass from under the law, till they clearly see the end of the law come into their hearts. “The law being mixed with faith, makes it quick and powerful. For as the law will not leave one hair of our heads uncondemned, so faith will not leave one unreconciled. And blessed is he who lives in the same reconciliation, and turns not as a dog to his vomit. Then shall he be called a child of God ; who cannot sin, because his seed remaineth in him. Thou writest, Jesus makes it manifest to thee, that thou art a great sinner. That is well; and if more, it would be better for thee. Again thou sayest, since thou first receivedst a full and free pardon for all thy sins, thou hast received so many fresh pardons, that they are quite out of count. And this, thou sayest, is spoken to thy own shame and thy Saviour’s praise. Come, my brother, let us both be more ashamed. Let us see where we are, and what we are doing to the Lamb. We are not glorifying him: (let us not mistake ourselves thus:) we are crucifying him afresh. We are putting him to an open shame, and bringing swift , damnation on our own heads. “Again, thou sayest, though thy sins be great and many, yet thy Saviour’s grace is greater. Thou sayest right; or else, how should we have been cleansed? But his great cleansing power does not design that we should become fowl again; lest he call us away in our uncleanness, and we perish for ever. For it will not profit us, that we were once

I had appointed to preach in Stroud at noon. But, about ten, observing it to rain faster and faster, was afraid the poor people would not be able to come, many of whom lived some miles off. But in a quarter of an hour the rain ceased, and we had a fair, pleasant day; so that many were at the market place, while I applied the story of the Pharisee and Publican ; the hard rain in the morning having disengaged them from their work in the grounds. There would probably have been more disturbance, but that a drunken man began too soon, and was so senselessly impertinent, that even his comrades were quite ashamed of him. In the evening I preached on Hampton Common. Many of Mr. Whitefield’s society were there; to whorn, as well as to all the other sinners (without meddling with any of their opinions,) I declared in the name of the great Physician, ‘I will heal their backsliding ; I will love them freely.”

** At six, as soon as family prayers were over, they had their supper; at seven, the maid washed them; and, beginning at the youngest, she undressed and got them all to bed by eight; at which time she left them in their several rooms awake; for there was no such thing allowed of in our house, as sitting by a child till it fell asleep. They wereso constantly used to eat and drink what was given them, that when any of them was ill, there was no difficulty in making them take the most unpleasant medicine: for they durst not refuse it, though some of them would presently throw it up. This I mention, to show that a person may be taught to take any thing, thovgh it be never so much against his stomach. ‘In order to form the minds of children, the first thing to be done is to conquer their will, and bring them to an obedient temper. To inform the understanding is a work of time, and must with children proceed by slow degrees as they are able to bear it; but the subjecting the will, is a thing which must be done at once; and the sooner the better. For by neglecting timely correction, they will contract a stubbornness and obstinacy, which is hardly ever after conquered; and never, without using such severity as would be as painful to me asto the child. In the esteem of the world they pass for kind and indulgent, whom I call cruel, parents, who permit their children to get habits which they know must be afterward broken. Nay, some are so stupidly fond, as in sport to teach their children to do things which, in a while after, they have severely beaten them for doing. Whenever a child is corrected, it must be conquered ; and this will be no hard matter to do, if it be not grown headstrong by too much indulgence. And when the will of a child is totally subdued, and it is brought to revere and stand in awe of the parents, then a great many childish follies and inadvertences may be passed by. Someshould be overlooked and taken no notice of, and others mildly reproved; but no wilful transgression ought ever to be forgiven children, without chastisement, less or more, as the nature and circumstances of the offence require.

ey insist upon conquering the will of children betimes, because this is the only strong and rational foundation of a religious education; without which both precept and example will be ineffectual. But when this is thoroughly done, then a child is capable of being governed by the reason and piety of its parents, till its own understanding comes to maturity, and the principles of religion have taken root in the mind. “JT cannot yet dismiss this subject. As self-will is the root of all sir and misery, so whatever cherishes this in children, insures their after NON hes nae ‘ a 6) a) 264 : REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [Aug. 1742. wretchedness and irreligion: whatever shecks and mortiiies it, promotes. their future happiness and piety. This is still more evident, if we further consider, that religion is nothing else than the doing the will of God, and not our own: that the one grand impediment to our temporal and eternal happiness being this self-will, no indulgences of it can be trivial, no denial. unprofitable. Heaven or hell depends on this alone. So that the parent who studies to subdue it in his child, works together with God in the: renewing and saving a soul. The parent who indulges it does the devil’s work, makes religion impracticable, salvation unattainable; and does all that in him lies to damn his child, soul and body for ever. “The children of this family were taught, as soon as they could speak, the Lord’s prayer, which they were made to say at rising and bed-time constantly; to which, as they grew bigger, were added a short prayer for their parents, and some collects; a short catechism, and some portion: of Scripture, as their memories could bear. They were very early made to distinguish the sabbath from other days; before they could well speak or go. They were as soon taught to be still at family prayers, and to ask a blessing immediately after, which they used to do by signs, before: they could kneel or speak.

“5, That if ever any child performed an act of obedience, or did any thing with an intention to please, though the performance was not well, vet the obedience and intention should be kindly accepted; and the child with sweetness directed how to do better for the future. / 266 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ Aug. 1742. “6, That propriety be inviolably preserved, and none suffered to invade the property of another in the smallest matter, though it were but of the value of a farthing, or a pin; which they might not take from the owner, without, much less against, his consent. This rule can never be too much inculcated on the minds of children; and from the want of parents or governors doing it as they ought, proceeds that shameful neglect of justice which we may observe in the world. “7, 'That promises be strictly observed; and a gift once bestowed, and so the right passed away from the donor, be not resumed, but left te the disposal of him to whom it was given; unless it were conditional, and the condition of the obligation not performed. **8. That no girl be taught to work till she can read very well; and then that she be kept to her work with the same application, and for the same time, that she was held to in reading. ‘This rule also is much to be observed; for the putting children to learn sewing before they, can read perfectly, is the very reason, why so few women can read fit to be neard, and never to be well understood.”

Sun. 8.--I cried aloud, in Ratcliffe Square, “Why will ye die, O nouse of Israel ?’”? Only one poor man was exceeding noisy and turbu- .ent; but in a moment God touched his heart: he hung down his head; tears covered his face, and his voice was heard no more. I was constrained this evening to separate from the believers, some who did not show their faith by their works. One of these, Sam. Prig, was deeply displeased, spoke many very bitter words, and went abruptly away. The next morning he called; told me, neither my brother nor I preached the Gospel, or knew what it meant. I asked, “ What do we preach then?” He said, ‘“‘ Heathen morality: Tully’s offices, and no more. So I wash my hands of you both. We shall see what you will come to in a little time.” Wed. 11.--He sent me a note, demanding the payment of one hundred pounds, which he had lent me about a year before, to pay the workmen at the Foundery. On Friday morning, at eight, he came and said, he wanted his money, and could stay no longer. I told him, I would endeavour to borrow it; and desired him to call in the evening. But he said, he could not stay so long, and must have it at twelve o’clock. Where to get it, I knew not. Between nine and ten one came and offered me the use of a hundred pounds for a year: but two others had been with me before, to make the same offer. I accepted the bank note which one of them brought; and saw that God is over all!

Mon. October 11.--I had designed to leave London: but Mr. Richards being taken ill, I put off my journey. He was much better on Tuesday ; so I set out the next morning; and before seven in the evening reached the half-way house, four miles short of Hungerford. I now found it was well I did not set out on Monday, in order to be at Bristol on Tuesday night, as usual. For all the travellers who went that way on Tuesday, were robbed. But on Thursday the road was clear; so that I came safe to Kingswood in the afternoon, and in the evening preached at Bristol. My chief business now was, to examine throughly the society in Kingswood. This found me full employment for several days. On Wednesday, 27, having finished my work, I set out very early, and (though my horse fell lame) on Thursday evening came to London. Fri. 29.--I largely explained, ‘“ Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty :’--Namely, liberty to obey the whole will of God; to be and do whatsoever he hath commanded: in a word, to love God with all our heart, and to serve him with all our strength. Sun. 31.--Several of the leaders desired to have an hour’s conversation with me. I found they were greatly perplexed about “ want of management, ill husbandry, encouraging idleness, improper distribution of money,” “being imposed upon by fair pretences,” and “ men who talked well, but had no grace in their hearts.” I asked, who those men were: but that they could-not tell. Who encouraged idleness: when and how: what money had been improperly distributed: by whom, and to whom: in what instances I had been imposed on; (as I presumed they meant me;) and what were the particulars of that ill husbandry and mismanagement of which they complained. They stared at one another as men in amaze. I began to be amazed too, not being able to imagine what was the matter, till one dropped a word, by which all came out. They had been talking with Mr. Hall, who, had started so many objections against ail I said or did, that they were in the utmost consternation, till the fire thus broke out, which then at once vanished away.

God, and prayed that he would prosper the work of our hands upon us. Three or four times in the evening, I was forced to break off preaching, that we might pray and give thanks to God. When I came home, they told me the physician said, he did not expect Mr. Meyrick would live till the morning. I went to him, but his pulse was gone. He had been speechless and senseless for some time. A few of us immediately joined in prayer : (I relate the naked fact :) before we had done his sense and his speech returned. Now, he that will account for this by natural causes, has my free leave: but I choose to say, This is the power of God. Thur. 23.--It being computed that such a house as was proposed could not be finished under seven hundred pounds, many were positive it would never be finished at all; others, that I should not live to see it _ covered. I was of another mind; nothing doubting but, as it was begun for God’s sake, he would provide what was needful for the finishing it. Sat. 25.--The physician told me he could do no more; Mr. Meyrick could not live over the night. I went up, and found them all’crying about him ; his legs being cold, and (as it seemed) dead already. We all kneeled down, and called upon God with strong cries and tears. He opened his eyes, and called for me; and, from that hour, he continued to recover his strength, till he was restored to perfect health.--I wait to hear who will either disprove this fact, or philosophically account for it.

which no body could understand ; that she had sent for a minister, but almost as soon as he came, began roaring in so strange a manner, (her tongue at the same time hanging out of her mouth, and her face being distorted into the most terrible form,) that he cried out, “It is the devil, doubtless! It is the devil!” and immediately went away. I suppose this was some unphilosophical minister; else he would have said, “ Stark mad! Send her to Bedlam.” I asked, “ What good do you think I can do?” One answered, “ We cannot tell; but Mrs. K.” (I just relate what was spoken to me, without passing any judgment upon it,) “ earnestly desired you might come, if you was any where near; saying she had seen you ina dream, and should know you immediately: but the devil said, (those were her own expressions,) ‘I will tear thy throat out before he comes.’ But afterward, she said, his words were, ‘If he does come, I will let thee be quiet; and thou shalt be as if nothing ailed thee, till he is gone away.’ ” A very odd kind of madness this! I walked over about noon; but when we came to the house, desired all those who came with me to stay below. One showing me the way, I went up straight to her room. As soon as I came to the bedside, she fixed her eyes, and said, “ You are Mr. Wesley; I am very well now, I thank God: nothing ails me; only I am weak.” I called them up, and we began to sing,

and such affliction as I believe will never be removed, till he is filled with “‘ peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Fri. 22.--I rode to Painswick ; and on Saturday, 23, through heavy rain to Bristol. I had now a week of rest and peace, which was refreshing both to my soul and body. Sunday, May 1.--I had an opportunity of receiving the Lord’s Supper, at St. James’s, our parish church. We had another comfortable hour in the afternoon, while I was explaining, “This is the covenant which I will make, saith the Lord; I will put my laws in their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be unto them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” Tues. 3.--I set out for Wales, in company with one who was my pupil at Oxford. We could get that night no further than the Bull, five Welsh miles beyond Abergavenny. The next morning we came to Builth, jast as the church prayers began. Mr. Phillips, the rector of Maesmennys, (at whose invitation I came,) soon took knowledge of me, and we began a friendship which I trust shall never end. I preached on a tomb at the east end of the church at four, and again at seven. Mr. Gwynne and Mr. Prothero (justices of peace) stood on either hand of me; and all the people before, catching every word with the most serious and eager attention.

To try if he can pull the churches down. In the evening I explained “ the promise of the Father.” After preaching, many began to be turbulent; but John Nelson went into the midst of them, spoke a little to the loudest, who answered not again, but went quietly away. Thur. September 1.--We had a day of peace. Fri. 2.--I preached at Morva, about eight miles west cf St. Ives, on the North sea. My text was, “ The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea ;--the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.” I observed an earnest, stupid attention, in the hearers, many of whom appeared to have good desires; but I did not find one who was convinced of sin, much less who knew the pardoning love of God. Sat. 3.--I rode to the Three-cornered-Down, (so called,) nine or ten miles east of St. Ives, where we found two or three hundred tinners, who had been some time waiting for us. They all appeared quite pleased and unconcerned ; and many of them ran after us to Gwennap, ‘(two miles east,) where their number was quickly increased to four or five hundred. I had much comfort here, in applying these words, “ He ' hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor.” One who lived near, invited us to lodge at his house, and conducted us back to the green in the morning. We came thither just as the day dawned. I strongly applied those gracious words, “ I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely,” to five or six hundred serious people. At Trezuthan Downs, five miles nearer St. Ives, we found seven or eight hundred people, to whom I cried aloud, “ Cast away all your transgressions ; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” After dinner I preached again to about a thousand people, on him whom “ God hath exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour.” It was here first I observed a little impression made on two or three of the hearers; the rest, as usual, showing huge approbation, and absolute unconcern.

Sai. 10.--There were prayers at St. Just in the afternoon, which did not end till four. I then preached at the Cross, to, I believe, a thousand people, who all behaved in a quiet and serious manner. At six I preached at Sennan, near the Land’s End; and appointed the little congregation (consisting chiefly of old, grey-headed men) to meet me again at five in the morning. But on Sunday, 11, great part of them were got together between three and four o’clock: so between four and five we began praising God; and I largely explained and applied, “ I will heal their backslidings ; I will love them freely.” We went afterward down, as far as we could go safely, toward the point of the rocks at the Land’s End. It was an awful sight! But how will these melt away, when God ariseth to judgment! The sea between does indeed “boil like a pot.” “One would think the deep to be hoary.” But “though they swell, yet can they not prevail. He hath set their bounds, which they cannot pass.” Between eight and nine I preached at St. Just, on the green plain near the town, to the largest congregation (I was informed) that ever had been seen in these parts. I cried out, with all the authority of love, “‘ Why will ye die, O house of Israel?” The people trembled and were still. I had not known such an hour before, in Cornwall. Soon after one, we had such another congregation, on the north side of Morva church. The Spirit of the Great King was in the midst. And I was filled both with matter and words, even more abundantly than at St. Just. ‘ My strength will I ascribe unto thee.” At Zennor I preached about five, and then hastened to St. Ives, where we concluded the day in praising God with joyful lips.

We immediately waited upon the governor, with the usual present, viz. a newspaper. I desired him, likewise to accept of an “ Earnest Appeal.” The-minister not being willing I should preach in the church, I preached, at six, in the street, to almost all the town, and many soldiers, sailors, and workmen, on, *“* Why will ye die, O house of Israel 2” It was a blessed time, so that I scarce knew how to conclude. After sermon I gave them some little books and hymns, which they were so eager to receive, that they were ready to teat \oth them and me to pieces. For what political reason such a number of workmen were gathered together, and employed at so large an expense, to fortify a few barren rocks, which whosoever would take, deserves to have them for his pains, I could not possibly devise: but a providential reason was easy to be discovered. God might call them together to hear the Gospel, which perhaps otherwise they might never have thought of. At five in the morning I preached again on, “I will heal their backsliding ; I will love them freely.” And between nine and ten, having talked with many in private, and distributed both to them and others between two and three hundred hymns and little books, we left this barren, dreary place, and set sail for St. Ives, though the wind was strong, and blew directly in our teeth. Our pilot said we shou!d have good luck, if we reached the land; but he knew not Him whom the winds and seas obey. Soon after three we were even with the Land’s End, and about nine we reached St. Ives.

~ster; we will have the minister.” I desired one to take their captain by the hand, and bring him into the house. After a few sentences interchanged between us, the lion was become a lamb. I desired him to go and bring one or two more of the most angry of his companions. He brought in two, who were ready to swallow the ground with rage ; but in two minutes they were as calm as he. I then bade them make way, that I might go out among the people. As soon as I was in the midst of them, I called fora chair; and, standing up, asked, “ What do any of you want with me?” Some said, “‘ We want you to go with us to the justice.” I replied, “That I will with all my heart.” I then spoke a few words, which God applied; so that they cried out, with might and main, “ The gentleman is an honest gentleman, and we will spill our blood in his defence.” I asked, “ Shall we go to the justice to-night, or inthe morning ?”” Most of them cried, “‘To-night, to-night ;”” on which I went before, and two or three hundred followed; the rest returning whence they came. The night came on before we had walked a mile, together with heavy rain. However, on we went to Bentley Hall, two miles from Wednesbury. One or two ran before, to tell Mr. Lane they had brought Mr. Wesley before his worship. Mr. Lane replied, “ What have I to do. with Mr. Wesley? Go and carry him back again.” By this time the main body came up, and began knocking at the door. A servant told them Mr. ane wasinbed. His son followed and asked what was the matter. One replied, “ Why, an’t please you, they sing psalms all day ; nay, and make folks rise at five in the morning. And what would your worship advise us to do?” ‘To go home,” said Mr. Lane, “and be uiet.”

Wed. 26.--I enlarged upon those deep words, “ Repent, and believe the Gospel.” When I had done, a man stood forth in the midst, one who had exceedingly troubled his brethren, vehemently maintaining (for the plague had spread hither also) that they ought not to pray, to sing, to communicate, to search the Scriptures, or to trouble themselves about works, but only to believe and be still; and said with a loud voice, “ Mr. Wesley! let me speak a few words. Is it not said, “ A certain man had two sons: and he said unto the younger, Go work to-day in my vineyard: and he answered, I will not; but afterward he repented and went?? Tamhe. I said yesterday, ‘I will not go to hear him ; I will have nothing to do with him.’ ButI repent. Here is my hand. By the grace of God, I will not leave you as long as I live.” William Blow, Mrs. S., and I set out at six. During our whole journey to Newcastle, I scarce observed her to laugh or even smile once. Nor did she ever complain of any thing, or appear moved in the least with those trying circumstances which many times occurred in our way. A steady seriousness, or sadness, rather, appeared in her whole behaviour and conversation, as became one that felt the burden of sin and was groaning after salvation. In the same spirit, by all I could observe or learn, she continued during her stay at Newcastle. Not long after, her husband removed from thence, and wrote to her to follow him. She set out in a ship bound for Hull. A storm met them by the way; the ship sprung a leak ; but though it was near the shore, ie i a _ Oct. 1743. ] REV. J. WESLEY'S JOURNAL. 301 on which many people flocked together, yet the sea ran so exceeding high, that it was impossible to make any help. Mrs. S. was seen standing on the deck, as the ship gradually smk; and afterward hanging by her hands on the ropes, till the masts hkewise disappeared. Even then, for some moments, they could observe her floating upon the waves, till her clothes, which buoyed her up, being throughlv wet, she sunk,--I trust. into the ocean of God’s merev. Journal T.--20 ov THE JOURNAL.--No. VI.

Fripay, October 28, 1'743.--We rode with William Holmes, “an Israelite indeed,” from Epworth to Sykehouse. Here I preached at ten, and hastened on to Leeds ; from whence, setting out early in the morning, I had hopes of reaching Wensley Dale before it was dark ; but it could not be; so in the dusk of the evening, understanding we had-five or six miles still to ride, I thought it best to procure a guide. In less than an hour, it being extremely dark, I perceived we were got out of all road. We were in a large meadow, near a river, and (it seemed to the) almost surrounded with water. I asked our guide, “Do you know where you are?” and he honestly answered, “ No.” So we rode on as we could, till about eight we came to a little house whence we were directed into a lane which led to Wensley. Sun. 30.--Mr. Clayton read prayers, and I preached, on, “ What must I do to be saved ?”? I showed, in the plainest words I could devise, that mere outside religion would not bring us to heaven; that ncne could go thither, without inward holiness, which was only to be attained by faith. As I went back through the church yard, many of the parish were in high debate what religion this preacher was of. Some said, “He must be a Quaker ;” others, “an Anabaptist:” but, at length, one deeper learned than the rest, brought them all clearly over to his opinion, that he was a Presbyterian Papist. Mon. 31.--We set out early in the morning, and in the evening came to Newcastle. Wed. November 2.--The following advertisement was published :-- For the benefit of Mr. Este. By the Edinburgh Company of Comedians, on Friday, November 4, will be acted, a Comedy, called To which will-be added, a Farce, called

Mon. 28.--I rode to Breson, and spent an hour or two in conversation with Mr. Simpson; the oddest, honestest enthusiast, surely, that ever was upon earth. Before we parted he told me, “ One thing I don’t like ; your taking away my flock at Nottingham. Just now that text is brought to my mind; it is the very case; pray read it out.” I did so, as follows: “* And Abraham reproved Abimelech, because of the well which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away.” I desired him to read my answer in the next verse. ‘And Abimelech said unto Abraham, I wot not who hath done this thing; neither heard I any thing thereof from thee, save this day.” In the afternoon I rode to Markfield. After preaching there twice, on Thursday, 29, I went on to Hinckley, and preached to a large and quiet congregation. We rode to Market Harborough that day, the next to Hockley, and on Thursday, December 1, to London. I had full employment here for some weeks following, in speaking severally to the members of the society. Many of these I was obliged to set aside: there remained about two-andtwenty hundred persons. January 1, 1744.--I received a letter from a poor man, wrote in the fulness of his heart, as follows :-- “Herein is written lamentation, and mourning, and wo.

‘“ Srr,--I have had but very little rest since I left you, the cause of which was, my leaving God first. It is true, I did ina very solemn manner, on my knees, break from you, as though I had done so merely to please God; but by what followed, it appears otherwise; for I no sooner broke off from you, than I began to think how I might make a worldly advantage by it. O, thought I, I shall not now be so scrupulous in many things, particularly in doing work on the Lord’s day. Then I got me some rabbits and fowls, and I would be sure to feed and clean them well on that day, and to be out on the hunt for food for them. And J took care my poor family should be sharers with me in the drudgery; or else they must expect many a sour look and bitter word at ieast. I then grew worse and worse; insomuch that I have given such occasion to the enemy to blaspheme, such a wound to religion, as I could not heal, were I to Feb. 1 /44.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 305 live ten thousand years. O whathave I done! Owhathave I lost! O that I might be admitted into God’s favour once more! Pray for me, I beseech you, if you see any hope left; if you do not think that repentance will be denied me, though I seek it carefully with tears. Then if you can think of any shame that will be bad enough for me to undergo before I am admitted into that company I so willingly left, see whether I will not readily submit to it. O that God would be pleased to bring me into light and love again! How careful would I be of his grace! How would I deny myself, take up my cross, endure shame, suffer persecution of every kind, follow the dear Lord Jesus without the camp! But I have crucified him afresh. O that I could give full scope to my mind! ButI cannot. These lines are but a very imperfect description of the state, condition, and desire, of that backslider, that apostate, that traitor, “ Joun Ewer.”

Sun. 8.--In the evening I rode to Brentford, on Monday to Marlborough, and the next day to Bristol. Wed. 11.--I began examining the society ; and not before it was wanted: for the plague was begun. I found many crying out, “ Faith, faith! Believe, believe!” but making little account of the fruits of faith, either of holiness or good works. In a few days they came to themselves, and had a more thorough understanding of the truth, as it isin Jesus. Wed. 25.--I preached at Bath, on James ii, 14, ‘Can faith save him?” Many of the audience appeared to be deeply convinced ; and one, though a gentlewoman, could not conceal the emotion of her mind, but broke out into streng cries and tears. Perhaps, even here, the “‘ bread” we have “ cast upon the waters, shall be found after many days.” Fri. 27.--Having finished the work I proposed, I left Bristol, and Saturday, 28, reached London. Wed. February 1.--Just before the time [had designed to begin preaching at the chapel, I was seized with such a pain as I do not remember ever to have felt beforé in my life. But I forgot it as soon as I had read my text, Psalm xviii, 1, &c, “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.” And from that time I felt it no more. About this time the soldiers abroad began to meet together, as we learned from the following letter :-- “Guent, February 2, 1'744. ‘““Srr,--I make bold to send you these lines. February 18, 1743, we began our march for Germany. I was then much cast down, and my heart was ready to break. But the day we marched to Maestricht, I found the love of God shed abroad in my heart, that I thought my very soul was dissolved into tears. But this lasted not above three weeks, and then I was in heaviness again; till, on April 24, as I was walking in the fields, God broke my hard heart in pieces. And yet I was not delivered from the fear of death. J went to my quarters very sick and weak, in great pain of soul and body. By the morning I was so weak I could scarce go: but this proved a sweet night to my soul; for now I knew there was no condemnation for me, believing in Christ Jesus.

Sun. 11.--I found it was absolutely necessary for me to spend a few days at Bristol. In the evening I set out. As I rode through Newbury the next day, my horse fell and threw me into a deep mire. I was not hurt; but after cleaning myself a little, went on, and came to Kingswood between one and two on Tuesday. I preached here with great enlargement of heart, as I did at Bristol in the evening. Wed. 14.--I endeavoured to clear up the misunderstandings which had arisen, by hearing the contending parties face to face. It was, as I suspected, a mere strife of words; of which they were all so fully sensible, that J believe they will not so easily again fall into this snare of the devil. Thur. 15.--TI talked largely with the Kingswood stewards, concerning the state of their schools and society ; and then with the master mistress, and children; and found great cause to bless God on thei behalf. In the evening I preached at Bristol, on, “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength ;” and, after commending myself to their prayers, I rode to Marshfield. Sat. 17.--We reached London. Sunday, 18, was a day of rest. Tuesday, 20.--Having received a summons, from the justices of Surrey, to appear at their court, at St. Margaret’s Hill, I did so; and asked, “ Has any one any thing to lay to my charge?” None made any reply. At length, one of the justices said, “Sir, are you willing to take the oaths to his majesty, and to sign the declaration against Popery?” I said, “ I am ;” which I accordingly did, and returned home. Thur. 22.--I gave the society an account of what had been done with regard to the poor. By the contributions and collections I had received about one hundred and seventy pounds ; with which above three hundred and thirty poor had been provided with needful clothing. Thirty or forty remaining still in want, and there being some debts for the clothes already distributed, the next day, being Good Friday, I made one collection more, of about six-and-twenty pounds. ‘This treasure, at least, ‘‘ neither rust nor moth” shall “ corrupt,” ‘nor thieves break through and steal.”

Thur. 12.--About eleven I preached at Crowan. In the afternoon we heard of the success of Mr. H.’s sermon. James Wheatley was walking through the town in the evening, when the mob gathered, and began to throw stones from all quarters. He stepped into a house; but the master of it followed him, like a lion, to drag him out. Yet, after a few words, his mind was changed, and he swore nobody should hurt him. Meantime one went for a justice of peace, who came, and promised to see him safe home. The mob followed, hallooing and shouting amain. Near John Paynter’s house the justice left him: they quickly beset the house. Buta messenger came from the mayor, forbidding any to touch Mr. Wheatley, at his peril. He then went home. But between seven and eight the mob came and beset John Nance’s house. John Nance and John Paynter went out, and stood before the door; though they were quickly covered with dirt. The cry was, “ Bring out the preacher! Pull down the house!” And they began to pull down the boards which were nailed against the windows. But the mayor, hearing it, came without delay, and read the proclamation against riots: upon which, after many oaths and imprecations, they thought proper to disperse. ; About six [ reached Morva, wet through and through; the rain having continued with scarce any intermission. However, a little company were gathered together, to whom I preached, on, “ Ask, and it shall be given you.” The next day I had time to dry my clothes at Mr. John’s, near Penzance. At noon I preached on the Downs, not far from his house; about three at Gulval, and at St. Ives in the evening. Sat. 14.--I took my leave of St. Ives ; preached at two in Camborne, and at Gwennap in the evening. Sun. 15.--I preached here again at five, and at eight in Stithian parish. The place was a green triangular plat, capable of holding eight or ten thousand men. I stood on one of the walls that inclosed it. Many sat on the other two. Some thousands stood between, and received the word with all readiness of mind. At five I preached at Gwennap, on a little hill, near the usual place. It Cie? eer 314 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ April, 1744.

“* Since I began to write this, we are come to our winter quarters, so that our society is now parted. We are some in Bruges, some in Ghent: But it has pleased the Lord to leave neither without a teacher; for John Greenwood and IJ are in this city ; and B. Clements, and Evans, are in Ghent;--so that we trust our Lord will carry on his work in both places. We that are in Bruges have hired a small place, in which we meet; and our dear Lord is in the rmaidst of us. Many times the tears run down every face, and joy reigns in every heart. I shall conclude with a full assurance of your prayers, with a longing desire to see you. O when will the joyful meeting be? Perhaps not on this side death; if not, my Master’s will be done. “ Your unworthy brother in the Lord, Caleta ie” Sun. 11.--In the evening I rode to Brentford. In the inn, where I lodged the next night, was a company of men exceeding drunk. Nature suggested, “¢ Why should you speak tothem? It will be, at best, labour lost; for you may be well assured, none of them will mind one word you say.” However, we spoke a few words to them: one of them immediately rose up, and said, it was all true, followed us as well as he could into our room, and appeared deeply convinced, and strongly desirous to serve a better master. Tues. 13.--In the evening we reached Bath, and the next morning rode to Bristol. After spending a few days there and at Kingswood, on Saturday, 24, I came again to London. Sun. 25.--I conversed with one who was greatly extolling the comfortable way wherein the Brethren preach. I understood him well. One, who was a believer, falls into carelessness, or wilful] sin. If he comes Dec. 1744. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 323 to hear our preaching, then we shake all his bones in pieces. If he comes to them, they stroke him, and lull him asleep. O how does any backslider escape this comfortable preaching ?

Thur. 2'7.--I called on the solicitor whom I had employed in the suit lately commenced against me in chancery; and here I first saw that foul monster, a chancery bill! A scroll it was of forty-two pages, in large folio, to tell a story which needed not to have taken up forty lines! And stuffed with such stupid, senseless, improbable lies, (many of them, too, quite foreign to the question,) as, I believe, would have cost the compiler his life in any Heathen court either of Greece or Rome. And this is equity in a Christian country! This is the English method of redressing other grievances! I conclude this year with the extract of a letter which I received some weeks before :-- * Honourep Sir,--I beg leave to give you a short account of my ex perience from the time I can remember. “In my childhood, confused convictions often passed through my mind, so that I almost always had the fear of God before my eyes, and a sense of his seeing me; and I frequently used to abstain from sin upon that account. When I did sin, I was immediately checked and grieved; so that E generally was serious, nothing like any of my other brothers, and was, on that account, esteemed a good child, and greatly caressed. I constantly said my prayers, and was much given to reading; but it was chiefly plays and romances, of which I was as fond as I was of cards, shows, races, feasts, and whatever are called innocent diversions. Yet even these were always a burden to me when over; so that I was forced to own, All these are vanity. ** At about sixteen, I was sent to Yarmouth, where I fell twice or thrice into intemperance, for which I was severely reproved in my conscience ; but I used to make up matters by going oftener to church: and having good health, and no care, I was generally easy in my mind, and gay and jocose in my conversation.

Oxford, which I did at Whitsuntide, 1742. But here I soon lost both power and form. I saw many places, was much in company, and grew more dead to the things of God, every day than other. I was truly glad to see London again; and the very first night began to consider, how I might recover my peace. But before I had executed any thing, I was seized with a fever. I looked up to God; but all was dark. With the trouble both of my body and mind, I really thought I should have gone distracted. Yet I was too self righteous to beg for mere mercy. All my cry was, ‘ Lord, give me health; and I will obey thee.’ “God did give me health; and I was more diligent than ever in going to church and sacrament; insomuch that on a week day, I have gone four or five times to churchinaday. Yet sin was my master; although every time I fell into it I was condemned exceedingly. I began now to see, that my laughter and jesting were wrong. But I thought, if I left them, my friends would cast me off. SoI went on sinning against light, and never finding peace for one whole day together. “One day, being in great trouble of mind, and thinking, Where shall I find a man who lives up to the rules given by Kempis? It came strongly into my mind, ‘Go to the Foundery.’ Immediately I went, but with fear and trembling. Here I continued a constant hearer for above two months, before I spoke to one person belonging to it; which I purposely abstained from, that I might the more exactly observe the whole behaviour, both of yourself and those that heard you. And the more closely I examined, the more-clearly I was convinced, These are the men I have been seeking so long.

Mon. February 4.--I had the pleasure of receiving from Dr. Hartley, a particular account of Dr. Cheyne’s last hours. During his last illness, he felt a gentle and gradual decay, so that he apprehended what the event would be. But it did not appear to give him any concern. He seemed quite loose from all below, till, without any struggle, either of body or mind, he calmly gave up his soul to God. Tues. 5.--We set out early, and the next day, at noon, met the little society at Windsor. We called at Brentford likewise; and, after a short stop, rode on, and reached London in the evening. Sun. 17.--I laboured much with one of our brethren, whose eyes the Antinomians had just opened, and for the present he seemed to be convinced. But I doubt that conviction will not continue ; it being not so easy to remove any one from that Gospel which flesh and blood hath revealed unto them. My exhorting the congregation here, not to consult with flesh and blood, but to attend the morning preaching, occasioned my receiving the following letter :-- “ Dear Srr,--For some time past I have been very negligent of coming in a morning, though I have been often severely reproved in my own mind for omitting that, which I knew was my duty both to God and my brethren. And from time to time, when you have exhorted us to partake of so useful a privilege, I have always been condemned. “ A few days ago I set myself to consider, whence this slackness must proceed. And JI soon saw, the root of it was, an evil heart of unbelief, departing from the living God, and, therefore, from his service. The pernicious branches of this I found to be ignoraxce and sloth. It was ignorance of myself that caused me to cry, ‘Peeve, peace;’ and to say within myself, ‘I know enough, and am satisfie, | And while I was in 328 REV. J. WESLEY'S JOURNAL. [Feb. 1745 --

printed against us, as both heretics and schismatics. 5. Persons who were convinced of sin, begged us to advise them more particularly how to flee from the wrath to come. We replied, if they would all come at one time (for they were numerous) we would endeavour it. 6. For this, we were represented, both from the pulpit and the press, (we have heard it with our ears, and seen it with our eyes,) as introducing Popery, raising sedition, practising both against Church and State; and all manner of evil was publicly said both of us, and those who were accustomed to meet with us. 7. Finding some truth herein, viz. that some of those who so met together walked disorderly, we immediately desired them not to come to us any more. 8. And the more steady were desired to overlook the rest, that we might know if they walked according to the Gospel. 9. But now several of the bishops began to speak against us, cither in conversation orin public. 10. On this encouragement, several of the clergy stirred up the people to treat us as outlaws or mad dogs. 11. The people did so, both in Staffordshire, Cornwall, and many other places. 12. And they do so still, wherever they are not restrained by their fear of the secular magistrate. “Thus the case stands at present. Now, what can we do, or what can you our brethren do, toward healing this breach? which is highly desirabie, that we may withstand, with joint force, the still increasing flood of Popery, Deism, and immorality. Desire of us any thing we can do with a safe conscience, and we will do it immediately. Will you meet us here? Will you do what we desire of you, so far as you can with a safe conscience ”

“2. We do not desire that any one who thinks that we are heretics or schismatics, and that it is his duty to preach or print against us, as such, should refrain therefrom, so long as he thinks it is his duty. (Although in this case, the breach can never be healed.) But we desire that none will pass such a sentence, till he has calmly considered both sides of the question ; that he would not condemn us unheard; but first read what we have written, and pray earnestly that God may direct him in the right way. . «3. We do not desire any favour, if either Popery, sedition, or immorality be proved against us. But we desire you will not credit, without proof, any of those senseless tales that pass current with the vulgar: That if you do not credit them yourselves, you will not relate them to others ; (which we have known done ;) yea, that you will confute them, so far as ye have opportunity, and discountenance those who still retail them abroad. “4, We do not desire any preferment, favour, or recommendation, from those that are in authority, either in Church or State: but we desire,-- (1.) That if any thing material be laid to our charge, we may be permitted to answer for ourselves. (2.) That you would hinder your dependents from stirring up the rabble against us: who are certainly not the proper judges of these matters. And, (3.) That you would effectually suppress, and throughly discountenance, all riots and popular insurrections, which evidently strike at the foundation of all government, whether of Church or State. Now these things you certainly can do, and that with a safe conscience. Therefore, till these things are done, the continuance of the breach is chargeable on you, and you only.”

Mon. 6.--I dined at Studley, where a poor man was swearing almost at every sentence. I asked him, if he thought that was well done ; and began to tell him how God loved him. He got up as in amaze, made many bows, said, “I ask pardon, sir, of God and you, and hope it will be a warning to me all the days of my life.” In the evening I preached at Evesham. The next day Mr. Taylor, of Quinton, came, who, on Wednesday, 8, rode with us to Oxford. I cannot spend one day here, without heaviness in my heart, for my brethren’s sake. O God, when wilt thou show these, who say they are rich, that they are poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked? Fri. 10.--I preached at High Wycomb, in an open place, to a mixed multitude ; some of whom were as rude as they dared to be, having none of the great vulgar to set them on. Sat. 11.--I came to London. The sower of tares, I found, had not been idle, but shaken many, and moved some from their steadfastness, who once seemed to be pillars. The next week, finding no other way to convince some who were hugely in love with that solemn trifle, my brother and I were at the pains of reading over Robert Barclay’s “ Apology” with them. Being willing to receive the light, their eyes were opened. They saw his nakedness, and were ashamed. Thur. 23.--We had one more conversation with one that had often strengthened our hands ; but now earnestly exhorted us (what is man!) to return to the Church; to renounce all our lay assistants ; to dissolve our societies ; to leave off field preaching, and to accept of honourable preferment. Wed. 29.--I talked at large with Howel Harris, not yet carried away by the torrent of Antinomianism. But how long will he be able to stand? Only till he consents to stand neuter. When he is brought not to oppose, he will quickly yield. I would wish all to observe, that the points in question between us and either the German or English Antinomians, are not points of opi- 336 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ May, 1745.

About two Mr. Thompson and I went into the room, where the justices and commissioners were. After a few minutes, Dr. Borlase stood up and asked, whether we had any business. I told him, “ We have.” We desired to be heard concerning one who was lately apprehended at Crowan. He said, “‘Gentlemen, the business of Crowan does not come on yet. You shall be sent for, when it does.” So we retired, and waited in another room, till after nine o’clock. They delayed the affair of Mr. Maxfield (as we imagined they would) to the very last. About nine he was called. I would have gone in then; but Mr. Thompson advised to wait a little longer. The next information we received was, that they had sentenced him to go for a soldier. Hearing this, we went straight to the commission chamber. But the honourable gentlemen were gonc. They had ordered Mr. Maxfield to be immediately put on board a boat, and carried for Penzance. We were informed, they had first offered him to a captain of a man-of-war, that was just come into the harbour. But he answered, “I have no authority to take such men as these, unless you would have me give him so much a week, to preach and pray to my people.” Sat. 22.--We reached St. Ives about two in the morning. At five I preached on, ‘* Love your enemies ;” and at Gwennap, in the evening, on, “ All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” June, 1745.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 339 We heard to-day, that as soon as Mr. Maxfield came to Penzance, they put him down into the dungeon; and that the mayor being inclined to let him go, Dr. Borlase had gone thither on purpose, and had himself read the articles of war in the court, and delivered him to one who was to act as an officer.

Tues. July 2.--I preached in the evening at St. Just. I observed not only several gentlemen there, who I suppose never came before, but a large body of tinners, who stood at a distance from the rest; and a great multitude of men, women, and children, beside, who seemed not well to know why they came. Almost as soon as we had done singing, a kind of gentlewoman began. I have seldom seen a pour creature take so much pains. She scelded, and screamed, and spit, and stamped, and wrung her hands, and distorted her face and body all manner of _ ways. I took no notice of her at all, good or bad; nor did almost any one else. Afterward I heard she was one that had been bred a Papist ; and when she heard we were so, rejoiced greatly. No wonder she should be proportionably angry, when she was disappointed of her hope. Mr. Eustick, a neighbouring gentleman, came, just as I was concluding my sermon. The people opening to the right and left, he came up to me and said, * Sir, I have a warrant from Dr. Borlase, and you must go with me.” Then turning round, he said, ‘Sir, are you Mr. Shepherd ? If so, you are mentioned in the warrant too. Be pleased, sir, to come with me.” We walked with him to a public house, near the end of the town. Here he asked me, if I was willing to go with him to the Doctor. I told him, just then, ifhe pleased. “Sir,” said he, “I must wait upon you to your inn; and in the morning, if you will be so good as to go with me, I will show you the way.” So he handed me back to my inn, and retired.

Wed. 3.--I waited till nine; but no Mr. Eustick came. I then desired Mr. Shepherd, to go and inquire for him at the house wherein he had lodged; si forte edormisset hoc villi: [if, peradventure he had slept off his wine ;] he met him coming, as he thought, to our inn. But after waiting some time, we inquired again, and learned he had turned aside to another house in the town. I went thither, and asked, “Is Mr. Eustick here?” _ After some pause, one said, “ Yes ;” and showed me into the parlour. When he came down he said, “ O sir, will you be so good as go with me to the Doctor’s?” I answered, “ Sir, I came for that purpose.” “Are you ready, sir?” I answered, “Yes.” “Sir, I am not quite ready. In a little time, sir, in a quarter of an hour, I will wait upon you. I will come to William Chenhall’s.” In about three quarters of an hour he came, and finding there was no remedy, he called for his horse, and put forward toward Dr. Borlase’s house ; but he was in no haste; so that we were an hour and a quarter riding three or four measured miles. As soon as we came into the yard, he asked a servant, “Is the Doctor at home ?”” Upon whose answering, “‘ No, sir, ke is gone to church ;” he presently said, ‘‘ Well, sir, I have executed my commission. I have done, sir; I have no more to say.” About noon, Mr. Shepherd and I reached St. Ives. After a tew hours’ rest, we rode to Gwenuap. Finding the house would not con- tain one fourth of the people, I stove before the door. I was reading my text, when a man came, reging as if just broke out of the tombs ; Jwy, 1745.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 344

and riding into the thickest of the people, seized three or four, one after another, 1one lifting up a hand against him. A second (gentleman, so called) soon came after, if possible, more furious than he; and ordered his men to seize on some others, Mr. Shepherd in particular. Most of the people, however, stood still as they were before, and began 4 singing a hymn. Upon this Mr. B. lost all patience, and cried out with all his might, “Seize him, seize him. I say, seize the preacher -for his majesty’s service.” But no one stirring, he rode up and struck several of his attendants, cursing them bitterly for not doing as they were bid. Perceiving still that they would not move, he leaped off his horse, swore he would do it himself, and caught hold of my cassock, crying, “I take you to serve his majesty.” A servant taking his horse, he took me by the arm, and we walked arm in arm for about three quarters of amile. He entertained me ail the time, with the “ wickedness of the fellows belonging to the society.” When he was taking breath, I said, “ Sir, be they what they will, I apprehend it will not justify you, in seizing me in this manner, and violently carrying me away, as you said, to serve his majesty.” He replied, “ J seize you! And violently carry you away! No, sir; no. Nothing like it. I asked you to go with me to my house, and you said you was willing ; and if so, you are welcome ; and if not, you are welcome to go where you please.” I answered, “Sir, I know not if it would be safe for me to go back through this rabble.” “Sir,” said he, “I will go with you myself.” He then called for his horse, and another for me, and rode back with :* me to the place from whence he took me.

to say to me !---I am John Wesley.” One of them appeared extremely angry at this, thet I should presume to say I was Mr. John Wesley.” And I know not how I might have fared for advancing so bold an assertion, but that Mr. Collins, the minister of Redruth, (accidentally, as he said) came by. Upon his accosting me, and saying, he knew me at Oxford, my first antagonist was silent, and a dispute of another kind began: whether this preaching had done any good. I appealed to inatter of fact. He allowed, (after many words,) “ People are the better for the present ;” but added, “ To be sure, by and by they will be as bad, if not worse than ever.” When he rode away, one of the gentlemen said, “ Sir, I would speak with you a little: let us ride to the gate.” We did so, and he said, “ Sir, I will tell you the ground of this. All the gentlemen of these parts say, that you have been a long time in France and Spain, and are now sent hither by the Pretender; and that these societies are to join him.” Nay, surely “all the gentlemen in these parts” will not he against their own conscience! I rode hence to a friend’s house, some miles off, and found the sleep of a labouring man is sweet. I was informed there were many here also who had an earnest desire to hear “ this preaching ;” but they did not dare; Sir V--n having solemnly declared, nay, and that in the face of the whole congregation, as they were coming out of church, “If any man of this parish dares hear these fellows, he shall not--come to my Christmas feast!”

“ Dear Sir,--I sat up with Isaac Kilby three nights, and being greatly comforted by many of his expressions, I believed it would not be losing time to set a few of them down. On Wednesday, June 18, when I came into the house, he was supposed to be near his end. His body was in great pain, and.just gasping for breath: but his mind was in perfect peace. He had little strength to speak; but when he did, (which was now and then on a sudden, as if immediately supported for that purpose,) his words were strangely powerful, just as if they came from one who was now before the throne of glory. When he had just drank something, I said, ‘ All may drink of the water of life freely.’ He lifted up his hands in great love, and said, ‘ Yea, all, all; all the world.’ “ After long silence, he suddenly asked me, how I felt myself: I replied, ‘I find great consolation from the Lord.’ He said, ‘ How strange it is, that such a rebel as Ishould bring glory to God When dozing, his mind would rove; but even then his discourse consisted chiefly of strong exhortations to some of his acquaintance, to repent, and persevere in the ways of God. On Friday I called, and found him in the same spirit, full of pain, yet full of joy unspeakable. I could not forbear sitting up with him again. All his words were full of divine wisdom, expressing a deep sense of the presence and mercy of God, and of his own unworthiness. ** Mention being made concerning his burial, (in the beginning of his sickness, he had desired, that Mr. Wesley might bury him, and preach a sermon from that text, ‘Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth,’ he said, ‘ Now I do not think of such things; bury me as you will; yet I should be glad to have a sermon preached: but just as Mr. Wesley pleases.’ He said to me, ‘O go on, and you will rejoice as I do, in the like condition.” He prayed, that he might die before the morning; but added, ‘ Not as I will, but as thou wilt.’ Thus he contirved till WednesAvg. 1745.] ‘REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 347

day, June 25, when I sat up with him again. Being now much weaker, he roved more than éver. Yet when I asked, ‘Isaac, how do you find your soul?? He answered, ‘I rejoice in God my Saviour. I am as clay in the hands of the potter.’ And about half an hour after twelve, he went to sing praise to God and the Lamb for ever.” Some circumstances related in the following letter, which some may account odd accidents, I think are such instances of the providence of God, as ought to be had in remembrance :-- “ June 28, 1745. Bristol. “ Rev. Sir,--On May 31, I went to Sykehouse, and exhorted the people at all opportunities. On Monday, June 3, about three o’clock in the inorning, W. Holmes came to me, and said, ‘ Brother Moss, I have been just awaked by a dream, that the constables and churchwardens came to press you for a soldier. I would have you get up and go to Norton.’ I did so, and he walked with me about half a mile. At his return, the con stables and churchwardens were come. They asked him, ‘ Where is the preacher?’ He said, ‘I have just carried him away: but have you a warrant to press such men as these?’ They answered, ‘ Yes, we have; and will press him, if we see him here again.’ He replied, ‘ You shall see him again in that day, when the Lord shall judge the world in righteousness.’ ‘“* He came and told me, and advised me to go thence. So I went to Epworth on Tuesday. On Wednesday night I had spoke about a quarter of an hour, when the churehwardens and constables came. They bade me stop. I told them, ‘I will, when I have delivered my message.’ They cried, ‘ Bring him away! bring him away!’ I thought, ‘ But they cannot, unless the Lord will.’ The constable coming up to me, I looked him in the face, and he shrunk back and said, ‘I cannot take him.’ His companions swore, ‘ But we will fetch him soon.’ As they were pressing on, many of the people got between, and kept so close together, that for near half an hour they could get no further. Glory be to God, my soul all the time was rather in heaven than on earth.

“The following week, grievous threatenings were given out, of what we should suffer, if we met again. On Friday, 9, a gentleman sent for me, and told me he would hire a mob to pull the house down; for we were the most disturbing dogs in the nation. I said, ‘Sir, if there be a disturbance now, it will lie at yourdoor. A few of us intend to meet on Sunday, after sermon, to encourage one another in serving God. You say, if we do, you will have the house pulled down: and then you will say we have made the disturbance.’ He said he would send for me another time, and have an hour’s discourse with me. “On Sunday, the man at whose house we were to meet, was warned by his landlady not to receive us; for if he did, the horse would surely be pulled down. However, he did receive us. A great many people coming about the house, he told them, if they had a mind, they might come in; so they came in, as many as the house would hold. I told them all, the design of our meeting. Then we prayed, and I read the first chapter of St James, and spoke a little on those words, ‘If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.’ And two more of our brethren testified, by their own experience, that he is a God of truth. They stood as dumb men, till we had done, nor did one afterward open his mouth against us. “From this time we have been threatened more and more, especially by the gentry, who say they will send us all for soldiers. Nevertheless, on Sunday, 18, we had a quiet and comfortable meeting. We considered the third chapter of the First Epistle of St. Peter, which was the Evening lesson for the day. We were thankful for the record that is there left us ef the treatment we are to meet with. And we are all much humbled, that we are counted worthy to suffer shame for the sake of Christ.

“T have been ill this fortnight, having got a great cold, but am obliged lo Keep it to myself as much as I can; because a person here cannot have the very form of godliness, but if he is sick, that is the cause of it. I seem not to desire life or death, but that the will of God may be done.” Fri. 6.--Many of our friends were grieved at the advertisement Journal L--23 -- 350 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. (Sept. 174. which James Hutton had just published, by order of Count Zinzendorf, declaring, that he and his people had no connection with Mr. John and Charles Wesley. But I believed that declaration would do us no more harm than the prophecy which the Count subjoined to it,--that we should soon run our heads against the wall.--We will not, if we can help it. Sun. 8.--In the evening I desired the society to stay, that ve might commend each other to God, as not knowing how he might see good to dispose of us before we saw each other’s face again. Mon. 9.--I left London, and the next morning called on Dr. Doddridge, at Northampton. It was about the hour when he was accustomed to expound a portion of Scripture to the young gentlemen under his care. He desired me to take his place. It may be the seed was not altogether sown in vain. In the evening, the church at Markfield was full, while I explained, “ The Scripture hath concluded all under sin.” Wed. 11.--I preached at Sheffield. I had designed to go round by Epworth; but hearing of more and more commotions in the north, I judged it best to go straight on to Newcastle.

' and, on Wednesday, October 2, returned to Newcastle, where they were just informed that the rebels had left Edinburgh on Monday, and were swiftly marching toward them. But it appeared soon that this also was a false alarm ; it being only a party which had moved southward, the main body still remaining in their camp, a mile or two from Edinburgh. On Thursday and Friday I visited the rest of the country societies. On Saturday a party of the rebels (about a thousand men) came within seventeen miles of Newcastle. This occasioned a fresh alarm in the town; and orders were given by the general that the soldiers should march against them on Monday morning. But these orders were countermanded. Mr. Nixon (the gentleman who had some days since, upon being apprehended, cut his own throat) being still unable to speak, wrote as well as he could, that the design of the prince (as they called him) was to seize on T'ynemouth castle, which he knew was well provided both with cannon and ammunition; and thence to march to the hill on the Uct. 1745. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 3538 east side of Newvastle, which entirely commards the town. And if this had been done, he would have carried his point, and gained the town without a blow. The mayor immediately sent to Tynemouth zastle, and lodged the cannon and ammunition in a safer place. Tues. 8.--I wrote to General Husk as follows :-- **A surly man came to me this evening, as he said, from you. He would not deign to come up stairs to me, nor so much as into the house ; but stood in the yard till I came, and then obliged me to go with him into the street, where he said, ‘ You must pull down the battlements of your house, or to-morrow the general will pull them down for you.’ “Sir, to me this is nothing. But I humbly conceive it would not be proper for this man, whoever he is, to behave in such a manner to any other of his majesty’s subjects, at so critical a time as this. Iam ready, if it may be for his majesty’s service, to pull not only the battlements, but the house down; or to give up any part of it, or the whole, into your excellency’s hands.”

“‘Ts there no man that careth for these souls? Doubtless there are some who ought so to do. But many of these, if I am rightly informed, receive large pay, and do just nothing. I would to God it were in my power, in any degree, to supply their lack of service. I am ready to do what in me lies, to call these poor sinners to repentance, once or twice a day, (while I remain in these parts,) at any hour, or at any place. And I desire no pay at all for doing this; unless what my Lord shall give at his appearing. “If it be objected, (from our Heathenish poet,) ‘This conscience will make cowards of us all;? I answer, let us judge by matter of fact. Let either friends or enemies speak. Did those who feared God behave as cowards at Fontenoy? Did J. H., the dragoon, betray any cowardice, before or after his horse sunk under him? Or did W. C., when he received the first ball in his left, and the second in his right arm? Or John Evans, when the cannon ball took off both his legs? Did he not call all about him, as long as he could speak, to praise and fear God, and honour the king? as one who feared nothing, but lest his last breath should be spent in vain. “If it were objected, that I should only fill their heads with peculiar whims and notions; that might easily be known. Only let the officers hear with their own ears; and they may judge whether I do not preach the plain principles of manly, rational religion. Having myself no knowledge of the general, I took the liberty to make this offer to you. I have no interest herein; but I should rejoice to serve, as I am able, my king and country. If it be judged, that this will be of no real service, let the proposal die, and be forgotten. But I beg you, sir, to believe, that I have the same glorious cause, for which you have shown so becoming a zeal, earnestly at heart; and that therefore, I am, with warm respect, Sir, “Your most obedient servant.”

Sun. 27.--I received a message from Mr. Ridley, that he would communicate my proposal to the general, and return me his answer as soon as possible. Mon. 28.--I rode to Biddick, where the first are become last. I preached on, “ Will ye also go away ?”” Many appeared to be cut to the heart; but it is well if these convictions, also, do not pass away as the morning cloud. Nov. 1745. ] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 355 Tues. 29.--A young gentleman called upon me, whose father is an eminent minister in Scotland, and was in union with Mr. Glass, till Mr. Glass renounced him, because they did not agree as to the eating of blood. (Although I wonder any should disagree about this, who have read the fifteenth chapter of the Acts, and considered, that no Christian in the universe did eat it till the Pope repealed the law which had remained at least ever since Noah’s flood.) Are not these things in Scotland also for our instruction? How often are we warned, not to fall out by the way! O that we may never make any thing, more on less, the term of union with us, but the having the mind which was in Christ, and the walking as he walked! Thur. 31.--At ten I preached on the Town Moor, at a small distance from the English camp, (the Germans lying by themselves,) on, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!” None attempted to make the least disturbance, from the beginning to the end. Yet I could not reach their hearts. ‘The words of a scholar did not affect them, like those of a dragoon or a grenadier.

Nov. 1745 | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 359 my nature quite changed, and my affections carried away to heaven. Then I broke out into such expressions as I cannot utter now, praising God for what he had done for my soul. My fever also was gone. As soon as I was assured of his love, I was healed both in body and soul; which ‘I told the doctor and apothecary in the morning, who stood like men in amaze, and confessed they had never seen such a thing before. A deal of people came all that week: on Wednesday, in particular, I was talking to them, without any time for breakfast or dinner, from six in the morning to six at night. Dear sir, pray for me, that God may keep me, who am your unworthy sister, “ Jane Bate.” Having now delivered my own soul, on Monday, 4, I left Newcastle. Before nine we met several expresses, sent to countermand the march of ihe army into Scotland; and to inform them, that the rebels had passed the Tweed, and were marching southward. Tuesday, 5.--In the evening I came to Leeds, and found the town full of bonfires, and people shouting, firmg of guns, cursing and swearing, as the English manner of keeping holidays is. I immediately sent word to some of the magistrates, of what I had heard on the road. This ran’through the town, as it were, in an instant: and I hope it was a token for good. The hurry in the streets was quashed at once ;--some of the bonfires indeed remained ; but scarce any one was to be seen about them, but a few children warming their hands. Thur. 7.--I rode to Stayley Hall, in Cheshire, after many interruptions in the way, by those poor tools of watchmen, who stood with great solemnity, at the end of almost every village. I preached there on Mark i, 15, and rode on to Bradbury Green. Fri. 8.--Understanding that a neighbouring gentleman, Dr. C., had affirmed to many, that Mr. Wesley was now with the Pretender, near Edinburgh, I wrote him a few lines. It may be, he will have a little more regard to truth, or shame, for the time to come. About noon I preached near Maxfield; in the evening, at the Black House.

* You think, secondly, that we ourselves give up some things as indefensible, which are defended by the same law and authority that establishes the things above mentioned; such as are many of the laws, customs, and practices of the ecclesiastical courts. ‘““We allow, 1. That those laws, customs, and practices, are really indefensible. 2. That there are acts of parliament in defence of them; and also of the threefold order. “ But will you show us how it follows, either, (1.) That those things and these stand or fall together? Or, (2.) That we cannot sincerely plead for the one, though we give up the other? Do you not here quite overlook one circumstance, which might be a key to our whole behaviour ? namely, that we no more look upon these filthy abuses which adhere to our Church as part of the building, than we look upon any filth which may adhere to the walls of Westminster Abbey as a part of that structure. “You think, thirdly, That there are other things which we defend and practise, in open contradiction to the orders of the Church of England. And this you judge to be a just exception against the sincerity of our professions to adhere to it. “Compare what we profess with what we practise, and you will possibiy be of another judgment. We profess, 1. That we will obey all the laws of that Church, (such we allow the rubrics to be, but not the customs of the ecclesiastical courts,) so far as we can with a safe conscience 2. That we will obey, with the same restriction, the bishops. as executors Jan. 1746.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 363 of those laws. But their bare will, distinct from those laws, we do not profess to obey at all.

Fri. 21.--I came to Nottingham. I had long doubted what it was which hindered the work of God here. But upon inquiry the case was plain. So many of the society were either triflers or disorderly walkers, that the blessing of God could not rest upon them; so I made short work, cutting off all such at a stroke, and leaving only that little handful who (as far as could be judged) were really in earnest to save their souls. Sat. 22.--I came to Wednesbury. The Antinomian teachers had laboured hard to destroy this poor people. Sunday, 23.--I talked an hour with the chief of them, Stephen Timmons. I was in doubt whether pride had not made him mad. An uncommon wildness and fierceness in his air, his words, and the whole manner of his behaviour, almost induced me to think God had for a season given him up into the hands of Satan. In the evening I preached at Birmingham. Here another of their pillars, J: Ww d, came to me, and, looking over his shoulder, said, ‘* Don’t think I want to be in your society ; but if you are free to speak to me, you may.” I will set down the conversation, dreadful as it was, in the very manner wherein it passed; that every serious person may see the true picture of Antinomianism full grown; and may know what these men mean by their favourite phrase, of being “ perfect in Christ, not in themselves.” “‘ Do you believe you have nothing to do with the law of God?” “TI have not: I am not under the law: I live by faith.” ‘Have you, as living by faith, a right to every thing in the world?” “T have: all is mine, since Christ is mine.”” ‘ May you then take any thing you will any where? Suppose, out ofa shop, without the consent or knowledge of the owner?” “TI may, if I want it: for it is mine: only I will not give offence.” ‘“ Have you also a right to all the women in the world?” “Yes, if they consent.” ‘ And is not that asin?” “Yes, to him that thinks it is a sin: but not to those whose hearts are free.” The same thing that wretch, Roger Ball, affirmed in Dublin. Surely these are the first-born children of Satan!

Tues. 25.--I preached at Evesham: Wednesday, 26, about ten, at Stamey: in the afternoon, at the Friars, in Gloucester. I preached Pa iia, April, 1746.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 367 at Wallbridge, near Stroud, in the evening; and on Thursday, 27, rode to Bristol. Thur. April 3.--I spent an agreeable hour with our old fellow labourer, Mr. Humphreys. I found him open and friendly, but rigorously tenacious of the unconditional decrees. O that opinions should separate chief friends! This is bigotry all over. Mon. '7.--I preached at Kingswood, on Isaiah Ix, the seventeenth and following verses, and laid the first stone of the new house there. In the evening I rode (with Mr. Shepherd) to Bath, and Tuesday, the 8th, to Newbury. Here we met with several of the little society in Blewbury ; some of whom were truly alive to God. What a proof is this, that God sends by whom he will send! Who hath begotten us these? David Jeffries ! Wed. 9.--In the evening I preached at Brentford. Many were got together there who threatened great things. I went and took one or two of their chiefs by the hand, and desired them to come in. They did so, and were calm and silent. It was a season of great refreshment. The next morning we rode to London. In the afternoon I buried the body of Ann Clowney, a poor woman, whom many could never think to be a believer, because she was a fool. (One of exceeding weak understanding, though not directly a natural.) But in the time of sickness and pain, none coulddeny the work ofGod. Neither did she die as a fool dieth.

“¢6, Mr. W. is partial throughout his Journal.’ I want to know the particular instances. ‘In what he mentions of me, he does not represent our conversation rightly.’ Then it is the fault of my memory. But be so kind as to point out the particulars that are not rightly represented. ‘ He has done the cause of our Saviour more mischief, than any one else could have done.’ Tell me how? unless you mean the Antinomian cause, by the cause of our Saviour. ‘I have several times gone to Mr. W. to explain. matters, and to desire him to be reconciled.’ Several times! When, and where? You surprise me much! Either my memory or yours fails strangely. ‘In truth, it is he that has stood out.’ Alas, my brother! What an assertion is this? Did not I come three years ago (before that Journal was published) in all haste, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and my brother, in five days, from the Land’s End, to a supposed conference in London? Was this standing out? But with what effect? Why, Mr. Spangenberg had just left London. None besides had any power to confer with us. And to cut us off from any such expectation, James Hutton said, they had orders, not to confer at all, unless the archbishop of Canterbury, or the bishop of London, were present. “ There cannot be under heaven a greater mistake, than this, that I ever did stand out, or that I do so now. There has not been one day for these seven years last past, wherein my soul has, not longed for union. And they have grossly abused your honest credulity, whoever have made you believe the contrary. «<7, Since Mr. Wesleys have published such stuff and inconsistencies, { cannot agree with them.’ My brother, make some of those inconsistencies appear, and it will be an act of solid friendship. But, ‘time will manifest matters, and what is of God will stand, and what is of man will come to nought.’ Most true; and according to this sure rule, it has already appeared, whose work i is of God; both at Bradford, at Horton, and in severa! towns not far from your own ‘neighbourhood. “8. The account you give of the Moravians in general, is the very same I had given before; viz. That next to those of our own Church, ‘who

of which Robert Peacock is leader. I ask, ‘ Does this and this person in your class live in drunkenness or any outward sin? Does he go to church, and use the other means of grace? Does he meet you as often as he has opportunity?” Now, if Robert Peacock has common sense, he can answer these questions truly ; and if he has common honesty, he will. And if not, some other in the class has both, and can and will answer for him. Where is the difficulty then of finding out if there be any disorderly walker in this class, and, consequently, in any other? The question is not concerning the heart, but the life. And the general tenor of this, I do not say cannot be known, but cannot be hid without a miracle. Where then is the need of any miraculous discernment in order to purge one of those societies? Nay, where is the use of it? For if 1 had that discernment, I am to pass sentence only ez allegatis et probatis ; [from what is alleged and proved,] not according to what I miraculously discern, but according to what is proved in the face of the sun. The society, which the first year consisted of above eight hundred members, is now reduced to four hundred. But, according to the old proverb, the half is more than the whole. We shall not be ashamed of any of these, when we speak with our enemies in the gate.

Fri. 13.--1l found Mr. P. and I. almost discouraged at the doctrine of absolute and connotative nouns. I wonder any one has patience to. learn logic, but those who do it on a principle of conscience ; unless he learns it as three in four of the young gentlemen in the universities do: That is, goes about it and about it, without understanding one word of the matter. In some of the following days I snatched a few hours to read “ The History of the Puritans.” I stand in amaze: First, at the execrable spirit of persecution, which drove those venerable men out of the Church, and with which Queen Elizabeth’s clergy were as deeply tinctured as ever Queen Mary’s were. Secondly, at the weakness of those holy confessors, many of whom spent so much of their time and strength in disputing about surplices and hoods, or kneeling at the Lord’s Supper. Thur. 19.--I considered, ‘“* What would I do now, if I was sure I had but two days to live?” All outward things are settled to my wish; the houses at Bristol, Kingswood, and Newcastle, are safe; the deeds whereby they are conveyed to the trustees, took place on the 5th instant; my will is made; what have I more to do, but to commend my soul to my merciful and faithful Creator? Some days I spent in every week, in examining the societies round Newcastle. And great cause I found to rejoice over them. Tues. 24.--I rode to Blanchland, about twenty miles from Newcastle. The rough mountains round about were still white with snow. In the midst of them is a small winding valley, through which the Derwent runs. On the edge of this the little town stands, which is indeed little more than a heap of ruins. There seems to have been a large cathedral church, by the vast walls which still remain. I stood in the church yard, under one side of the building, upon a large tombstone, round which, while I was at prayers, all the congregation kneeled down on the grass. They were gathered out of the lead mines from all parts; many from Allandale, six miles off. A row of little children sat under the opposite fe eee Oe eT em fy ont , NTA i ees y ie _-- pr ~ April, 1'747.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 393

Sat. 27.--I preached at four, and then spoke severally to part of the society. As yet I have found only one person among them who knew the love of God, before my brother came. No wonder the devil was so still; for his goods were in peace. About six in the evening, I went to the place where I preached the last year. A little before we had ended the hymn, came the lieutenant, a famous man, with his retinue of soldiers, drummers, and mob. When the drums ceased, a gentleman-barber began to speak: but his voice was quickly drowned in the shouts of the multitude, who grew fiercer and fiercer, as then numbers increased. After waiting about a quarter of an hour, perceiving the violence of the rabble still increasing, I walked down into the thickest of them, and took the captain of the mob by the hand. He immediately said, “ Sir, I will see you safe home. Sir, no man shall touch you. Gentlemen, stand off: give back. I will knock the first man down that touches him.” We walked on in great peace ; my conductor every now and then stretching out his neck (he was a very tal] man) and looking round, to see if any behaved rudely, till we came to Mr. Hide’s door. We then parted in much love. I stayed in the street near half an hour after he was gone, talking with the people, wha had now forgot their anger, and went away in high good humour. sven ay " Hai ; ‘4 July, 1747. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 401

Fri. 10.---I preached at Gulval Cross, in the midway between Pen -zance and Marazion. Sat. 11.--I examined the classes at St. Just, -established and settled in the grace of God. Sun. 12.--At five I ‘preached at St. Just; at twelve, to the largest congregation I ever -saw at Morva. I then went to church at Zennor; and when the ser- ‘vice was ended, preached under the church yard wall. Hence I rode ‘to Newlyn, a little town on the south sea, about a mile from Penzance. At five I walked to a rising ground, near the sea shore, where was a smooth white sand to stand on. An immense multitude of people was gathered together; but their voice was as the roaring of the sea. I began to speak, and the noise died away: but before I had ended my prayer, some poor wretches of Penzance began cursing and swearing, ‘and thrusting the people off the bank. In two minutes I was thrown into the midst of them; when one of Newlyn, a bitter opposer till then, ‘turned about, and swore, * None shall meddle with the man: I will lose my life first.” Many others were of his mind: so I walked a hundred yards forward, and finished my sermon without any interruption. Mon. 13.--I preached at Terdinny, in Buryan parish, where was a large and earnest congregation, notwithstanding the wonderful stories which they have frequently heard, related in the pulpit for certain truths {n the morning I wrote as follows :-- Terdinny, July 14, 1747. “ Rey. Sir,--I was exceedingly surprised when I was informed yester day, of your affirming publicly in the church, in the face of a whole ah, Pa \ ose : Aug. 1747. | . REV. 3. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. - 403

. contain the people, who all seemed to taste the good word. Between eight and nine I went to Mr. R. the curate of St. Mary’s. He professed abundance of good will, commended my sermon in strong terms, and begged he might see me again the next morning. But, at the same time, he expressed the most rooted prejudice against lay preachers, or preaching out of a church; and said, the archbishop of Dublin was resolved to suffer no such irregularities in his diocess. I went to our brethren, that we might pour out our souls before God. I then went straight to wait on the archbishop myself ; but he was gone out of town.

Sun. 23.--The room was so crowded in the morning, that I thought it best to begin before the usual time in the evening. Yet were a multitude of people got tegether, in the house, yard, and street, far more than my voice could reach. I cried aloud to as many of them as coula hear, “ All things are ready: come ye to the marriage.” I had then delivered my message: so before ten we took boat, and about eleven reached the ship. The wind was right ahead. Then succeeded a dead Sept. 1747. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 407 calm; so that we did not get out of the bay till Monday evening ; nor within sight of Wales till Wednesday, 26. By this means we had an opportunity of talking largely both with our fellow passengers and the sailors, many of whom received our words with gladness. About two in the afternoon we landed at Holyhead. Between three and four we took horse, and came in the evening to Thomas Thomas’s, near Rydy-Spardon. He had before desired Jonathan Reeves to call there in fico return ; but we were at a great loss, none in the house understanding English, and none of us understanding Welsh; till Mr. Morgan, a neighbouring schoolmaster, came, who took us to his own house ; and in the morning, Thursday, 27, rode with us to the passage. We reached Carnarvon before ten, T'annabull in the evening, and Llanidloes, Friday, 28.

Mon. November 2.--I preached at Windsor at noon, and in the afternoon rode to Reading. Mr. J. R. had just sent his brother word, _ that he had hired a mob to pull down his preaching house that night. In the evening, Mr. S. Richards overtook a large company of bargemen walking toward it, whom he immediately accosted, and asked, if they would go with him and hear a good sermon; telling them, “I will make room for you, if you were as many more.” ‘They said, they would go with all their hearts. “ But neighbours,” said he, “ would it not be as well to leave those clubs behind you? Perhaps some of the women may be frighted at them.” They threw them all away, and walked quietly with him to the house, where he set them ina pew. In the conclusion of my sermon, one of them, who used to be their captain, being the head taller than his fellows, rose up, and looking round the congregation, said, “ The gentleman says nothing but what is good: I say so; and there is not a man here that shall dare to say otherwise.” Thur. 5.--I began examining the classes, and every person severally, touching that bane of religion, evil speaking: as well as touching their manner of life before they heard this preaching ; and by comparing what they were with what they are now, we found more abundant cause to praise God. Fri. 20.--I was informed of a remarkable providence: one going home the last watch-night, met a woman in Blackfriars, who inquired, which was the way to the water side. She said, “It is so ate, I doubt you will get no boat.” The woman answered, “I don’t vant one.” On this she stopped and began to question her more closely, what she was going todo. After a while, she confessed she was going to drown herself, being under heavy affliction. But she was soon brought to a better mind; and seemed resolved to cast her care on Him, who had so signally cared for her.

Wed. 24.--We hastened on to Holyhead ; but all the ships were on the other side. Thur. 25.--No packet boat being come, I gave notice of preaching in the evening. The hearers were many more than the room could contain, and they all behaved with decency. Fri. 26.--I preached again in the evening. Mr. E., the minister, came in toward the close. He was speaking warmly to our landlord, when Mr. Swindells went to him, and spoke a few mild words. Mr. E. asked him to step with him to his lodgings, where they had a long and friendly conversation. Sat. 2'’7.--Mr. Swindells informed me, that Mr. E. would take it a favour if I would write some little thing, to advise the Methodists not to leave the Church, and not to rail at their ministers. I sat down immediately and wrote, “ A Word to a Methodist,” which Mr. E. translated into Welsh, and printed. Sun. 28.--In the evening I read prayers at our inn, and.preached to a large and serious audience. I did the same on Monday and Tuesday evening. Perhaps our stay here may not be in vain. I never knew men make such poor, lame excuses, as these captains did for not sailing. It put me in mind of the epigram, There are, if rightly I methink, Five causes, why a man should drink; which, with a little alteration, would just suit them :-- There are, unless my memory fail, Five causes, why we should not sail: The fog is thick ; the wind is high ; It rams; or may do by-and-by; Or any other reason why. a 418 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ March, 1748. Wed. March 2.--Finding no more probability of sailing now than the first day we came to Holyhead, we rode into the country, to see for Mr. William Jones, who had some acquaintance with iny brother. We procured a guide to show us the way to his house; but all we learnea there was, that he was not at home. We lodged at the Bull’s Head: all the family came up to prayers, and we had a quiet and comfortable night. Thur. 3.--Mr. ilolloway. a neighbouring exciseman, invited us to breakfast with him. He once began to run well; and now resolved to set out afresh: I trust we were sent to him for good.

his club over his head, cried out, ‘Bring him away !? With such a convoy { walked to Barrowford, where they informed me you was; their drummer going before, to draw all the rabble together from all quarters. “When your deputy had brought me into the house, he permitted Mr. Grimshaw, the minister of Haworth, Mr. Colbeck, of Keighley, and one more, to be with me, promising that none should hurt them. Soon after you and your friends came in, and required me to promise, I would come to Roughlee no more. I told you, I would sooner cut off my hand, than make any such promise: neither would I promise that none of my friends should come. After abundance of rambling discourse, (for could keep none of you long to any one point,) from about one oclock till between three and four, (in which one of you frankly said, ‘No; we will not be like Gamalie], we will proceed like the Jews,’) you seemed a little satisfied with my saying, ‘I will not preach at Roughlee at this time.’ You then undertook to quiet the mob, to whom you went and spoke a few words, and their noise immediately ceased. I then walked out with you at the back door. *T should have mentioned that I had several times before desired you to let me go, but in vain; and that when I attempted to go with Richard B., the mob immediately followed, with caths, curses, and stones; that one of them beat ine down to the ground; and when I rose again, the whole body came about me like lions, and ferced me back into the house. “ While you and I went out at one door, Mr. Grimshaw and Mr. Colbeck went out at the other. The mob immediately closed them in, tossed them to and fro with\the utmost violence, threw Mr. Grimshaw down, and loaded them both with dirt and mire of every kind; not one of your friends offering to call off your blood-hounds from the pursuit.

Thomas Thompson, the next, was quite an ignorant man, scarce able to express himself on common occasions; yet some of his expressions were intelligible enough. “I don’t know,” said he, “ how it is; I used to have nothing but bad and wicked thoughts in me, and now they are all gone; and I know God loves me, and he has forgiven my sins.” He per-: sisted in this testimony till death, and in a behaviour suitable thereto. When John Roberts came first into John L.’s cell, he was utterly careless and sullen. But it was not long before his countenance changed: the tears ran down his cheeks, and he continued from that hour, earnestly and steadily seeking repentance and remission of sins. There did not pass many days, before he likewise declared that the burden of sin was gone, that the fear of death was utterly taken away, and it returned no more. William Gardiner, from the time that he was condemned, was very ill of the gaol distemper. She visited him in his own cell, till he was able to come abroad. He was a man of exceeding few words, but of a broken and contrite spirit. Some time after he expressed great readiness to die, yet with the utmost diffidence of himself. One of his expressions, to a person accompanying him to the place of execution, was, “ O sir, I have nothing to trust to but the blood of Christ! If that won’t do, Iam undone for ever.” As soon as Sarah Cunningham was told that the warrant was come down for her execution, she fell raving mad. She had but few intervals of reason, till the morning of her execution. She was then sensible, but spoke little; till, being told, “ Christ will have pity upon you, if you ask him,” she broke out, “Pity upon me! Will Christ have pity upon me 2? Then I will ask him; indeed I will;” which she did in the best manner she could, till her soul was required of her.

The crowd being great, they could not readily get through. So he had another opportunity of declaring the goodness of God. And to one in heaviness he said, “‘ Cry unto the Lord, and he will be found. My soul for thine, he will have mercy upon thee.” Then he said to all, “ Remeinber Mary Magdalene, out of whom the Lord cast seven devils. So rely ye on him for mercy, and you will surely find it.’ As they were preparing to go into the cart, he said, “‘ Come, my dear friends, let us go on joyfully ; for the Lord is making ready to receive us into everlasting habitations.” Then turning to the spectators, he said, ‘‘ My friends, God be your guide. God direct you in the right way to eternal glory. It is but rae ii) raoE ee M0 444 . REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ Nov. 1748. a sliort time, and we shall be ‘where all sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Turn from the evil of your ways; and you also, with us, shall stand with the innumerable company on Mount Sion.” As they went along, he frequently spoke to the people, exhorting them to repentance. Tv some he said, ‘‘ Ye poor creatures, you do not know where Iam going. See that you love Christ; see that you follow Christ; and then you will come there too.” He likewise gave out, and sung, several hymns; particularly that, with which he was always deeply affected,-- Lamb of God, whose bleeding love We still recall to mind, Send the answer from above, And let us mercy find. Think on us, who think on thee, And every struggling soul release: O remember Calvary ; And let us go in peace !

We had a triumphant hour when the society met. Several captives were set at liberty: one of these was Mr. Joseph Ch--s. He had been an eminent man many years for cursing, swearing, drinking, and all xinds of fashionable wickedness. On Monday last he had rode fifteen miles to Tyrrel’s Pass, and came thither before five in the morning. He was immediately convinced, and followed me in from the preaching. \ was then examining a class: the words cut him to the heart. He tame after me to Athlone. (when he had settled some temporal busipess,) having his eyes continually filled with tears; and being scarce able either to eat, drink, or sleep. But God now wiped away the tears 450 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ May, 1749. from his eyes ; and he returned to his house, to declare what things God haa wrought. Mon. 8.--I rode to Aghrim, where the face of things was quite changed since the time I was there. before. Here was now a serious congregation from all the country round. I preached about seven, and alterward explained the nature and use of a society. The first who desired to join therein, was Mr. S., his wife, and daughter. Tues. 9.--I rode to Ahaskra, six miles south, at the desire of Mr. G., the rector. As the Papists durst not come into the church, I preached before Mr. Glass’s door. I should not have imagined this was the first time of their hearing this preaching; so fixed and earnest was their attention. In the morning, Wednesday, 10, I think the congregation was larger than in the evening ; among whom was the rector of a neighbouring parish, who seemed then to be much athirst after righteousness. Mr. Wade, of Aghrim, rode with me hence to Eyre Court, about fourteen miles from Ahaskra. Here I preached in the market house, a large, handsome.room, to a well-behaved congregation. Thence I rode on to Birr, and preached, at seven, to a large, unconcerned congregation. The next day, both in the morning and evening, I spoke very plain and rough. And the congregation had quite another appearance than it had the night before. So clear it is that love will not always prevail ; but ‘there is a time for the terrors of the Lord.

Fri. 12.--Before nine we came to Nenagh. I had no design to preach ; but one of the dragoons quartered there, would take no denial : so I ordered a chair to be carried out, and went to the market place. Presently such a congregation was gathered round me as I had not seen since I left Athlone. To these I spake, as I was able, the whole counsel of God; and then rode cheerfully on to Limerick. Between six and seven I preached at Mardyke, (an open place without the walls,) to about two thousand people ; not one of whom I observed either to laugh, or to look about, or to mind any thing but the sermon. Some years since an old abbey here was rebuilt, with a design to have public service therein. But that design failing, only the shell of it was finished. Of this (lying useless) the society has taken a lease. Here I preached in the morning, Saturday, 13, to six or seven hundred people. We then went to prayers at the cathedral, an ancient and venerable pile. In the afternoon I walked round the walls of the town, scarce so large as Newcastle-upon-Tyne. And the fortifications are much in the same repair ; very sufficient to keep out the wild Irish. May 14.--(Being Whit Sunday.) Our church was more than full in the morning, many being obliged to stand without. I hardly knew how the time went, but continued speaking till near seven o’clock. I went at eleven to the cathedral. I had been informed it was a custom here, for the gentry especially, to laugh and talk all the time of Divine service; but I saw nothing of it. The whole congregation, rich and poor, behaved suitably to the occasion. In the evening I preached toa numerous congregation, on, “ If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” We afterward met the society. Six or seven prisoners oi hope were set at liberty this day. Mon. 15.--A company of revellers and dancers had in the afternoou taken possession of the place where I used to preach. Some advisea May, 1749. ] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 451

Her brother gave me almost as strange an account of himself. Some years since, as he was in the full career of sin, in a moment he felt the wrath of God upon him, and was in the deepest horror and agony of soul. He had no rest, day or night, feeling he was under the full power of the devil. He was utterly incapable of any business, so that he was obliged to shut up his shop. Thus he wandered up and down, in exquisite torture, for just eighteen months: and then, in a moment, the pressure was removed: he believed God had not forsaken him: his understanding was clear as ever; he resumed his employ, and followed it in the fear of God. Mon. 22.--The more I converse with this people, the more I am amazed. That God hath wrought a great work among them is manifest; and yet the main of them, believers and unbelievers, are not able to give a rational account of the plainest principles of religion. It is plain, God begins his work at the heart; then “ the inspiration of the Highest giveth understanding.” Wed. 24.--A gentlewoman called upon me, with her son, who (she informed me) was given over last summer, having long been ill of a wasting distemper, and expected death every day. In this state he was one day in agony of prayer, when God revealed to him his pardoning love. He immediately declared this to his mother, telling her also, «© [ shall not die now: God has told me so.” And he recovered from that hour. About eight, several of us took boat for Newtown, six miles from Limerick. After dinner we took boat, in order to return. The 452 REV. Je WESLEY’S JOURNAL. © [ May, 1749.

Tues. 13.--We rode over to Gloster, a beautiful seat, built by an English gentleman, who had scarce finished his house, and laid out his gardens, when he was called to his everlasting home. Sir L P. and his lady dined with us, whether coming by accident or design I know not. About five I preached m the stately saloon, to a little company of plain, serious people ; the fine ones looking on, and some of them seeming to be a little affected. 1 expounded at Birr about seven, in the strongest manner I could, the story of Dives and Lazarus. Wed. 14.--We designed to dine at Ferbane, about twelve miles from Birr. We stopped at the first inn in the town; but they did not care te i 454 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [June, 1749, entertain heretics ; neither did the people at the second inn: I alighted at the third, and went in, without asking any questions. Here I met with a woman very sick and very serious. Some of her neighbours quickly gathered about us, and we endeavoured to improve the opportunity. After some time spent in close conversation and prayer, we parted in much love. About seven I preached at Athlone. It being the time of the general review, abundance of soldiers and many officers were present. They all behaved with the utmost decency. Buta gentleman of the town did not; which had like to have cost him dear. Many swords were drawn ; but the officers interposed, and it went no further. Sat. 17.--The wind being very tempestuous in the evening, I preached in our new-built house. Toward the close of the sermon, I asked, ‘ Which of you will give yourself, soul and body, to God?” One cried out, with a cry that almost shook the house, “ O, I will, I will.” And as soon as she could stand, she came forth in the midst, to witness it before all the congregation. It was Mrs. Glass. Her words pierced like lightning. Presently another witnessed the same resolution. And not long after, one who had been sorrowing as without hope, Mrs. Meecham, lifted up her head with joy, and continued singing and praising God to the dawn of the next day.

Sat. July 1.--I preached at Mount Mellick. Sunday, 2.--I preached at eight in Portarlington, and again attwo. I scarce knew how to leave off; all the people seemed to be so deeply affected. The society now contained above one hundred members, full of zeal and good desires ; and in one week the face of the whole town is changed. Open wickedness is not seen: the fear of God is on every side; and rich and poor ask, “ What must I do to be saved?” And how long (I thought with myself) will this continue? In most, only till the fowls of the air come and devour the seed. Many of the rest, when persecution or reproach begins, will immediately be offended ; and in the small remainder, some will fall off, either through other desires, or the cares of the world, or the deceitfulness of riches. Mon. 3.--I preached at Edinderry, and on Tuesday morning and evening. ‘Almost every person whe. was present at the meeting of the society appeared to be broken in pieces. A cry went up on every side, till Joseph Fry, once as eminent a sinner as even Joseph Fry of Mount Mellick, and since as eminent an instance of the grace of God, broke out into prayer. It was not long before praise and prayer were mixed 456 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [July, 1749. -- together: and shortly after, prayer was swallowed up in the voice of praise and thanksgiving. Wed..5.--I returned to Dublin. Sunday, 9.--I preached on the Green both morning and afternoon; and the congregation was considerably larger than any I had seen in Dublin before. “ed. 12.--Being one of the grand Irish festivals, by reason of “the: Breach (that is, Battle) of Aghrim,” we had a very large congregation, to whom I showed, “ what reward” they had given “nto the Lord for all his benefits.” I expected much of their usual courtesy from the mob when we came out. But I walked through them all in perfect peace, none molesting us, either by word or deed.

5. Dante Suxuivan is ready to depose further :--That from the 16th ~ of May to the 28th, the mob gathered every day before his house: that on Sunday the 28th, Butier swore, they would come the next day and pull down the house of that heretic dog; and called aloud to the mob, “ Let the heretic dogs indict you; I will bring you off without a farthing cost.” That accordingly, on May 29, Butler came with a greater mob than before: that he went to the mayor and begged him to come, which he for some time refused to do; but after much importunity, rose up, and walked with him down the street: that when they were in the midst of the mob, the mayor said aloud, “It is your own fault for entertaining these preachers. If you will turn them out of your house, ! will engage there shall be no harm done; but if you will not turn them out, you must take what you will get:” that upon this the mob set up an huzza, and threy stones faster than before: that he said, “ This is fine usage 458 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. | July, 1749 under a Protestant government; if I had a priest saying mass in every room of it, my house would not be touched:” that the mayor replied, The priests are tolerated, but you are nots; you talk too much; go in, and shut up your doors:” that seeing no remedy, he did so; and the mob continued breaking the windows, and throwing stones in, till near twelve at night. That on May 31, the said Sullivan, and two more, went and informed the mayor of what the mob was then doing: that it was not without great importunity they brought him as far as the Exchange: that he would go no further, nor send any help, though some that were much bruised and wounded came by : that some hours after, when the mob had finished their work, he sent a party of soldiers to guard the walls.

Your letter to D. Perronet (4 plain Account, &c,) I have not so much read as devoured ; and all things have so pleased me, that I can scarcely restrain myself from flying to London, that I may come and see the order of your society. But, bound as it were by various chains, I am confined here whether I will or not. As soon as possible, however, I will translate and print that letter, together with that little tract, --The Character of a Methodist. Perhaps it will excite some, if not many, of the clergy or laity, to follow more fully the Gospel way. It pleases me much that you attach yourself neither to any sect, nor to the peculiar dogmas of sects, nor act as the patron of those dogmas, but leave to each one the liberty of believing what he will concerning them, provided only he have true faith in God and his beloved Son, love God with all his heart, abstain from sin, and lead a life worthy of the Gospel calling. My John, most dearly beloved brother, I ask, pray, and entreat you, by the bowels of mercies of God and his Son, to persevere in the very same course of life, and to continue to press forward, nor mingle yourself with polemics. Fight only that good fight of pure, unadulterated, Gospel faith, nor vanquish any other enemies than the corrupt flesh, and its worldly desires. F'ly more than from a dog or a serpent, the multiplication of dogmas, and disputing about non-essentials, which have been the two stratagems of Satan, by which he has caused the church to depart, by little and little, from Gospel purity and simplicity. I lament exceedingly that you are loaded with so many and such weighty and multifarious affairs. How willingly, according to my slender ability, I would relieve you and yours, and bear those very heavy burdens, God knows. I earnestly pray that he may uphold, sustain, and encourage you, that the kingdom of Satan and his ad- A712 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [Dec. 1749. I was fully determined to take another journey to Rotterdam, on purpose to see this worthy man. But death had swifter wings than love. Before I could get thither he was gathered to his fathers.

Mon. January 1, 1750.--A large congregation met at four o’clock, and began the year of jubilee in a better manner than they at Rome are accustomed to do. On several days this week I called upon many who had left their “ first love ;” but they none of them justified themselves : one and all pleaded “ guilty before God.” Therefore there is reason to hope that he will return, and will abundantly pardon. Thur. 11.--I read, to my no small amazement, the account given by Monsieur Montgeron, both of his own conversion, and of the other miracles wrought at the tomb of Abbé Paris. I had always looked upon the whole affair as a mere legend, as I suppose most Protestants do; but I see no possible way to deny these facts, without invalidating all human testimony. I may full as reasonably deny there is such a person as Mr. Montgeron, or such a city as Paris, in the world. Indeed, in many of thtese instances I see great superstition as well as strong faith. But “ the times of ignorance God” does “wink at” still; and bless the faith, notwithstanding the superstition. If it be said, “ But will not the admitting these miracles establish Popery?” Just the reverse. Abbé Paris lived and died in open opposition to the grossest errors of Popery; and in particular to that diabolical Bull Unigenitus, which destroys the very foundations of Christianity. Sun. 14.--I read prayers and preached at Snowsfields, to a crowded congregation, at seven in the morning. I then hastened to the chapel in West-street ; and, after the service there, to Knightsbridge, where I ath AS al a 8 474 REY. J. WESLEY'S JOURNAL. [Feb. 1750 had promised to preach in the afternoon, for the benefit of the poor children. The little church was quite full before I came. Knowing it to be the greatest charity to awaken those that sleep in sin, 1 preached on, “ What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul 1”

Sun. 26.--I preached at Howell Thomas’s, in Trefollwin parish, to a small, earnest congregation. As many did not understand, one of the brethren repeated the substance of the sermon in Welsh. In the afternoon I went to William Pritchard’s, though much against my will, as there was none there to interpret, and I was afraid very few of my hearers could understand English. But I was mistaken: the congregation was larger than I had ever seen in Anglesey. A considerable number of them understood English tolerably well ; and the looks, sighs, and gestures of those that did not, showed that God was speaking to their hearts. It was a glorious opportunity : the whole congregation seemed to be melted down: so little dv we know the extent of God’s power. Tf he will work, what shall hinder him ? The wind being contrary, I accepted of the invitation of an honest exciseman, (Mr. Holloway,) to stay at his house till it should change. Here I was in a little, quiet, solitary spot, (maximé animo exoptatum meo !) [most heartily desired by me !] where no human voice was heard, but those of the family. On Tuesday I desired Mr. Hopper to ride ove~ to Holyhead, and inquire concerning our passage. He brought word that we might probably pass in a day or two: so on Wednesday we both went thither. Here we overtook John Jane, who had set out on foot from Bristol, with three shillings in his pocket. Six nights out of the seven since he set out, he had been entertained by utter strangers. He went by us we could not tell how, and reached Holyhead on Sunday, with one penny left.

Sun. 6.--I addressed myself, in the morning, to the backsliders, trom, “ How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?” At one, to the unawakened, from, ** What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” In the evening I preached to a far larger congregation, on the Connaught side of the river. In the midst of the sermon a man, with a fine curveting horse, drew off a large part of the audience. I paused a little, and then raising my voice, said, “If there are any more of you who think it is of more concern to see a dancing horse, than to hear the Gospel of Christ, pray go after them.” They took the reproof: the greater part came back directly, and gave double attention. Mon. '7.--When I met the society in the evening, one who had been always afraid of exposing herself, was struck so that she could not help crying out aloud, being in strong agonies both of soul and body. Indeed her case was quite peculiar. She felt no fear of hell, but an inexpressible sense of the sufferings of Christ, accompanied with sharp bodily pain, as if she had literally suffered with him. We continued in prayer till twelve o’clock, and left her patiently waiting for salvation. Tues. 8.--I dined at Mr. T----’s. Two other clergymen were present, and Mr. H . member of parliament for the county. We soon fell upon justification and inspiration; and after a free conversation, seemed nearly of one mind. Thur. 10.--I read the letters. A famous drunkard and swearer stood as long as he could, and then fell down upon his knees before the whole congregation. All appeared to be much moved. It was with difficulty I broke from them about noon, and rode to Ahaskra; where I preached in the evening, to an exceeding serious congregation, on, “Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found.” Fri. 11.--I talked largely with the two Miss M--~s. The elder, I found, had once known the love of God, but not kept it long, and seem- eA, See ven es, p. NG 434 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. | May, 1750. ed to be now earnestly mourning after it. The younger had never left her first love; and in the midst of great bodily weakness, had no fear

Sun. 20.--Understanding the usual place of preaching would by no means contain those who desired to hear, about eight I went to Hammond’s Marsh. The congregation was large and deeply attentive. A few of the rabble gathered at a distance; but by little and little they drew near, and mixed with the congregation: so that 1 have seldom seen a more quiet and orderly assembly at any church in England or Ireland. In the afternoon, a report being spread abroad that the mayor designed to hinder my preaching on the Marsh in the evening, I desired Mr. Skelton and Mr. Jones to wait upon him, and inquire concerning it. Mr. Skelton asked, if my preaching there would be disagreeable to him; adding, “Sir, if it would, Mr. Wesley will not do it.” He replied warmly, “Sir, P’ll have no mobbing.” Mr. Skelton replied, “Sir, there was none this morning.” He answered, “There was. Are there not churches and meeting houses enough? I will have no more mobs and riots.” Mr. Skelton replied, * Sir, neither Mr. Wesley nor they that heard him made either mobs or riots.”” He answered plain, “I will have no more preaching ; and if Mr. Wesley attempts to preach, I am prepared for him.” | began preaching in our own house soor after five. Mr. Mayur ot tian May, 1750. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 485

Tues. 29.--I inquired concerning Richard Hutchinson, of whom 1 had heard many speak. His mother informed me, “It was about August last, being then above four years old, that he began to talk much of God, and to ask abundance of questions concerning him. From that time he never played nor laughed, but was as serious as one of threescore. He constantly reproved any that cursed or swore, or spoke indecently in his hearing, and frequently mourned over his brother, who was two or three years older, saying, ‘ I fear my brother will go to hell ; for he does not love God.’ About Christmas I cut off his hair ; on which he said, ‘ You cut off my hair, because you are afraid I shall have the small-pox ; but Il am not afraid; I am not afraid to die; for I love God.’ About three weeks ago he sent for all of the society whom he knew, saying he must take his leave of them; which he did, speaking to them, one by one, in the most tender and affectionate manner. Four days after he fell ill of the small-pox, and was light-headed almost as soon as he was taken: but all his incoherent sentences were either exhortation, or pieces of hymns, or prayer. The worse he was, the more earnest he was to die, saying, ‘1 must go home; I will go home.’ One said, ‘ You are athome.’ He earnestly replied, ‘ No; this is not my home; I will go to heaven.’ On the tenth day of his illness, he raised himself up, and said, ‘ Let me go; let me go to my Father; I will go home: now, now I will go to my Father.’ After which he lay down and died.” Wed. 30.--I rode to Cork. By talking with Captain , I found there was no depending on the good offices of the colonel. He had told the captain with great openness, “If Mr. Wesley preached in the garracks, and the mob were to come and break the windows, I might 488 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [June, 1750. have a long bill from the barrack master.” Break the windows! Nay, it is well if they had not broken the bones of all the soldiers.

At the Ferry was a lad who asked my name. When he heard it, he cried out, “ O sir, you have no business here ; you have nothing to do at Waterford. Butler has been gathering mobs there all this week; and they set upon us so, that we cannot walk the streets. But if you will stay at that little house, I will go and bring B. M‘Culloch to you. We stayed some time, and then thought it best to go a little on our way toward Portarlington. But the ferrymen would not come over: so that, after waiting till we were weary, we made our way through some grounds, and over the mountain, into the Carrick road; and went on, about five miles, to a village where we found a quiet house. Sufficient for this day was the labour thereof. We were on horseback, with but an hour or two’s intermission, from five in the morning, till within a quarter of eleven at night. Fi. 15.--About two in the morning I heard people making a great noise, and calling me by my name. They were some of our friends from Waterford, who informed us, that, upon the lad’s coming in, sixteen or eighteen of them came out, to conduct me into the town. Not finding me, they returned ;- but the mob met them by the way, and pelted them with dirt and stones to their owi doors. We set out at four, and reached Kilkenny, about twenty-five old Irish miles, about noon. This is by far the most pleasant, as well as most fruitful country, which I have seen in all Ireland. Our way after dinner lay by Dunmore, the seat of the late duke of Ormond. We rode through the Park for about two miles, by the side of which the river runs. I never saw either in England, Holland, or Germany, so delightful a place. The walks, each consisting of four rows of ashes, the tufts of trees sprinkled up and down, interspersed with the smoothest and greenest lawns, are beautiful beyond description. And what hath the owner thereof, the earl of Arran? Not even the beholding it with his eyes.

Mon. 23.--The wind shifting to the south, and blowing hard, in the afternoon the captain seemed under some concern. There was all reason to expect a stormy night; and he despaired of getting into the Bristol Channel ; and knew the danger of beating about, when it was pitch dark, among these rocks and sands. It was much on my mind, ‘They cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distress.” I knew not why we should not cry to him as well as they. Immediately the wind came fair, and blew so fresh, that in less than two hours we came into the Bristol Channel. But the danger was not over, About eleven I was waked by a huge, confused noise, and found we were in a vehement squall of wind, thunder, and rain, which brought the sailors to their wit’s end; they could not see across the ship, only just while the lightning was glaring in their eyes. This made them fear running foul, either of the Welsh sands on the one hand, or the rocky shore of Lundy on the other. So they took in the sails, and let us drive. The motion then was wonderful. It blew a storm; and, the wind being contrary to the tide, the sea ran mountain high. The ship had no goods, and little ballast on board; so that it rolled as if it would overset every moment. It was intensely dark, and neither the captain nor any man else knew where we were ; only that we were tossing in a bad, narrow channel, full of shoals, and rocks, aud sands. But does not God hear the prayer? Mr. Hopper and I believed it our duty to make the trial again; and in a very few moments the wind was small, the sea fell, and the clouds dispersed ; so Aug. 1750.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 495 we put up a little sail, and went on quietly and slowly till the morning dawned. About nine in the evening we reached the Pill, where I took horse, and rode on to Bristol. :

Thur. 9.--I preached at Gwennap, and on Friday. On Saturday noon at Bezore, near Truro ; in the evening, and on Sunday morning, in Redruth. Mr. Colins preached an exceeding useful sermon at church, upon the general judgment. At one I preached in the street, to thrice as many as the room would have contained. I afterward visited a poor old woman, a mile or two from the town: her trials had been uncommon ; inexpressible agonies of mind, joined with all sorts of bodily pain, not, it seemed from any natural cause, but the direct operation of Satan. Her joys were now as uncommon; she had little time to sleep ; having, for several months last past, seen, as it were, the unclouded face of God, and praised him day and night. Mon. 13.---At noon I preached at Stithians, and in the evening at Sithney; Tuesday, 14, about noon, in Wendron; at Bray about six in the evening. Wed. 15.--By reflecting on an odd book which I had read in this journey, “The General Delusion of Christians with regard to Prophecy,” I was fully convinced of what I had long suspected, 1. That the Montanists, in the second and third centuries, were real, scriptural Christians ; and, 2. That the grand reason why the miraculous gifts were so soon withdrawn, was not only that faith and holiness were well nigh lost; but that dry, formal, orthodox men began even then to ridicule whatever gifts they had not themselves ; and to decry them all, as either madness or imposture.

Mon. 15.--I read over Mr. Holmes’s “ Latin Grammar ;” and extracted from it what was needful to perfect our own. Sat. 20.--I found it absolutely necessary, openly and explicitly to warn all that feared God to beware of the German wolves, (falsely called Moravians,) and keep close to the great Shepherd of their souls. ‘ues. 23.--Riding through Holt, I called on the minister, Mr. L--, one of the most zealous adversaries we have in England. I found a° calm, sensible, venerable old man ; and spent above an hour in friendly altercation. Thence I rode to Milkstram, where the number of people obliged me to preach abroad, notwithstanding the keen north wind. And the steady attention of the hearers made amends for the rigour of the season. Wed. 24.--I set out for London. In the mornng, Friday, 26, Mrs. C called upon me. I think it my bounden duty to declare the heads of our conversation :-- “My son,” she said, “declared in my hearing, and before the whole congregation at Tetherton, that when he went to Germany he still judged it would be best for him to live a single life; that the Brethren there said to him one day, ‘ Brother C , it is the will of the Lamb you should marry.’ He replied, ‘I don’t believe it is.? They said, ‘ Yes it is; and that you should marry’ such a person: (naming the sister of J--- H----’s Nov. 1750.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 501 wife.) ' He then said, ‘I like her very well.’ On which they said, ‘No, it is not his will you should marry her; but Jane Briant.’? He answered, ‘1 can’t believe it is.’ So he left them, and walked out in the fields. There he thought, ‘I must be simple; it may be the will of the Lamb.’ So the next day he married her.” She added, “I had four children; but three of them are Jost. They take no more notice of me than if I was dead. John never came to see me all the time I was in London; and when I went to him, two men came and stood by us all the time, to hear every word we said.

“3. This preaching has greatly impaired, if not destroyed, the love of their neighbour in many souls. They no longer burn with love to all mankind, with desire to do good to all.. They are straitened in their own bowels’; their love is confined to narrower and narrewer bounds; till, at length, they have no desire or thought of doing good to any but those of their own community. If aman was before a zealous member of our Church, groaning for the prosperity of our Zion, it is past; all that zeal is at an end; he regards the Church of England no more than the Church of Rome: his tears no longer fall, his prayers no longer ascend, that God may shine upon her desolations. The friends that were once as his own soul, are now no more to him than other men. All the bands of that formerly endeared affection are as threads of tow that have touched the fire. Even the ties of filial tenderness are dissolved: the child regards not his own parent; he no longer regards the womb that bare or the paps that gave him suck.. Recent instances of this also are not wanting. I will particularize, if required. Yea, the son leaves his aged father, the daughter her mother, in want of the necessaries of life. I know the persons; I have myself relieved them more than once ; for that was ‘ corban’ whereby they should have been profited. “4, These humble preachers utterly destroy the humility of their hearers, who are quickly wiser than all their former teachers; not because they ‘keep thy commandments,’ (as the poor man under the Law said,) but because they allow no commandments at all. In a few days they are ‘wiser in their own eyes, than seven men that can render a reason.’ “ Render a reason! Ay, there it is. Your carnal reason destroys you. You are for reason: I am for faith.’ Iam for both: for faith to perfect my reason, that by the Spirit of God not putting out the eyes of my understanding, but enlightening them more and more, I may ‘be ready to give’ a clear scriptural ‘ answer to every man that asketh’ me ‘a reason of the hope that is in’ me.

Fri. 29.--I rested at Evesham. Saturday, 30.--I rode to Birmingham, and found God in the midst of the congregation. Sunday, 31.--1 earnestly warned the society against idle disputes and vain janglings ; and afterward preached on, “If ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the Law.” The hearts of many were melted within them; so that neither they nor I could refrain from tears. But they were chiefly tears of joy, from a lively sense of the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. At one I was obliged to preach abroad, the room not being able to contain half the congregation. O how is the scene changed here! The last time I preached at Birmingham the stones flew on every side. If any disturbance were made now, the disturber _would be in more danger than the preacher. At five in the evening I preached at Wednesbury, to a still larger congregation ; but no mocker or trifler appeared among them. How many of the last shall be first! Mon. April 1.--I rode to Dudley. The dismal screaming wherewith we were welcomed into the town, gave us reason to expect the same kind of reception as I had when I was there before. I began preaching immediately in a yard not far from the main street. Some at first seemed inclined to interrupt; but when they had heard a little, they grew more attentive, and stayed very quictly to the end; though it rained great part of the time.

Sun. 12.--After preaching at five, I rode to Misterton. The congregation was the largest I have seen in these parts. Thence I returned to Overthorp, where I did not observe one trifling or careless hearer. I» came to Epworth just in time for the afternoon service; and, after church, walked down straight to the Cross. The north-east wind was strong and keen; yet the bulk of the congregation did not regard it. Mon. 13.--I learned the particulars of Mr. R ’s case, of which I had heard but a confused account before. “In November last he was desired to baptize a child of John Varley’s. It was observed, his voice, which had been lost several years, was entirely restored. He read the office with great emotion and many tears, so as to astonish the whole congregation. But going home from church, he behaved in so strange a manner, that it was thought necessary to confine him. During the first week of his confinement, he was for constraining’ every one that came near him to kneel down and pray; and frequently cried out, ‘ You will be lost, you will be damned, unless you know your sins are forgiven.’ Upon this Mr. roundly averred that the Methodists had turned his head. After seven or eight days he grew much worse, though still with intervals of reason ; and in about a fortnight, by a judgment mixed with mercy, God took him to himself.” Tues. 14.--The waters were greatly out in the road, so that the York coach was overturned just before us; the bridge it should have gone over being under water: yet no passenger was hurt, only dropping wet, being all thrown into the river. We were to pass the same river a few miles off, and which way to do it we knew not. But just as we came lo the place, we overtook two gentlemen who had hired a guide. So we followed them as close as we could, and crossed it without difficulty. I preached about five at Leeds, in the walls of the new house. Wednesday, 15.--We had a little conference with about thirty preachers. J particularly inquired concerning their grace, and gifts, and fruit; and found reason to doubt of one only. Thur. 16.--I rode to W»%eneld; but we had no place except the June, 1751. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 515

maids were gone away already: R---- T----, W---- S----,, and A---- G , went after; so that only two masters, Mr. J---- and S-----, remained; with Mrs. Hardwick, one maid, and sixteen scholars. 7. [now hoped the time was come for God to revive his work : but we were not low enough.yet. So first J---- J , and then W---- S--,, grew weary ; the rules were neglected again ; and in the following winter Mr. Page died, and five more scholars went away. What weakened the hands of the masters still more,;was the bitter evil speaking of some who continually endeavoured either to drive away the children that remained, or to prevent others from coming. 8. There are now two masters, the housekeeper, a maid, and eleven children. I believe all in the house are at length of one mind; and trust God will bless us in the latter end, more than in the beginning. Mon. July 8.--I wrote an account of that wonderful self-deceiver and hypocrite, James Wh . O what a scandal has his obstinate wickedness brought on the Gospel! And what a curse on his own head ! 1. In the beginning of June, Richard Pearce, of Bradford, wrote to my brother at Bristol, desiring that he would narrowly inquire into the behaviour of Mr. James Wh----: and not long after, Mrs. Silby, of Bradford, related some strange particulars: in order to be thoroughly informed of which, my brother rode over to Bradford; and, on Wednesday, June 12, talked himself with Mary B , Jane W--.,, Elizabeth L , Mary S----, Mary F , Ann W----, and Mary D----. The same accounts which they had before given to Mrs. Silby, they now gave to my brother and her together; and afterward, to Sarah Perin and Mary Naylor, without varying in any one circumstance. 2. My brother wrote down what they said, and at his return to Bristol, read it to James Wh----, who consented to come face to face with them; and on Tuesday, 25, my brother and I rode with him to Bearfield. Mary B and Mary D were there, and repeated before him what they had said to my brother. He cavilled at one or two trifling circumstances, but allowed the substance of what they said te be true.

“1. I was,” said he, “one of the first members of the society at the Foundery ; and continued there till William Oxlee, about the latter end of the year 1740, persuaded me to join the Brethren. It was not Jong before I was admitted to most of their conferences; and my tove for them increased more and more, till, in the year 1741, I went over toHerndyke. “2. Here I saw several things I did not approve, particularly the arbitrary power with which the heads of the Church governed, and the vast Dec. 1751. ] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 529 respect they showed to the rich, while the poor were little regarded ; but I forgot all this when I returned to England, and gave myself up to their disposal. “3. I was soon after employed to collect money for repairing the chapel in Fetter-lane. The manner of the Brethren was, to write to each of those who were accustomed to hear the preaching, and desire them, if they found their hearts free, to send five or ten guineas. As many of these were not at all awakened, I thought this was quite wrong. So I told Mr. M-----;, but he answered me short, ‘ That does not concern you.’ “‘T saw several other things which I could not approve; and I spoke of them, but without effect. Some months after, Mr. Sp---- told me, “My Brother, we are going to settle an economy of children at Lamb’s Inn; and it is the Saviour’s will, that you should go there, and be the physician of the house.’ I thought it strange, for I did not understand physic: however, I did not dare to reason; so I went.

Mon. 25.--We rode to Durham, and thence, through very rough roads, and as rough weather, to Barnard Castle. I was exceeding faint when we came in: however, the time being come, I went into the street, and would have preached ; but the mob was so numerous and so loud, chat it was not possible for many to hear. Nevertheless, I spoke on, and those who were near, listened with huge attention. To prevent this, some of the rabble fetched the engine, and threw a good deal of water on the congregation; but not a drop fell on me. After about three quarters of an hour, I returned into the house. Tues. 26.--At five the preaching house would not contain one half of the congregation. Many stood at the door and windows ; far more thun could hear. When I come again, perhaps they will hear while they may. We rode hence to Weardale. I had been out of order all night, and found myself now much weaker. However, I trusted in the Strong for strength, and began preaching to a numerous congregation: and I did not want strength, till I had finished my discourse ; nor did the people want a blessing. In the evening we came to Allandale, and found the poor society well nigh shattered in pieces. Slackness and offence had eaten them up. When I came into the room, I was just like one of them; having neither life nor strength, and being scarce able June, 1752. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 535 either to speak or to stand. But immediately we had a token for good. In a moment I was well. My voice and strength were entirely restored; and I cried aloud, “* How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?” The mountains again flowed down at his presence, and the rocks were once more broken in pieces.

already perceive a great increase of earnestness 1n the generality of the hearers. So is God able to cut short his work, to wound or heal, in whatever time it pleaseth him. Tes. 23.--Having received letters which made me judge it necessary to be at Bristol as soon as possible, about ten I set out, dined at Birmingham the next day, and thence rode to Redditch. Thur. 25.--Finding the congregation waiting, I began preaching between three and four. I preached at Wallbridge, near Stroud, in the evening, and the next day, before noon, reached Kingswood. Wed. July 1.--Having finished my business at Bristol, I took horse again, and preached that evening at Evesham. Thur. 2.--I reached Bilbrook and Chester. Friday, 3.--I was saying in the morning to Mr. Parker, “« Considering the good which has been done there already, { wonder the people of Chester are so quiet.” He answered, “ You must not expect they will be so always.” Accordingly, one of the first things I heard after I came into the town was, that for two nights before the mob had been employed in pulling down the house where I had preached. I asked, “‘ Were there no magistrates in the city?” Several answered me, “ We went to the mayor after the first riot, and desired a warrant to bring the rioters before him; but he positively refused to grant any, or to take any informations about it.” So, being undisturbed, they assembled again the next night, and finished their work. Sat. 4.--I preached in our old room. Sun. 5.--I stood, at seven in the morning, near the ruins of the house, and explained the principles and practice of that sect which is “ every where spoken against.” I went afterward to St. Martin’s church, which stands close to the place. The gentleman who officiated seemed to be extremely moved at several passages of the Second lesson, Luke xvii; particularly, ‘ It is impossible but that offences will come ; but wo unto him through whom they come. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” ‘

and noisy that few could hear. Perceiving the noise increase more and more, I walked through the midst of the mob to my lodgings. They hallooed, and shouted, and cursed amain: hitherto could they come, but no further. Thur. 14.--(So we must call it now, seeing the new style now takes place.) I rode to the bog of Boiree, where a great and effectual door is opened. On Friday evening we rode on to Goree, and the next day to Dublin. Sun. 17.--I made an end of Mr. V ’s * Issay on the Happiness of the Life to come.” I am glad it is wrote in French: probably not many in Ireland will be at the pains of reading it. He is a lively, sensible writer ; but I cannot believe his hypothesis, while I believe the Bible. Mon. 18.--We had our first watch-night in the new house ; and it was a night that will not soon be forgotten. On Tuesday I rode to Portarlington, ana the next day to Birr, through so violent a storm, _ that my strength was utterly exhausted, and how I should preach I knew not. But God soon renewed my strength: and on Thursday, 21, I arose lively and well; and in the afternoon, through continued rain, came, very wet, but not tired, to Limerick. Sat. 23.--We reached Cork. Sunday, 24.--In the evening I proposed to the society the building a preaching house. The next day ten persons subscribed a hundred pounds; another hundred was subscribed in three or four days, and a piece of ground taken. I sawa double providence now in our not sailing last week. If we had, probably this house had never been built ; and it is most likely we should have been cast away. Above thirty ships we were informed, have been lost on these coasts in the late storm.

Wed. 11.--I rode to Cork once more, and was very fully employed all the day. The next morning we returned to Cove, and about noon got out of the harbour. We immediately found the effects of the late storm, the sea still boiling like a pot. ‘The moon set about eight, but the northern lights abundantly supplied her place. Soon after, God smoothed the face of the deep, and gave us a small, fair wind. Fri. 13. --I read over Pascal’s “ Thoughts.” What could possibly induce such a creature as Voltaire to give such an author as this a good word; unless it was, that he once wrote a satire? And so his being a satirist might atone even for his being a Christian. Sat. 14.--About seven we sailed into Kingroad, and happily concluded our little voyage. I now rested a week at Bristol and Kingswood, preaching only morning and evening. Sun. 22.--Having heard grievous complaints of the society in Kings- ‘wood, as if there were many disorderly walkers therein, I made a particular inquiry ; and I found there was one member who drank too much in January or February last. But I could not find one who at this time lived in any outward sin whatever. When shall we be aware of the accuser of the brethren? How long shall we be ignorant of his devices ; and suffer him, by these loose, indeterminate accusations, to make our minds evil affected toward each other ? Wed. 25.--I rode to Wick, and rejoiced over a people who have run well from the beginning. ‘The person at whose house I preached, was supposed to be at the point of death. But ease or pain, life or death, was welcome to her.. She desired indeed “to depart, and to be with Christ ;” but it was with perfect resignation ; her will being swallowed up in the will of Him whom her soul loved.

_ almost all substances. 3. That as long as it is thus diffused, it has no discernible effect. 4. That if any quantity of it be collected together, whether by art or nature, it then becomes visible in the form of fire, and inexpressibly powerful. 5. That it is essentially different from the light of the sun; for it pervades a thousand bodies which light cannot penetrate, and yet cannot penetrate glass, which light pervades so freely. 6. That lightning is no other than electrical fire, collected by one or more clouds. ‘7. That all the effects of lightning may be performed by the artificial electric fire. 8. That any thing pointed, as a Spire or tree, attracts the lightning, just as a needle does the electrical fire. 9. That the electrical fire, discharged on a rat or a fowl, will kill it instantly: but discharged on one dipped in water, will slide off, and do it no hurt at all. In like manner the lightning which will kill a man in a moment, will not hurt him if he be throughly wet. What an amazing scene is here opened for after ages to improve upon ! Wed. 21.--I visited more of the poor sick. The industry of many of them surprised me. Several who were ill able to walk, were nevertheless at work; some without any fire, (bitterly cold as it was,) and some, I doubt, without any food; yet not without that “meat which endureth to everlasting life.” Mon. 26.--I set out in the machine for Bristol ; and on Tuesday evening preached at Bath.

W. a 28.--The house was full of serious hearers at five. In the evening some gay young men made a little disturbance, and a large mob was gathered about the door; but in a short time, they dispersed of themselves. However, we thought it best to acquaint the mayor with what had passed ; on which he ordered the city crier to go down the next evening, and proclaim, that all riots should be severely punished ; and promised, if need were, to come down himself, and read the act of parliament. But it needed not: after his mind was known, none was Apnil, 1753.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 549 so hardy as to make a disturbance. I did not expect the mob at Nantwich (whither I was now much pressed to go) would be so quiet as that at Chester. We were saluted with curses and hard names, as soon as we entered the town. But from the time I alighted from my horse, | I heard no one give us an ill word; and I had as quiet and attentive an audience as we used to have at Bristol, while I exhorted the * wicked to forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.” Sat. 31.--I preached at Boothbank, where I met Mr. C . late gardener to the Earl of W. Surely it cannot be! Is it possible the Earl should turn off an honest, diligent, well tried servant, who had been in the family above fifty years, for no other fault than hearing the Methodists? In the evening I preached at Manchester, and on Monday, April 2, at Davy Hulme. Here I found (what I had never heard of in England) a whole clan of infidel peasants. A neighbouring ale~ house keeper drinks, and laughs, and argues into Deism, all the ploughmen and dairymen he can light on. But no mob rises against him ; and reason good: Satan is not divided against himself.

in England. It may be, some, even of these sinners, will occasion joy in heaven. The behaviour of the people at church, both morning and afternoon, was beyond any thing I ever saw, but in our congregations. None bowed or courtesied to each other, either before or after the service ; from the beginning to the end of which, none talked, or looked. at any but the minister. Surely much of the power of godliness was here, when there is so much of the form still. The meadow, where I stood in the afternoon, was filled from side to side. I spoke as closely as ever in my life. Many of the students, and many of the soldiers, were there ; and I bear them witness, they could bear “sound doctrine.” Mon. 23.--I had a great desire to go round by Kilsyth, in order to. see that venerable man, Mr. Robe, who was every day expecting (what his soul longed for) “to depart and be with Christ.” But the continual rains had made it impracticable for us to add so many miles to our day’s journey ; so we rode on, straight by the kirk of Shots; reached Edinburgh by five in the afternoon; lodged at Tranent; and on Tuesday, 24, came to Berwick in good time; where I preached on the Bowling Green at six. The wind was extremely sharp, and we had. several showers while I was speaking: but I believe scarce five persons went away. Wed. 25.--We came to Alnwick on the day whereon those who have gone through their apprenticeship are made free of the corporation. Sixteen or seventeen, we were informed, were to receive their freedom. this day: and, in order thereto, (such is the unparalleled wisdom of the present corporation, as well as of their forefathers,) to walk through a great bog, (purposely preserved for the occasion; otherwise it might have been drained long ago,) which takes up some of them to the neck, and many of them to the breast.

Thur. 26.--I spoke severally to those of the society, and found they had been harassed above measure, by a few violent predestinarians,. who had at length separated themselves from us. It was well they saved me the trouble; for I can have no connection with those who will be contentious. These I reject, not for their opinion, but for their sins ; for their unchristian temper, and unchristian practice; for being haters e eEeee haters of peace, haters of their brethren, and, consequently, of God. Sat. 28.--I returned to Newcastle. Sunday, 29.--I preached at Sunderland, at eight and at twelve. As we were riding back, the wind was exceeding high: but as we entered Newcastle a shower began, which laid the wind, and then gave place to clear sunshine. I was extremely weary when we came in, having preached four times on. Saturday. But my strength soon returned, so that the whole congregatiyn, near the Keelmen’s Hospital, could distinctly hear the entire sermon. And great was the Lord in the midst of us. Thur. May 3.--I preached at Gateshead Fell, to many more than the house would contain. The society here was increased when I met them last, from nine or ten to sixty members. They are now double the number ; and, I trust, will ere long overtake their brethren in Kingswood. Frit. 4.--We had the first General Quarterly Meeting of alt the stewards round Newcastle, in order thoroughly to understand both. the spiritual and temporal state of every society. Mon. 7.--After May, 1753. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 553 preaching in Durham at noon, I rode on to Stockton, and took my usual stand in the High-street, about six in the evening.

then in an instant she was quite calm. The next morning she fell into a fit of another kind,--being stretched out, and stiff, as a dead carcass: thus she lay about an hour. In the afternoon she was suddenly seized with violent involuntary laughter; and she had some or other of these fits several times a day, for about a month. In the intervals of them she was in great heaviness of soul, and continually erying for mercy; till, one Saturday, as she lay stretched out on the bed, she broke out, “ I know that my Redeemer liveth.” Her faith and love increased from that time; but so did the violence of her fits also. And often while she was rejoicing and praising God, she would cry out, “O Lord !” and, losing her senses at once, lie as dead, or laugh violently, or rave and blaspheme. In the middle of February she grew more outrageous than ever. She frequently strove to throw herself into the fire, or out of the window. Often she attempted to tear the Bible, cursing it in the bitterest manner; and many times she uttered oaths and blasphemies, too horrid to be repeated. Next to the Bible, her greatest rage was against the Methodists, --Mr. W. in particular. She frequently told us where he was, and what he was then doing; adding, “ He will be here soon;” and at another time, “ Now he is galloping down the lane, and two men with him.” In the intervals of her fits she was unusually stupid and moped, as if void of common understanding; and yet sometimes broke out into vehement prayer, to the amazement of all that heard. Sometimes she would strip herself stark naked, and run up and down the house, screaming and crying, “Save me! Save me! He will tear me Pidg fa i Soa ix ‘ 556 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ June, 1753.

in pieces.” At other times she cried out, “ He is tearing off my breasts; he is pouring melted lead down my throat. Now I suffer what the martyrs suffered ; but I have not the martyrs’ faith.” She frequently spoke as if she was another person, saying to her father, “ This girl is not thine, but mine. I have got possession of her, and I will keep her;” with many expressions of the same kind. She often seemed to be in a trance, and said she saw many visions; sometimes of heaven or hell, or judgment; | sometimes of things which she said would shortly come to pass. ; In the beginning of March, Mrs. G. came over to Rotherham, who herself gave me the following account :--‘‘ Soon after I came in, she fell into a raging fit, blaspheming and cursing her father and me. She added, ‘ft was I that made Green’s horse so bad the other day : (which had been taken ill in a most unaccountable manner, as soon as he was put into the stable:) I did it that thou mightest have the preaching no more; and I had almost persuaded thee to it. It wasI that made thee bad last night.’ I was then taken in an unusual way. All the time she spoke she was violently convulsed, and appeared to be in strong agony. «After about a quarter of an hour she brake out into prayer, and then came to herself ; only still dull and heavy.” John Thorpe, of Rotherham, had often a desire to pray for her in the congregation; but he was as often hindered, by a strong and sudden impression on his mind that she was dead. When he came to Woodseats, and began to mention what a desire he had had, the girl being then in a raging fit, cried out, “I have made a fool of Thorpe!” and burst out into a loud laughter. In the beginning of May all these symptoms ceased ; and she continues in health both of soul and body.

Mon. 26.--Dr. F told me plain, I must not stay in town a day longer; adding, “If any thing does thee good, it must be the country air, with rest, asses’ milk, and riding daily.” So (not being able to sit a horse) about noon I took coach for Lewisham. In the evening, (not knowing how it might please God to dispose of me,) to prevent vile panegyric, I wrote as follows :-- WHO DIED OF A CONSUMPTION IN THE FIFTY-FIRST YEAR OF HIS AGE, He ordered, that this, if any, inscription should be placed on his tombstone. ‘ed. 28.--I found no change for the better, the medicines which had helped me before, now taking no effect. About noon (the time that some of our brethren in London had set apart for joining in prayer) a thought came into my mind to make an experiment. So I ordered some stone brimstone to be powdered, mixed with the white of an egg, Jan. 1754. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 567 and spread on brown paper, which I applied to my side. The pain ceased in five minutes, the fever in half an hour; and from this hour I began to recover strength. The next day I was able to ride, which I continued to do every day till January 1. Nor did the weather hinder me once; it being always tolerably fair (however it was before) between twelve and one o’clock. Fri. December 14.--Having finished all the books which I designed to insert in the “ Christian Library,” I broke through the doctor’s order, not to write, and began transcribing a journal for the press ; and in the evening I went to prayers with the family, without finding any inconvenience. Thur. 20.--I felt a gradual increase of strength, till I took a decoction of the bark, which I do not find (such is the peculiarity of my constitution) will agree with me in any form whatever. This immediately threw me into a purging, which brought me down again in a few days, and quite disappointed me in my design of going out on Christmas day.

back to London, and came pretty well to the Foundery. I consultec Dr. F. the next morning, wlio advised me to return to the Hot Well. without delay. Sun. 11.--I buried the body of Mary Doxsey, long a pattern of patience and gentleness. Monday, 12.--I set out in the machine ; and on Tuesday night (taking horses at Bath) came to Bristol. Wed. 14.--I took a lodging at the New Hot Well, where I was free both from noise and hurry ; and had an opportunity of drinking the water late in the evening, and early in the morning. But my course of physic was near being cut short the next day, by a large stone which was hung up as the weight of a jack. I applied to my head cloths dipped in cold water, which presently stopped the bleeding, and so abated the swelling, that in a few hours | found no further inconvenience. Sat. 31.--After preaching at Weaver’s Hall, one of the audience, a clergyman, ‘who had then a parish near Bridgewater, but is now, I trust,. in Abraham’s bosom,) desired to have some conversation with me, and spoke without reserve. His experience was of a peculiar kind, much resembling that of Gregory Lopez. But he soon determined to seek Christ, for the time to come, not in a desert, but in the congregation of his people. Mon. September 2.--I set out for the west. About eleven, one stopped me on the road, and earnestly desired me to turn aside, and pray with one who was near death. I found her worn away to a skeleton, and rotting in pieces with the king’s evil. But her greatest trouble seemed to be, that she was not so alive to God as formerly. After prayer, her mind was more composed; and she could trust God both with her soul and body. At noon I met the little, loving society at Shepton ; and in the evening preached at Middlesey. My work to-day was full enough for my strength.

true, men of fortune must mind their fortune; but they must not love the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 3. It is true, likewise, you cannot go about to look for poor people; but you may be sufficiently informed of them by those that can.- 4. And if some of these are never satisfied, this is no reason for not relieving others. ». Suppose, too, that some make an ill use of what you give, the loss falls on their own head; you will not lose your reward for their fault: what vou laid out, God will pay you again. 6. Yet certainly you do well to have all the assurance you can, that those to whom you give, are likely to make a good use of it; and therefore to expect a stronger recommendation of them than their own, whether by letter or otherwise. 7. I rejoice that you have given to many by so worthy a man as Colonel Hudson, whose word is certainly a sufficient recommendation. 8. I rejoice likewise that you have given some hundreds of pounds to the hospitals, and wish it had been ten thousand. 9. To the support of the family I did not object; but begged leave to ask, whether this could not be done, without giving ten thousand a year to one who had as much already? And whether you could answer this to God, in the day wherein he shall judge the world? 10. I likewise granted, that the family had continued above four hundred years; but observed, meantime, that God regarded it not a jot the more for this ; and that four hundred or one thousand years are but a moment, compared to eternity. 11. I ovserved likewise that great things may be done, and little things not left undone. 12. And that if this, or any other way of thinking be according to Scripture, then it is sound and good; whereas, if it be contrary to Scripture, it is not good, and the longer we are in it, so much the worse.

There remains no other natural cause assignable, but imprisoned air. I say imprisoned; for as to the fashionable opinion, that the exterior air is the grand agent in earthquakes, it is so senseless, unmechanical, unphilosophical a dream, as deserves not to be named, but to be exploded. But it is hard to conceive how even imprisoned air could produce such an effect. It might, indeed, shake, tear, raise, or sink the earth; but how could it cleave a solid rock? Here was not room for a quantity of it sufficient to do any thing of this nature; at least, unless it had been suddenly and violently expanded by fire, which was not the case. Could a small quantity of air, without that violent expansion, have torn so large a body of rock from the rest, to which it adhered in one solid mass? Could it have shivered this into pieces, and scattered several of those pieces some hundred yards round? Could it have transported those promontories of earth, with their incumbent load, and set them down, unbroken, unchanged, at a distance? Truly I am not so great a volunteer in faith as to be able to believe this. He-that supposes this, must suppose air to be not only a very strong, (which we allow,) but a very wise agent; while it bore its charge with so great caution as not to hurt or dislocate any part of it. What then could be the cause? What, indeed, but God, who arose to shake terribly the earth; who purposely chose such a place, where there is so great a concourse of nobility and gentry every year; and wrought in such a manner, that many might see it and fear; that all who travel one of the most frequented roads in England, might see it, almost whether they would or no, for many miles together. It must likewise for many years, maugre all the art of man, be a visible monument of His power; all that ground being now so encumbered with rocks and stones, that it cannot be either ploughed or grazed. Nor will it serve any use, but to tell all that see it, Who can stand before this great God?

Hence we rode to Thirsk, where I met the little society ; and then went on to York. The people had been waiting for some time. So I began preaching without delay, and felt no want of strength, though the room was like an oven through the multitude of people. Fri. 6.--I read Dr. Sharp’s elaborate Tracts on the “ Rubrics and Canons.” He justly observes, with regard to all these, 1. That our governors have power to dispense.with our observance of them: 2. That. a tacit dispensation is of the same force with an explicit dispensation: 3. That their continued connivance at what they cannot but know, is a tacit dispensation. I think this is true; but if it be, he has himself answered his own charge against the Methodists (so called.) For suppose the Canons did forbid field preaching, as expressly as playing at cards and frequenting taverns, yet we have the very same plea for the former, as any clergyman has for the latter. All our governors, the king, the archbishop, and bishops, connive at the one as well as the other. Sat. '7.--One of the residentiaries sent for Mr. Williamson, who had invited me to preach in his church, and told him, “ Sir, I abhor persecution; but if you let Mr. Wesley preach, it will be the worse for you.” He desired it nevertheless ; but I declined. Perhaps there is a providence in this also. God will not suffer my little remaining strength to be spent on those who will not hear me but in an honourable way. S82 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ June, 1755 Sun. 8.--We were at the minster in the morning, and at our parish church in the afternoon. The same gentleman preached at both; but though I saw him. at the church, I did not know I had ever seen him before. In the morning he was all life and motion; in the afternoon he was quiet as a post. At five in the evening, the rain constrained me to preach in the oven again. The patience of the congregation surprised me. They seemed not to feel the extreme heat, nor to be offended at the close application of those words, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.”

Tues. 24.--Observing in that valuable book, Mr. Gillies’s “ Historical Collections,” the custom of Christian congregations in all ages to set apart seasons of solemn thanksgivings, I was amazed and ashamed that we had never done this, after all the blessings we had received : and many to whom I mentioned it gladly agreed to set apart a day for that purpose. Mon. 30.--I set out for Norwich, and came thither the next evening. As a large congregation was waiting, I could not but preach, though weary enough. The two following days I spoke to each member of the society; and on Friday, July 4, took horse again, though how I should ride five miles I knew not. But God so strengthened both man and beast, that I reached Bury the same night, and London the next, far less tired than when I set out from Norwich. Monday,7, was our first day of solemn thanksgiving for the numberless spiritual blessings we have received. And I believe it was a day which will not soon be forgotten. Thur. 17.--One spent the evening with us who is accounted both a sensible anda religious man. What a proof of the fall! Even with all the advantages of a liberal education, this person, I will be bold to say, xnows just as much of heart religion, of scriptural Christianity, the religion of love, as a child three years 11d of Algebra. How much then may we suppose a Turk or Heathen to know? Hardly more; perhaps just as much. Twes. 22.--To oblige a friendly gentlewoman, I was a witness to her will, wherein she bequeathed part of her estate to charitable uses; and part, during his natural life, to her dog Toby. I suppose, though she should die within the year, her legacy to Toby may stand good; but that to the poor is null and void, by the statute of Mortmain! Sun. 27.--I buzied the body of Ephraim B , once a pattern to all that believed. But ‘rum the time he left off fasting and universal 584 REV. J. WESLEY'S JOURNAL. _ [Aug. 1755

“Mr. Todd, minister of the next congregation, has near the same number under his care; and several of them also, he informs me, discover the same seriousness. Indeed there are multitudes of them in various parts, who are eagerly desirous of instruction. They have generally very little help to read; and yet, to my agreeable surprise, sundry of them, by dint of application, in their very few leisure hours, have made such a progress that they are able to read their Bible, or a plain author, very intelligibly. But few of their masters will be at the expense of furnishing them with books. I have supplied them to the utmost of my ability. They are exceedingly delighted with Watts’s Songs: and I cannot but observe that the Negroes, above all of the human species I ever knew, have the nicest ear for music. They have a. kind of ecstatic delight in psalmody: nor are there any books they so soon learn, or take so much pleasure in, ag those used in that heavenly part of divine worship.” Sun. August 3.--I dined with one who lived for many years with one of the most celebrated beauties in Europe. She was also proud, vain, and nice, to a very uncommon degree. But see the end! After a painful and nauseous disease, she rotted away above ground; and was so offensive for many days before she died, that scarce any could bear to stay in the room. Mon. 4.--Hearing my old friend, Mr. H----s, was now a beggar, and forsaken of all, I called (after a separation of sixteen years) at his lodgings, to offer him any service in my power. I was pleasingly surprised to find him reading the Bible! But still I am afraid all is no Aug. 1755.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 585 right; for the hand of God seems to be upon him still, and his mind is so hurried, he can settle to nothing. O what a pattern of holiness and stability of mind was this very man, till he was stolen away by the men whose “ words are smoother than oil.”” But were they not to him very swords?

Tues. 9.--I desired as many of our brethren as could, to observe Wednesday, the 10th, as a day of fasting and prayer. Just as we were praying for him, (we were afterward informed,) he left off raving, and broke out, “* Lord, how long? Wilt thou hide thy face for ever? All my bones are broken. ‘Thy wrath lieth heavy upon me: I am in the lowest darkness, and in the deep. But the Lord will hear: he will rebuke thee, thou unclean spirit: he will deliver me out of thy hands.” Many such expressions he uttered for about half an hour, and then raved again. Thur. 11.--He was more outrageous than ever. But while we were praying for him in the evening, he sunk down into a sound sleep, which continued for ten hours; nor was he furious any more, although the time of deliverance was not come. Sat. 13.--I preached once more at St. Just, on the first stone of their new society house. In the evening, as we rode to Camborne, John Pearce, of Redruth, was mentioning a remarkable incident :--While he lived at Helstone, as their class was meeting one evening, one of them cried, with an uncommon tone, ‘“ We will not stay here : we will go to” such a house, which was in a quite different part of the town. They all rose immediately, and went; though neither they nor she knew why. Presently after they were gone, a spark fell into a barrel of gunpowder, which was in the next room, and blew up the house. So did God preserve those who trusted in him, and prevent the blasphemy of the multitude.

Sun. 14.--The minds of many people being deeply affected with a prospect of public calamities, I explained those comfortable words in the First lesson, Isaiah xxvi, 20, ‘Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.” Tues. 16.--I set out for Lewisham ; appointing one to meet me with my horse at the stones end. But he mistook his way, and so left me to walk on, in my boots and great coat. When I came within a quarter of a mile of Lewisham bridge, a coach drove swiftly by me. I wondered why the coachman stopped, till he called, and desired me to come up to him. The reason then appeared,--the low grounds were quite covered with water, so that I could not have attempted to reach the bridge, without hazarding my life. 594 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [Jan. 1756. Tues. 23.--I was in the robe chamber, adjoining to the house of lords, when the king put on his robes. His brow was much furrowed with age, and quite clouded with care. And is this ail the world can give even toa king? All the grandeur it can afford? A blanket of ermine round his shoulders, so heavy and cumbersome he can scarce move under it! A huge heap of borrowed hair, with a few plates of gold and glittering stones upon his head! Alas, what a bauble is human greatness! And even this will not endure. Cover the head with ever so much hair and gold ; yet, --Scit te Proserpina canum ; Personam capiti detrahet illa tuo. (Death will deprive thee of thy borrowed hair.) [Literally :--‘ Proserpine knows thee to be hoary ; she will tear the mask from thy head.’*] January, 1, 1756.--We had a large congregation at four in the morning. How much are men divided in their expectations concerning the ensuing year! Will it bring a large harvest of temporal calamities, or of spiritual blessings ? Perhaps of both; of temporal afflictions preparatory to spiritual blessings. Mon. 5.--This week I wrote “ An Address to the Clergy ;” which, considering the state of public affairs, I judged would be more seasonable, and more easily borne, at this time than at any other. Wed. 14.--Mr. Walsh wrote to me as follows :--

Fri. February 6.--The fast day was a glorious day ; such as London has scarce seen since the Restoration. Every church in the city was more than full; and a solemn seriousness sat on every face. Surely God heareth the prayer ; and there will yet be a lengthening of our tranquillity. Even the Jews observed this day with a peculiar solemnity. The form of prayer which was used in their synagogue, began, “ Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for he hath torn and he will heal us;” _ and concluded with those remarkable words, “Incline the heart of our sovereign lord King George, as well as the hearts of his lords and counsellors, to use us kindly, and all our brethren, the children of israel; that in his days and in our days we may see the restoration of Judah, and that Israel may dwell in safety, and the Redeemer may come to Zion. May it be thy will! And we all say, Amen.” Mon. 23.--I paid another visit to Canterbury, but came in too late to preach. Tues. 24.--Abundance of soldiers and many officers came to the preaching. And surely the fear and the love of God will prepare them either for death or victory. Wed. 25.--I dined with Colonel , who said, “ No men fight like those who fear God: I had rather command five hundred such, than any regiment in his majesty’s army.” Thur. 22.--I had so severe a cold, that I could hardly speak to be heard. However, I preached, morning and evening, as I could, and the next day returned to London. Jon. March 1.--I set out for Bristol. Some time after, I received the copy of another letter, dated March 2, from the Rev. Mr. Davies in Virginia, part of which I have subjoined :--- “When the books arrived, I gave public notice after sermon, and desired such negroes as could read, and such white people as would make good use of them, and were not able to buy, to come to my house. For some time after the poor slaves, whenever they could get an hour’s 596 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ March, 1756.

Mon. 5.--Inquiring for one whom I saw three or four days ago in the height of a violent pleurisy, I found he was perfectly recovered, and returned into the country. A brimstone plaster in a few minutes took away both the pain and the fever. O why will physicians play with the lives of their patients! Do not others (as well as old Dr. Cockburn) know, that “no end is answered by bleeding in a pleurisy, which may not be much better answered without it?” To-night the sleepers here began to open their eyes, it being rumoured that an express was come to the lord lieutenant, to inform him, the French were hastening their preparation, being determined to land in Ireland. And so they will, if God gives them leave: but he has the reins in his own hand. Tues. 6.--One was informing me of an eminent instance of the power of faith. ‘* Many years ago,” said she, ‘I fell and sprained my ankle, so that I never expected it would be quite well. Seven years since, last September, I was coming home from the preacning in a very dark night, and, stumbling over a piece: of wood, fell with the whole weight of my body upon my lame foot. I thought, O Lord, I shall not be able to hear thy word again for many weeks! Immediately a voice went through my heart, ‘Name the name of Christ, and thou shalt stand.’ I leaped up, and stretched out my foot, and said, ‘ Lord Jesus 600 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. | [ April, 1756. Christ, I name thy name: let me stand!’ And my pain ceased ; and J stood up, and my foot was as strong as ever.” Fri. 9.--I spent an hour with Dr. F , a sensible, agreeable man. He said, “ Six weeks ago, the informed the lord | --, that he had express orders from his majesty, to put this kingdom in a posture of defence against the intended invasion; and he was empowered to . raise what men he pleased; and nothing has ever been done since: so that we conclude the whole to be a grimace, a mere trick of state.”

Thur. 29.--I preached on one side of the market place, to a numerous congregation. I was afterward invited by some of the officers to spend an hour with them at the barracks. It, at least, freed them from prejudice against the present work of God, if it answered no further end. Fri. 30.--I was pressed to turn aside to Athlone, a gentlewoman of Barbadoes, who was obliged to return thither shortly, having a great desire to see me. So! went to Athlone, and spent one or two hours 62 REV. J. WESLEY'S JOURNAL. [ May, 1756 in close conversation with her and her husband. We had a comfortable meeting in the evening; and most of the gentry in the town were present: but who can warn them to flee from the wrath to come? They are “increased in goods, and need nothing.” Sat. May 1.--I rode to Bur through rain, hail, and snow, such as is usual on the first of January. I had designed to preach abroad; but the wind was too sharp to be borne either by me or the people. Sun. 2. --We rode to Mount Mellick. About five I preached in the market place. I was on the point of concluding, when a violent storm came. Till then the bottles of heaven were stayed. Tues. 4.--We rode to Portarlington ; where, on Wednesday, 5, at the desire of several who could not attend the early preaching, I preached in the assembly room at ten, on, “ Ye must be born again.” Many of the best in the town (so called) were present, and seemed not a little amazed. Many more came in the evening, among whom I found an unusual liberty of spirit. For the present most of them seemed much affected. But how soon will the thorns grow up ?

Tues. 11.--I was at a loss where to preach, the person who owned the loft refusing to let me preach there, or even in the yard below. And the commanding officer being asked for the use of the barrackyard, answered, it was not a proper place. <‘* Not,# said he, “that I have any objection to Mr. Wesley. I will hear him, if he preaches under the gallows.” It remained, to preach in the street: and by this means the congregation was more than doubled. Both the officers and soldiers gave great attention, till a poor man, special drunk, came marching down the street, attended by a Popish mob, with a club in ‘ May, 1756. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 603 one hand, and a large cleaver in the other, grievously cursmg and blaspheming, and swearing he would cut off the preacher’s head. It was with difficulty that I restrained the troopers; especially them that were not of the society. When he came nearer, the mayor stepped out of the congregation, and strove, by good words, to make him quiet ; but he could not prevail: on which he went into his house, and returned with his white wand. At the same time he sent for two constables, who presently came with their staves. He charged them not to strike the man, unless he struck first; but this he did immediately, as soon as they came within his reach, and wounded one of them in the wrist. On this the other knocked him down, which he did three times before he would submit. The mayor then walked before, the constables on either hand, and conducted him to the gaol.

Seeing one of her neighbours in the room, she called her, and said, ‘‘O Mary, you are old in years, and old in sin. The Lord has borne long with you, and you know not the day or the hour when he will call you. Iam young, and he is calling me away ; and what should I do without an interest in Christ? Was my work now to do, it would never be done: but, blessed be God, it is not. JI know the Lord hath washed me from my sins in his own blood, and is preparing me for himself. O fly from the wrath to come, and never rest till you rest in the wounds of Jesus! I am almost spent: but had I strength, I could exhort you all till morning.” To another she said, “‘‘ Martha, Martha! thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful;’ and this one thing you have neglected. O seek God, and he will supply all your wants. It is time for you to begin: your glass is almost run; and what will all your toil profit when you come to be asl am now? Find time for this, whatever goes undone. My neighbours used to wonder how I could find time, and think me foolish for spending it so; but now I know it was not foolishness. Soon I shall receive an exceeding great reward. “Perhaps some of you will say you was never called. Then remember, I call you now. I exhort every one of you to ‘seek the Lord while he may be found.’ Think not to make excuses in that day: God will have his witnesses; and I shall appear as a witness against you. If you repent not, these my dying words will rise up in judgment against you.” To her she said, “I forgive you all that you have done against me; and I have prayed the Lord to forgive you: return to him now, and he will receive you; for he desires not the death of a sinner. I am a witness of this ; for he has forgiven all my sins. O! I want strength to sing his praise! But I am going where I shall sing his praise for ever.” Then calling for her husband, she said, ‘“‘ My dear, God has given you

Wed. 16.--I rode over to Newmarket, and preached to an earnest congregation of poor people. In the morning, at the request of some of the neighbouring gentry, I deferred preaching till ten o’clock. Many of them were then present, and seemed not a little astonished : perhaps they may remember it--a week. In the afternoon I rode to Ballygarrane, a town of Palatines, who came over in Queen Anne’s time. They retain much of the temper and manners of their own country, having no resemblance of those among whom they live. I found much life among this plain, artless, serious people. ‘The whole town came together in the evening, and praised God for the consolation. Many of those who are not outwardly joined with us, walk in the light of God’s countenance; yea, and have divided themselves into classes, in imitation of our brethren, with whom they live in perfect harmony. Fri. 18.--In examining the society I was obliged to pause several times. The words of the plain, honest people came with so much weight, as frequently to stop me for a while, and raise a general cry among the hearers. I rode back through Adair, once a strong and flourishing town, well walled, and full of people; now, without walls and almost without inhabitants, only a few poor huts remain. Ata small distance from these are the ample ruins of three or four convents, delightfully situated by the river, which runs through a most fruitful vale. Mon. 21.--I talked with one who was in deep distress. She had been represented to me as in despair; but I soon found her disorder (natural or preternatural) had nothing to do with religion. She was greatly troubled, but knew not why ; not for her sins, they scarce came into her mind. I know not that prayer will avail for her, till she is troubled in quite another manner; till she cries out from her inmost soul, God be merciful to me a sinner !” Tues. 22.--I called on Mrs. F., whom I saw some years since in despair of quite another kind. Between nine and ten years ago her daughter married without her consent: this was followed by other distressing circumstances, in the midst of which she cried out, “ Gad has hn a A / , ’ \ 608 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [June, 1756.

Tues. 13.--A large congregation was present at five, and stood unmoved, notwithstanding some heavy showers. At noon I preached at Cleg Hill; at five in the barrack yard again, where the concourse of people was greater than before. Mr. P., the minister of a neighbouring parish, and another clergyman who came with him, received the truth in love: Mrs. P. (his wife) -found rest to her soul. But how is it, that almost in every place, even where there is no lasting fruit, there is so great an impression made at first, upon a considerable number of people? The fact is this:--every where the work of God rises higher and higher, till it comes to a point. Here it seems for a short time to be ata stay. And then it gradually sinks again. All this may easily be accounted for. At first curiosity brings many hearers: at the same time God draws many by his preventing grace to hear his word, and comforts them in hearing. One then tells another. By this means, on the one hand, curiosity spreads and increases, and, on the other, drawings of God’s Spirit touch more hearts ; and many of them more powerfully than before. He now offers grace to all that. hear; most of whom are in some measure affected, and more or less moved, with approbation of what they hear, desire to please God, and July 1756.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 611 good will to his messenger: these principles, variously combined and increasing, raise the general work to its highest point. But it cannot stand here; for, in the nature of things, curiosity must soon decline. Again, the drawings of God are not followed ; and thereby the Spirit of God is grieved. The consequence is, he strives with this and this man no more, and so his drawings end. Thus both the natural and supernatural power declining, most of the hearers will be less and less affected. Add to this, that in the process of the work, “it must be that offences will come.” Some of the hearers, if not preachers also, will act contrary to their profession. jither their follies or faults will be told from one to another, and lose nothing in the telling. Men once |

curious to hear, will now draw back: men once drawn, having stifled their good desires, will disapprove what they approved before, and feel dislike, instead of good will, to the preacher. Others, who were more or less convinced, will be afraid or ashamed to acknowledge that conviction. And all these will catch at ill stories, (true or false,) in order to justify their change. When, by this means, all who do not savingly believe, have quenched the Spirit of God, the little flock goes on from faith to faith; the rest sleep on and take their rest. And thus the num- ber of hearers in every place may be expected first to increase, and then decrease. Wed. 14.--At noon I preached at Coolylough, where the preachers and stewards met. Thur. 15.--In the evening I preached at Tullamore, in Barrack-street ; and many who never had so much curiosity as to walk a hundred yards to hear the preaching, vouchsafed to hear it at their own doors. In the middle of the sermon came a quarter master, very drunk, and rushed in among the people. In a short time he slipped off his hat, and gave all the attention of which he was capable. So did many of the soldiers, and many officers. O let some lay it to heart! Fri. 16.---We walked down to Lord Tullamore’s, (that was his title then,) an old mile from the town. His gardens are extremely pleasant. They contain groves, little meadows, kitchen gardens, plats of flowers, and little orchards, intermixed with fine canals and pieces of water. And will not all these make their owner happy? Not if he has one unholy temper! Not unless he has in himself a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life. About this time I received a letter without a name, part of which I have subjoined :--

met, the rules of the society were read over, and carefully considered one by one: but we did not find any that could be spared. So we all agreed to abide by them all, and to recommend them with our might. We then largely considered the necessity of keeping in the Church, and using the clergy with tenderness; and there was no dissenting voice. God gave us all to be of one mind and of one judgment. Fri. 27.-- The rules of the bands were read over and considered, one by one ; which, after some verbal alterations, we all agreed to observe and enforce. Sat. 28.--The rules of Kingswood school were read and considered, one by one; and we were all convinced they were agreeable to Scripture and reason: in consequence of which it was agreed,--1. That a short account of the design and present state of the school be read by every assistant in every society: and, 2. That a subscription for it be begun in every place, and (if need be) a collection made every year. My brother and I closed the conference by a solemn declaration of our purpose never to separate from the Church ; and all our brethren concurred therein. For a few days I was laid up with a flux; but on Sunday, September 5, I crept out again, and preached at Kingswood in the morning and Stokes Croft in the afternoon. Mow. 6.--I set out in the machine, and on Tuesday evening came to London. Wednesday and Thursday, I settled my temporal business. It is now about eighteen years since I began writing and printing books; and how much in that time have I gained by printing?’ Why, on summing up my accounts, I found that on March 1, 1756, (the day I left London last,) I had gained by printing and preaching together, a debt of twelve hundred and thirty-six pounds. Fri. 10.--I preached at a famous place, commonly called, “* The Bull-and-Mouth Meeting ;” which had belonged, I suppose, near a hundred years, to the people called Quakers. As much of real religion as was ever preached there, I trust will be preached there still ; and perhaps in a more rational, scriptural, and intelligible manner. Sat. 11.-- -- Oct. 1756. ] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 617

* As it is our duty to do all we can to make ail around us happy, 1] think there is one thing that may be done to promote so blessed an end, which will at the same time be very advantageous to them that practise it; namely, to efface all the obscene words which are written on houses. doors, or walls, by evil-minded men. This which I recommend to others, I constantly practise myself; and if ever I omit doing it, I am severely checked, unless I can produce some good reason for that omis sion. I do it with a sponge, which for that purpose I carry in my pocket. The advantages I reap from hence are, 1. Peace of conscience in doing my duty. 2. It helps me to conquer the fear of man, which is one of my greatest trials. 3. It is matter of joy, that I can do any the least service to any one: and as all persons, especially the young, are liable to temptations to impurity, I cannot do too much to remove such temptations, either from myself or others. Perhaps, too, when the unhappy writers pass by, and see their bad labours soon effaced, they may be discouraged from pursuing so shameful a work; yea, and brought to a better mind. ‘Perhaps in some places it might not be amiss, in the room of what is effaced, to write some serious sentence, or short text of Scripture: and wherever we do this, would it not be well to lift up our heart to God, in behalf of those sinners, in this or the like manner: ‘ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge! Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!’ ”

Sun. 24.--We had two very useful sermons at St. Thomas’s churcn ; the one, on counting the cost, before we begin to build; the other, on, « Be ye angry, and sin not.” And both of them were exactly suitable to the present case of many in the congregation. The upper part of the high spire of the church was blown down in the late storm. . The stones, being bound together by strong iron cramps, hung waving in the air for some time. ‘Then they broke through roof, gallery, pews, and pavement, and made a deep dint in the ground. Mon. 25.--I walked to the infirmary; standing on a hill, at the north end of the town. The seamen’s hospital is joined to it, on each side, by semicircular piazzas. All is extremely clean and neat, at least equal to any thing in London. The old seamen have smaller or larger allowance, according to their families ; so that nothing is wanting 626 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ May, 1757. to make their lives easy and comfortable--but the love of God. 1 aftere ward spent an hour with Mr. Peter Whitefield, a man of strong understanding and various learning. His “ Dissertation in Defence of the Hebrew Points” (which he sent me the next morning) is far more satisfactory than any thing which I ever heard or read upon the subject. Thur. 28.--I talked with one who, by the advice of his pastor, had, very calmly and deliberately, beat his wife with a large stick, till she was black and blue, almost from head to foot. And he insisted, it was his duty so to do, because she was surly and ill-natured; and tnat he was full of faith all the time he was doing it, and had been so ever | since. Sat. 30.--I took a view of the free school, a truly noble benefaction. Here seventy boys and thirty girls are entirely provided for. The building forms three sides of a square, and is rather elegant than magnificent. The children are taught to work, in their several ways, as well as to read and write. The school, the dining rooms, and the lodgings, are all plain and clean. The whole was the gift of one man, Mr. Blundell, a merchant of Liverpool.

‘How can you love me, since there is still such a mixture of evil in all Isay and do? But why should I ask this question? The Lord himself loves me: and in the late dispensation of his providence, he has mercifully discovered to me some sins of a refined nature, which before I was almost ignorant of, and now wait and pray to be delivered from. And I can joyfully add, the Lord is nigh to all that call upon him. He will fulfil my desire, though not as I desired: his way and his will are best. But how long shall I acknowledge this, without implicitly submitting to it? My own will I am apt to think good in such cases, and to grieve when it is crossed. So that I easily discern, how needful it is for me to be tried, and made to sacrifice to the Lord of that which costs me something. I need not say, for the above, alas! will tell you, that I cannot answer all your questions in the affirmative; for did I continually find God present with me, and always walk in the light of his countenance, most surely there could be no part dark in me. Yet this I can say, that I see his hand stretched out to save and to deliver; and my trust is, that before I go hence, I shall behold all his salvation ; and if it can serve any good purpose, he will open my lips to declare his praise, and let a poor creature glorify him in her death. For this I pray, and rejoice in hope; knowing the God whom I serve is able to fulfil in me all the good pleasure of his will, and the work of faith with power. ** As to the shadows of this world, I think I may truly say, they are as nothing to me. The evil (for certainly it must be some) that at times interposes between God and my soul, is, I believe, of a more spiritual nature. The stirrings of pride I sometimes feel, and, I trust, shall bewail as long as one spark remains. “‘My dear friend, adieu! I trust we shall have a happy meeting at last. In the mean time, I am persuaded, a few lines from you would add greatly to my peace and comfort. Iam,

' 632 REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. _[June, 1757. out a green leaf upon them, but abundance of trees likewise naked as in the depth of winter. Upon inquiring, I found that some time before, a violent wind had gone through all these parts, which not only threw down chimneys, walls, and barns, and tore up trees by the roots, but scorched every green thing it touched as with fire, so that all the leaves immediately fell off, and not only bushes and fruit trees, but elms, oaks, and firs, withered away to the very roots. rt. 2'7.--I preached at Branthwait about noon. Many of the congregation came from far. The rain was suspended from ten till evening, so that they had op) ortunity both of coming and returning. This also was an answer to prayer: and is any such too little to be remembered ? May 29.--(Being Whit-Sunday.) After preaching at eight and at two, I hastened to Cockermouth. I began without delay, and cried to a listening multitude, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” The word had free course. Even the gentry seemed desirous to drink of the “ living water.” Mon. 30.--I rode to Wigton, a neat, well-built town, on the edge of Cumberland. I preached in the market place at twelve. The con- ' gregation was large and heavily attentive. Between four and five we crossed Solway Frith; and before seven reached an iJl-looking house, called the Brow, which we came to by mistake, having passed the house we were directed to. I believe God directed us better than man. Two young women we found kept the house, who had lost both their parents ; their mother very lately. I had great liberty in praying with them and for them. Who knows but God will fasten something upon them, which they will not easily shake off?

Sun. 12.--At seven they were gathered from all parts, and 1 was greatly refreshed among them. At five, the court house being too small, I was obliged to go out into the market place. O what a difference is there between these living stones, and the dead, unfeeling multitudes in Scotland! ‘Mon. 13.--I proclaimed the love of Christ to sinners, in the market place at Morpeth. Thence we rode to Placey. The society of colliers here may be a pattern to all the societies in England. No person ever misses his band or class: they have no jar of any kind among them; but with one heart and one mind “ provoke one another to love and to good works.” After preaching I met the society in a room as warm as any in Georgia: this, with the scorching heat of the sun, when we rode on, quite exhausted my-strength. But after we came to Newcastle I soon recovered, and preached with as much ease as in the morning. Thur. 16.--In the evening I preached at Sunderland. I then met the society, and told them plain, none could stay with us, unless he would part with all sin ; particularly, robbing the king, selling or buying run goods ; which [ could no more suffer, than robbing on the highway. July, 1757. ] REY. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 635 This I enforced on every member the next day. A few would not , promise to refrain: so these I was forced to cut off. About two hundred and fifty were of a better mind. . Sat. 18.--The desk was placed in the evening just opposite the sun, which, when I begun, was covered with a cloud: but it broke out in a few minutes, and shone full in my face, for three quarters of an hour. But it was no inconvenience at all; nor were my eyes any more dazzled, than if it had been under the earth. Sun. 19.--I preached at eight to the usual congregation ; and hast- ened to Shields, lest I should be too late for the church. Between

Sun. 31.--I rode over to Markfield. The church contained us tolerably well in the morning ; but in the afternoon, though many stayed without, it was much crowded and sultry hot. I was quite faint and weary while I read prayers; but in preaching my strength was restored. At six I preached once more at Leicester, and delivered my own soul. Mon. August 1.--I had much conversation with Mr. ; whom, against a thousand appearances, I will believe to be an honest, though irresolute man. ‘ While I was very uneasy,” said he, “in the year 1741, my brother brought me to Mr. Spangenberg, and then to others -of the German Brethren, to whom I was more and more attached till, in the year 1743, i went over to Marienborn. There I saw many things which I could not approve; and was more and more uneasy till I returned to England. I was afterward much employed by the Brethren. I was ordained deacon. But still I had a sore and burdened conscience, and gained no ground in my spiritual warfare: rather, having laid aside prayer and searching the Scripture, I was more and more dead to God. But in 1750, I awoke again, and was under great agenies of mind. And from this time I wrote to the Count again and again, and to most of the labourers ; but to no purpose. Andrew Frey’s account is true. The spirit of levity and frolicsomeness, which he justly describes, broke in about 1746, and is not purged out yet. In May last, I wrote and delivered a declaration to the Brethren met in conference at Lindsey House, that I did not dare to remain in their connection any longer. The same declaration I made to them here a few days ago. What further I am to do, I know not; but I trust God will direct me.” Tues. 2.--On his expressing a desire to be present at our conference, I invited him to it: and, on Wednesday, 3, in the evening, he came to the Foundery. Our conference began the next morning, and continued till the Thursday following. From the first hour to the last there was no jarring string, but all was harmony and love.

Fri. 16.--I looked over Mr. Borlase’s “ Antiquities of Cornwall.” He is a fine writer, and quite master of his subject, who has distinguished, with amazing accuracy, the ancient Saxon monuments from the more ancient'Roman, and from those of the Druids, the most ancient ofall. Sat. 1'7.--I preached at Porkellis at one, and at Redruth in the evening. Sun. 18.--At eight, many of the French prisoners were mixed with the usual congregation. This was doubled at one; but still came nothing near to that which assembled at Gwennap in the evening. It rained all the time I preached; but none went away. A shower of rain will not fright experienced soldiers. Here I learned a remarkable occurrence :--A few days ago, some hundred English, who had been prisoners in France, were landed at Penzance, by a carte] ship. Many of these passed through Redruth, going home; but in a most forlorn condition. None showed more compassion to them than the French : they gave them food, clothes, or money, and told them, “« We wish we could do more; but we have little for ourselves here.”? Several who had only two shirts, gave a naked Englishman one. A French boy, meeting an English boy who was half naked, took hold of him, and stopped him, cried over him a while, and then pulled off his own coat, and put it upon him!

But if you keep close to God and one another, you will find Jesus a Saviour to the uttermost, as I, the most unworthy of mankind, do.’ For some time before she died, her prayer was turned into praise. All her prayer then was, ‘Thy will be done.’ We have one by us that we think will hardly live till to-morrow, who is above seventy, and is as a shock of corn full ripe, crying out, ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’ In the Christmas week I rode down to Bristol; where, Sunday, January 1, 1758, we began the year with the great congregation at four, rejoicing and praising God. Tues. 3.--At the request of several of my friends, I wrote ‘“ A letter toa Gentleman of Bristol ;” in order to guard them from seeking salvation by works on one hand, and Antinomianism on the other. From those who lean to either extreme, I shall have no thanks: but “wisdom is justified of her children.” Wed. 4.--I rode to Kingswood, and rejoiced over the school, which is at length what I have so long wished it to be,--a blessing to all that are therein, and an honour to the whole body of Methodists. Mon. 9.--I began a letter to Mr. Towgood, author of “ The Dissenting Gentleman’s Reasons ;” I think the most saucy and virulent satire on the Church of England, that ever my eyes beheld. How much rather would I write practically than controversially! But even this talent I dare not. bury in the earth. Fri. 13.--Having ended my business at Bristol, I rode to Newbury, and the next day to J.ondon Feb. 1758. ] . REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 649 Now if it be the will of God, I should be glad of a little rest: if not, let me rejoice to be without it.

Sun. 12.--At the request of the vicar, Mr. J., I rode over to Uxbridge. I preached for him, both morning and afternoon, to a large and serious congregation. How uncommon a providence is this! The Gospel was preached in the church at Hayes. Several of the parishioners ran from it, and took pews at Hillingdon. It followed them into Hillingdon church, where I preached twice in one day. Some of them went to Uxbridge: and now it is come to torment them at Uxbridge also. Wed. 15.--I read over the “ Memoirs of the house of Brandenburgh.” Quanta de spe decidi! [How was I disappointed !] It is hard to determine from his writing, whether the author be a Mohammedan or a Christian. I suppose he is as near one as the other. On Friday, 17, the public fast, I preached at West-street in the morning, at Spitalfields in the afternoon, and Bull-and-Mouth in the evening; every where to a crowded audience. Indeed every place of worship throughout the city was extremely crowded all the day long. Surely all the prayers which have been offered up this day will not fall to the ground! Mon. 20.--I rode through much rain to Maldon, in Essex. Their new preaching house is large ; but it would in nowise contain the congregation which flocked together in the evening. For a time there was much persecution here ; but all is now calm and quiet: and probably good will be done, if those who now run well do not draw back to perdition. We had a large congregation at five in the morning, and more than we had room for in the evening. Fair blossoms! But which of these will bring forth fruit?’ O Lord, thou knowest! Wed. 22.--It rained without ceasing till we came to a small] inn, nineteen miles from Maldcn. Here we dried our clothes. Soon after the rain ceased, and we had a pleasant ride to London. Mon. 2'7.--Having a sermon to write against the Assizes at Bedford, I retired for a few days to Lewisham. 650 REV. J WESLEY’S JOURNAL. [ March, 1758

Mon. 13.--I preached in the shell of the new house, and then set out for York. The banks over which we crept along were ready to swallow up man and beast. However, we came safe to York in the afternoon. After settling the little affairs, on Wednesday, 15, I rode to _ Leeds, where, in the evening, a multitude of people were present. I never before saw things in so good order here, and took knowledge the assistant had not been idle. I was apprehensive, having been at an uncommon expense, of being a little straitened for money: but after preaching, one with whom I had never exchanged a word, put a letter into my hand, in which was a bill for ten pounds. Is not «the earth the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof ?” Thur. 16.--I rode through heavy rain to Manchester. I was scarce set down, when Mr. came from Bedford. If he comes sincerely, (as I believe,) God will bless him; but if not, ego in portu navigo. {I am safe.] He can find out nothing with regard to me; I have no secrets. ri. 17.--In riding from Manchester to Bolton, I read “ The Life of Theodore, King of Corsica ;” a great man, both as a general and as a prince; and one who, if he had not been sacrificed to the French, might have made a shining figure in history. Sat. 18.--We rode to Liverpool. Thur. 23.--I walked over to Mr. E.’s, a gentleman who had little thought of God, till his favourite child lay at the point of death. It then came into his mind, to pray for his life. He did so, and the child recovered. This struck him to the heart, and he rested no more, till his own soul was healed. I never saw the house so crowded as it was on Easter-Day, March 26; especially with rich and genteel people ; whom I did not at all spare. They are now warned to flee from the wrath to come. God grant they may remember the warning !

Tues. 2.--I wrote a short answer to Dr. Free’s weak, bitter, scurrilous invective against the people called Methodists. But I doubt whether I shall meddle with him any more; he is too dirty a writer for a. Va May, 1758. | REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL. 655 me to touch. Wed. 3.--I preached at four in the afternoon at Cooly- .ough, and at eight in the morning; after which I rode on to Tyrrel’s Pass. The letters which I received here were seasonable as rain in drought. I had before found much weariness ; but God thereby gave a check to my faintness of spirit, and enabled me to “ gird up the loins of my mind.” In the evening, the weather being calm and mild, I preached on the side of a meadow, the people standing before me, one above another, on the side of a gently-rising hill. And many did, indeed, at that hour, “taste and see that the Lord is gracious.” - Fri. 5.--In the evening I preached at Drumcree, in the new room, built in the taste of the country. The roof is thatch, the walls mud; on which a ladder was suspended by ropes of straw. Hence we rode to Rosmead. The congregation here was not large, but deeply serious. Sun. '7.--I preached at eight.and at five. Afterward I was desired to make a collection for a distressed family. Mr. Booker, the minister of the parish, willingly stood at the door to receive it; and encouraged all that went by to be merciful after their power. Mon. 8.--I rode to Newry, and preached at seven to a large and serious congregation. Tues. 9.--We rode by the side of the canal, through a pleasant vale, to Terryhugan. The room built on purpose for us here, is three yards long, two and a quarter broad, and six foot high. The walls, floor, and ceiling are mud; and we had a clean chaff bed. At seven I preached in a neighbouring ground, having a rock behind me, and a large congregation sitting on the grass before me. ‘Thence we retired to our _ hut, and found it true,-- Licet, sub paupere tecto, Reges et regum vita precurrere amicos. [lt is possible, under an humble roof, to live more happily than kings and their courtiers. } ’

Solitude (From the Latin) Source: Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), Part I Author: Charles Wesley (attributed) --- From the Latin. Solitude! Where shall I find Thee, pleasing to the thoughtful mind! Sweet delights to thee belong, Untasted by the vulgar throng. Weary of vice and noise I flee, Sweetest comforter, to thee. Here the mild and holy dove Peace inspires and joy and love. Thy unmolested, silent shade No tumultuous sounds invade: No stain of guilt is seen in thee, To soil thy spotless purity. Here the smiling fields around Softest harmony resound. Here with angel quires combin’d, The lord of his own peaceful mind Glides thro’ life, from business far, And noisy strife, and eating care. Here, retir’d from pomp and state (The envy’d torment of the great) Innocent he leads his days, Far from giddy thirst of praise. Here his accounts with studious care Preparing for the last great bar, He weeps the stains of guilt away, And ripens for eternal day. Hoarded wealth desire who please, Tow’rs and gilded palaces. Fraudless silence may I find, Solitude and peace of mind; [3] [Page] 7 To all the busy world unknown, Seen and lov’d by God alone. Ye rich, ye learn’d, ye great, confess This in life is happiness, To live (unknown to all abroad) To myself only and my God.

Written in the Beginning of a Recovery from Sickness Source: Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), Part I Author: Charles Wesley (attributed) --- Recovery from Sickness. 1 Peace, flutt’ring soul! The storm is o’er, Ended at last the doubtful9 strife: Respiring now, the cause explore That bound thee to a wretched life. 2 When on the margin of the grave, Why did I doubt my Saviour’s art? Ah! Why mistrust his will to save? What meant that fault’ring of my heart? 3 ’Twas not the searching pain within That fill’d my coward flesh with fear; Nor conscience of uncancel’d sin;10 Nor sense of dissolution near. 9Ori., “doubtless”; corrected 3rd edn. (1739) by ms. insert; and in 4th edn. (1743) and 5th edn. (1756). 10Changed to read “Nor consciousness of outward sin” in 4th edn. (1743) and 5th edn. (1756). 4 Of hope I felt no joyful ground, The fruit of righteousness alone; Naked of Christ my soul I found, And started from a God unknown. 5 Corrupt my will, nor half subdu’d, Could I his purer presence bear? Unchang’d, unhallow’d, unrenew’d Could I before his face appear? 6 Father of mercies, hear my call! Ere yet returns the fatal hour, Repair my loss, retrieve my fall, And raise me by thy quick’ning pow’r. 7 My nature re-exchange for thine; Be thou my life, my hope, my gain; Arm me in panoply divine, And death shall shake his dart in vain. 8 When I thy promis’d Christ have seen, And clasp’d him in my soul’s embrace, Possest of my salvation, then-- Then, let me, Lord, depart in peace!

Matthew 5:3 Source: Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), Part I Author: Charles Wesley (attributed) --- “Blessed are they that mourn.”16 1 Jesu! My great high-priest above, My friend before the throne of love! If now for me prevails thy prayer, If now I find thee pleading there; If thou the secret wish convey, And sweetly prompt my heart to pray, Hear; and my weak petitions join, Almighty advocate, to thine! 16In 2nd edn. (1739) and following this is titled: “Psalm CXXXIX. 23 [BCP]. ‘Try me, O God, and seek the ground of my heart.’” 2 Fain would I know my utmost ill, And groan my nature’s weight to feel, To feel the clouds that round me roll, The night that hangs upon my soul. The darkness of my carnal mind, My will perverse, my passions blind, Scatter’d o’er all the earth abroad, Immeasurably far from God. 3 Jesu! My heart’s desire obtain, My earnest suit present and gain, My fulness of corruption show, The knowledge of myself bestow; A deeper displicence17 at sin, A sharper sense of hell within, A stronger struggling to get free, A keener appetite for thee. 4 For thee my spirit often pants, Yet often in pursuing faints, Drooping it soon neglects t’ aspire, To fan18 the ever-dying fire: No more thy glory’s skirts are seen, The world, the creature steals between; Heavenward no more my wishes move, And I forget that thou art love. 5 O sovereign love, to thee I cry, Give me thyself, or else I die. Save me from death, from hell set free, Death, hell, are but the want of thee. 17A rare word meaning “dislike.” 18“To fan” changed to “Nor fans” in 4th edn. (1743) and 5th edn. (1756). Quicken’d by thy imparted flame, Sav’d, when possest of thee, I am; My life, my only heav’n thou art: And lo! I feel19 thee in my heart! 19Changed to “When shall I feel” in 3rd edn. (1739); and to “O might I feel” in 4th edn. (1743) and 5th edn. (1756). Part II.

Universal Redemption Source: Appended to John Wesley's sermon "Free Grace" (1739), pp. 31-35 Author: Charles Wesley (attributed) [cf. Baker list, #14] ---

9 A power to chuse, a will to obey, Freely his grace restores; We all may find the living way, And call the Saviour ours.

10 Whom his eternal mind foreknew, That they the power would use, Ascribe to God the glory due, And not his grace refuse;

11 Them, only them, his will decreed, Them did he chuse alone, Ordain'd in Jesu's steps to tread, And to be like his Son.

17 And shall I, Lord, confine thy love, As not to others free? And may not every sinner prove, The grace that found out me?

20 When God invites, shall man repel? Shall man th' exception make? "Come, freely come, WHOEVER WILL, And living water take!"

27 Ah! Who is as thy servants blind, So to misjudge their God! Scatter the darkness of their mind, And shed thy love abroad.

30 Oh! If thy Spirit send forth me, The meanest of the throng, I'll sing thy grace divinely free, And teach mankind the song.

35 Then, only then our eyes shall see Thy promis'd kingdom come; And every heart by grace set free, Shall make the Saviour room.

5 The things unknown to feeble sense, Unseen by reason's glimm'ring ray, With strong, commanding evidence Their heavenly origine display.

8 Now, Lord, for thee our all we leave, Our willing soul thy call obeys, Pleasure, and wealth, and fame we give, Freedom, and life, to win thy grace.

5 Thither he will'd his bones to go, And take possession in their stead; His bones the promis'd land shall shew, He claims his Canaan, tho' dead.

1 Moses by faith from death was sav'd, While heedless of the tyrant's will, His parents in their God believ'd, And dar'd the lovely babe conceal.

Looking unto Jesus. [From the German] [Maria Böhmer] (The Same) Source: Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), Part I Author: Charles Wesley (attributed) --- What is a worthless worm to thee? What is in man thy grace to move? That still thou seekest those who flee The arms of thy pursuing love? That still thy inmost bowels cry “Why, sinner, wilt9 thou perish, why?” Ah show me, Lord, my depth of sin! Ah, Lord, thy depth of mercy show! End, Jesus, end this war within: No rest my spirit e’er shall know, Till thou thy quickning influence give: Breathe, Lord, and these dry bones shall live. There, there before the throne thou art, The Lamb ere10 earth’s foundations slain! Take thou, O take this guilty heart; Thy blood will wash out every stain: No cross, no sufferings I decline; Only let all my heart be thine! The Same [Looking unto Jesus]. God of love, incline thine ear! Christ my King, Haste and bring Thy salvation near. 9Ori. “will”; corrected in 4th edn. (1743) and following. 10Ori., ‘e’er’; but clearly used in sense of ‘before’. Thee my restless soul requires; Restless till Thou fulfill All its large desires. Only thou to me be given; Thou be mine, I resign All in earth and heaven. Jesus, come, my sickness cure; Shew thine art, Cleanse a heart Full of thoughts impure. Painfully it now aspires To be free, Full of thee, Full of hallow’d fires. Lo, I tread on deaths and snares, Sinking still Into ill, Plung’d in griefs and cares. When, O when wilt thou appear? O draw nigh! Say, “’Tis I;” And I will not fear.

At Setting Out to Preach the Gospel Source: Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), Part I Author: Charles Wesley (attributed) --- At Setting Out to Preach the Gospel.51 Angel of God, whate’er betide, Thy summons I obey; Jesus, I take thee for my guide, And walk in thee my way. Secure from danger, and from dread, Nor earth nor hell shall move, Since over me thy hand hath spread The banner of thy love. To leave my Captain I disdain, Behind I will not stay, Tho’ shame, and loss, and bonds, and pain, And death obstruct the way. Me to thy suffering self conform, And arm me with thy power, Then burst the cloud, descend the storm, And come the fiery hour! Then shall I bear thy utmost will, When first the strength is given-- Come, foolish world, my body kill, And drive my soul to heaven! 51Charles records singing this hymn in his MS Journal as early as March 16, 1739.

To Be Sung at Meals Source: Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), Part I Author: Charles Wesley (attributed) --- To Be Sung at Meals.52 Come let us lengthen out the feast, To thankfulness improve, God in his gifts delight to taste, And pay them back in love. His providence supplies our needs, And life and strength imparts; His open hand our bodies feeds, And fills with joy our hearts. But will he not our souls sustain, And nourish with his grace? Yes: for thou wilt not say, in vain My people seek my face. See then we take thee at thy word, With confidence draw nigh, We claim, and of thy Spirit, Lord, Expect a fresh supply. The sinner, when he comes to thee, His fond pursuit gives o’er, From nature’s sickly cravings free, He pines for earth no more. 52Charles included this hymn in a later manuscript selection for family use: MS Family, 14-15.

In Temptation Source: Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), Part I Author: Charles Wesley (attributed) --- In Temptation. Where, my soul, is now thy boast? Where the sense of sin forgiven? Destitute, tormented, lost, Down the stream of nature driven, Crush’d by sin’s redoubled load; Where, my soul, is now thy God! Far from me my God is gone, All my joys with him are fled, Every comfort is withdrawn, Peace is lost, and hope is dead; Sin, and only sin I feel, Pride, and lust, and self, and hell. Did I then my soul deceive? Rashly claim a part in thee? Did I, Lord, in vain believe, Falsely hope thou diedst for me? Must I back my hopes restore, Trust thou diedst for me no more. No--I never will resign What of thee by faith I know; Never cease to call thee mine, Never will I let thee go; Be it I my soul deceive, Yet I will, I will believe.

A Hymn for Charity-Children Source: Collection of Psalms and Hymns (1741) Author: Charles Wesley (attributed) --- How happy they, O King of kings! How safe, how truly blest, Who under thy protecting wings Both shelter find and rest. Them wilt thou lead, them wilt thou keep, And with thine arm uphold: O blessed shepherd! Blessed sheep Of Israel’s sacred fold. 7“Will” changed to “we’ll” in 4th edn. (1748) and following. Nor does the tender wand’ring lambs His kindly care disdain; He knows them better than their dams, And better does sustain. Behold his flock from every side He is assembling still; And may he all in safety guide To Sion’s sacred hill. If thither he will us convey, Nor our mean vows despise, Our hearts will on his altars lay A grateful sacrifice. To God the Father, and the Son, And Spirit, One in Three, As is, and was ere time begun, Eternal glory be!

7“Will” changed to “we’ll” in 4th edn. (1748) and following. Nor does the tender wand’ring lambs His kindly care disdain; He knows them better than their dams, And better does sustain. Behold his flock from every side He is assembling still; And may he all in safety guide To Sion’s sacred hill. If thither he will us convey, Nor our mean vows despise, Our hearts will on his altars lay A grateful sacrifice. To God the Father, and the Son, And Spirit, One in Three, As is, and was ere time begun, Eternal glory be!

To his Brother Samuel Date: OXON, June 17, 1724. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1724) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER, -- I believe I need not use many arguments to show I am sorry for your misfortune, though at the same time I am glad you are in a fair way of recovery. If I had heard of it from any one else, I might probably have pleased you with some impertinent consolations; but the way of your relating it is a sufficient proof that they are what you don’t stand in need of. And indeed, if I understand you rightly, you have more reason to thank God that you did not break both, than to repine because you have broke one leg. You have undoubtedly heard the story of the Dutch seaman who having broke one of his legs by a fall from the main-mast instead of condoling himself, thanked God that he had not broke his neck. [See Spectator, No. 574.] I scarce know whether your first news vexed me, or your last news pleased me, more; but I can assure you that, though I did not cry for grief at the former, I did for joy at the latter part of your letter. The two things that I most wished for of almost anything in the world were to see my mother and Westminster once again; 'and to see them both together was so far above my expectations that I almost looked upon it as next to an impossibility. I have been so very frequently disappointed when I had set my heart on any pleasure, that I will never again depend on any before it comes. However, I shall be obliged to you if you will tell me as near as you can how soon my uncle is expected in England and my mother in London. I hope my sister is pretty well recovered by this time, and that all at Westminster are in as good health as Your loving Brother. PS.--Pray give my service to Mrs. Harris, and as many as ask after me. Since you have a mind to see some of my verses, I have sent you some, which employed me above an hour yesterday in the afternoon. There is one, and I am afraid but one, good thing in them--that is, they are short. As o'er fair Cloe’s rosy cheek,

Careless, a little vagrant passed, With artful hand around his neck A slender chain the virgin cast. As Juno near her throne above Her spangled bird delights to see, As Venus has her fav'rite dove, Cloe shall have her fav'rite flea. Pleased at his chains, with nimble steps He o'er her snowy bosom strutted: Now on her panting breast he leaps, Now hides between his little head. Leaving at length his old abode, He found, by thirst or fortune led, Her swelling lips, that brighter glowed Than roses in their native bed. Cloe, your artful bands undo, Nor for your captive's safety fear; No artful bands are needful now To keep the willing vagrant here. Whilst on that heav'n 'tis given to stay, (Who would not wish to be so blest ) No force can draw him once away, Till Death shall seize his destined breast. If you will excuse my pen and my haste, I shall be once more, Yours. This is my birthday. [New Style, June 28.]

I suppose you have seen the famous Dr. Cheyne's Book of Health and Long Life, [George Cheyne (1671-1743), M.D. (Edin.), F.R.S. A sixth edition of his Essay of Health and Long Life was published by G. Strahan in 1725. Cheyne was a pioneer of some of the modern theories of dietetics and hygiene. 'This book of Cheyne's produced even sects in the dietetic philosophy,' said Dr. Arbuthnot in his Preface to his On Aliments, 1731. On March 12, 1742, Wesley read part of Cheyne's Natural Method of Curing Diseases, ‘one of the most ingenious books which I ever saw. But what epicure will ever regard it for "the man talks against good eating and drinking" ! ' There are references to it in Boswell's Life of Johnson. It influenced Wesley throughout his career. Cheyne's earlier book on The English Malady, or a Treatise on Nervous Diseases, 1733, has its bearing on some of the psychological as well as the physiological questions raised in recent years and on some curious phenomena of Wesley's century. See Journal, v. 373; and letter of June 11, 1747, sect. 14, to Bishop Gibson.] which is, as he says he expected, very much cried down by the physicians, though he says they need not be afraid of his weak endeavors while the world, the flesh, and the devil are on the other side of the question. He refers almost everything to temperance and exercise, and supports most things he says with physical reasons. He entirely condemns eating anything salt or high-seasoned, as also pork, fish, and stall-fed cattle; and recommends for drink two pints of water and one of wine in twenty-four hours, with eight ounces of animal and twelve of vegetable food in the same time. I shall trouble you no more about him here, since you may have probably seen the book itself, which is chiefly directed to studious and sedentary persons.

I should have writ before now had I not had an unlucky cut across my thumb, which almost jointed it, but is now pretty well cured. I hope you will excuse my writing so ill, which I can't easily help, as being obliged to get done as soon as I can; and that you will remember my love to my sisters and brother, and my services to as many as ask after me. I should be exceeding glad to keep a correspondence with my sister Emly, [Emilia. She was eleven years older than John. She thanks him on April 7, 1725, for 'dispatching so speedily the business I desired you to do' (Stevenson's Memorials of the Wesley Family, p.262).] if she were willing, for I believe I have not heard from her since I was at Oxford. I have writ once or twice to my sister Suky too, but have not had an answer, either from her or my sister Hetty, from whom I have more than once desired the Poem of the Dog. I should be glad to hear how things go at Wroot, which I now reflect on with more pleasure than Epworth; so true it is, at least in me, that the persons not the place make home so pleasant. You said something of it in your last letter, which I wish could come to pass; but I am afraid I flattered myself too soon. It is well my paper will hold no more, or I don't know when I should have. done, but the scantiness of that obliges me to conclude with begging yours and my father's blessing on Your dutiful Son.

Pray remember my love to all my sisters: I would have writ to one or two of them if I had either room or time; but I am just going to church; for which reason you will excuse me for breaking off so abruptly and writing so bad. I shall therefore conclude with begging yours and my father's blessing on Your dutiful Son.

To his Mother Date: OXON, May 28, 1725. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1725) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MOTHER, -- My brother Charles, I remember, about a month or two since, was bemoaning himself, because my brother and I were to go into the country, and he was to be left behind. But now I hope he has no reason 'to complain, since he had the good fortune to go down in my stead. It was indeed very reasonable that he should, since he had never been at Wroot before, and I have; besides that, my father might probably think it would be an hindrance to my taking Orders, which he designed I should do on Trinity Sunday. But I believe that would have been no impediment to my journey, since I might have taken Bugden [Buckden] in Huntingdonshire, where Bishop Reynolds. ordained, in my way; and by that means I might have saved the two guineas which I am told will be the charge of Letters Dimissory.

We have so invincible an attachment to truth already perceived, that it is impossible for us to disbelieve it. A distinct perception commands our assent, and the will is under a moral necessity of yielding to it. It is not, therefore, in every case a matter of choice whether we will believe ourselves worse than our neighbor or no; since we may distinctly perceive the truth of this proposition, He is worse than me; and then the judgment is not free. One, for instance, who is in company with a free-thinker, or other person signally debauched in faith and practice, can't avoid knowing himself to be the better of the two; these' propositions extorting our assent, --An Atheist is worse than a Believer; A man who endeavors to please God is better than he who defies Him. If a true knowledge of God be necessary to absolute humility, a true knowledge of our neighbor should be necessary to comparative. But to judge oneself the worst of all men implies a want of such knowledge. No knowledge can be, where there is not certain evidence; which we have not, whether we compare ourselves with acquaintance or strangers. In the one case we have only imperfect evidence, unless we can see through the heart and reins; in the other we have none at all. So that the best can be said of us in this particular, allowing the truth of the premises, is that we have been in a pious error, if at least we may yield so great a point to free-thinkers as to own any part of piety to be grounded on a mistake. Again, this kind of humility can never be well-pleasing to God, since it does not flow from faith, without which it impossible to please Him. Faith is a species of belief, and belief is defined 'an assent to a proposition upon rational grounds.' Without rational grounds there is therefore no belief, and consequently no faith.

That we can never be so certain of the pardon of our sins as to be assured they will never rise up against us, I firmly believe. We know that they will infallibly do so if ever we apostatize, and I am not satisfied what evidence there can be, of our final perseverance till we have finished our course. But I am persuaded we may know if we are now in a state of salvation, since that is expressly promised in the Holy Scriptures to our sincere endeavors, and we are surely able to judge of our own sincerity. As I understand faith to be an assent to any truth upon rational grounds, I don't think it possible without perjury to swear I believe anything, unless I have rational grounds for my persuasion. Now, that which contradicts reason can’t be said to stand on rational grounds; and such undoubtedly is every proposition which is incompatible with the Divine Justice or Mercy. I can therefore never say I believe such a proposition, since 'tis impossible to assent upon reasonable evidence where it is not in being. What, then, shall I say of Predestination An everlasting purpose of God to deliver some from damnation does, I suppose, exclude all from that deliverance who are not chosen. And if it was inevitably decreed from eternity that such a determinate part of mankind should be saved, and none beside them, a vast majority of the world were only born to eternal death, without so much as a possibility of avoiding it. How is this consistent with either the Divine Justice or Mercy Is it merciful to ordain a creature to everlasting misery Is it just to punish man for crimes which he could not but commit How is man, if necessarily determined to one way of acting, a free agent To lie under either a physical or a moral necessity is entirely repugnant to human liberty. But that God should be the author of sin and injustice (which must, I think, be the consequence of maintaining this opinion) is a contradiction to the clearest ideas we have of the divine nature and perfections.

I call faith an assent upon rational grounds, because I hold divine testimony to be the most reasonable of all evidence whatever. Faith must necessarily at length be resolved into reason. God is true; therefore what He says is true. He hath said this; therefore this is true. When any one can bring me more reasonable propositions than these, I am ready to assent to them: till then, it will be highly unreasonable to change my opinion. I used to think that the difficulty of Predestination might be solved by supposing that it was indeed decreed from eternity that a remnant should be elected, but that it was in every man's power to be of that remnant. But the words of our Article will not bear that sense. I see no other way but to allow that some may be saved who were not always of the number of the elected. Your sentiments on this point, especially where I am in an error, will much oblige and I hope improve Your dutiful Son.

To his Mother Date: CHRIST CHURCH, November 22, 1725. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1725) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MOTHER,--I must beg leave to assure you that before I received yours I was fully convinced of two things,-first, that Mr. Berkeley's [George Berkeley, D.D. (1685-1753), Bishop of Cloyne 1734. He published his Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous in 1713. The reference is to the early part of the Second Dialogue.] notion, which at first sight appeared very plausible--as, indeed, an ingenious disputant will make almost anything appear--was utterly groundless; and that he either advanced a palpable falsehood, or said nothing at all: and, secondly, that I had been under a mistake in adhering to that definition of Faith which Dr. Fiddes [Richard Fiddes (1671--July 8, 1725). A critical account of him is given by Hearne in his diary for July 15 of this year. He was author of A Body of Divinity (2 vols. folio, 1718-20) and other works. He and his school defined faith as 'an assent to a proposition on reasonable (or rational) grounds.'] sets down as the only true one. Mr. Berkeley's reasons on a second reading I found to be mere fallacy, though very artfully disguised. From one or two you may easily judge of what kind his other arguments are. He introduces Hylas charging Philonous with skepticism for denying the existence of sensible things: to which Philonous replies that, if denying the existence of sensible things constitute a skeptic, he will prove those to be such who assert sensible things to be material; for if all sensible things are material, then, if it be proved that nothing material exists, it will follow that no sensible thing exists; and that nothing material can exist he undertakes to demonstrate. Matter, says he (by which you must mean something sensible, or rise how came you to know of it), you define a solid extended substance, the existence of which is exterior to the mind and does in no ways depend on its being perceived; but if it appear that no sensible thing is exterior to the mind, your supposition of a sensible substance independent on it is a plain inconsistency.

Sensible things are those which are perceived by the senses; everything perceived by the senses is immediately perceived (for the senses make no inferences, that is the province of reason); everything immediately perceived is a sensation; no sensation can exist but in a mind: ergo no sensible thing can exist but in a mind, which was to be proved. Another of his arguments to the same purpose is this: Nothing can exist in fact the very notion of which implies a contradiction; nothing is impossible to conceive, unless the notion of it imply a contradiction. But 'tis absolutely impossible to conceive anything existing otherwise than in some mind, because whatever any one conceives is at that instant in his mind. Wherefore as matter is supposed to be a substance exterior to all minds, and as 'tis evident nothing can be even conceived exterior to all minds, 'tis equally evident there can be no such thing in being as matter. Or thus: Everything conceived is a conception, every conception is a thought, and every thought is in some mind; wherefore to say you can conceive a thing which exists in no mind is to say you conceive what is not conceived at all. The flaws in his arguments, which do not appear at a distance, [may be] easily seen on a nearer inspection. He says, artfully enough in the preface, [in] order to give his proofs their full force, it will be necessary to place them in as many different lights as possible. By this means the object grows too big for the eye; whereas, had he contracted it into a narrower compass, the mind might readily have taken it in at one view and discerned where the failing lay. How miserably does he play with the words 'idea' and 'sensation'! Everything immediately perceived is a sensation. Why Because a sensation is what is immediately perceived by the senses -- that is, in plain English, everything immediately perceived is immediately perceived; a most admirable discovery, the glory of which I dare say no one will envy him. And again: all sensible qualities are ideas, and no idea exists but in some mind -- that is, all sensible qualities are objects of the mind in thinking, and no image of an external object painted on a mind exists otherwise than in some mind. And what then

Fiddes' definition of faith I perceived on reflection to trespass against the very first law of defining, as not being adequate to the thing defined, which is but a part of the definition. An assent grounded both on testimony and reason takes in science as well as faith, which is on all hands allowed to be distinct from it. I am, therefore, at length come over entirely to your opinion, that saving faith (including practice) is an assent to what God has revealed because He has revealed it and not because the truth of it may be evinced by reason. Affairs in Poland grow worse and worse. Instead of answering the remonstrances from the Protestant Powers, the Poles remonstrate themselves against their listing troops and meddling with what does not concern them. It seems above fifty schools and near as many churches have been taken from the Protestants in Poland and Lithuania since the treaty of Oliva; so that the guarantees of it would have had reason to interpose though the persecution at Thorn had never happened. [See letter of July 29, 1725.] The late Bishop of Chester [Francis Gastrell (1662-1725), Bishop of Chester x 7x4-25,and Canon of Christ Church. Hearne, recording his death (Nov. 1725), describes him as 'the very best of the bishops excepting Dr. Hooker of Bath, and had many excenent qualities, among some bad ones.' He was educated at Westminster School. John Wesley went to his funeral, and his Diary says, ' Made a copy of alcaicks on Bishop Gastrell.’ Samuel Wesley, jun., included a glowing eulogy of him in his Poems of 1736 (p: 125). Samuel Peploe 'succeeded him as Bishop. See letter of Sept. 23, 1723,n.] was buried on Friday last, five days alter his death, which was occasioned by the dead palsy and gout in the head and stomach; he was in the sixty-third year of his age. 'Tis said he will be succeeded either by Dr. Foulkes [Peter Foulkes (1676-1747), Canon and Sub-Dean of Exeter.] or Dr. Ganner, Chancellor of Norwich, one whom all parties speak well of. I have only time to beg yours and my father's blessing on Your dutiful Son. Pray remember .me to my sisters, who, I hope, are well. If I knew when my sister Emly would be at home, I would write. November 23.

III. What you understand as spoken of rulers, I expressly say of private men: ' As well every ruler as every private man must act in a legal way; and the latter might with equal reason apply the civil sword himself as use violent means' (by which I here mean reviling, studiously and unnecessarily defaming, or handing about ill stories of wicked men) 'to preserve the Church.' 1. I believe it to be more especially the duty of governors to try to amend scandalous offenders. 2. That flagrant immorality is a sufficient reason to shun any one. 3. That to the weak and private Christian it is an unanswerable reason for so doing. 4. That in many cases a private Christian, in some a clergyman, is not obliged to admonish more than once. But this being allowed, still the main argument stands, that the Scripture nowhere authorizes a private person to do more than to shun an heretic, or (which I expressly mention) an obstinate offender. I had not the least thought of any retrospect in them, neither when I wrote or spoke those words, 'If Providence has pointed you out, &c.' My mother's reason for my cutting off my hair is because she fancies it prejudices my health. As to my looks, it would doubtless mend my complexion to have it off, by letting me get a little more color, and perhaps it might contribute to my making a more genteel appearance. But these, till ill health is added to them, I cannot persuade myself to be sufficient grounds for losing two or three pounds a year: I am ill enough able to spare them. [See letter of Nov. 17 1731.]

Mr. Sherman says there are garrets somewhere in Peck water to be let for fifty shillings a year; that there are, too, some honest fellows in college who would be willing to chum in one of them; and that, could my brother [Charles had been elected to a studentship at Christ Church this year.] but find one of these garrets, and get acquainted with one of these honest fellows, he might very possibly prevail upon him to join in taking it; and then, if he could but prevail upon someone else to give him seven pounds a year for his own room, he would gain almost six pounds a year clear if his rent were well paid. He appealed to me whether the proposal was not exceeding reasonable; but as I could not give him such an answer as he desired, I did not choose to give him any: at all. Leisure and I have taken leave of one another [One of the first of Wesley's memorable sayings.]: I propose to be busy as long as I live, if my health is so long indulged to me. In health and sickness I hope I shall ever continue, with the same sincerity, Your loving Brother, My love and service to my sister.

To his Brother Samuel Date: LINCOLN COLLEGE, December 6, 1726. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1726) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER -- The very thing I desire of you is this, that you would not content yourself with your own opinion, nor fix your own opinion at all, till you have heard my story as well as theirs who accuse me. 'Tis very hard: I have said all that I can say, -- I have professed my sincerity and integrity, more perhaps than it became me to profess them; I have asked yours as well as my father's pardon for any real or supposed slight I have put upon you; to you in particular I have given all the satisfaction which I could contrive to give in words; and yet am now just as far, if not farther, from a reconciliation than I was when I first set out. Since all probable methods of gaining my cause have failed, I will try one way more: I will relate the controverted facts as plainly as I can, without desiring you either to believe me or not. If you do, I shall be glad both for your sake and my own; if not, I have done my part, and can therefore quietly commit my ways to Him, who in His own good time will make my innocence as clear as the light. First I shall tell you what I suspect, and next what I know. My suspicion is that, on your receiving a letter from me, you immediately set yourself to consider what 'tis probable I shall say to your last: and if you hit upon any of my objections, then they are to go for nothing; you have already found out the emptiness of them. You then proceed to read, taking it for granted that if I will not tell a downright lie, which is a question, I will however color and palliate everything, as far as my wit will serve me to do with any show of truth; that calmness is an infallible mark of disrespect, as warmth is of guilt; and with a few of these either praecognita or praeconcessa, 'tis perfectly easy to demonstrate that I am totally in the wrong.

Without some proceedings of this kind, I cannot imagine or guess how you come to be so displeased at me: why, alter I have over and over desired that my past miscarriages might be forgotten, your language still shows them to be fresh in your memory; to what end, since it does not appear that different expressions would not do as well, you give me in every one of your letters one or more of those taunting sentences, 'It would have been fair enough ad hominem,' ' I hope 'tis not only pro forma that you labor.' I do believe you are yet my affectionate friend; but very much fear you will not be so long, if everything I say has so strange a construction put upon it.

Why you defer your advice till my debts are paid [See letter of March 19, 1727.] you may probably see a reason; I do not. I reckon my Fellowship near sixty pounds a year. Between forty and fifty it will infallibly cost to live at college, use what management I can. As for pupils, I am not qualified to take them till one of our tutors goes away; when that will be is very uncertain. What you mean by my debt at Wroot I do not apprehend. If the whole I have at any time received of my father, I know not how much it is, and shall not therefore know (as neither will you) when it is satisfied; if what I have received at the University, I may be ruined for want of advice before I can possibly repay that; if what I received when last in the country, that was nothing at all, for I not only bore my own expenses in traveling, but paid ready money for whatever I brought from thence, and left money behind me -- though for several reasons I did not think good to tell my father so much when he blamed me with being so expensive to him in that journey. My sister Hetty's behavior has, for aught I have heard, been innocent enough since her marriage. Most of my disputes on Charity with my father were on her account, he being inconceivably exasperated against her. 'Tis likely enough he would not see her when at Wroot: he has disowned her long ago, and never spoke of her in my hearing but with the utmost detestation. Both he, my mother, and several of my sisters were persuaded her penitence was but feigned. One great reason for my writing the above-mentioned sermon was to endeavor, as far as in me lay, to convince them that, even on the supposition that she was impenitent, some tenderness was due to her still; which my mother, when I read it to her, was so well aware of that she told me as soon as she had read it, 'You writ this sermon for Hetty; the rest was brought in for the sake of the last paragraph.'

My sister Lambert behaved herself unexceptionally while we were in the country. That she had lately altered her conduct, which indeed is highly improbable, I did not hear till now. I very heartily desire (though I see not how it can be effected, unless you will take my word till my actions disprove it) that you should entertain a just opinion, as of the morals in general, so in particular of the gratitude of Your loving Brother.

To his Mother Date: LINCOLN COLLEGE, March 19, 1727. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1727) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MOTHER, -- One advantage at least my degree has given me: I am now at liberty, and shall be in a great measure for some time, to choose my own employment; and as I believe I know my own deficiencies best and which of them are most necessary to be supplied, I hope my time will turn to somewhat better account than when it was not so much in my own disposal. On Saturday next I propose beginning an entirely different life, with relation to the management of my expenses, from what I have hitherto done. I expect then to receive a sum of money, [Probably from his Fellowship, at which time he may have received some allowance. See letter of Dec. 6, 1726.] and intend immediately to call in all my creditors' bills (that they may not grow by lying by, as it sometimes happens), and from that time forward to trust no man, of what sort or trade so ever, so far as to let him trust me.

The conversation of one or two persons whom you may have heard me speak of (I hope never without gratitude) first took off my relish for most other pleasures .so far that I despised them in comparison of that. From thence I have since proceeded a step farther to slight them absolutely. And I am so little at present in love with even company, the most elegant entertainment next books, that unless they have a peculiar turn of thought I am much better pleased without them. I think 'tis the settled temper of my soul that I should prefer, at least for some time, such a retirement as would seclude me from all the world to the station I am now in. Not that the latter is by any means unpleasant; but I imagine it would be more improving to be in a place where I might confirm or implant in my mind what habits I would without interruption before the flexibility of youth is over, than to stay where, among many advantages, I lie under the inconvenience of being almost necessarily exposed to much impertinence and vanity. A school in Yorkshire, forty miles from Doncaster, was proposed to me lately, on which I shall think more when it appears whether I may have it or no. A good salary is annexed to it; so that in a year's time 'tis probable all my debts would be paid, and I should have money beforehand. But what has made me wish for it most is the frightful description, as they call it, some gentlemen who know the place gave me of it yesterday. The town (Skipton-in-Craven) [The Grammar School at Skiptonin-Craven was founded in 1548 by William Ermystead, Canon of St. Paul's, London. See Potts's Liber Cantabrigiensis, p. 523.] lies in a little vale, so pent up between two hills that it is scarce accessible on any side; so that you can expect little company from without, and within there is none at all. I should therefore be entirely at liberty to converse with companions of my own choosing, whom for that reason I would bring with me; and company equally agreeable, wherever I fixed, could not put me to less expense. The sun that walks his airy way To cheer the world and bring the day; The moon that shines with borrowed light; The stars that grid the gloomy night,-

'From the nature of liberty and free will we may deduce a very possible and satisfactory (perhaps the only possible just) account of the origin of evil. 'There are, and necessarily must be, some original, intrinsic agreements and disagreements, fitnesses and unfitnesses, of certain things and circumstances, to and with each other; which are antecedent to all positive institutions, founded on the very nature of those things and circumstances, considered in themselves, and in their relation to each other. 'Farther: it noway derogated from any one perfection of an infinite Being to endow other beings which he made with such a power as we call liberty -- that is, to furnish them with such capacities, dispositions, and principles of action, that it should be possible for them either to observe or to deviate from those eternal rules and measures of fitness and agreeableness, with respect to certain things and circumstances, which were so conformable to the infinite rectitude of his own will, and which infinite reason must necessarily discover. Now, evil is a deviation from those measures of eternal, unerring order and reason; not to choose what is worthy to be chosen, and is accordingly chose by such a will as the divine. And, to bring this about, no more is necessary than the exerting certain acts of that power we call free will. By which power we are enabled to choose or refuse, and to determine ourselves to action accordingly. Therefore, without having recourse to any ill principle, we may fairly account for the origin of evil from the possibility of a various use of our liberty; even as that capacity or possibility itself is ultimately founded on the defectibility and finiteness of a created nature.'--I am, dear sir, Your dutiful and affectionate Son.

I have another piece of news to acquaint you with, which, as it is more strange, will, I hope, be equally agreeable. A little while ago Bob Kirkham [Son of the Rev. Lionel Kirkham. See Journal, i. 23-7; Telford's, Life of Wesley, pp. 232-3.] took a fancy into his head that he would lose no more time and waste no more money; in pursuance of which he first resolved to breakfast no longer on tea, next to drink no more ale in an evening, or however but enough to quench his thirst, then to read Greek or Latin from prayers in the morning till noon and from dinner till five at night. And how much may one imagine he executed of these resolutions Why, he has left off tea, struck off his drinking acquaintance to a man, given the hours above specified to Greek Testament and Hugo Grotius, [The Dutch jurist and theologian (1583-1645). His Annotations on the Old and New Testaments appeared in 1641 -- 6.] and spent the evenings either by himself or with my brother and me.--I am, dear mother, Your dutiful and affectionate Son. I don't despair of spending two days with you before Whitsuntide is over.

To Mrs. Wesley, At Epworth. To be left Date: GLOUCESTER, August 28, 1730. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1730) Author: John Wesley --- SIR,--I think myself extremely obliged to you for the favor of the sermon, and those letters that alone were worthy of the correspondence they maintained. I received them safe last week, and should sooner have made my acknowledgements for them but that I have been engaged with so much company since my return from dear, delightful Stanton, that till this moment I have not had time to express my gratitude for the elegant entertainment I have had, not only from the manuscripts, but in recollecting and repeating the conversation you and your brother made so agreeable, which I hope will soon be renewed. If you have any affairs that call you to Gloucester, don't forget you have two pupils who are desirous of improving their understanding and that friendship which has already taught them to be, sir, Your most sincere, humble servants. My companion joins with me in all I have said, as well as in service to Araspes.

To Ann Granville Date: LINCOLN COLLEGE, September 27 [1730]. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1730) Author: John Wesley --- What can Selima think of my long silence Will it admit of any honorable interpretation Can you believe that any business is of such importance as to excuse it in the least degree That I might not seem utterly inexcusable, I have been several times for throwing everything by; and should have done it had I not been persuaded that you would not condemn me unheard. Every day since my return hither I have been engaged in business of far greater concern than life or death; and business which, as it could not be delayed, so no one else could do it for me. Had it not been for this, I should long before now have returned my sincerest thanks to Selima, which are due to her on so many accounts that I know not where to begin. Happy indeed should I have been, had it been my lot to meet you once more in that delightful vale! What we could, we did. The places where she was, we visited more than once. And though Selima herself was not there, yet there we could find the remembrance of her. The more I think of you, the more convinced I am that here at least I am not guilty of flattery when I mention the vast advantage you have over me in gratitude as well as humility. The least desire of being serviceable to you is received by you as a real service, and acknowledged in so obliging a manner that at the same time I am quite ashamed of doing so little to deserve it. You give me an inexpressible pleasure. How differently turned is my mind! how little moved with the most valuable benefits! In this, too, give me of your spirit, Selima: let me imitate as well as admire.

I would fain imitate, too, that generous ardor which, in spite of all the hindrances that surround you, so strongly inspires you to burst through all and redeem time to the noblest purposes. I am afraid of nothing more than of growing old too soon, of having my body worn out before my soul is past childhood. Would it not be terrible to have the wheels of life stand still, when we had scarce started for the goal; before the work of the day was half done, to have the night come, wherein no one can work I shiver at the thought of losing my strength before I have found [it]; to have my senses fail ere I have a stock of rational pleasures, my blood cold ere my heart is warmed with virtue! Strange, to look back on a train of years that have passed, ' as an arrow through the air,' without leaving any mark behind them, without our being able to trace them in our improvement! How glad am I that this can't be the case of Selima! The hours you have already given to that best of studies, divinity, forbid that, as sufficiently appears by your resolution to pursue it still. That, among the multitude of books writ on this subject, you prefer those that are clear and elegant, is surely right; 'tis doubly prudent to choose those writers before others who excel in speaking as well as thinking.

SIR, -- I am almost afraid to own my having had both your letters, lest I should forfeit that good opinion that I extremely desire Cyrus should always have of Aspasia. I must farther confess that, had I not received the second letter, I should not have had courage to have wrote. I am but too sensible how unequal I am to the task. Could I, like our inimitable dear Varanese, express my sentiments, with what pleasure should I agree to the obliging request you make! But why should I be afraid of your superior understanding when I know at the same time the delight you take in not only entertaining but improving all those you converse with Then take me into your protection. Look on me as one surrounded with infirmities and imperfections, who flies to you for assistance against the assaults of vanity and passion. If you are desirous I should think you my friend, let this be the trial of it, not to leave any of my follies unreproved. I shall not scruple to discover to you those many defects which on a longer acquaintance with me your own observation must have pointed out to you; and it is no small argument of the great desire I have of improvement that I will run so great a hazard, for certainly you will value me less when you know how weak I am. You have no reason to make an apology for recommending the book you mention (which I suppose was the Bishop of Cork's). I have not yet read it; but I shall wait with impatience for the Abstract [See previous letter and that of Feb. 13, 1731.] you promise me, which I am sure will very well deserve the time I shall bestow in reading of it. My stay in Gloucester is uncertain; but when we go to town we shall call at Oxford, where we shall not fail of inquiring after Cyrus and Araspes. Selima adds: Aspasia is called away before she has finished her letter, and has not said one word for Selima, who thinks of Cyrus and Araspes with that esteem their merit justly claims, desires always to be thought their friend, and wishes Selima was worthy of it. When we go to Oxford, we don't know at what college to inquire after our agreeable friends. Mrs. Pendarves writes: GLOUCASTETR, October 26 [1730].

SIR,--We have determined to leave this place on Monday the 9th of November, and hope to see you on Tuesday at Oxford. Perhaps the weather and your inclinations may be so favorable to us that we may meet sooner (of hiring a coach [This and a similar phrase in the reply evidently refer to some arrangement by which the brothers joined their friends at Burford and rode with them to Oxford. See letter of Nov. 19.]). You are very just to those friends you have lately obliged with your company, when you seem assured of their good wishes. The success that attended your journey was certainly owing to yours and Araspes's merit. Your guardian angels would not forsake a charge so worthy of their care. Happy should we be, could our intercession secure you from accidents. The pleasure you gave us in your conversation we think of daily with thankfulness, and hope nothing will happen to prevent your making the visit you have promised us in January. My mother charges me with her particular compliments to you and your brother. Selima says she will not be contented with my making a bare compliment for her. If time would permit, I would gladly say more for her as well as for myself; but I have been in a hurry all this day. When shall I be worthy to subscribe myself, what I very sincerely desire to be, Cyrus's Friend and most faithful servant, ASPASIA.

A week or two ago I pleased myself mightily with the hopes of sending you a full and satisfactory solution of your great question; having at last procured the celebrated treatise of Archbishop King, De Origine Mali. [William King (1650-1729), Archbishop of Dublin 1703. De Origine Mali was published in 1702. It was translated by Dr. Edmund Law. See Journal, viii. 119n; and letters of Dec. 19, 1729, and Jan.1731.] But on looking farther into it, I was strangely disappointed; finding it the least satisfactory account of any given by any author whom I ever read in my life. He contradicts almost every man that ever writ on the subject, and builds an hypothesis on the ruins of theirs which he takes to be entirely new, though, if I do not much mistake, part of it is at least two thousand years old. The purport of this is, ' That natural evils flow naturally and necessarily from the essence of matter, so that God Himself could not have prevented them, unless by not creating matter at all.' Now this new supposition seems extremely like the old one of the Stoics, who I fancy always affirmed, totidem verbis, that ' All natural evils were owing not to God's want of will, but to His want of power to redress them as necessarily flowing from the nature of matter.' I breakfasted to-day with a great admirer of the Septuagint, who was much surprised to hear that any one should charge them with want of integrity, and seemed to think that charge could not be made out. Nay, he went so far as even to assert that he took this Greek to be more faultless than our present Hebrew copies. I wished I had had one or two of the places you mention at hand, and I would have given him them to chew upon. One pretty large dissertation I have by me still; I propose to read and transcribe it against I go up to London to the Westminster Great Day, [The Westminster Feast and Play on Jan. 28. See letter of Jan. 27, 1731, to Mrs. Pendarves.] which I am afraid will be as soon as my brother will want it.

I am glad the Rector [Dr. Morley, who was a warm friend to Wesley. See letters of April 4, 1726, and April 14, 1731, n.] is in so fair a way of recovery; I showed Mr. Robinson [Michael Robinson, Fellow of Lincoln, was Chaplain of All Saints', Oxford, and Rector of Great Leighs.] what related to him this morning, who I found had received from Mrs. Morley a fuller account of the Doctor's illness. Before she writ he had got over all remains of his distemper, except a weakness in the fingers of his left hand. We can't compass Thomas Burgess's [One of the prisoners whom the Methodists were caring for.] liberty yet, though it seems to have a fairer show than formerly. On Sunday they had prayers, and a sermon at the Castle; on Christmas Day we hope they will have a dinner; and the Sunday after, a communion, as many of them as are desirous of it, and appear prepared for it. I had almost forgot to tell you that on Tuesday se'nnight Mr. Morgan opened the way for us into Bocardo. [The debtors' jail above the north gate of the city. The previous August William Morgan had led them. to visit the jail at the Castle. See Telford's Wesley, p. 60.] --I am Your dutiful and affectionate Son. p class="Section1"Near Stony Stratford./p div align="center" style="text-align:center" span class="MsoPlainText"ispan style="font-size:12.0pt; MS Mincho"">

I ought doubtless not to grieve because one who deserves so well of me is taken from me to God. Surely if you were called first mine ought not to overflow because all tears were wiped from your eyes. That even in this a regard for your happiness ought to take the place of my regard for my own is most certain; but whether I could do what I ought I have great reason to question. I much doubt whether self-love in so trying a circumstance would not be found too strong for a friendship which I even now find to be less disinterested than I hitherto imagined. I used to flatter myself that I had at least the desire to be some way serviceable to Aspasia and Selima, and that this, unmixed with any meaner motive, was the sole principle of many of my actions; but even with this I perceive another principle is interwoven, a desire of recommending myself to their esteem. And if this be a fault, I am much to blame: it is a fault deeply rooted in my nature. But is it a fault to desire to recommend myself to those who so strongly recommend virtue to me ardently to desire their esteem who are so able and willing to make me in some degree worthy of it Tell me, Aspasia; tell me, Selima, if it be a fault that my heart burns within me when I reflect on the many marks of regard you have already shown Your ever obliged and ever faithful CYRUS.

To his Father Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- January 1731. DEAR SIR, -- Though some of the postulata upon which Archbishop King [See letters of Dec. 11, 1730, and Jan. 6, 1791.] builds his hypothesis of the Origin of Evil be such as very few will admit of, yet, since the superstructure is regular and well contrived, I thought you would not be unwilling to see the scheme of that celebrated work. He divides it into five chapters. The sum of the first chapter is this: The first notions we have of outward things are our conceptions of motion, matter, and space. Concerning each of these, we soon observe that it does not exist of itself; and consequently that there must be some first cause, to which all of them owe their existence. Although we have no faculty for the direct perception of this First Cause, and so can know very little more of Him than a blind man of light, yet thus much we know of Him by the faculties we have,--that He is one, infinite in nature and power, free, intelligent, and omniscient; that consequently He proposes to Himself an end in every one of His actions; and that the end of His creating the world was the exercise of His power, and wisdom, and goodness; which He therefore made as perfect as it could be made by infinite goodness, and power, and wisdom. Chapter II. But if so, how came evil into the world If the world was made by such an agent, with such an intention, how is it that either imperfection or natural or moral evils have a place in it Is not this difficulty best solved by the Manichaean supposition that there is an evil as well as a good principle By no means; for it is just as repugnant to infinite goodness to create what it foresaw would be spoiled by another, as to create what would be spoiled by the constitution of its own nature: their supposition therefore leaves the difficulty as it found it. But if it could be proved that to permit evils in the world is consistent with, nay necessarily results from, infinite goodness, then the difficulty would vanish; and to prove this is the design of the following treatise.

1. By liberty I mean an active, self-determining power, which does not choose things because they are pleasing, but is pleased with them because it chooses them. That God is endued with such a power I conclude: (1) Because nothing is good or evil, pleasing or displeasing, to Him, before He chooses it. (2) Because His will or choice is the cause of goodness in all created things. (3) Because if God had not been endued with such a principle, He would never have created anything. But it is to be observed, farther, that God sees and chooses whatever is connected with what He chooses in the same instant; and that He likewise chooses whatever is convenient for His creatures in the same moment wherein He chooses to create them. That man partakes of this principle I conclude: (1) Because experience shows it. (2) Because we observe in ourselves the signs and properties of such a power. We observe we can counteract our appetites, senses, and even our reason, if we so choose; which we can no otherwise account for than by admitting such a power in ourselves. 2. The more of this power any being possesses, the less subject he is to the impulses of external agents and the more commodious is his condition. Happiness rises from a due use of our faculties: if, therefore, this be the noblest of all our faculties, then our chief happiness lies in the due use of this -- that is, in our elections. And, farther, election is the cause why things please us: he therefore who has an uncontrolled power of electing may please himself always; and if things fall out contrary to what he chooses, he may change his choice and suit it to them, and so still be happy. Indeed, in this life his natural appetites will sometimes disturb his elections, and so prevent his perfect happiness; yet is it a fair step towards it that he has a power that can at all times find pleasure in itself, however outward things vary.

3. True it is that this power sometimes gives pain--namely, when it falls short of what it chooses; which may come to pass, if we choose either things impossible to be had, or inconsistent with each other, or such as are out of our power (perhaps because others chose them before us), or, lastly, such as necessarily lead us into natural evils. 4. And into these foolish choices we may be betrayed either by ignorance, negligence, by indulging the exercise of liberty too far, by obstinacy or habit, or, lastly, by the importunity of our natural appetites. Hence it appears how cautious we ought to be in choosing; for though we may alter our choice, yet to make that alteration is painful--the more painful the longer we have persisted in it. 5. There are three ways by which God might have hindered His creatures from thus abusing their liberty. First; by not creating any being free. But had this method been taken, then (1) The whole universe would have been a mere machine. (2) That would have been wanting which is most pleasing to God of anything in the universe---namely, the' free service of His reasonable creatures. (3) His reasonable creatures would have been in a worse state than they are now: for only free agents can be perfectly happy; as, without a possibility of choosing wrong, there can be no freedom. The second way by which God might prevent the abuse of liberty is by overruling this power and constraining us to choose right. But this would be to do and undo, to contradict Himself, to take away what He had given. The third way by which God might have hindered His creatures from making an ill use of liberty is by placing them where they should have no temptation to abuse it. But this too would have been the same in effect as to have given them no liberty at all. -- I am, dear sir, Your affectionate and dutiful Son.

To Mrs. Pendarves Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- January 11 [1731]. Why will Aspasia let in these unpleasing thoughts, these uneasy fears upon me From your long silence I can't but apprehend either that you have been out of order, or that I have been so unhappy as to displease you by some indecent or foolish expression. What shelter can I fly to from these apprehensions, unless it were possible to take in a strict sense that strange intimation you have sometimes given of being afraid to converse with me O Aspasia, if you are afraid you can't come up to the character given you by our dear Varanese, how can I hope to reach that which equal kindness but not equal justice drew What excuse does your fear leave my presumption how can I speak, if you are silent I have reasons enough (if any reasons could be enough to keep one so obliged as me from owning it) entirely to decline an intercourse which every step I take shows me unfit for; in which I can no more keep up to the spirit of Aspasia than I can in this or anything answer her expectations, and expectations for which you have too much ground; which, considering the many advantages I have long enjoyed over and above the friendship of our Varanese, though I cannot, I ought to satisfy. I ought to be some way useful to you, as you have been many ways to me. I ought to have turned that charming freedom you indulge me in to yours as well as my own advantage; to have employed it the most generous friendly way, in endeavoring to correct those failings in Selima and Aspasia (for surely no human creature is wholly spotless) which I have not yet so much as observed. I ought--I know not what. When will these two or three weeks be over, that I may speak what I cannot write [See letter to his father (Dec. 11, 1730) about going up to Westminster, and letter of Jan. 27 to Mrs. Pendarves.] It is in your power to make them move less slow. A line from Aspasia or Selima would make the time roll more swiftly, as it would, I hope, remove the apprehensions of Your CYRUS. Mrs. Pendarves replies: NEW BOND STREET, January 15, 1731.

I have but a moment's time, and I cannot employ it better than in assuring Cyrus, though I doubtless appear unworthy of the favor he shows me, that Aspasia has been more unfortunate than ungrateful. The true reason I have not wrote has been my incapacity of doing it. A great weakness I had in my eyes for a considerable time, and the fear of its returning if I strained them too soon, has been the only reason of my silence. I have received all your letters, and am infinitely obliged by them. Selima several times designed making up for my deficiency; but her heart faded, and she said she was ashamed, and talked of her not being able to write well enough, and several things of that sort, which I could not agree with her in. We talk of the worth of Cyrus and Araspes whenever we have any private conversation. I desire when you come to town you will let me know what day will be most convenient for you to come to me, a pleasure I depend upon; but do not come without sending, because my brother is in the house with us, and he is frequently engaged with company. It would be a great concern to me and to Selima to have you come at a time when perhaps we may either be abroad or engaged with company that would not be agreeable to you. I hope Araspes is well, though you do not mention him in your letter. I am called away. Ought I not to be ashamed to send such a hasty scrawl to Cyrus If it serves to convince you that I am not quite unworthy of your correspondence, I shall esteem it one of the best letters I ever wrote. And that you may not think you are the only person who have thought themselves neglected by me, at the same time I received your last I had one from Varanese that wounded my very heart. However, I hope I have regained her favor, and that you will not be less indulgent to one who knows very well how to value your acquaintance, and is Your most faithful friend and humble servant, ASPASIA, I make it my humble request that you will burn every letter I write. [She renews this request. See letter of Aug. 26.]

To Mrs. Pendarves Date: WESTMINSTER, January 27 [1731]. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- 'Tis with a great deal of pleasure as well as fear that I take the liberty to acquaint you we have been in town some hours, and attend your commands as to the time when we may have the happiness of waiting upon you. To-morrow, indeed, we are obliged to give to the Westminster Feast. If you are pleased to fix on any day after that, it will be ever owned as a fresh instance of your goodness by Your most obliged and most obedient servants.

The few hours that Selima and Aspasia enjoyed the conversation of Cyrus and Araspes are too valuable to be forgot; which I should sooner have endeavored to convince you of if I could have found time: and the favor of the book is of so high a nature that we can never be so ungrateful as to look on it without the greatest thankfulness. How happy should we have been to have heard it read by one who so well knows to recommend everything he approves of! I am sensible there must be several things we shall not be able to comprehend in such a treatise; you must therefore give me leave to trouble you with my ignorance by desiring your explanation of what I may not understand. I hope we shall hear from you soon; I have not time now to enlarge my letter. I must again repeat my acknowledgements for the friendship you have shown us in many instances. Selima and Aspasia will always gratefully remember them.

In what manner can I make an excuse to Cyrus for being so long without acknowledging the favor of his last letter By this time he certainly repents of the great indulgence he has shown me. When I consider how every hour of your life is employed, either in your own improvement or bestowing part of your knowledge on those who are happily placed under your care; and that, notwithstanding the difficulty it is for you to command any time to yourself, you have always remembered me in the most obliging manner, and have studied not only how to entertain but to improve me, -- when I recollect all this, have I not reason to fear the loss of your good opinion, and that you think me unworthy of your favor and advice that surrounded by vanity and impertinence I are fallen into the snare, and refuse to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely God forbid my state should be so desperate as to prefer sin and folly to virtue and wisdom! I will sincerely tell you the truth, and trust to your mercy. All the acquaintance I almost have are now in town, and they are continually soliciting us either to come to them or they will come to us; my sister being soon to leave me, all her friends endeavor to give her as much entertainment as they can: by which means our time is so entirely engrossed, that for two months past we have lived in a perpetual hurry, and shall do so for the month to come. I would not have you imagine we have neglected the book. Whatever comes with your recommendation is of too much value to be neglected. But the subject of it is too elevated to be read in a hurry; next week I hope we shall have leisure to read and reflect. I am a little at a loss for some words, not being used to shorthand [By which she means abbreviations.]; but I believe I shall be able to find them out.

To Mrs. Pendarves Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- April 5 [1731]. Aspasia will hardly imagine how often, since I had the pleasure of returning my thanks for her last favor, I have been angry at this ill-natured business which has so long kept me from repeating them. Many a time have I sighed and said to myself: ' No, nothing ought to keep me from it. I ought not on any account to lose the only way I now have of enjoying such conversation. This is the voice of reason, not prejudice. Is there a more improving (as well as pleasing) employment When thy heart burns within thee at her words, is it not the warmth of life, of virtue Do they not inspire some degree of the purity and softness of that heart from which they come' Yet one consideration there is that as often checks my complaints and bids my soul be still: 'Should I neglect the work to which Providence so plainly calls me, even in hope of such a good, by thus striving to be more like I should be still more unlike Aspasia.' The more I observe the dispositions of those poor creatures that make up the bulk of mankind, the more do I desire to shelter myself from them under the protection of Varanese and Aspasia and Selima. The stronger distaste I conceive at those, the more amiable light these appear in. And this doubtless is one of the uses which God makes even of the children of this generation. As they give us a stronger dislike to vice, which, though it appear hateful to abstracted reason, yet Thus speaking and thus acting grows tenfold More horrid and deform [Paradise Lost, ii. 705-6: ‘So speaking and so threatening, grew tenfold More dreadful and deform.’]; so they inspire us with a livelier approbation of virtue, which never appears more awful and glorious than when it appears, like the great Author of it, ' with clouds and darkness round about it.' Then it is, when I am tired with the melancholy prospect of them whose eyes the god of this world hath blinded, whose hearts he hath so bowed down to earth that their admiration soars not so high as The riches of heaven's pavement, [Mammon in Paradise Lost, i. 682.]

that I fly to those whose eyes are opened, whose hearts are enlarged, who see and love the noblest objects; that I can hardly forbear crying out aloud, 'How unlike are these to Selima, Aspasia, Varanese!'; that I most earnestly repeat that my frequent wish-- O might there be unfeigned Union of mind, as in us all one soul! [Paradise Lost, viii. 6o3-4: ‘Which declare unfeigned Union of mind, or in us both one soul.’] Were it possible that my mind should unite with yours, dear Aspasia, in the single instance of humility which I can't but particularly observe and admire whenever I consider your behavior toward me, I should then dare to hope that He who had wrought in me' to think as I ought to think' would in His own time work a farther resemblance to good Aspasia in Her most obliged, faithful CYRUS. The esteem of Araspes as well as Cyrus must ever attend both Aspasia and Selima.

To Mrs. Pendarves Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- April 14 [1731]. I cannot, I will not delay any longer to return my sincerest thanks to dear Aspasia for, I had almost said, the greatest of her favors, as indeed every one seems greater than the preceding. Yet methinks I should not say that you seem to exceed even your former goodness in this; since that expression would imply some room for doubt, which surely there is not here. Not only the justice which you show to the sincerity of my intentions; not only the friendly applause you give me, which, undeserved as it is, is yet exceeding pleasing, when I consider it as a mark of that approbation which I must ever have in the highest esteem; but, above all, that lovely freedom you use with me in a point of the last (utmost) importance, leaves me no room to doubt but I may look upon the last as the greatest of my obligations. Far be it from me to think that any circumstance of life shall ever give the enemy an advantage over Aspasia. Though she walk through the vale of the shadow of death, where sin and vanity are on every side; where vice and folly appear in so fair a fight as to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect; where the utmost skill of the world and the prince of it join to tear up humility, the root of Christian virtue, and consideration, which alone (under God) is able to give it any increase, --- even there her footsteps shall not slide; she shall fear and shall find no evil: He who hath overcome the world and its prince shall give His angels charge over her to keep her in all her ways. And far should I be from doubting but they would keep you safe, though you should see cause to withdraw your favor from me; though-you should at last perceive some of those numerous faults which were before so strangely hid from you, and so be obliged to choose a fitter object for that friendship to which I made so unequal returns.

Araspes (whose great esteem, as well as mine, ever attends Aspasia and Selima) was extremely delighted as well as me with a letter we received some time since, acquainting us with a resolution dear Varanese had lately entered into. Why it is that I am not allowed a stricter intercourse with such a friend is a question I could never fully answer but by another, Why is any intercourse with such a friend as Aspasia or Selima allowed Their most obliged CYRUS. On Monday we are to set out upon a pretty long journey, which will keep us out about three weeks. [This was their journey to Lincolnshire. They stayed three weeks at Epworth, and then walked back to Oxford. Wesley's Diary shows that during this visit to Lincolnshire he was twice at Scotton, where the Rector of his College was lying ill. See letter of June 17.] We should be exceedingly grieved if Selima should be obliged to begin hers before that time, which would prevent our having that pleasure the very expectation of which gives us many agreeable moments. Adieu. From Ann Granville GLOUCESTER, May 8, 1731.

1725 she married the Rev. John Capon, or Chapone, who had a school there. Aspasia and Selima answered, as godmothers, for their daughter. See letter of June 17.] but I have heard she is well. My sister and I answered for her dear little girl, but she is in the hands of a person more capable of instructing her. I suppose you have heard from my sister by this time. If not, I must excuse her, because she is at present very much taken with some business in order to a little ramble she goes upon this summer. We were prodigiously obliged to you for the book you favored us with. The greatest objection I had to London was that I had no time to read it. My sister and I almost quarreled about it when I came away. But she promised to send it me when she had read it. There are some words puzzle us, not understanding shorthand. [See Mrs. Pendarves' letter of April 4.] We must beg of you to explain them; for we cannot consent to lose one word. I am often angry with some of our neighbors, who, impertinently civil, take up more of my time than I am willing to bestow upon them. I am now guilty of the same fault, and write on without considering how many useful good things I may prevent your doing. I will make no excuses, because I hope you look upon my errors as a friend. Show me you are so by telling me as freely of them as I assure Cyrus and Araspes that I am Your most faithful friend and humble servant. My mother's best wishes attend the good brothers.

To Mrs. Pendarves Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- June [1731]. [The Diary shows that he was writing this letter at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.] It was not in the power of all the variety of objects that 'occurred to me in my late journeys to lessen the concern I felt at being so long cut off from the conversation of Aspasia. The impression which this had left on my mind was so far from being effaced by any succeeding pleasure that every agreeable entertainment I had recalled it to my thoughts, and made me as more sensible of my obligations to her, so more desirous again to acknowledge them. You will easily judge whether the remembrance of Aspasia: made that entertainment in particular less agreeable which I enjoyed last week [From the Diary we see that he walked from Oxford by Shipton and Stowe, reaching Stanton at eight on Saturday evening, May 22, where he stayed with Mr. Kirkham and met Varanese and Mrs. Granville. He had tea with the two ladies on Sunday. On Monday he is in V.'s arbor. He is at Buckland on Wednesday, where' he met Varanese. ' Danced ' occurs twice in the entries. On May 31 he returns by Stowe and Shipton to Oxford.] in the almost uninterrupted conversation of dear Varanese. 'On this spot she sat,' 'Along this path she walked,' 'Here she showed that lovely instance of condescension,' were reflections which, though extremely obvious, yet could not but be equally pleasing, but give a new degree of beauty to the charming arbor, the fields, the meadows, and Horrel [See letter of Aug. 14.] itself. The happy disappointment we met with here in having everything succeed beyond our expectations almost reconciled Araspes and me to our other disappointment of a less pleasing nature. And, indeed, I for my part cannot without the utmost immodesty repine at any dispensation of Providence while I am so unaccountably indulged both in the friendship of our Varanese and in calling myself dear Aspasia's Most obliged, faithful CYRUS. Araspes, too, begs leave to say that he is entirely at Aspasia's service. Adieu.

Some, however, give us a better prospect; John Whitelamb in particular. [In 1734 Whitelamb became Rector of Wroot, the living of which he held till his death in 1759. See Journal, iii. 24; Tyerman's Oxford Methodists, pp. 374-86; and letter of Nov. 17.] I believe with this you will receive some account from himself how his time is employed. He reads one English, one Latin, and one Greek book alternately; and never meddles with a new one in any of the languages till he has ended the old one. If he goes on as he has begun, I dare take upon me to say that, by the time he has been here four or five years, there will not be such an one of his standing in Lincoln College, perhaps not in the University of Oxford.

To Ann Granville Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- June 17 [1731]. In what words can I express my thanks to Selima for the favorable opinion she entertains of myself, of which she has given me so obliging a proof, as I extremely desired but knew not how to ask for Perhaps you don't know the inconvenience you are bringing upon yourself --- that your generosity will but embolden me to ask more. Yet thus I can assure you it will be: your letters will in one sense never satisfy me. But the oftener you favor me (if you should please to do it again), the more earnestly I shall desire it. You have already effectually convinced me of this--that it may be said with equal justice of every sort of conversation with Aspasia or you, ' It brings to its sweetness no satiety.' That the tearing asunder of such friendships as these should occasion a very sensible pain is surely the effect both of nature and reason, which don't require us to be without passions (no, be it a Roman virtue to be 'without natural affection '), but to proportion them to the occasion. Indeed, we are not required by reason to grieve on the severest occasion 'as those without hope': we have a good hope that, severe as it is, it is no less merciful--nay, more so; since no pain approaches a Christian but to pave the way for more than equal pleasure.

The death of one of the best friends I had in the world, [On June 15 his Diary entry is 'Rector dead.' Dr. Morley died on June 12 at Scotton. See next letter.] which happened last week, as it occasioned, will I hope excuse the delay of this, as well as the defects. Araspes joins with me in sincere thanks to Selima, and begs she would, when it is convenient, present our best respects to good Mrs. Granville.

To Mrs. Pendarves Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- June 19 [1731]. Is it a proof that I am or that I am not duly sensible of my obligations to dear Aspasia, that I so extremely desire to contract more by more frequently conversing with her Would it were possible for me, once a month at least, to have the pleasure of seeing your thoughts! You shall not doubt but it would give me improvement too: the same freedom that shines through your last, whenever I admired it, could not but make upon me a lasting as well as pleasing impression. There was no need of Selima's letter to our Varanese, or of that she was since pleased to favor me with, to make either of us wish both her and Aspasia a share in-all our happiest moments. 'Tis but a few days since that I had a little share in your misfortune in parting with a sincere friend. [He refers to Ann Granville's leaving London, and Dr. Morley's dearth.] But I shall go to him again, if he does not return to me; though he is gone a longer journey than Selima, I hope as far as paradise. If Providence has used me as an instrument of doing any good to Aspasia, I had almost said, ' I have my reward.' Some part of it I have undoubtedly. The thought of having added anything to your ease will make many of my hours the happier. Yet perhaps I ought not to desire you should be easy at the common conversation of the world, which, if once it comes to be indifferent to us, will scarce be long before it be agreeable. We are indeed, as to this, in a great strait: either it displeases -- and who would be in pain, could it be avoided or it pleases, which surely causes, if it does not spring from, an entire depravation of our affections. Which side shall we turn to Oh that there were a middle way! that we could shun this unpleasant or fatally-pleasing impertinence! But it cannot be. All we can do is to be on our guard when we are engaged in it, and to engage no more in it than is plainly necessary.

Perhaps it may not be long before I have it in my power at once to return my thanks for that favor (which I shall wait for with some impatience) and to hear your sentiments more fully on some of these subjects. I extremely desire to see one of my sisters who is lately come to town [His uncle Matthew Wesley, a surgeon, who lived near Temple Bar, visited Epworth in 1731, and offered to take Martha Wesley to live with him in London.]; which, with the hopes of waiting upon Aspasia, makes me greatly wish to spend a few days there. If your journey [In a letter of May 27, ~73~, to her sister, Mrs. Pendarves (Auto. and Corr. i. 272) speaks of a proposed visit to Ireland with Mr. and Mrs. Wesley of Dangan, of whom she had seen much in London. See next letter.] begins before I can have that happiness, yet it will be some satisfaction to me to reflect that you are with those who are equally willing as well as far more able to entertain you than Your most obliged, obedient CYRUS. Araspes joins with me in wishing all happiness to Aspasia. Adieu.

May not one reason why God makes even these fools such a means of leading others to wisdom be this,--that those whose eyes are opened may the more tenderly pity their blindness; that the contempt and hate which such objects are apt to inspire may melt down into softer passions, and they may be the more unwilling to see those cast away who have (though unknowingly) helped them to their haven I do not wonder that Aspasia is thus minded; any more than I did at the temper of dear Varanese when under the sharpest pain an embodied spirit can know. You will easily take knowledge of those words, if you have not heard them before: 'When I was in the greatest of my pains, if my strength would have allowed, I would gladly have run out into the streets to warn all I met that they should save themselves from pains sharper than mine.' Something like this methinks 'tis impossible not to feel even when we read a description of the great place of torment. What would not one do to save a poor wretch from falling into it ! How unwilling are we to give over our attempts to help him! how ardent to try every way, while time is, before the pit shut its mouth upon him! In attaining some share of a better portion, some lot in a fairer heritage, I may aspire to imitate Aspasia; but vainly should hope for the same share in it. You have kept yourself unspotted from the world: I am sullied with many stains! Your mind is now adorned with many of those dispositions to which mine must probably be yet long a stranger. For though I would fain be nearer you; though I do what I can (alas! I fear not always) to overtake you: yet so hard is it to lay aside every weight, these follies do so easily beset me, that I find it will not be; -- the penitent can't avoid being left behind by the innocent!

To Ann Granvill, Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- July [1731] Selima will not believe that any other reason could have kept me so long from writing but the having so many things which I must do, as scarce give me any time for what I would do. I can by no means think the acknowledging it once a fit return for your last favor, and have often been upon the point of telling you so, when some fresh business has seized upon me and forced me to deny myself yet longer the pleasure of doing you that justice. And, to say the truth, I am even now as busy as ever, but not quite so patient; and therefore, since there is no end of waiting for this leisure, I must make what I cannot find. I am something the more reconciled to this confinement, because though it hinders my expressing it so often, yet it never hinders me from remembering that regard which on so many accounts I owe Selima. Nay, this very circumstance, that I am so confined, often recalls you to my thoughts, and makes me the more sensible of that hard trial to which you are frequently exposed. If I am compassed with business on every side, yet 'tis business of my own: such especially is that which I engage immediately for the sake of others; since I know to whom I lend that time and pains, and that what I so lay out shall be surely paid me again. But Selima, under as great a multitude of engagements, has not always the same thought to support her. You often are troubled about many things, few of which promise even distant pleasure, and are obliged to converse with many persons, too wise to learn, though not wise enough to teach.

To Mrs. Pendarves Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- August 12 [1731]. Nothing could have made our journey more prosperous than it was except the seeing Aspasia. We were successful in every other respect far beyond our expectations. Indeed, the chief design we went upon was very unlikely, humanly speaking, to succeed at all. But what is likelihood against any undertaking if He be for it ' whom all things serve'! I am sensible how good you axe to me, Aspasia; both in writing so soon, engaged as you were, and in permitting me to hope that when you are less engaged you will again bestow some moments upon me. But this is not the only reason why I shall be heartily glad, whenever you are rescued from many of your engagements, whenever it is in your power to burst those chains that hang heavy on your noblest purposes and to move with a full and free course toward the haven where you would be!

I want to say a great deal more on this subject, but am exceedingly straitened for time, being to begin a long journey in a day or two, though not so long an one as Aspasia. I was going to say nor so dangerous. But I know no danger that a lover of God can be in till God is no more, or at least has quitted the reins and left Chance to govern the world. Oh yes, there is one danger; and a great one it is, which nothing less than constant care can prevent--the ceasing to love Him: but that care will never be wanting in Aspasia. She will continually watch over her affections, and be going on from strength to strength; every new scene will be to her a new scene of action, of improving herself and others. This reflection greatly softens the thought of the distance that will be shortly between us; especially when I reflect farther that you will still indulge in a share of that improvement, dear Aspasia, Your most faithful friend and most obliged servant, I intend to stay but a fortnight at my father's. If you don't set out till I return, may I not hear from you You will believe that the gratitude and best wishes of Araspes as well as Cyrus will ever attend Aspasia. Adieu,

To Ann Granville Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- August 14 [1731]. I have neither time nor skill to thank Selima as I would for her repeated condescension to me, which nothing can excel, and that for which I am so deeply indebted to good Mrs. Granville. Both hers and your partiality toward me I cannot but observe with wondering gratitude; and hope it will continue to plead in my behalf, and to excuse my many faults and infirmities: and my observing this makes me the less surprised that, notwithstanding all my failings, you still have so favorable an opinion of me as to think me worth your correspondence. Perhaps 'tis one of these failings that even now I intend to speak the plain sense of my [mind]. I do it in so unhappy a manner as to make even sincerity look like flattery: a fault I desire as carefully to avoid as stabbing my friend with a smile. For doubtless those words that inspire vanity, if they ' be smooth as oil, yet be very swords.' God forbid that mine should ever be such to Selima, or Selima's to me. I trust they will not, but that I shall always be enabled to consider them in the true light as a picture of what you are and what I perhaps shall be, if your friendship has its perfect work. What you write with so generous a view as this justly claims the best return I can make: especially when it informs me 'that there is one particular wherein I may possibly be of some service to Selima. I had, indeed, spent many thoughts on the necessity of method to a considerable progress either in knowledge or virtue, and am still persuaded that they who have but a day to live are not wise if they waste a moment, and are therefore concerned to take the shortest way to every' point they desire to arrive at.

The method of or shortest way to knowledge seems to be this: (1) to consider what knowledge you desire to attain to; (2) to read no book which does not some way tend to the attainment of that knowledge; {3) to read no book which does tend to the attainment of it, unless it be the best in its kind; (4) to finish one before you begin another; and (5) to read them all in such an order that every subsequent book may illustrate and confirm the preceding. The knowledge which you would probably desire to attain to is a knowledge of divinity, philosophy, history, and poetry. If you will be so good as to direct me how I can be of use to you in any of these, it will give me a very particular pleasure. [See letters of June 17 and Dec. 1.] I am glad you passed your time so agreeably in the country, [Mrs. Pendarves writes to her sister on Sept. 10: ' I suppose by this time you are returned from Stanton.] and doubt not but Sappho would have made it yet more agreeable. Surely you are very just in observing that a country life is in many respects preferable to any other; particularly in its abounding with those beauties of nature that so easily raise our thoughts to the Author of them. Methinks, whenever about us round we see Hill, dale, and shady wood and sunny plain, And liquid lapse of murm'ring stream, [Paradise Lost, viii. 261-3, v. 153.] 'tis scarce possible to stop that obvious reflection: These are Thy glorious works, Parent of good. [Paradise Lost, viii. 261-3, v. 153.] Nor is it hard here, where the busy varieties of a great town do not flutter about us and break our attention, to fix that reflection so deep upon our souls that it may not pass away, like the objects that occasioned it.

I hope to retain some of the reflections which the smooth turf on which we sat, the trees overshadowing and surrounding us, the fields and meadows beneath, and the opposite hills, with the setting sun just glimmering over their brows, assisted Aspasia and Selima in inspiring; till I have the happiness of meeting part, at least, of the same company on Horrel again. Perhaps Aspasia may be there too; though, if it should be long before we meet, we may trust her with Him in whose hands she is: what seems best to Him is best both for her and us. 'Tis a cheerful thought that even the winds and seas can only fulfill His word! Why is it, then, that our hearts are troubled for her Why does tenderness prevail over faith Because faith is not yet made perfect; because we yet walk partly by sight; because we have not yet proved the whole armor of God, and therefore still lie open to this suggestion of the enemy, ' Some things are out of the reach of God's care; in some cases His arm is shortened and cannot save.' Nay, but where is the darkness that covers from His eye, where is the place where His right hand doth not hold us As well, therefore, may we be shipwrecked on the dry land as shipwrecked on the sea unless He command it. And if He does command any of us 'to arise and go hence,' what signifies it where the command finds us As means can do nothing without His word, so when that is passed they are never wanting: Since when obedient nature knows His will, A fly, a grapestone, or an hair can kill. [Prior's Ode to Memory of Colonel Villiers.] Whether it be in my power or no to do anything for Selima that will either make that summons, whenever it comes, less unpleasing, or in the meantime contribute to your ease and satisfaction and the conquest of those enemies that so easily beset us all, you will assure yourself of the best endearours of Your most friendly and most obedient CYRUS. The best service of Araspes as well as Cyrus attends Mrs. Granville and Selima. Adieu.

To his Brother Samuel Date: LINCOLN COLEGE, November 17, 1731. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1731) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--Considering the other changes that I remember in myself, I shall not at all wonder if the time comes when we differ as little in our conclusions as we do now in our premises. In most we seem to agree already; especially as to rising, not keeping much company, and sitting by a fire, which I always do, if any one in the room does, whether at home or abroad. But these are the very things about which others will never agree with me. Had I given up these, or but one of them rising early, [See letter of March 19, 1727.] which implies going to bed early (though I never am sleepy now), and keeping so little company--not one man in ten of those that are offended at me, as it is, would ever open their mouth against any of the other particulars. For the sake of these, those are mentioned: the root of the matter lies here. Would I but employ a third of my money, and about half my time, as other folks do, smaller matters would be easily overlooked. But I think nil tanti est. ['Nothing is worth such a sacrifice as this.'] As to my hair, I am much more sure that what this enables me to do is according to the Scripture than I am that the length of it is contrary to it. [See letter of Dec. 5, 1726.]

This being a point of no common concern, I desire to explain myself upon it once for all, and to tell you, freely and clearly, those general positions on which I ground (I think) all those practices, for which (as you would have seen, had you read that paper through) I am generally accused of singularity. [See letter of July 19.](1) As to the end of my being, I lay it down for a rule that I cannot be too happy, or therefore too holy; and thence infer that the more steadily I keep my eye upon the prize of our high calling the better, and the more of my thoughts, and words, and actions are directly pointed at the attainment Of it. (2) As to the instituted means of attaining it, I likewise lay it down for a rule that I am to use them every time I may. (3) As to prudential means, I believe this rule holds of things indifferent in themselves: whatever I know to do me hurt, that to me is not indifferent, but resolutely to be abstained from; whatever I know to do me good, that to me is not indifferent, but resolutely to be embraced. But it will be said I am whimsical. True; and what then If by whimsical be meant simply singular, I own it: if singular without any reason, I deny it with both my hands, and am ready to give a reason, to any that asks me, of every custom wherein I willfully differ from the world. I grant, in many single actions I differ unreasonably from others; but not willfully: no, I shall extremely thank any one who will teach me to help it. But can I totally help it, till I have more breeding or more prudence to neither of which I am much disposed naturally; and I greatly fear my acquired stock of either will give me small assistance.

It is very unwillingly that I have been so long prevented thanking Cyrus for the last proof of his friendship, though you have reason to be glad of it; for my letters are so trifling, that you show the most good nature and humility in the world to suffer my correspondence. I hope in time to be more worthy of it; nothing will be more conducive to it than the advantage of such an instructor. I can't help believing my friend is the better for your good and kind advice. She has not mentioned anything upon that subject in her last letters, but says her spirits are more lively, and she enters a little into the diversions of the Bath, which at first she was quite averse to; for I fancy the more satisfied one is with oneself, the more cheerfully may one partake of the innocent entertainments of the world. How far, indeed, and what sort of diversions are the most allowable and consistent with one's duty, is what I would fain be satisfied in. Suppose I go every week to an assembly, play at cards two or three hours, if I omit no duty by it, is it a fault or would it be in an older person than myself though I don't think being young exempts me from any good or religious act. You see, Cyrus, how freely I expose to you all my errors, all my scruples; and though I expose the weakness of judgment, yet I show how desirous I am to' reform my will and rectify my thought': for sure, the active principle within is worth improvement; you have confirmed me in the inclination of doing it--have already, and I hope will continue to assist me in it. I shall be extremely thankful for that scheme of books you mention. [See letter of Aug. 14.] Oh that I could make as good a use of them as the person it was made for I What happiness is it to have those we love follow after virtue! and how sensible an affliction to see them forsake those paths which can alone make them happy! That is a pain Cyrus has not, and I hope will never know, any otherways than the general benevolence he has for all his fellow creatures makes him grieve when they do miss.

Now give me leave to say that I can't find out the advantage of losing the conversation of particular sensible and virtuous friends. Their words, their example excite us on to goodness; they blow up and keep alive those sparks of religion which are too apt (with sorrow I speak it) to grow faint and languid. I can recollect many instances where they have been of advantage to me. At church their attention has increased mine. At home they have begun good conversations that I have been the better for; as we were often together, we used to assist each other in bearing a multitude of impertinence that I am now forced to support singly. Now, have I not more reason to imagine 'twas rather for their good than mine that they were removed Now, I fear I show great arrogance to deny anything you say, but I only make this objection in order to be more fully convinced. No one can do it so soon as Cyrus. His arguments are so plain and sensible, and withal so well expressed, they please the fancy while they inform the understanding; which is what I very seldom have met with before, most instructive things being dry and tedious--at least to me, who cannot, like my dear Sappho, search for through all her obscure recesses. I am now reading a book I want your opinion of. 'Tis Mr. Burkitt's Explanation of the New Testament; he calls it Expository Notes with Practical Observations. Sure Cyrus cannot sit without a fire this weather. I hope the good Society prospers; one way I'm sure they do. I often think of them, especially when the cold makes me shrink. They are those that are chosen of peculiar grace; the influence of it will, I hope, extend to their weaker brethren. The last letter I had from Aspasia she said she was very much concerned she had not writ to you, and desired me to assure the good brothers of her friendship and good wishes, as does my mother, who is very much out of order with a cold. The last time I heard from Sappho she was well. Is not Araspes' hymn quite charming You have not sent your poetic herd so far but you can call them in whenever you please.

Cyrus may be certain I shall never forget him in the only way I can show my gratitude to him. Oh that I had reason to think my prayers would be as efficacious as his with[out] doubt are l What is uttered with so much real piety must be successful for himself and for his friends. There I hope he will always place

To his Mother Date: LINCOLN COLLEGE, February 28, 1732. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1732) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MOTHER,--In the week after Easter I hope to find you a little better recovered, else our visit will give us small entertainment. Were it not that we desire to have as much as we can of yours and my father's company while we are yet alive together, we should scarce be induced to go an hundred and twenty miles to see Epworth steeple. One consideration is enough to make me assent to his and your judgment concerning the Holy Sacrament; which is, that we cannot allow Christ's human nature to be present in it, without allowing either con- or trans-substantiation. But that His divinity is so united to us then, as He never is but to worthy receivers, I firmly believe, though the manner of that union is utterly a mystery to me. That none but worthy receivers should find this effect is not strange to me, when I observe how small effect many means of improvement have upon an unprepared mind. Mr. Morgan and my brother were affected, as they ought, by the observations you made on that glorious subject; but though my understanding approved what was excellent, yet my heart did not feel it. Why was this, but because it was pre-engaged by those affections with which wisdom will not dwell because the animal mind cannot relish those truths which are spiritually discerned Yet I have those writings which the Good Spirit gave to that end! I have many of those which He hath since assisted His servants to give us; I have retirement to apply these to my own soul daily; I have means both of public and private prayer; and, above all, of partaking in that sacrament once a week. What shall I do to make all these blessings effectual, to gain from them that mind which was also in Christ Jesus

If you think I am' sick unto death,' love me the more, and you will the more fervently pray for me that I may be healed. If you rather incline to think that there is hope of my recovery, then what if you are to leave the world in a little time Whom God hath joined can Death put asunder According to your supposition that unbodied spirits still minister to those who were their kindred according to the' flesh, not a moment! Certainly, not long. Yet a little while, and if you return not to me, you will certainly be overtaken by Your dutiful and affectionate Son.

And now, as to your own designs and employments, what can I say less of them than Valde probo; and that I have the highest reason to bless God that He has given me two sons together in Oxford to whom He has given grace and courage to turn the war against the world and the devil, which is the best way to conquer them They have but one more enemy to combat with, the flesh; which if they take care to subdue by fasting and prayer, there will be no more for them to do, but to proceed steadily in the same course, and expect the crown which fadeth not away. You have reason to bless God, as I do, that you have so fast a friend as Mr. Morgan, who, I see, in the most difficult service, is ready to break the ice for you. You do not know of how much good that poor wretch who killed his wife has been the providential occasion. I think I must adopt Mr. Morgan to be my son, together with you and your brother Charles; and when I have such a ternion to prosecute that war, wherein I am now miles emeritus, I shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

I am afraid lest the main objection you make against your going on in the business with the prisoners may secretly proceed from flesh and blood. For who can harm you if you are followers of that which is so good, and which will be one of the marks by which the Shepherd of Israel will know His sheep at the last Day though if it were possible for you to suffer a little in the cause, you would have a confessor's reward. You own none but such as are out of their senses would be prejudiced against your acting in this manner, but say, 'These are they that need a physician.' But what if they will not accept of one who will be welcome to the poor prisoners Go on, then, in God's name in the path to which your Savior has directed you, and that track wherein your father has gone before you! For when I was an undergraduate at Oxford, I visited those in the Castle there, and reflect on it with great satisfaction to this day. Walk as prudently as you can, though not fearfully, and my heart and prayers are with you. Your first regular step is to consult with him (if any such there be) who has a jurisdiction over the prisoners; and the next is to obtain the direction and approbation of your Bishop. This is Monday morning, at which time I shall never forget you. If it be possible, I should be glad to see you all three here in the fine end of the summer. But if I cannot have that satisfaction, I am sure I can reach you every day, though you were beyond the Indies. Accordingly, to Him who is everywhere I now heartily commit you, as being Your most affectionate and joyful Father.

This day I received both yours, and this evening in our course of reading I thought I found an answer that would be more proper than any I myself could dictate; though since it will not be easily translated, I send it in the original. as p pepa t paase, pepessea t aa [2 Cor. vii. 4: ' Great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful.' (R.V. 'Great is my glorying on your behalf: I am filled with comfort, I overflow with joy.')] What would you be Would you be angels I question whether a mortal can achieve to a greater degree of perfection than steadily to do good, and for that very reason patiently and meekly to suffer evil. For my part, on the present view of your actions and designs, my daily prayers are that God would keep you humble; and then I m sure that if you continue to suffer for righteousness' sake, though it be but in a lower degree, the Spirit of grace and glory shall in some good measure 'rest upon you.' Be never weary of well-doing: never look back; for you know the prize and the crown are before you: though I can scarce think so meanly of you as that you would be discouraged with the crackling of thorns under a pot. Be not high-minded, but fear. Preserve an equal temper of mind under whatever treatment you meet with from a not very just or well-natured world. Bear no more sail than is necessary, but steer steady. The less you value yourselves for these unfashionable duties (as there is no such thug as works of supererogation), the more all good and wise men will value you, if they see your actions are of a piece; or, which is infinitely more, He by whom actions and intentions are weighed will both accept, esteem, and reward you.

To his Mother Date: February 15, 1733. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1733) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MOTHER,--I am glad to hear that my father continues recovering, though it can be but very slowly, considering how his strength is exhausted. 'Tis well if this time spring does not betray him into a relapse, by tempting him out before his health is confirmed. Of poor Becky my sister Molly says not one word, so I presume she is as she was; and hope I may make the same inference as to you--viz. that you are only half tired to death. The more I think of the reason you gave me at Epworth for speaking little upon religious subjects, the less it satisfies me. ' We shall all be of your mind when we are of your age.' But who will assure us that we shall ever be of that age Or suppose we should, is it not better to be of that mind sooner Is not a right faith of use at thirty as well as at sixty and are not the actions that flow from a right faith as rewardable now as then I trust they are, and do therefore earnestly desire that, whatever general or particular rules of life your own reflection and experience have suggested to you, I may be tried whether I will conform to them or no. If I do not, the blame lights on me. At this season especially I would not neglect any help for mortifying the flesh and the lusts thereof, for throwing off the affections of the earthly Adam, and putting on the image of the heavenly. If I am to be surrounded with the snares of flesh and blood yet many years, will you not give me the best advices to break through them that you can If I, as well as you, am soon to be laid in the balance, so much the rather assist me, that I may not be found wanting.

You observed when I was with you that I was very indifferent as to having or not having Epworth living. I was, indeed, utterly unable to determine either way; and that for this reason: I knew if I could stand my ground here and approve myself a faithful minister of our blessed Jesus, by honor and dishonor, through evil report and good report, then there was not a place under heaven like this for improvement in every good work. But whether I can stem the torrent which I saw then, but see now much more, rolling down from all sides upon me, that I know not. True, there is One who can yet either command the great water-flood that it shall not come nigh me, or make way for His redeemed to pass through. But then something must be done on my part; and should He give me even that most equitable condition, ' according to thy faith be it unto thee,' yet how shall I fulfill it Why, He will look to that too; my father and you helping together in your prayers, that our faith fail us not. --I am, dear mother, Your dutiful and affectionate Son.

To Richard Morgan Date: December 17, 1733. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1733) Author: John Wesley --- SIR,--The bank-note sent by Mr. Huey was exchanged today. I have paid Mr. Lasher 11 17s. 6d. of the 50 (and the 9 in my brother's hands), the Bursar 24 for caution-money, and 40s. the usual fee for his admission into the common-room. Mr. Morgan usually rises about six, and has not yet been wanting in diligence. He seldom goes out of college unless upon business or to walk for his health, which I would willingly persuade him to do every day. He loses no time at taverns or coffee-houses, and avoids as much as possible idle company, which every gentleman here will soon be pestered with if he has not some show of resolution. Some evenings every week he spends in the common-room, and others with my brother and me. Of his being admitted into our Society (if it deserves so honorable a title) there is no danger. All those gentlemen whom I have the happiness to converse with two or three times a week upon a religious account would oppose me to the utmost should I attempt to introduce among them at those important hours one of whose prudence I had had so short a trial and who was so little experienced in piety and charity. Several of the points you mention deserve a fuller consideration than I have leisure to give them. I shall ever own myself extremely obliged for the freedom with which you mention them, and have endeavored to answer you with the same freedom, which I am persuaded will not be disagreeable to you. That my dear friend, now with God, was much disordered in his understanding. I had often observed long before he left England. That he was likewise sincerely religious, all observed; but whoever had seen his behavior in the successive stages of his illness might as easily have mistaken darkness for light as his madness for his religion. They were not only different, but opposite too; one counteracting the other from its beginning. I cannot better describe his religion than in the words of the person who wrote his elegy: Mild, sweet, serene, and tender was her mood, Nor grave with sternness, nor with lightness free! Against example resolutely good, Fervent in zeal and warm in charity!

True it is God was pleased, for the trial both of him and us, to visit him with a grievous illness. As his illness increased his reason declined, and consequently his religion built upon it. Till that melancholy effect of his disease, I challenge all the fools who counted his preceding life madness to point out one extreme he was in of any sort or one instance of his zeal which was not according to knowledge. 'Tis easy for any of them to declaim in general against enthusiasm and carrying things too far, and even to prevail upon an unwary mind, shattered by sickness, to plead guilty to the accusation. But let them come to particulars, and I do hereby undertake to prove that every fact they allege against him is either absolutely false or that it is agreeable to the strictest rules both of piety and Christian prudence. His fasting (or abstinence rather, for I do not know that he ever fasted one day) I least of all 'except; as being firmly persuaded, from careful and repeated observations, that had he continued it he had been alive to this day. Nor are there wanting as great names for this opinion as any that advised on the contrary, who believe that wine and free diet to one in his circumstances was as sure a recipe as shooting him through the head. I acknowledge your goodness in having a far better opinion of me than I deserve, or, I trust in God, shall ever desire. I have many things to add when time permits, but one I dare not defer a moment. 'Tis absolutely necessary to guard your surviving son against the least suspicion of my over-great zeal or strictness. You are fully sensible he is in no danger of either. But if he once fancies I am, that fancy will cut me off from all possibility of doing him any substantial service. whatever advice I may have occasion to give with regard to his moral conduct, ' much religion hath made thee mad ' will be a sufficient answer to all. For your sake and his I beg to know (what I should otherwise not think it worth while to bestow one thought upon) any overt acts of my enthusiasm which pass current in Ireland either with the gay or the serious part of the world.

Why, you say I am to incite him to live a sober, virtuous, and religious life. Nay, but first let us agree what religion is. I take religion to be, not the bare saying over so many prayers, morning and evening, in public or in private; not anything superadded now and then to a careless or worldly life; but a constant ruling habit of soul, a renewal of our minds in the image of God, a recovery of the divine likeness, a still-increasing conformity of heart and life to the pattern of our most holy Redeemer. But if this be religion, if this be that way to life which our blessed Lord hath marked out for us, how can any one, while he keeps close to this way, be charged with running into extremes 'Tis true there is no going out of it, either to the right hand or to the left, without running into an extreme; and, to prevent this, the wisdom of the Church has in all ages appointed guides for the unexperienced, lest they should wander into by-paths and seek death in the error of their life. But while he is in the right way, what fear is there of your son's going too fast in it I appeal to your own experience. Have you observed any such disposition in him as gives you ground to suspect he will love God too well or keep himself too 'unspotted from the world' Or has his past life been such as that you have just reason to apprehend the remainder of it should too much resemble that of our blessed Master I will go farther. Have you remarked, in the various scenes you have gone through, that youth in general is apt to run into the extreme of piety Is it to this excess that the fervor of their blood and the impetuosity of their passions hurry them But we may not stop here. Is there any fear, is there any possibility, that any son of Adam, of whatever age or degree, should too faithfully do the will of his Creator or too exactly tread in the steps of his Redeemer Suppose the time now come when you feel within yourself that the silver cord of life is loosed, that the dust is returning to the earth as it was, and the spirit unto God who gave it.

Think not, sir, that interest occasions the concern I show. I despise and abhor the thought. From the moment my brother told me, 'Mr. Morgan will be safer with you than me; I have desired he may be sent to you,' I determined (though I have never mentioned it to him) to restore to him whatsoever is paid me upon Mr. Morgan's account. It is, with regard to me, an accursed thing. There shall no such cleave unto me. I have sufficient motives without this to assist your son, so long as he will accept of my assistance. He is the brother of my dear friend, the son of one that was my friend till great names warped him from his purpose; and, what is infinitely more, the creature of my God, and the redeemed and fellow heir of my Savior. That neither the cares of the world, nor the fair speeches and venerable titles of any who set up their rest therein, may prevent our attaining our better inheritance, is the earnest prayer of, sir, Your most obliged and most obedient servant., I beg, if you favor me with another letter, it may not be enclosed in Mr. Morgan's.

To Mrs. Pendarves Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1734) Author: John Wesley --- [July 1734.] Alas, Aspasia! are you, indeed, convinced that I can be of any service to you I fear you have not sufficient ground for such a conviction. Experience has shown how far my power is short of my will. For some time I flattered myself with the pleasing hope, but I grow more and more ashamed of having indulged it. You need not the support of so weak an hand. How can I possibly think you do (though that thought tries now and then still to obtrude itself) since you have so long and resolutely thrust it from you I dare not, therefore, blame you for so doing. Doubtless you acted upon cool reflection; you declined the trouble of writing, not because it was a trouble, but because it was a needless one. And if so, what injury have you done yourself As for me, you could do me no injury by your silence. It did, indeed, deprive me of much pleasure, and of a pleasure from which I ought to have received much improvement. But still, as it was one I had no title to but your goodness, to withdraw it was no iniustice. I sincerely thank you for what is past; and may the God of my salvation return it sevenfold into your bosom: and if ever you should please to add to those thousand obligations any new ones, I trust they shall neither be unrewarded by Him nor unworthily received by Aspasia's Faithful friend and servant, CYRUS. Araspes, too, hopes you will never have reason to tax him with ingratitude. Adieu!

Yet, granting the superlative degree of contempt to be on all accounts due to a college drone; a wretch that hath received ten talents, and yet employs none; that is not only promised a reward by his gracious master, but is paid beforehand for his work by his generous founder, and yet works not at all;--allowing all this, and whatever else can be said (for I own it is impossible to say enough) against the drowsy ingratitude, the lazy perjury of those who are commonly called harmless or good sort of men (a fair proportion of whom I must, to our shame, confess are to be found in colleges)--allowing this, I say, I do not apprehend it will conclude against a college life in general. For the abuse of it does not destroy the use; though there are some here who are the lumber of the creation, it does not follow that others may not be of more service to the world in this station than they could in any other. 14. That I in particular could, might, it seems, be inferred from what has been proved already -- viz. that I could be holier here myself than anywhere else if I faithfully used the blessings I enjoy; for, to prove that the holier any man is himself the more shall he promote holiness in others, there needs no more than this one postulatum, the help which is done on earth God does it Himself. If so, if God be the sole agent in healing souls, and man only the instrument in His hand, there can no doubt be made but that the more holy a man is He will make use of him the more: because he is more willing to be so used; because the more pure he is, he is the fitter instrument for the God of purity; because he will pray more and more earnestly that he may be employed, and that his service may tend to his Master's glory; because all his prayers, both for employment and success therein, will the more surely pierce the clouds; because, the more his heart is enlarged, the wider sphere he may act in without carefulness or distraction; and, lastly, because, the more his heart is renewed in the image of God, the more God can renew it in others by him, without destroying him by pride or vanity.

18. I need not but just glance upon several other reasons why I am more likely to be useful here than anywhere else: as, because I have the joint advice of many friends in any difficulty, and their joint encouragement in any dangers; because the good Bishop and Vice-Chancellor are at hand to supply (as need is) their want of experience; because we have the eyes of multitudes upon us, who, even without designing it, perform the most substantial office of friendship, apprising us where we have already fallen, and guarding us from falling again; lastly, because we have here a constant fund (which I believe this year will amount to near eighty pounds) to supply the bodily wants of the poor, and thereby prepare their souls to receive instruction. 19. If it be said that the love of the people at Epworth balances all these advantages here, I ask, How long will it last Only till I come to tell them plainly that their deeds are evil, and, to make a particular application of that general sentence, to say to each, Thou art the man! Alas, sir, do I not know what love they had for you at first And how have they used you since Why, just as every one will be used whose business it is to bring light to them that love to sit in darkness. 20. Notwithstanding, therefore, their present prejudice in my favor, I cannot quit my first conclusion, that I am not likely to do that good anywhere, not even at Epworth, which I may do at Oxford; and yet one terrible objection lies in the way: Have you found it so in fact What have you done there in so many years Nay, have not the very attempts to do good, for want either of a particular turn of mind for the business you engaged in or of prudence to direct you in the right method of doing it, not only been unsuccessful, but brought such contempt upon you as has in great measure disqualified you for any future success And are there not men in Oxford who are not only better and holier than you, but who, having preserved their reputation, who, being universally esteemed, are every way fitter to promote the glory of God in that place

21. I am not careful to answer in this matter. It is not my part to say whether God has done any good by my hands; whether I have a particular turn of mind for this or not; or whether the want of success in my past attempts was owing to want of prudence, to ignorance of the right method of acting, or to some other cause. But the latter part of the objection, that he who is despised can do no good, that without reputation a man cannot be useful in the world, being the stronghold of all the unbelieving, the vainglorious, and the cowardly Christians (so called), I will, by the grace of God, see what reason that has thus continually to exalt itself against the knowledge of Christ.

To his Mother Date: OXON, January 13, 1735 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1735) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MOTHER, -- Give my leave to say once more that our folks do, and will I supose to the end of the chapter, mistake the question. Supposing him changed Say they. Right: but that supposition has not proof yet - whether it may have: when it has, then we may come to our other point, whether all this be not providence, i.e. blessing. And whether we are empowered so to judge, condemn, and execute an imprudent Christian, as God forbid I should ever use a Turk or Deist.

I have had a great deal of a conversation lately on the subject of Christian liberty, and should be glad of your thoughts as to the several notions of it which good men entertain. I perceive different persons take it in at least six different senses: (1) For liberty from willful sin, in opposition to the bondage of natural corruption. (2) For liberty as to rites and points of discipline. So Mr. Whiston says, though the stations were constituted by the Apostles, yet the liberty of the Christian law dispenses with them on extraordinary occasions. [William Whiston (1667-1752) succeeded Newton as Lucasian Professor in 1703. The reference is to his book, The Primitive Eucharist Revived; or, an account of the doctrine and practice of the two first centuries. The ' stations' were the fasts: see letter of June 13, 1753, n.] (3) For liberty from denying ourselves in little things; for trifles, 'tis commonly thought, we may indulge in safety, because Christ hath made us free. This notion, I a little doubt, is not sound. (4) For liberty from fear, or a filial freedom in our intercourse with God. A Christian, says Dr. Knight, [ James Knight, Vicar of St. Sepulchre's, London. See letter of May 8, 1739.] is free from fear on account of his past sins; for he believes in Christ, and hope frees him from fear of losing his present labor or of being a castaway hereafter. (5) Christian liberty is taken by some for a freedom from restraint as to sleep or food. So they would say, your drinking but one glass of wine, or my rising at a fixed hour, was contrary to Christian liberty. Lastly, it is taken for freedom from rules. If by this be meant making our rules yield to extraordinary occasions, well: if the having no prudential rules, this liberty is as yet too high for me; I cannot attain unto it. We join in begging yours and my father's blessing, and wishing you an Happy Year. -- I am, dear mother, Your dutiful and affectionate Son.

To his Brother Samuel Date: OXON, January 15, 1735. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1735) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--Had not my brother Charles desired it might be otherwise, I should have sent you only an extract of the following letter.[ To his father on Dec. 10, 1734.] But if you will be at the pains, you will soon reduce the argument of it to two or three points, which, if to be answered at all, will be easily answered. By it you may observe my present purpose is founded on my present weakness. But it is not, indeed, probable that my father should live till that weakness is removed. Your second argument I had no occasion to mention before. To it I answer, that I do not, nor ever did, resolve against undertaking a cure of souls. There are four cures belonging to our College, and consistent with a Fellowship: I do not know but I may take one of them at Michaelmas. Not that I am clearly assured that I should be false to my engagement were I only to instruct and exhort the pupils committed to my charge. But of that I should think more. I desire your full thoughts upon the whole, as well as your prayers, for, dear brother, Your obliged and affectionate Brother.

To his Brother Samuel Date: OXON, February 13, 1735. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1735) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER, --Neither you nor I have any time to spare; so I must be as short as I can. There are two questions between us; one relating to being good, the other to doing good. With regard to the former: 1. You allow I enjoy more of friends, retirement, freedom from care, and divine ordinances than I could do elsewhere: and I add (1) I feel all this to be but just enough; (2) I have always found less than this to be too little for me; and therefore (3) whatever others do, I could not throw up any part of it without manifest hazard to my salvation. As to the latter: 2. I am not careful to answer 'what good I have done at Oxford,' because I cannot think of it without the utmost danger. ' I am careful about what I may do at Epworth,' (1) because I can think of it without any danger at all; (2) because I cannot, as matters now stand, avoid thinking of it without sin. 3. Another can supply my place at Epworth better than at Oxford, and the good done here is of a far more diffusive nature. It is a more extensive benefit to sweeten the fountain than to do the same to particular streams. 4. To the objection, You are despised at Oxford, therefore you can do no good there, I answer: (1) A Christian will be despised anywhere. (2) No one is a Christian till he is despised. (3) His being .despised will not hinder his doing good, but much further it by making him a better Christian. Without contradicting any of these propositions, I allow that every one to whom you do good directly must esteem you, first or last. -- N.B. A man may despise you for one thing, hate you for a second, and envy you for a third. 5. God may suffer Epworth to be worse than before. But I may not attempt to prevent it, with so great hazard to my own soul.

To John Robson Date: September 30, 1735. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1735) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- The dining in the hall on Friday seems to me utterly unjustifiable. It is giving offense in the worst sense, giving men occasion to think that innocent which is grossly sinful. The plausible pretenses for throwing off the very form of godliness that must be esteemed if we will do good; that we must keep those things private wherein we differ from the world, and so on, you will find fully examined in Nicodemus. [Wesley read Nicodemus; or, A Treatise on the Fear of Man, by August H. Francke, on his voyage to Georgia. He abridged it for Methodist readers in 1739. See Diary in Journal, i. 121, 300-1; Green's Wesley Bibliography, No. 12.] The Bishops can no more dispense with the law (the reason of which still subsists) than you or I can. Fasting is not a means of chastity only, but of deadness to pleasure, and heavenly-mindedness, and consequently necessary (in such measure as agrees with health) to all persons in all times of life. Had I been less strict, as 'tis called, I should have not only not done more good than I have (that is, God by me), but I never should have done any at all, nor indeed desired to do any. Till a man gives offense he will do no good; and the more offense he gives by adhering to the gospel of Christ the more good he will do, and the more good he does the more offense he will give. As to lukewarm company, I can only advise you (1) to keep out of it -- as much as you can; (2) when you cannot, to pray before, after, and during your stay in it fervently and without ceasing: but this you can't do---I know it; but God can make you able to do it, and in Him you must put your trust. I am not satisfied (as I have told the Rector for this twelvemonth past) that the Wednesday fast [See letter of June 13, 1733.] is strictly obligatory; though I believe it very ancient, if not apostolical. He never saw what I writ upon it.

Dr. Tilly's sermons [William Tilly's Sixteen Sermons preached before the University of Oxford at St. Mary's (Phil. ii. 12-13). 'The grace of God shown to be not only consistent with the liberty of man's will, but the strongest obligation to our own endeavors' (2 Sermons. 1712).] on Free Will are the best I ever saw. His text is, 'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.' May you all assist one another so to do, and be not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. aaae te , &c. Bear ye one another's burdens. I charge Mr. Robson in the name of the Lord Jesus that he no longer halt between two opinions. If the Lord be God, serve Him, love Him with all your heart, serve Him with all your strength; and pray for us that faith and utterance may be given us, that we may speak boldly as we ought to speak.

A right faith will, I trust, by the mercy of God, open the way for a right practice; especially when most of those temptations are removed which here so easily beset me. Toward mortifying the desire of the flesh, the desire of sensual pleasures, it will be no small thing to be able, without fear of giving offense, to live on water and the fruits of the earth. This simplicity of food will, I trust, be a blessed means, both of preventing my seeking that happiness in meats and drinks which God designed should be found only in faith and love and joy in the Holy Ghost; and will assist me---especially where I see no woman but those which are almost of a different species from me--to attain such a purity of thought as suits a candidate for that state wherein they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. Neither is it a small thing to be delivered from so many occasions, as now surround me, of indulging the desire of the eye. They here compass me in on every side; but an Indian hut affords no food for curiosity, no gratification of the desire of grand or new or pretty things: though, indeed, the cedars which God hath planted round it may so gratify the eye as to better the heart, by lifting it to Him whose name alone is excellent and His praise above heaven and earth. If by the pride of life we understand the pomp and show of the world, that has no place in the wilds of America. If it mean pride in general, this, alas ! has a place everywhere: yet there are very uncommon helps against it, not only by the deep humility of the poor heathens, fully sensible of their want of an instructor, but that happy contempt which cannot fail to attend all who sincerely endeavor to instruct them, and which, continually increasing, will surely make them in the end as the filth and offscouring of the world. Add to this, that nothing so convinces us of our own impotence as a zealous attempt to convert our neighbor; nor, indeed, till he does all he can for God, will any man feel that he can himself do nothing.

I then hope to know what it is to love my neighbor as myself, and to feel the powers of that second motive to visit the heathens, even the desire to impart to them what I have received--a saving knowledge of the gospel of Christ. But this I dare not think on yet. It is not for me, who have been a grievous sinner from my youth up, and am yet laden with foolish and hurtful desires, to expect God should work so great things by my hands; but I am assured, if I be once fully converted myself, He will then employ me both to strengthen my brethren and to preach His name to the Gentiles, that the very ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God. But you will perhaps ask: 'Cannot you save your own soul in England as well as in Georgia ' I answer,--No; neither can I hope to attain the same degree of holiness here which I may there; neither, if I stay here, knowing this, can I reasonably hope to attain any degree of holiness at all: for whoever, when two ways of life are proposed, prefers that which he is convinced in his own mind is less pleasing to God and less conducive to the perfection of his soul, has no reason from the gospel of Christ to hope that he shall ever please God at all or receive from Him that grace whereby alone he can attain any degree of Christian perfection. To the other motive--the hope of doing more good in America--it is commonly objected that 'there are heathens enough in practice, if not theory, at home; why, then, should you go to those in America ' Why For a very plain reason: because these heathens at home have Moses and the Prophets, and those have not; because these who have the gospel trample upon it, and those who have it not earnestly call for it; ' therefore, seeing these judge themselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, I turn to the Gentiles.'

If you object, farther, the losses I must sustain in leaving my native country, I ask,--Loss of what of anything I desire to keep No; I shall still have food to eat and raiment to put on--enough of such food as I choose to eat and such raiment as I desire to put on; and if any man have a desire of other things, or of more food than he can eat, or more raiment than he need put on, let him know that the greatest blessing which can possibly befall him is to be cut off from all occasions of gratifying those desires, which, unless speedily rooted out, will drown his soul in everlasting perdition. 'But what shall we say to the loss of parents, brethren, sisters--nay, of the friends which are as my own soul, of those who have so often lifted up my hands that hung down and strengthened my feeble knees, by whom God hath often enlightened my understanding and warmed and enlarged my heart ' What shall we say Why, that if you add the loss of life to the rest, so much the greater is the gain; for though ' the grass withereth and the flower fadeth, the word of our God shall stand for ever.' Say that, when human instruments are removed, He, the Lord, will answer us by His own self; and the general answer which He hath already given us to all questions of this nature is: ' Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left father, or mother, or lands, for My sake, but shall receive an hundredfold now in this time with persecutions, and in the world to come eternal life.'

This is the plain matter of fact. Now, as to matter of right, when twenty more reams of paper have been spent upon it, I cannot but think it must come to this short issue at last: (1) Are the Creeks, Cherokees, and Chicasaws within the bounds of Georgia or no (2) Is an Act of the King in Council, in pursuance of an Act of Parliament, of any force within these bounds or not That all other inquiries are absolutely foreign to the question a very little consideration will show. As to the former of these, the Georgian Charter, compared with any map of these parts which I have ever seen, determines it. The latter I never heard made a question of but in the neighborhood of Carolina. Mr. Johnson's brother has been with us some days. [Mr. Johnson is referred to in Journal, i. 250d. His brother had been on board the Simmonds, and complained that he was inconvenienced by the public prayers in the great cabin. Fortunately he left the ship at Cowes (ibid. i. 114, 124). The father had been Governor of South Carolina.] I have been twice in company with him at Mr. Oglethorpe's; and I hope there are in Carolina, though the present proceeding would almost make one doubt it, many such gentlemen as he seems to be--men of good nature, good manners, and understanding. I hope God will repay you sevenfold for the kindness you have shown to my poor mother, and in her to, sir, Your most obliged, most obedient servant.

Do you seek means of building up yourselves in the knowledge and love of God I know of no place under heaven where there are more, or perhaps so many, as in this place. Does your heart burn within you to turn many others to righteousness Behold the whole land, thousands of thousands are before you! I will resign to any of you all or any part of my charge. Choose what seemeth good in your own eyes. Here are within these walls children of all ages and dispositions. Who will bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, till they are meet to be preachers of righteousness Here are adults from the farthest parts of Europe and Asia and the inmost kingdoms of Africa; add to these the known and unknown nations of this vast continent, and you will indeed have a great multitude which no man can number.

To Ann Granville Date: SAVANAH, September 24, 1736. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1736) Author: John Wesley --- The mutual affection, and indeed the many other amiable qualities of those two sisters, [The Misses Bovey, of Savannah. Miss Becky died suddenly on July 10 (see Journal, i. 239-46' 270-80d; C. Wesley's Journal, i. 34). Her sister said: 'All my afflictions are nothing to this. I have lost not only a sister, but a friend. But this is the will of God. I rely on Him, and doubt not but He will support me under it.'] one of whom is lately gone to an happier place, would not have suffered me to be unmindful of your friend and you, had I had nothing else to remind me of you. I am persuaded that heavy affliction will prove the greatest blessing to the survivor which she ever yet received. She is now very cheerful, as well as deeply serious. She sees the folly of placing one's happiness in any creature, and is fully determined to give her whole heart to Him from whom death cannot part her. I often think how different her way of life is at Savannah from what it was at St. James's; and yet the wise, polite, gay world counts her removal thence a misfortune. I should not be at all grieved if you were fallen into the same misfortune, far removed from the pride of life, and hid in some obscure recess, where you were scarcely seen or heard of, unless by a few plain Christians and by God and His angels. Mr. Rivington [His London publisher, who had visited the Granvilles at Gloucester.] will send your letter, if you should ever have leisure to favor with a few lines Your sincere friend and most obedient servant. Do you still watch and strive and pray that your heart may be fight before God Can you deny yourself, as well as take up your cross Adieu!

'Observe, farther, when the end is attained, the means cease. Now, all the other things enjoined are means to love; and love is attained by them who are in the inferior way, who are utterly divested of free will, of self-love, and self-activity, and are entered into the passive state. These deified men, in whom the superior will has extinguished the inferior, enjoy such a contemplation as is not only above faith, but above sight, such as is entirely free from images, thoughts, and discourse, and never interrupted by sins of infirmity or voluntary distractions. They have absolutely renounced their reason and understanding, else they could not be guided by a divine light. They seek no clear or particular knowledge of anything; but only an obscure, general knowledge, which is far better. They know it is mercenary to look for a reward from God, and inconsistent with perfect love. 'Having thus attained the end, the means must cease. Hope is swallowed up in love. Sight, or something more than sight, takes place of faith. All particular virtues they possess in the essence, being wholly given up to the divine will, and therefore need not the distinct exercise of them. They work likewise all good works essentially, not accidentally, and use all outward means only as they are moved thereto; and then to obey superiors or to avoid giving offense, but not as necessary or helpful to them. 'Public prayer, or any forms, they need not; for they pray without ceasing. Sensible devotion in any prayer they despise, it being a great hindrance to perfection. The Scripture they need not read; for it is only His letter with whom they converse face to face. And if they do read it now and then, as for expounders, living or dead, reason, philosophy (which only puffs' up, and vainly tries to bind God by logical definitions and divisions), as for knowledge of tongues, or ancient customs, they need none of them, any more than the Apostles did, for they have the same Spirit. Neither do they need the Lord's supper, for they never cease to remember Christ in the most acceptable manner, any more than fasting, since, by constant temperance, they can keep a continual fast.

Would any one have a trial of himself how he can bear this If he has felt what reproach is, and can bear that for but a few weeks as he ought, I shall believe he need fear nothing. Other trials will afterwards be no heavier than that little one was at first; so that he may then have a well-grounded hope that he will be enabled to do all things through Christ strengthening him. May the God of peace Himself direct you to all things conducive to His glory, whether it be by fitter instruments, or even by Your friend and servant in Christ.

To the Georgia Trustees Date: SAVANNAH, March 4, 1737. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1737) Author: John Wesley --- GENTLEMEN,--When the account of the mission expenses, commencing March 1, 1736, and brought down to the end of November, was delivered to me, I was much surprised to find it amount to (in Carolina currency) 666 17 0, which, reduced to sterling, is 090 02 04 (90 2s. 4d.). A day or two since, I received a second account, brought down to March 1, 1737; which being added to the former, the total expense of the year was 726 07 03 (sterling 098 08 01). But upon reading over both I observed, as you will be pleased to do: (1) That of the sum above mentioned 191 19 06 was paid Mr. Quincey, partly for a bed, hangings, and furniture; partly for making a cellar, building a hut, and improvements, by him made in and about the house. (2) That 86 06 09 has been since expended at several times, for necessary repairs of the cellar (which was fallen in), the house and fences round it and the garden, a great part of which fell down, being quite decayed. (3) That 98 10 09 was expended in three journeys to Frederica, twice by water and once by land; whither not my own pleasure, but the desire of some of that desolate people, and the need of all, called me. (4) That 26 01 09 was expended at several times in clothing for Mr. Ingham. These particulars, together amounting to 402 18 09, the expense of Mr. Ingham's food for two or three months, and of mine and Mr. Delamotte's subsistence from March 1, 1736, to March 1, 1737, amounts to Carol. 323 08 6 (sterling 044 04 04).

To William Wogan Date: SAVANNAH, March 28, 1737. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1737) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- The more particularly you will at any time express your thoughts, the greater obligation you will lay upon me. I hope no difference of opinion, especially as to smaller points, will ever occasion any coolness between us; I can almost engage it will not cause any on my part, neither do I apprehend it will on yours. I entirely agree with you that religion is love and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost; that as it is the happiest, so it is the cheerfullest, thing in the world; that it is utterly inconsistent with moroseness, sourness, severity, and indeed with whatever is not according to the softness, sweetness, and gentleness of Jesus Christ. I believe it is equally contrary to all preciseness, stiffness, affectation, and unnecessary singularity; and those I call unnecessary which do not either directly or indirectly affect their progress in holiness who use them. I allow, too, that prudence as well as zeal is of the utmost importance in the Christian life; but I do not yet see any possible case wherein trifling conversation can be an instance of it. In the following scriptures I take all such to be flatly forbidden: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, every idle word (it is , not p, wicked because idle) that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof at the day of judgment.' 'Neither foolish talking, nor jesting (etapea, literally wit, witty conversation, facetiousness), which are not convenient (or befitting our calling).' ' Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.' But what conversation is corrupt The opposite will tell us --that which is not ' good to the use of edifying, fit to minister grace to the hearers.' Lastly, ' let your conversation be always in grace (ptte t),' steeped, as it were, therein, thoroughly impregnated thereby, not sprinkled only, but ' seasoned (t) with this salt'; which meat can by no means be said to be, till every particle of it has lost its freshness and contracted this new flavor.

You seem to apprehend that I believe religion to be inconsistent with cheerfulness and with a sociable, friendly temper. So far from it, that I am convinced, as true religion or holiness cannot be without cheerfulness, so steady cheerfulness, on the other hand, cannot be without holiness or true religion. And I am equally convinced that true religion has nothing sour, austere, unsociable, unfriendly in it; but, on the contrary, implies the most winning sweetness, the most amiable softness and gentleness. Are you for having as much cheerfulness as you can So am I. Do you endeavor to keep alive your taste for all the truly innocent pleasures of life So do I likewise. Do you refuse no pleasure but what is an hindrance to some greater good or has a tendency to some evil It is my very rule; and I know no other by which a sincere, reasonable Christian can be guided. In particular, I pursue this rule in eating, which I seldom do without much pleasure. And this I know is the will of God concerning me: that I should enjoy every pleasure that leads to my taking pleasure in Him, and in such a measure as most leads to it. I know that, as to every action which is naturally pleasing, it is His will that it should be so; therefore, in taking that pleasure so far as it tends to this end (of taking pleasure in God), I do His will. Though, therefore, that pleasure be in some sense distinct from the love of God, yet is the taking of it by no means distinct from His will. No; you say yourself it is His will I should take it. And here, indeed, is the hinge of the question, which I had once occasion to state in a letter to you, and more largely in a sermon on the Love of God. [This was his sermon on Love from 1 Cor. xiii. 3, which he preached at Savannah on Feb. 20, 1736, and in London at St. Andrew's, Holborn, on Feb. 12, 1738 (see Journal, i. 438; Works, vii. 492-9, and also 45-57). The sermon gives a touching account of his father's death-bed.] If you will read over those, I believe you will find you differ from Mr. Law and me in words only.

To James Hutton Date: SAVANNAH, June 16, I737. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1737) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- I think our Lord is beginning to lift up His standard against the flood of iniquity which hath long covered the earth. Even in this place it hath pleased Him in some measure to stir up His might and come and help us. There is a strange motus animorum, as it seems, continually increasing. Those 'who fear the Lord speak often together,' and many of them are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ in the midst of an adulterous and sinful generation. The enemy hath great wrath, and rageth much. May it be a sign that his time is short ! One or two whom he has long seemed to lead captive at his will are just now recovering out of his snare, and declare openly without fear or shame that they will not serve him but the living God. Likewise' out of the mouth of babes and sucklings is He perfecting praise.' Not only young men and maidens praise the name of the Lord, but children too (in years, though, in seriousness and understanding, men) are not terrified from bearing the reproach of Christ. Indeed, the little share of persecution which as yet falls to me plainly shows I have no strength. Who, then, will rise up with me against the ungodly You, I trust, for one, when the time is come. Till then, strive mightily with God, you and all your father's house, that I may not, when I have preached to others, be myself a castaway!

To Thomas Causton, Chief Magistrate of Savannah Date: SAVANNAH, July 5, 1737. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1737) Author: John Wesley --- SIR,--To this hour you have shown yourself my friend; I ever have and ever shall acknowledge it. And it is my earnest desire that He who hath hitherto given me this blessing would continue it still. But this cannot be, unless you will allow me one request, which is not so easy an one as it appears. Do not condemn me for doing in the execution of my office what I think it my duty to do. If you can prevail upon yourself to allow me this, even when I act without respect of persons, I am persuaded there will never be, at least not long, any misunderstanding between us. For even those who seek it shall, I trust, find no occasion against me, except it be concerning the law of my God.

To Mrs. Williamson (Sophia Hopkey) Date: SAVANNAH, July 5, 1737. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1737) Author: John Wesley --- If the sincerity of friendship is best to be known from the painful offices, then there could not be a stronger proof of mine than that I gave you on Sunday; except that which I am going to give you now, and which you may perhaps equally misinterpret. Would you know what I dislike in your past or present behavior You have always heard my thoughts as freely as you asked them. Nay, much more freely; you know it well, and so you shall do as long as I can speak or write. In your present behavior I dislike (1) your neglect of half the public service, which no man living can compel you to; (2) your neglect of fasting, which you once knew to be an help to the mind without any prejudice to the body; (3) your neglect of almost half the opportunity of communicating which you have lately had. But these things are small in comparison of what I dislike in your past behavior. For (1) You told me over and over you had entirely conquered your inclination for Mr. Mellichamp. Yet at that very time you had not conquered it. (2) You told me frequently you had no design to marry Mr. Williamson. Yet at the very time you spoke you had the design. (3) In order to conceal both these things from me, you went through a course of deliberate dissimulation. Oh how fallen! How changed! Surely there was a time when in Miss Sophy's life there was no guile. Own these facts and own your fault, and you will be in my thoughts as if they had never been. If you are otherwise-minded, I shall still be your friend, though I cannot expect you should be mine.

To Mrs. Williamson Date: SAVANNAH, August 11. 1737. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1737) Author: John Wesley --- At Mr. Causton's request, I write once more. [See letter of July 5.] The rules whereby I proceed are these: ‘So many as intend to be partakers of the Holy Communion shall signify their names to the curate, at least some time the day before.’ This you did not do. ‘And if any of these have done any wrong to his neighbors by word or deed, so that the congregation be thereby offended, the curate shall advertise him, that in any wise he presume not to come to the Lord's Table until he hath openly declared himself to have truly repented.’ If you offer yourself at the Lord's Table on Sunday, I will advertise you (as I have done more than once) wherein you have done wrong. And when you have openly declared yourself to have truly repented, I will administer to you the mysteries of God.

If it be asked whether they ' do not imagine themselves to have certain divine impulses, like the divine inspiration of the Apostles,' they answer: (1) There never was a good man without a divine impulse; and let those who will not believe this on St. Paul's assertion go to the heathen Cicero for the same information. Yet (2) They learn from the oracles of God that ' the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,' which every Christian is to expect, is different in kind as well as degree from the inspiration of the Apostles. It does not enable him to speak new tongues or to work outward miracles; therefore it is different in kind: neither does it give the same measure of holiness; therefore it is different in degree. But (3) They believe the change wrought by it in the heart to be equivalent to all outward miracles; as implying the selfsame power which gave eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and life to the dead. The language wherein they talk of these mighty works is that of the Spirit whereby they are wrought. They call, for instance, a person thus changed ‘regenerated, born again, a new creature’; and in all other cases endeavor to express spiritual things in spiritual words, as being assured there are none like them, quick and powerful, full of light and life. Yet they are not ignorant that to the world, which knoweth not, neither can know, the hidden meaning of those expressions, they ever from the beginning did appear cant and jargon, and will do so to the end. If it be asked ‘whether they do not talk of extraordinary notices and directions to determine their actions,’ they say: Yes, they do. As to extraordinary directions, they do not doubt but in extraordinary cases, too difficult to be determined by reason, as perhaps depending on many future contingencies, and yet too important to be left undetermined, God will, if applied to by fervent prayer, ' give a perfect lot. And to extraordinary notices....’ [Here the manuscript breaks off. Other ‘Queries Respecting the Methodists,’ bearing date 1741, will be found in the Works, xiii. 509 - 11, which seems ultimately to have led to his Short History of the People called Methodists (pages 303 - 82 of the same volume).]

To James Hutton Date: OXON, March 26, 1738. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1738) Author: John Wesley --- Enclosed I send the key of my brother's bureau. [Probably at James Hurtoh's house, near Temple Bar.] In one of the drawers are all my papers. Among them are several relating to Captain Watson. [Captain Watson, who owned an estate adjoining the Cowpen, four miles away, was confined for nearly three years in Savannah. Wesley was his friend and helper. After he was set at liberty, Wesley admitted him to Holy Communion, 'being fully satisfied of his integrity as well as understanding.' See Journal, i. 397-9; and Diary, 186, 237, 242, 320.] Out of these pray take Jo. Coates' affidavit, and the certificates of Elisha Foster, Thomas Salter, and a third signed by about forty persons concerning Mr. Watson's sound understanding (not that signed by me). These, and no more, when you have taken attested copies of them, deliver as soon as possible to Mrs. Watson. Lose not an hour. Mr. Campbell [Campbell had possibly returned from Savannah. See Journal, i. 188d 319d; viii. 3o9.] will tell you where she lives, whom I wish you would bring acquainted with Mr. Fox. [Journal, i. 448.] Dear Jemmy, adieu. Let me know by next post whether you can and will receive the money, and inquire when Mr. O. goes. I cannot write to him till I hear from you. I have not trusted myself to say any more. Sunday night.

To James Hutton Date: OXON, April 28, 1738. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1738) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR FRIEND, -- This thing I do; I still follow after, if haply I may attain faith. I preach it to all, that at length I may feel it. [According to Bhler's counsel on March 5: ‘Preach faith till you have it’ (Journal, i. 442).] Only may I never be content with any other portion! I left two little books (which I want, as well as my shoes) at your house [He left London on the 26th, and returned on May L on account of his brother's health. He found him at Hutton's house (Journal, i. 458), where he had removed from his father's on the 28th (C. Wesley's Journal).] --A. M. Schurman and Corbet. If my brother is gone, you will buy the leathern bags for Mr. Kinchin. [See previous letter. Stephen Kinchin was his brother, for whom he and John Wesley went to Manchester in March, and brought him back to be entered at Oxford.] I think he says they cost but half a guinea. But if it be more, it will be repaid with thanks. The shop at Charing Cross is the place. Stephen Kinchin got hither a day before me. I will send you word before I begin another journey. Commend me to all our friends. Adieu. Pray give our brother Bhler [Bhler left for Carolina on May 4. It was probably a letter for one of Wesley's friends in America.] the enclosed, to be delivered with his own hand.

To Mr. Fox Date: OXON, November 24, 1738. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1738) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MR. FOX, -- Mrs. Badger earnestly desires you would procure her a trumpet to help her deafness. Mrs. Ford would not have any of the tea Mrs. Cleminger brought, because it is very bad. Charles Kinchin, Charles Delamotte, Mrs. Ford, Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Fox, and my brother desire me to speak their judgment (as well as mine) concerning your removal to London. The reason for it, you say, is this: ‘You can't maintain your family at Oxford.’ To this we answer: ‘You have not tried what you can do, when you are clear in the world (which Mr. F--- promises) and should you live in your house rent-free (for that we will take care).’ If you desire only food and raiment for yourself and family, you have all reason at least to make the experiment for a while whether Providence will not give you these at Oxford when you have these helps which you had not before. The reason against her going hence is as evident as it is weighty. We have no one here like-minded. She is the very life (under God) of all her companions here; nor could the enemy devise so likely a means of destroying the work which is just beginning among them as the taking her away from their head. Which, then, is dearest to you, the interest of Christ or your own O consider this question deeply, and the good God direct your heart! Pray for Your affectionate brother.

If you ask, ‘How can this be How can one do good, of whom men say all manner of evil’ I will put you in mind (though you once knew this--yea, and much established me in that great truth), the more evil men say of me for my Lord's sake, the more good will He do by me. That it is for His sake I know, and He knoweth, and the event agreeth thereto; for He mightily confirms the words I speak, by the Holy Ghost given unto those that hear them. O my friend, my heart is moved toward you. I fear you have herein ‘made shipwreck of the faith.’ I fear ‘Satan, transformed into an angel of light,’ hath assaulted you, and prevailed also. I fear that offspring of hell, worldly or Mystic prudence, has drawn you away from the simplicity of the gospel. How else could you ever conceive that the being reviled and ' hated of all men ' should make us less fit for our Master's service How else could you ever think of ' saving yourself and them that hear you ‘without being’ the filth and offscouring of the world' To this hour is this scripture true. And I therein rejoice--yea, and will rejoice. ‘Blessed be God, I enjoy the reproach of Christ! Oh may you also be vile, exceeding vile, for His sake! God forbid that you should ever be other than generally scandalous; I had almost said universally. If any man tell you there is a new way of following Christ, ‘he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.’ --I am, &c.

To his Brother Charles Date: BRISTOL, April 9, 1739. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1739) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER CHARLES, -- Against next post I will consider your verses. The clergy here gladiatorio anirno ad nos affectant viarn. [Terence's Phormio, v. vii. 71: ‘Aim at us with gladiatorial intent.’] But the people of all sorts receive the word gladly. Hitherto I have so full employment here that I think there can be no doubt whether I should return already or no. You will hear more from time to time, and judge accordingly. But, whenever it seems expedient I should return, a lot will put it out of doubt. The God of peace fill you with all peace and joy in believing! Adieu. I forgot, I must subscribe to the Kingswood Colliers' Schoolhouse. [Journal, ii. 171n, 239n. Whitefield laid the first stone on April 2, and on July 10 the schoolhouse was ready for the roof.] So I will take the money of Mr. Wilson.

To James Hutton Date: BRISTOL, April 9, 1739. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1739) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BRETEREN, -- On Sunday evening, the 1st instant, I began to expound at Nicholas Street Society our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. The room, passage, and staircase were filled with attentive hearers. On Monday I talked with several in private, to try what manner of spirit they were of; and at four in the afternoon went to a brickyard, [For a description of this noted place, see Journal, ii. 172n.] adjoining to the city, where I had an opportunity of preaching the gospel of the kingdom (from a little eminence) to three or four thousand people. The scripture on which I spoke was this: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.’ At seven I began expounding the Acts of the Apostles to the Society in Baldwin. Street. We had more company than the room would hold, and the power of our Lord was with us. On Tuesday, 3rd, I began preaching at Newgate (as I continue to do every morning) on the Gospel of St. John. Many Presbyterians and Anabaptists came to hear. Afterwards I transcribed some of the rules of our Society for the use of our (future) brethren here. In the evening I expounded on ‘Blessed are those that mourn’ at Nicholas Street Society. I hope God spake to the hearts of many there. The next day the audience increased at Newgate. At four in the afternoon I offered the free grace of God from those words, ‘I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely,’ to about fifteen hundred in a plain near Baptist Mills, a sort of suburb or village, not far from Bristol; where many, if not most, of the inhabitants are Papists. Oh may they effectually lay hold on the one Mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus!

On Wednesday, 9th, after the service at Newgate, we took possession of the ground where the room is to be built. [See Journal, ii. 194n; and letter of April 27, 1741, to Whitefield.] We have also articled to pay the workmen about 160 pounds as soon as it is finished. As to the money, God will see to that. At four I was much enlarged at Baptist Mills, in recommending the childlike temper. The company was about two thousand or two thousand five hundred, our usual congregation there. It was this evening agreed at our Society that the leaders of the bands meet together at 5.30 every Wednesday evening. The next day, several curious persons being at Nicholas Street, and a fine lady among the rest, I was desired in a note given me to pray for her; and she was ‘almost persuaded to be a Christian.’ Friday, 11th, as we were going to the second Society in the evening, we were desired to call upon a young woman who was in the agonies of despair. With much difficulty we brought her to the Society; where, almost as soon as we began praying for her, the enemy was cast out, and she was filled with peace and joy in believing. Saturday, 12th, Mr. Labbe, who had been often in doubt, chiefly from the objections his wife made, was quite astonished at Newgate; for God overtook her there, so that she knew she was accepted in the Beloved. Thence we went and laid the first stone of our house with the voice of praise and thanksgiving. Three or four thousand were present at the Bowling Green this afternoon; and at Weavers’ Hall in the evening, in answer to our prayers ‘that our Lord would then show whether He was willing that all men should be saved,’ three persons immediately sunk down, and in a short time were raised up and set at liberty.

To James Hutton Date: BRISTOL, June 7, 1739. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1739) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BRETHERN, -- After I came from preaching at Weavers, Hall on Monday, many came to advise me in great sincerity 'not to go to the Brickyard in the afternoon, because of some terrible things that were to be done there if I did.' This report brought many thither of what they call the better sort, so that it added a thousand at least to the usual audience; on whom I enforced (as not my choice, but the providence of God directed me) those words of Isaiah, ' Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.' My nose began bleeding in the midst of the sermon, [For his nose-bleeding at Oxford, see letter of Sept. 23, 1723, to his mother.] but presently stopped, so that I went on without interruption; and the power of God fell on all, so that the scoffers stood looking one on another, but none opened his mouth.

To James Hutton Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1739) Author: John Wesley --- BRISTOL, August rS, x739. Thursday, July 26, in the evening at the Society several were deeply convinced of sin, but none was delivered. The children came to the birth, but there was not strength to bring forth. The same thing was observed many times before. Many were the conjectures concerning the reason of it. Indeed, I fear we have grieved the Spirit of God by questioning His work, and that therefore He is withdrawn from us for a season; but surely He will return and abundantly pardon. Monday, 30th, I had much conversation with a good and friendly man concerning those outward signs of the inward work of God. I found my mind much weakened thereby and thrown upon reasonings which profited nothing. At eight two persons were in strong pain; but though we cried to God, there was no answer, neither did He deliver them at all. The 31st, &c.: I was enabled to speak strongly to them on those words, 'Ask, and ye shall receive,' and to claim the promise in prayer for those that mourned, one of whom was filled with joy and peace in believing; as was also this day a young woman who had been a strenuous opposer of this work of God, and particularly zealous against those who cried out, saying she was sure they might help it if they would. But on Monday night at the Society in the midst of her zeal she was struck in a moment, and fell to the ground trembling and roaring for the disquietness of her heart. She continued in pain twelve or fourteen hours, and then was set at liberty; but her master immediately forbade her his house, saying he would have none with him who had received the Holy Ghost.

To his Brother Charles Date: ISLINOTON, September 21, 1739. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1739) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- A Scotch gentleman who was present here [Diary: ‘4.45 Islington, within to man.’ ‘Sat. 22--7.3o at Exall's, tea.’ He evidently finished the letter there.] gave us a plain account of Mr. Erskine and his associates, the substance of which was this :- Some years since, Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, preaching before the Assembly, reproved them for several faults with all simplicity. This was so resented by many that in a following Assembly he was required to make an open recantation; and, persisting in the charge, the Assembly determined that he, with three other ministers who spoke in his behalf, should be deprived and their livings declared vacant. Four messengers were sent for this purpose; but they returned re infecta, fearing the people lest they should stone them. In another Assembly directions were given to the neighbouring ministers to procure informations concerning the doctrine and behavior of Mr. Erskines [Ebenezer and Ralph] and their adherents, Out of these informations an indictment was formed, to which they were summoned to answer in the next Assembly. Here it was debated whether they should be suffered to come in, and carried by a small majority that they should. The Moderator then spoke to this effect: ‘My reverend brethren, ye are summoned to answer an indictment charging you with erroneous doctrine and irregular practices; but if ye will submit to the Kirk and testify your amendment, we will receive you with open arms.’ Mr. Erskine answered for himself and brethren (they were now increased to eight) to this purpose: ‘Moderator, both you and those that are with you have erred from the faith, and your practices are irregular too; and you have no discipline: therefore you are no Kirk. We are the Kirk, and we alone, who continue in her faith and discipline. And if ye will submit to us and testify your amendment, we will receive ye with open arms.’ None answered a word; so after a short time they withdrew. The Moderator then asked, ‘My reverend brethren, what shall we do’ One replied, ‘Moderator, I must answer you in our proverb --“You have put the cat into the kirn (i.e. churn), and ye must get her out again how you can.”’

To Howell Harris Date: LONDON, July 29, 1740. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1740) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, --- Is the devil a fool Or has he forgot his old maxim, ‘Divide and conquer’ Beware you forget not the royal law, ‘Love thinketh no evil.’ I have no time myself now, so I have desired our brother Purdy [John Purdy was Wesley's companion when he went to begin his field-preaching in Bristol. Wesley lightened his labor by thus using his friend's help. See letters of Dec. 6, 1739, and Feb. 1, 1784.] to transcribe a paragraph or two of my Journal for you. ‘In the evening (after I had explained, “We wrestle not with flesh and blood, &c.”) Mr. Acourt complained that Mr. Nowers had hindered his going into our Society. Mr. Nowers answered, “It was by Mr. C. Wesley's order.” “What,” said Mr. Acourt, “do you refuse admitting a person into your Society only because he differs from you in opinion” I answered, “No; but what opinion do you mean” He said, “That of Election. I hold a certain number is elected from eternity. And these must and shall be saved. And the rest of mankind must and shall be damned. And many of your Society hold the same.” I replied, “I never asked whether they hold it or no. Only let them not trouble others by disputing about it.” He said, “Nay, but I will dispute about it.” “What, wherever you come” “Yes, wherever I come.” “Why, then, would you come among us, who you know are of another mind” “Because you are all wrong, and I am resolved to set you all right.” “I fear your coming with this view would neither profit you nor us.” He concluded, “Then I will go and tell all the world that you and your brother are false prophets. And I tell you, in one fortnight you will all be in confusion.”’ [From Journal, ii. 353.] I say, So be it, if we do not preach the truth as it is in Jesus. You see, my brother, that the reason why Mr. Acourt was not admitted into our Society was not holding Election separate from Reprobation, but openly declaring his fixed purpose to introduce and carry on the dispute concerning Reprobation wherever he came. -- I am, my dear brother, Ever yours.

15. In conformity to the Mystics, you likewise greatly check joy in the Holy Ghost by such cautions against sensible comforts as have no title of Scripture to support them. Hence also your brethren here damp the zeal of babes in Christ, talking much of false zeal, and forbidding them to declare what God hath done for their souls, even when their hearts burn within them to declare it, and compared those to uncorked bottles who simply and artlessly speak as of the ability which God giveth. 16. Hence, lastly, it is that you undervalue good works (especially works of outward mercy), never publicly insisting on the necessity of them, nor declaring their weight and excellency. Hence, when some of your brethren have spoken of them, they put them on a wrong foot -- viz. If you find yourself moved, if your heart is free to it, then reprove, exhort, relieve. By this means you wholly avoid the taking up your cross in order to do good; and also substitute an uncertain, precarious inward motion in the place of the plain written Word. Nay, one of your members has said of good works in general (whether works of piety or of charity), ‘A believer is no more obliged to do these works of the law than a subject of the King of England is obliged to obey the laws of the King of France.’ 17. My brethren, whether ye will hear, or whether ye will forbear, I have now delivered my own soul. And this I have chosen to do in an artless manner, that if anything should come home to your hearts the effect might evidently flow, not from the wisdom of man, but from the power of God.

To George Whitefield Date: LONDON, August 9, 1740. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1740) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I thank you for yours, May the 24th. The case is quite plain. There are bigots both for Predestination and against it. God is sending a message to those on either side. But neither will receive it, unless from one of his own opinion. Therefore for a time you are suffered to be of one opinion and I of another. But when His time is come God will do what man cannot--namely, make us both of one mind. Then persecution will flame out, and it will be seen whether we count our lives dear unto ourselves so that we may finish our course with joy.--I am, my dearest brother, Ever yours.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON, April 21, 1741. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1741) Author: John Wesley --- It is not possible for me to set out yet. I must go round and glean after G. Whitefield. I will take care of the books you mention. My Journal is not written yet. The bands and Society are my first care. The bands are purged; the Society is purging: and we continually feel whose hand is in the work. Send the new-printed Hymns [Whitefield went to Bristol on April 22, and on the 25th wrote (Life, i. 478), ‘Dear Brother Charles [Wesley] is more and more rash. He has lately printed some very bad hymns.’ These were the Hymns on God's Everlasting Love; to which were added ‘The Cry of a Reprobate and the Horrible Decree.’ 18 hymns, 12mo, 36 pp. Printed in 1741 by S. & F. Farley, Bristol. The hymns were ‘very bad’ to a Calvinist.] immediately. We presented a thousand of Barclay [Wesley's Diary shows that he prepared Serious Considerations on Absolute Predestination, extracted from Robert Barclay, in Dec. 1740. It was published by Farley in 1741, 12mo, 24 pp.] to G. Whitefield's congregation on Sunday. On Sunday next I propose to distribute a thousand more at the Foundry. I am settling a regular method of visiting the sick here. Eight or ten have offered themselves for the work, who are likely to have full employment; for more and more are taken ill every day. Our Lord will thoroughly purge His floor. I rejoice in your speaking your mind freely. O let our love be without dissimulation! But I can't yet agree with you in all points. Who is your informer concerning N. Bath I doubt the facts. Have you had them face to face Brother Nowers [See letter of March 21, 1740.] is not [in love with her]. Ask him about them. Let the premises be but proved, and I greatly commend the conclusion.

I am not clear that Brother Maxfield [Thomas Maxfield had been converted at Bristol in 1739 (see letter of May 28 of that year). Hecame to London with Wesley on March 25, 1741, and was busy there for the next few months.] should not expound at Greyhound Lane; nor can I as yet do without him. Our clergymen have miscarried full as much as the laymen; and that the Moravians are other than laymen I know not. As yet I dare in no wise join with the Moravians: (1) Because their general scheme is Mystical, not scriptural, -- refined in every point above what is written, immeasurably beyond the plain doctrines of the gospel. (2) Because there is darkness and closeness in all their behavior, and guile in almost all their words. (3) Because they not only do not practice, but utterly despise and decry, self-denial and the daily cross. (4) Because they, upon principle, conform to the world in wearing gold and gay or costly apparel. (5) Because they extend Christian liberty, in this and many other respects, beyond what is warranted by Holy Writ. (6) Because they are by no means zealous of good works; or, at least, only to their own people. And (lastly) because they make inward religion swallow up outward in general. For these reasons chiefly I will rather, God being my helper, stand quite alone than join with them -- I mean, till I have full assurance that they will spread none of these errors among the little flock committed to my charge.

O my brother, my soul is grieved for you; the poison is in you; fair words have stole away your heart. I fear you can't now find any at Bristol in so great liberty as Marschall! ‘No English man or woman is like the Moravians!’ [Charles Wesley was now in Bristol. He endorsed the copy of this letter in the Colman Collection: ‘When I inclined to the Germans.’ He had evidently used the words ‘No English man or woman is like the Moravians.' His brother refers to the danger in the Journal, if. 418-20, 424. The trouble was not over. Lady Huntingdon (Life and Times, i. 41), in a letter to John Wesley on Oct. 24, speaks of Charles having declared open war on the Moravian Stillness, and regarded herself as ‘the instrument in God's hand that had delivered him from them.’] So the matter is come to a fair issue. Five of us did still stand together a few months since: but two are gone to the right hand (poor Hutchings [See letter of Dec. 20, 1746.] and Cennick); and two more to the left (Mr. Hall and you). Lord, if it be Thy gospel which I preach, arise and maintain Thine own cause!

To Joseph Humphreys Date: LONDON, April 27, 1741. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1741) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I do not understand you. What doctrines do you mean that ‘Christ died for all’ or that ‘he that is born of God sinneth not’ These are not peculiar to me. The first is St. Paul’s, the second is St. John’s. What grievous temptation do you mean Let us deal openly with one another. But if any doubt arise, O fly to Christ, and confer not with flesh and blood! I least of all understand what you mean by ‘loving and respecting me.’ Ah, my brother, this will not hold for one month. You will in a very short time love and respect me just as poor Mr. Seward [See letter of March 20, 1739, to Whitefield.] did. Yet ‘gracious art Thou, O Lord, and true are Thy judgments.’ Adieu.

Hitherto, then, there is no ground for the heavy charge of ‘perverting your design for the poor colliers.’ Two years since, your design was to build them a school, that their children also might be taught to fear the Lord. To this end you collected some money more than once; how much I cannot say, till I have my papers. But this I know, it was not near one half of what has been expended on the work. This design you then recommended to me, and I pursued it with all my might, through such a train of difficulties as (I will be bold to say) you have not yet met with in your life. For many months I collected money wherever I was: in Kingswood for that house only; in Bristol for the schoolhouse to be built there; in other places generally for Bath. In June 1739, being able to procure none any other way, I bought a little piece of ground and began building thereon, though I had not then a quarter of the money requisite to finish. However, taking all the debt upon myself, the creditors were willing to stay: and then it was that I took possession of it in my own name -- viz. when the foundation was laid; and from that time to this only I immediately made my will, fixing my brother and you to succeed me therein. Now, my brother, I will answer your main question. I think you can claim no right to that building, either in equity or law, before my demise. And every honest lawyer will tell you the same. But if you repent of your collecting the money towards it I will repay it as speedily as I can; although I now owe more than two hundred pounds on account of Kingswood School only.

Middleton. By his advice I went home and took my bed: a strange thing to me who had not kept my bed a day (for five-and-thirty years) ever since I had the small-pox. I immediately fell into a profuse sweat, which continued till one or two in the morning. God then gave me refreshing sleep, and afterwards such tranquility of mind that this day, Sunday, November I, seemed the shortest day to me I had ever known in my life. I think a little circumstance ought not to be omitted, although I know there may be an ill construction put upon it. Those words were now so strongly impressed upon my mind that for a considerable time I could not put them out of my thoughts: ‘Blessed is the man that provideth for the poor and needy; the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble. The Lord shall comfort him when he lieth sick upon his bed; make Thou all his bed in his sickness.’ On Sunday night likewise I slept well, and was easy all Monday morning. But about three in the afternoon the shivering returned much more violent than before. It continued till I was put to bed. I was then immediately as in a fiery furnace. In a little space I began sweating; but the sweating seemed to increase rather than allay the burning heat. Thus I remained till about eight o’clock, when I suddenly awaked out of a kind of doze, in such a sort of disorder (whether of body or mind, or both) as I know not how to describe. My heart and lungs, and all that was within me, and my soul too, seemed to be in perfect uproar. But I cried unto the Lord in my trouble, and He delivered me out of my distress.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON, May 17, 1742 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1742) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER, -- I am in a great strait. I wrote to Lady Huntingdon (just as I did to you), 'I am inclined to believe one of us must soon take a journey into Yorkshire.' It was then in my mind to desire you to go first; only I was afraid you would think I shifted off the laboring-oar. But on the receipt of your last I altered my design, and determined to think of it no farther yet. I sent word this morning to Brentford and Windsor of my preaching there on Thursday in my way to Bristol; but within two or three hours I received a letter from Lady Huntingdon, part of which is as follows: MY DEAR FRIEND, -- The very thought of seeing you here has filled us with great joy. Poor dear Miss Cooper is still living; and, it is very remarkable, in the beginning of her illness she said, ‘I should be glad to see one of them just before I died.’ Her eyes with mine overflow with the loving-kindness of the Lord, who has even a regard to the desires of our hearts. I beg you will set out as soon as may be after receiving this; as every day she has lived this last fortnight seems a fresh miracle, wrought for some purpose not yet known. She then tells me she has ordered an horse for John Taylor [John Taylor and his brother David (see Journal, iii. 24-5n) were in the service of the Earl of Huntingdon. He went with Wesley to Birstall, and was with him at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and at Epworth, where he stood in the churchyard and gave notice as the people came out from the service: ‘Mr. Wesley, not being permitted to preach in the church, designs to preach here at six o'clock.’] to come down with me.

It seems to me I ought to go, and that without delay. I think of going early in the morning to Bexley and correcting Mr. Piers’s sermon, [The elaborate care which they used in revising such deliverances may be seen from the Diary notes in Journal, ii. 387-8.] and of setting out for Donnington on Wednesday. If you write thither as soon as you receive this, your letter will be there near as soon as me; and I will either go on into Lincolnshire for a week, or come straight to Bristol, as you will. Let all the brethren pray for me. Adieu!

To his Brother Charles Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1742) Author: John Wesley --- LONDON, Saturday, July 31, 1742. Yesterday, about three in the afternoon, as soon as Intercession was ended, I went up to my mother. I found her pulse almost gone and her fingers dead; so that it was easy to see her spirit was on the wing for eternity. After using the Commendatory Prayer, I sat down on her bedside, and with three or four of our sisters sung a requiem to her parting soul. She continued in just the same way as my father was, struggling and gasping for life, though (as I could judge by several signs) perfectly sensible, till near four o'clock. I was then going to drink a dish o’ tea, being faint and weary, when one called me again to the bedside. It was just four o’clock. She opened her eyes wide and fixed them upwards for a moment. Then the lids dropped, and the soul was set at liberty without one struggle or groan or sigh. My heart does not, and I am absolutely assured [God does not condemn me for any want of duty toward] her in any kind, except only [that I have not reproved her so plainly and fully as I should have done]. Absurdum, iniquum, injustum, supra omnem modum mihi videtur, quod quis isto modo me lacessat. [‘Absurd, unfair, unjust beyond all measure it seems to me, that any one should attack me in that way.’] Now, I would have you send me word immediately whom I shall take into the house, to keep the Accounts, &c. &c. &c., in the room of T. Meyrick, and what [woman as hired girl or a lady in place of Betty Brown]. I wait your answer. I will carry the books to Evesham, [He was at Evesham on Aug. 17. The books were probably Charles Wesley’s Hymns and Sacred Poems, published that year.] if I do not send before. The day of my setting out hence (if I have life and health) is Monday fortnight, and on Thursday fortnight I hope to be at Bristol.

To Howell Harris Date: LONDON, August 6, 1742. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1742) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I must write; though where my letter will find you, that I know not, only that it will be under the shadow of the Almighty -- yea, in the arms of Him that loveth you. Now, let Him cover your head in the day of battle! Let His faithfulness and truth be thy shield and buckler! Let Him comfort thy heart, and, after thou hast suffered awhile, make thee perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle thee! I have just read yours dated at Trevecca, October 19, 1741 And what is it that we contend about Allow such a perfection as you have there described, and all farther dispute I account vain jangling and mere strife of words. As to the other point, we agree (1) that no man can have any power except it be given him from above; (2) that no man can merit anything but hell, seeing all other merit is in the blood of the Lamb. For those two fundamental points both you and I earnestly contend. Why then, if we both disclaim all power and all merit in man, what need of this great gulf to be fixed between us Brother, is thy heart with mine, as my heart is with thy heart If it be, give me thy hand. I am indeed a poor, foolish, sinful worm; and how long my Lord will use me I know not. I sometimes think the time is coming when He will lay me aside; for surely never before did He send such a laborer into such an harvest. But, so long as I am continued in the work, let us rise up together against the evildoers. Let us not weaken, but (if it be our Lord's will) strengthen one another's hands in God. My brother, my soul is gone forth to meet thee; let us fall upon one another's neck. The good Lord blot out all that is past, and let there henceforward be peace between me and thee! --I am, my dear brother, Ever yours. PS.--On Friday last my mother went home with the voice of praise and thanksgiving. [See letter of July 31.]

To Mrs. Hall (Martha Wesley) Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1742) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, November 17, 1742. DEAR SISTER, -- I believe the death of your children is a great instance of the goodness of God towards you. You have often mentioned to me how much of your time they took up! Now that time is restored to you, and you have nothing to do but to serve our Lord without carefulness and without distraction till you are sanctified in body, soul, and spirit. As soon as I saw Mr. Hall I invited him to stay at the Foundry, but he desired I would have him excused. There is a strange inconsistency in his tempers and sentiments with regard to me. The still brethren have gradually infused into him as much as they could of their own contempt of me and my brother, and dislike of our whole method of proceeding, which is as different from theirs as light from darkness: nay, they have blunderingly taught him to find fault even with my economy and outward management both of my family and Society; whereas I know this is the peculiar talent which God has given me, wherein (by His grace) I am not behind the very chiefest of them. Notwithstanding this there remains in him something of his old regard for me which he had at Oxford, and by-and-by it will prevail. He will find out these wretched men, and the clouds will flee away. My belief is that the present design of God is to visit the poor desolate Church of England, and that therefore neither deluded Mr. Gambold [Gambold had preached before the University at Oxford in 1741 but formally separated from the Church of England in 1742, and joined the Moravians, among whom he became an assistant bishop in 1754. He was estranged from the Wesleys. See Tyerman’s Oxford Methodists, pp. 176-8.] nor any who leave it will prosper. O pray for the peace of Jerusalem! ‘They shall prosper that love thee.’ Mr. Hall has paid me for the books. I don't want any money of you; your love is sufficient. But write as often and as largely as you can to. Your affectionate friend and Brother.

To Mrs. Harper (Emilia Wesley) Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1743) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE:, June 30, 1743. DEAR EMLY, -- Once, I think, I told you my mind freely before; I am constrained to do so once again. You say, ‘From the time of my coming to London till last Christmas you would not do me the least kindness.’ Do I dream, or you Whose house were you in for three months and upwards By whose money were you sustained It is a poor case that I am forced to mention these things. But ‘I would not take you lodgings in fifteen weeks.’ No, nor should I have done in fifteen years. I never once imagined that you expected me to do this! Shall I leave the Word of God to serve tables You should know I have quite other things to mind; temporal things I shall mind less and less. ‘When I was removed, you never concerned yourself about me.’ That is not the fact. What my brother does I do. Besides, I myself spoke to you abundance of times before Christmas last. ‘When I was at preaching, you would scarce speak to me.’ Yes; at least as much as to my sister Wright, or indeed as I did to any else at those times. ‘I impute all your unkindness to one principle you hold--that natural affection is a great weakness, if not a sin.’ What is this principle I hold That natural affection is a sin or that adultery is a virtue or that Mahomet was a prophet of God and that Jesus Christ was a son of Belial You may as well impute all these principles to me as one. I hold one just as much as the other. O Emmy, never let that idle, senseless accusation come out of your mouth.

Do you hold that principle, ‘that we ought to be just (i.e. pay our debts) before we are merciful’ If I held it, I should not give one shilling for these two years either to you or any other. And, indeed, I have for some time stayed my hand; so that I give next to nothing, except what I give to my relations. And I am often in doubt with regard to that, not whether natural affection be not a sin, but whether it ought to supersede common justice. You know nothing of my temporal circumstances and the straits I am in almost continually; so that, were it not for the reputation of my great riches, I could not stand one week. I have now done with myself, and have only a few words concerning you. You are of all creatures the most unthankful to God and man. I stand amazed at you. How little have you profited under such means of improvement! Surely, whenever your eyes are opened, whenever you see your own tempers, with the advantages you have enjoyed, you will make no scruple to pronounce yourself (whores and murderers not excepted) the very chief of sinners. -- I am, &c.

They subsided apace, and more and more began to sink into seriousness. Some gentlemen (I am sorry to say it) labored exceedingly to prevent this; and one particularly, in light gray clothes, went to and fro with great diligence, and gave money to, I believe, twenty or thirty persons, to shout and strike or push their neighbors. Much tumult arose. In the intervals of calm I cried the more earnestly, ‘Turn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die, O house of Israel’ After almost an hour (the time I had first proposed) I withdrew, walking through the thickest of the rioters, who dropped away to the right and left, and could no more bear my eye than they could His that sent me. [See Journal, iii 80-1.] Now, sir, what an insult it is upon common sense to say that I raised that tumult. Had only these gentlemen (so called) stood quietly, I would have answered for the behavior of the rest, who within one quarter of an hour would have been as orderly and silent as an assembly in a court of justice. However that be, I have now delivered my own soul; and if these poor sheep do continue in sin, and consequently perish, I am clear. I have done what in me lay; their blood is not on my head. I am persuaded, sir, you do not take the freedom with which I have spoken as a mark of disrespect, but rather as a proof that I am, sir, Your most obedient servant.

To John Haime Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1744) Author: John Wesley --- [March] 1744. It is a great blessing whereof God has already made you a partaker; but if you continue waiting upon Him, you shall see greater things than these. This is only the beginning of the kingdom of heaven, which He will set up in your heart. There is yet behind the fullness of the mind that was in Christ; 'righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.' It is but a little thing that men should be against you while you know that God is on your side. If He give you any companion in the narrow way, it is well; and it is well if He do not. So much the more will He teach and strengthen you by Himself: He will strengthen you in the secret of your heart; and by-and-by He will raise up, as it were out of the dust, those who shall say, 'Come, and let us magnify His name together.' But by all means miss no opportunity. Speak, and spare not. Declare what God has done for your soul; regard not worldly prudence; be not ashamed of Christ, or of His word, or of His servants. Speak the truth in love, even in the midst of a crooked generation; and all things shall work together for good until the work of God is perfect in your soul.

To John Nelson Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1744) Author: John Wesley --- May 1744. Well, my brother, is the God whom you serve able to deliver you and do you find Him faithful to His word Is His grace still sufficient for you I doubt it not. He will not suffer you to be weary or faint in your mind. But He had work for you to do which you knew not of, and thus His counsel was to be fulfilled. O lose no time! Who knows how many souls God may by this means deliver into your hands Shall not all these things be for the furtherance of the gospel And is not the time coming when we shall cry out together, ‘Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that hath loved us’

9. This I have endeavored to do with a tender hand: relating no more than I believed absolutely needful; carefully avoiding all tart and unkind expressions, all that I could foresee would be disobliging to you, or any farther offensive than was implied in the very nature of the thing; laboring everywhere to speak consistently with that deep sense which is settled in my heart that you are (though I cannot call you Rabbi, infallible) yet far, far better and wiser than me. 10. And if any of you will smite me friendly and reprove me, if you will show me wherein I have erred, either in the matter or manner of the following relation or any part thereof, I will by the grace of God confess it before angels and men in whatsoever way you shall require. Meanwhile do not cease to pray for Your weak but still affectionate brother.

7. We have no 5s. or 2s. 6d. places at the Foundry, nor ever had, nor ever will. If any one asks me for a place in the gallery (we make no distinction but between men and women), he has it; I refuse none. And some hundreds have places there who pay nothing at all. First come also is first served, at every time of preaching. And the poorest have frequently the best places, because they come first. I am glad you mentioned the volume of Bishop Bull, [The Huttons had evidently lent Bishop Bull's Teachings of the Spirit to Wesley. See letter of Jan. 1739, and his reference (Journal, ii. 144d) on Feb. 22 - ‘10.30 at James Hutton’s read Bishop Bull upon the teachings of the Spirit.’] for I had quite forgot whose it was. I will look for it, and send it. I desire the continuance of yours and Mr. Hutton’s prayers. Your obliged and affectionate servant.

To Thomas Church Date: LONDON, December 22, 1744. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1744) Author: John Wesley --- REVEREND SIR, -- Since this was in the press I have seen your Remarks upon my ‘last Journal.’ I will endeavor, as you desire, ‘attentively to consider the points’ therein ‘objected to me.’ In the meantime I am, reverend sir, Your servant for Christ’s sake.

To Thomas Church Date: BRISTOL, February 2, 1745 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1745) Author: John Wesley --- REVEREND SIR, -- 1. My first desire and prayer to God is, that I may live peaceably with all men: My next, that if I must dispute at all, it may be with a man of understanding. Thus far, therefore, I rejoice on the present occasion. I rejoice also in that I have confidence of your sincerity, of your real desire to promote the glory of God, by peace and good-will among men. I am likewise thankful to God for your calm manner of writing; (a few paragraphs excepted;) and yet more for this, -- that such an opponent should, by writing in such a manner, give me an opportunity of explaining myself on those very heads whereon I wanted an occasion so to do. 2. I do not want, indeed, (though perhaps you think I do), to widen the breach between us, or to represent the difference of the doctrines we severally teach as greater than it really is. So far from it, that I earnestly wish there were none at all; or, if there must be some, that it may be as small as possible; being fully persuaded, that, could we once agree in doctrines, other differences would soon fall to the ground. 3. In order to contribute, as I am able, to this, it will be my endeavor to acknowledge what I think you have spoken right, and to answer what I cannot think right as yet, with what brevity and clearness I can. I desire to do this in as inoffensive a manner as the nature of the thing will bear, and consistently with that brotherly love which I cannot deny you without wronging my own soul. 4. You sum up your charge thus: ‘You have now, Sir, my sentiments. -- It is impossible for you to put an entire stop to the enormities of the Moravians, while you still, -- I. Too much commend these men; II. Hold principles in common with them, from which these enormities naturally follow; And III. Maintain other errors more than theirs, and are guilty of enthusiasm to the highest degree.’ (Remarks, pp. 73-4.)

But ‘complaints,’ you say, ‘of their errors, come very ill from you, because you have occasioned them.’ Nay, if it were so, for that very cause they ought to come from me. If I had occasioned an evil, surely I am the very person who ought to remove it as far as I can; to recover, if possible, those who are hurt already, and to caution others against it. 14. On some of those complaints, as you term them, you remark as follows: -- ‘Many of those who once knew in whom they had believed’ (these are my words) ‘were thrown into idle reasonings, and thereby filled with doubts and fears’ (page 13). ‘This,’ you add, ‘it is to be feared, has been too much the case of the Methodists in general. -- Accordingly we find, in this Journal, several instances, not barely of doubts and fears, but of the most desperate despair. This is the consequence of resting so much on sensible impressions. -- Bad men may be led into presumption thereby; an instance of which you give,’ (Journal, ii. 415). That instance will come in our way again: ‘Many of those who once knew in whom they had believed were thrown,’ by the Antinomians, ‘into idle reasonings, and thereby filled with doubts and fears. This,’ you fear, ‘has been the case with the Methodists in general.’ You must mean, (to make it a parallel case,) that the generality of the people now termed Methodists were true believers till they heard us preach, but were thereby thrown into idle reasonings, and filled with needless doubts and fears. Exactly contrary to truth in every particular. For, (1.) They lived in open sins till they heard us preach, and, consequently, were no better believers than their father the devil. (2.) They were not then thrown into idle reasonings, but into serious thought how to flee from the wrath to come. Nor, (3.) Were they filled with needless doubts and fears, but with such as were needful in the highest degree, such as actually issued in repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. ‘Accordingly, we find in this Journal several instances of the most desperate despair’ (ii. 333, 347, 410). Then I am greatly mistaken. But I will set down at length the several instances you refer to: --

16. You proceed: ‘Kingswood you call your own house: And whenone Mr. C. opposed you there, you reply to him, “You should nothave supplanted me in my own house, stealing the hearts of thepeople.” The parochial Clergy may call their several districts theirown houses, with much more propriety than you could call Kingswood yours. And yet how have you supplanted them therein,and labored to steal the hearts of the people! You have sufferedby the same ways you took to discharge your spleen and maliceagainst your brethren. ‘Your brother's words to Mr. Cennick are, -- ‘Whether his doctrine is true or false, is not the question. But you ought first to have fairly toldhim, I preach contrary to you. Are you, willing, notwithstanding,that I should continue in your house, gainsaying you Shall I stayhere opposing you, or shall I depart ‘Think you hear this spokento you by us. What can you justly reply -- Again, if Mr. Cennick hadsaid thus to you, and you had refused him leave to stay; I ask you,whether in such a case he would have had reason to resent such arefusal I think you cannot say he would. And yet how loudlyhave you objected our refusing our pulpits to you!’ (Remarks, pp. 15-16.) So you judge these to be exactly parallel cases. It lies therefore uponme to show that they are not parallel at all; that there is, in manyrespects, an essential difference between them. (1.) ‘Kingswood you call your own house.’ So I do, that is, theschool-house there. For I bought the ground where it stands, andpaid for the building it, partly from the contribution of my friends, (one of whom contributed fifty pounds,) partly from the income of my own Fellowship. No Clergyman therefore can call his parish his own house with more propriety than I can call this house mine. (2.) ‘Mr. Cennick opposed you there.’ True; but who was Mr. Cennick One I had sent for to assist me there; a friend that was as my own soul; that, even while he opposed me, lay in my bosom. What resemblance then does Mr. Cennick, thus opposing me, bear to me opposing (if I really did) a parochial minister

‘I dined with one [He dined with Mr. Standex, when a woman told him this.] who told me, in all simplicity, “Sir, I thought last week, there could be no such rest as you describe; none in this world, wherein we should be so free as not to desire ease in pain. But God has taught me better; for on Friday and Saturday, when I was in the strongest pain, I never once had one moment's desire of ease, but only that the will of God might be done.”’ (ii. 373-4.) Do I say here, that ‘we ought not in the strongest pain once to desire to have a moment’s ease’ What a frightful distortion of my words is this! What I say is, ‘A serious person affirmed to me, that God kept her for two days in such a state.’ And why not Where is the absurdity ‘At the end of one of your hymns, you seem to carry this notion to the very height of extravagancy and presumption. You say, “Doom, if thou canst, to endless pains, And drive me from thy face.”’ ‘If thou canst’ -- that is, if Thou canst deny thyself, if Thou canst forget to be gracious, if Thou canst cease to be truth and love. So the lines both preceding and following fix the sense. I see nothing of stoical insensibility, neither of extravagancy or presumption, in this.

As for the ‘abilities, learning, and experience’ of Dr. Monro [John Monro (1715-91, Physician of Bethlehem Hospital 1751.] (page 70,) if you are personally acquainted with him, you do well to testify them. But if not, permit me to remind you of the old advice: -- Qualem commendes, etiam atque etiam aspice, ne mox Incutiant aliena tibi peccata pudorem. [Horace's Epistles, I. xviii.76: ‘Beware whom you commend, lest you should be blamed for the faults of another man.’] In endeavoring to account for the people’s recovery from those disorders, you say, ‘I shall not dispute how far prayer may have naturally a good effect.’ Nay, I am persuaded you will not dispute but it may have supernatural good effects also. ‘However, there is no need of supposing these recoveries miraculous.’ (page 71.) Who affirms there is I have set down the facts just as they were, passing no judgment upon them myself; (consequently, here is no foundation for the charge of enthusiasm;) and leaving every man else to judge as he pleases. 11. The next passage you quote as a proof of my enthusiasm, taking the whole together, runs thus: ‘After communicating at St. James’s, our parish church, I visited several of the sick. Most of them were ill of the spotted fever, which, they informed me, had been extremely mortal, few persons recovering from it. But God had said, “Hitherto shalt thou come.” I believe there was not one with whom we were, but recovered.’ (Journal, ii. 401-2.) On which you comment thus: ‘Here is indeed no intimation of any thing miraculous.’ No! not so much as an intimation! Then why is this cited as an instance of my enthusiasm Why, ‘You seem to desire to have it believed, that an extraordinary blessing attended your prayers; whereas, I believe they would not have failed of an equal blessing and success, had they had the prayers of their own parish Ministers.’ I believe this argument will have extraordinary success, if it convince any one that I am an enthusiast.

12. And they do so still, wherever they are not restrained by their fear of the secular magistrate. Thus the case stands at present. Now, what can we do, or what can you our brethren do, towards healing this breach which is highly desirable, that we may withstand with joint force the still increasing flood of Popery, Deism, and immorality. Desire of us anything we can do with a safe conscience, and we will do it immediately. Will you meet us here Will you do what we desire of you, so far as you can with safe conscience Let us come to particulars: -- Do you desire us (1) to preach another, or to desist from preaching this, doctrine We think you do not desire it, as knowing we cannot do this with a safe conscience. Do you desire us (2) to desist from preaching in private houses or in the open air As things are now circumstanced, this would be the same as desiring us not to preach at all. Do you desire us (3) to desist from advising those who now meet together for that purpose or, in other words, to dissolve our Societies We cannot do this with a safe conscience; for we apprehend many souls would be lost thereby, and that God would require their blood at our hands. Do you desire us (4) to advise them only one by one This is impossible because of their number. Do you desire us (5) to suffer those who walk disorderly still to mix with the rest Neither can we do this with a safe conscience, because 'evil communications corrupt good manners.' Do you desire us (6) to discharge those leaders of bands or classes (as we term them) who overlook the rest This is in effect to suffer the disorderly walkers still to mix with the rest, which we dare not do. Do you desire us (lastly) to behave with reverence toward those who are overseers of the Church of God and with tenderness both to the character and persons of our brethren the inferior clergy By the grace of God we can and will do this; yea, our conscience beareth us witness that we have already labored so to do, and that at all times and in all places. If you ask what we desire of you to do, we answer: --

1. We do not desire any one of you to let us preach in your church, either if you believe us to preach false doctrine or if you have upon any other ground the least scruple of conscience concerning it. But we desire any who believes us to preach true doctrine, and has no scruple at all in this matter, may not be either publicly or privately discouraged from inviting us to preach in his church. 2. We do not desire that any one who thinks that we are heretics or schismatics, and that it is his duty to preach or print against us as such, should refrain therefrom, so long as he thinks it is his duty (although in this case the breach can never be healed). But we desire that none will pass such a sentence till he has calmly considered both sides of the question; that he would not condemn us unheard; but first read what we have written, and pray earnestly that God may direct him in the right way. 3. We do not desire any favor if either Popery, sedition, or immorality be proved against us. But we desire you will not credit without proof any of those senseless tales that pass current with the vulgar; that, if you do not credit them yourselves, you will not relate them to others (which we have known done); yea, that you will confute them, so far as ye have opportunity, and discountenance those who still retail them abroad. 4. We do not desire any preferment, favor, or recommendation from those that are in authority, either in Church or State. But we desire (1) that if anything material be laid to our charge, we may be permitted to answer for ourselves; (2) that you would hinder your dependents from stirring up the rabble against us, who are certainly not the proper judges of these matters; and (3) that you would effectually suppress and throughly discountenance all riots and popular insurrections, which evidently strike at the foundation of all government, whether of Church or State. Now, these things you certainly can do, and that with a safe conscience. Therefore, till these things are done, the continuance of the breach is chargeable on you, and you only.[See Stamp's Orphan House, pp. 65-6. Wesley's letter had little effect.]

To John Stephenson Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1745) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, April 5, 1745. SIR,--I am surprised. You give it under your hand that you will put me in possession of a piece of ground, specified in an article between us, in fifteen days’ time. Three months are passed, and that article is not fulfilled. And now you say you can’t conceive what I mean by troubling you. I mean to have that article fulfilled. I think my meaning is very plain. -- I am, sir, Your humble servant.

The classes call me away. I must (for several reasons) see London before Bristol. One is, I shall go from Bristol to Cornwall; so that, if I come to Bristol now, I shall not be at London these three months. What I propose, therefore, is to go from Birmingham, through Oxford (as I wrote before), straight to London. [He reached London on May 11.] You can send me word where you will meet me. All here salute you much. If you could come hither soon (think of it), Leeds would vie with Newcastle. I wish you could. O let us watch! Adieu. To A. W. [7] LONDON, May 28, 1745. DEAR SISTER, -- So long as you are afraid of your own weakness and foolishness it will not prevail over you; and if God is on your side, it will be a little thing to be slighted by them that know not God. But, whatever they do, your way is plain, -- follow on to know the Lord; that whereunto you have attained hold fast; and watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation, but daily grow in grace and in knowledge of Him that bought us with His blood. -- I am Your affectionate brother. To M. W. LONDON, May 28, 1745. MY DEAR SISTER, -- If you find the beginning of the peace of God and the dawning of His love in your heart, what have you to do but quietly wait and pray for the fulfilling of all His promises Fear is good for nothing, unless it be a filial fear, such a fear of offending as springs from love. You are called to peace, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. Only walk circumspectly, redeeming the time, doing the will of God from the heart, and He will supply all your wants at the time and in the manner that pleaseth Him. -- I am Your affectionate brother.

To Count Zinzendorf and the Moravian Brethren Date: LONDON, September 6, 1745. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1745) Author: John Wesley --- TO THAT PART OF THE PEOPLE CALLED METHODISTS WHO ARE COMMONLY STYLED THE MORAVIAN BRETHREN. You declare, in the Daily Advertiser of August 2 (by your humble servant James Hutton), that Mr. John and Charles Wesley are both in the plain way of false teaching and deceiving souls; that you cannot but be suspicious, at the same time they preach perfection, they are willful servants of sin; and that you fear you shall see them running with their heads against the wall for a punishment of their high spirits. You declare at the same time, if a controversy should arise from this declaration, you will not meddle with it in any way. That is, you strike a man on the head as hard as you can, and then declare you will not fight. You are safe! No controversy will arise on my part from any declaration of this kind. Your unusual conduct does not hinder me from still embracing you with candor and love, and commending you to Him who is able to make you perfect in every good work; for whose sake I am, and trust ever to remain, Your brother and servant.

I. 3. You will give me leave (writing as a friend rather than a disputant) to invert the order of your objections, and to begin with the third, because I conceive it may be answered in fewest words. The substance of it is this: ‘If in fact you can work such signs and wonders as were wrought by the Apostles, then you are entitled (notwithstanding what I might otherwise object) to the implicit faith due to one of that order.’ A few lines after, you cite a case related in the Third Journal, p. 88, [See Journal ii. 290-1, Oct. 12, 1739.] and add: ‘If you prove this to be the fact, to the satisfaction of wise and good men, then I believe no wise and good men will oppose you any longer. Let me therefore rest it upon your conscience, either to prove this matter of fact or to retract it. If upon mature examination it shall appear that designing people imposed upon you, or that hysterical women were imposed upon themselves, acknowledge your zeal outran your wisdom.’ 4. Surely I would. But what if, on such examination, it shall appear that there was no imposition of either kind, to be satisfied of which I waited three years before I told the story What if it appear, by the only method which I can conceive, the deposition of three or four eye-and earwitnesses, that the matter of fact was just as it is there related, so far as men can judge from their eyes and ears Will it follow that I am entitled to demand the implicit faith which was due to an apostle By no means. Nay, I know not that implicit faith was due to any or all of the Apostles put together. They were to prove their assertions by the written Word. You and I are to do the same. Without such proof I ought no more to have believed St. Peter himself than St. Peter's (pretended) successor.

17. I think your following objections do not properly come under any of the preceding heads: ‘Your doctrine of Momentaneous Illapse, &c., is represented by your adversaries as singular and unscriptural; and that these singularities are your most beloved opinions and favorite tenets, more insisted upon by you than the general and uncontroverted truths of Christianity: this is their charge.’ And so, I doubt, it will be to the end of the world; for, in spite of all I can say, they will represent one circumstance of my doctrine (so called) as the main substance of it. It nothing avails that I declare again and again, ‘Love is the fulfilling of the law.’ I believe this love is given in a moment. But about this I contend not. Have this love, and it is enough. For this I will contend till my spirit returns to God. Whether I am singular or no in thinking this love is instantaneously given, this is not my ‘most beloved opinion.’ You greatly wrong me when you advance that charge. Nay, I love, strictly speaking, no opinion at all. I trample upon opinion, be it right or wrong. I want, I value, I preach the love of God and man. These are my ‘favorite tenets’ (if you will have the word), 'more insisted on' by me ten times over, both in preaching and writing, than any or all other subjects that ever were in the world. 18. You will observe, I do not say (and who is there that can) that I have no singular opinion at all; but this I say -- that, in my general tenor of preaching, I teach nothing as the substance of religion more singular than the love of God and man; and it was for preaching this very doctrine (before I preached or knew salvation by faith) that several of the clergy forbade me their pulpits. ‘But if it be notorious that you are frequently insisting on controverted opinions.’ If it be, even this will not prove the charge--namely, ‘that those are my most beloved opinions, and more insisted upon by me than the uncontroverted truths of Christianity.’ ‘No singularities’ is not my answer: but that no singularities are my most beloved opinions; that no singularities are more, or near so much, insisted on by me as the general, uncontroverted truths of Christianity.

Agreeably to those ancient records, by ‘Christian’ or ‘justifying faith’ I always meant faith preceded by repentance and accompanied or followed by obedience. So I always preached; so I spoke and wrote. But my warm adversaries from the very beginning stopped their ears, cried out, ‘An heretic! An heretic!’ and so ran upon me at once. 21. But I let them alone: you are the person I want, and whom I have been seeking for many years. You have understanding to discern and mildness to repeat (what would otherwise be) unpleasing truths. Smite me friendly and reprove me: it shall be a precious balm; it shall not break my head. I am deeply convinced that I know nothing yet as I ought to know. Fourteen years ago I said (with Mr. Norris [Wesley read Norris on Faith and Practice in 1729 (Journal, i. 89n), and his Christian Prudence on the way to Georgia (ibid. i. 125, 126d). In the last paragraph of Reflections upon the Conduct of Human Life with reference to Learning and Knowledge. Extracted from Mr. Norris (1734), he speaks of reading books that ‘are rather persuasive than instructive; such as warm, kindle, and enlarge the affections, and awaken the divine sense in the soul; as being convinced, by every day's experience, that I have more need of heat than of light.’ See letter of March 14, 1756.]), ‘I want heat more than light’; but now I know not which I want most. Perhaps God will enlighten me by your words. O speak and spare not! At least, you will have the thanks and prayers of Your obliged and affectionate servant.

To General Husk Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1745) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, October 8, 1745. A surly man came to me this evening, as he said, from you. He would not deign to come upstairs to me, nor so much as into the house; but stood still in the yard till I came, and then obliged me to go with him into the street, where he said, ‘You must pull down the battlements of your house, or to-morrow the General will pull them down for you.’ Sir, to me this is nothing. But I humbly conceive it would not be proper for this man, whoever he is, to behave in such a manner to any other of His Majesty's subjects at so critical a time as this. I am ready, if it may be for His Majesty's service, to pull not only the battlements but the house down; or to give up any part of it or the whole into your Excellency's hands.

If it be objected (from our heathenish poet), ‘This conscience will make cowards of us all,’ [Hamlet, III. i. 83] I answer, Let us judge by matter of fact. Let either friends or enemies speak. Did those who feared God behave as cowards at Fontenoy Did John Haime the dragoon betray any cowardice before or after his horse sunk under him [See Wesley's Veterans, i. 34.] Or did William Clements when he received the first ball in his left and the second in his right arm Or John Evans, when the cannonball took off both his legs Did he not call all about him, as long as he could speak, to praise and fear God and honor the King as one who feared nothing but lest his last breath should be spent in vain.[When William Clements had his arm broken by a musket-ball on May 11, 1745 (see Journal,iii. 226), they would have carried him out of the battle; but he said, ‘No; I have an arm left to hold my sword: I will not go yet.’ When a second shot broke his other arm, he said, ‘I am as happy as I can be out of Paradise.’ John Evans had both his legs taken off by a cannonball. He ‘was laid across a cannon to die; where, as long as he could speak, he was praising God with joyful lips.’ See Wesley's Veterans, i. 33.] If it were objected that I should only fill their heads with peculiar whims and notions, that might easily be known. Only let the officers hear with their own ears; and they may judge whether I do not preach the plain principles of manly, rational religion.

Having myself no knowledge of the General, I took the liberty to make this offer to you. I have no interest herein; but I should rejoice to serve as I am able my King and country. If it be judged that this will be of no real service, let the proposal die and be forgotten. But I beg you, sir, to believe that I have the same glorious cause, for which you have shown so becoming a zeal, earnestly at heart [The Mayor sent a message the following day saying that he would 'communicate my proposal to the General, and return me his answer as soon as possible.' Wesley preached near the camp several times. See Journal, iii. 218-19.]; and that therefore I am, with warm respect, sir, Your most obedient servant.

To the Moravian Synod Date: LONDON, December 8, 1745. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1745) Author: John Wesley --- MY BRETHREN, -- Is it not the will of our great Shepherd to gather together in one all His sheep that are scattered abroad Our earnest desire is that this His will may be done. And we are ready to do anything in our power that may in any degree contribute thereto. If you are willing any of your brethren should confer with us, we are ready, and should rejoice therein.Might we not, in a free and brotherly conference,-- 1. See in what points we do already agree together; 2. Consider what points (wherein we do not yet agree) we might suffer to sleep on either side; and 3. Settle how far we might unite, what kind or degree of fellowship we might preserve with each other, even if there should be some points wherein we cannot avoid speaking contrary to each other We desire your answer to this proposal, which is made in simplicity of heart by Your affectionate brethren,

You think, secondly, ‘that we ourselves give up some things as indefensible, which are defended by the same law and authority that establishes the things above mentioned; such as are many of the laws, customs, and practices of the Ecclesiastical Courts.’ We allow (1) that those laws, customs, and practices are really indefensible; (2) that there are Acts of Parliament in defense of them, and also of the threefold order. But will you show us how it follows, either (1) that those things and these stand or fall together or (2) that we cannot sincerely plead for the one, though we give up the other Do you not here quite overlook one circumstance, which might be a key to our whole behavior -- namely, that we no more look upon these filthy abuses which adhere to our Church as part of the building than we look upon any filth which may adhere to the walls of Westminster Abbey as a part of that structure You think, thirdly, ‘that there are other things which we defend and practice, in open contradiction to the orders of the Church of England.’ And this you judge to be a just exception against the sincerity of our professions to adhere to it. Compare what we profess with what we practice, and you will possibly be of another judgment. We profess (1) that we will obey all the laws of that Church (such we allow the Rubrics to be, but not the customs of the Ecclesiastical Courts) so far as we can with a safe conscience: (2) that we will obey, with the same restriction, the bishops as executors of those laws; but their bare will, distinct from those laws, we do not profess to obey at all. Now point out what is there in our practice which is an open contradiction to these professions Is field-preaching Not at all. It is contrary to no law which we profess to obey. The allowing lay preachers We are not clear that this is contrary to any such law. But if it is, this is one of the exempt cases; one wherein we cannot obey with a safe conscience. Therefore, be it right or wrong on other accounts, it is, however, no just exception against our sincerity. The rules and directions given to our Societies which, you say, is a discipline utterly forbidden by the bishops.

When and where did any bishop forbid this And if any did, by what law We know not either the man who ever did forbid or the law by which he could forbid it. The ‘allowing persons (for we require none) to communicate at the chapel, in contradiction (you think) to all those Rubrics which require all to attend always on their own parish church and pastor, and to receive only at his table’ Which Rubrics are those We cannot find them, and, till these are produced, all that is so frequently said of parochial unity, &c., is merely gratis dictum Consequently neither is this any just exception against the sincerity of any of our professions. To ‘John Smith’ LONDON, December 30, 1745. SIR, -- I am obliged to you for your speedy and friendly answer [Wesley wrote on Sept. 28, and ‘John Smith’s’ reply was dated Nov. 27 (see Moore’s Wesley, ii. 494-505). A Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion was published early in 1745.]; to which I will reply as clearly as I can. 1. If you have leisure to read the last Appeal, you will easily judge how much I insist on any opinions. 2. In writing practically, I seldom argue concerning the meaning of texts; in writing controversially, I do. 3. In saying, ‘I teach the doctrines of the Church of England,’ I do, and always did, mean (without concerning myself whether others taught them or no, either this year or before the Reformation) I teach the doctrines which are comprised in those Articles and Homilies to which all the clergy of the Church of England solemnly profess to assent, and that in their plain, unforced, grammatical meaning. As to the Seventeenth Article, Mr. Whitefield really believes that it asserts absolute predestination; therefore I can also subscribe to it with sincerity. But the case is quite different with regard to those who subscribe to the Eleventh and following Articles; which are not ambiguously worded, as the Seventeenth (I suppose on purpose) was.

One, indeed, of this kind I was reading yesterday, which is exceeding clear and strong. You will easily pardon my transcribing part of his words. They are in St. Austin’s Confessions: ‘Intravi in intima mea, duce Te: et potui, quoniam factus es adjutor meus. Intravi et vidi qualicunque oculo animae meae, supra eundem oculum animae meae, supra mentem meam, lucem Domini incommutabilem: non hanc vulgarem, conspicuam omni carni; nec quasi ex eodem genere grandior erat, -- non hoc illa erat, sed aliud; aliud valde ab istis omnibus. Nec ita erat supra mentem meam, sicut -- coelum super terrain. Sed superior, quia ipsa fecit me. Qui novit veritatem, novit eam. Et qui novit eam, novit aeternitatem. Charitas novit eam. ‘O aeterna Veritas! Tu es Deus meus! Tibi suspiro die ac nocte. Et cum Te primum cognovi, Tu assumpsisti me, ut viderem esse, quod viderem. Et reverberasti infirmitatem aspectus mei, radians in me vehementer; et contremui amore et horrore: et inveni me longe esse a Te. Et dixi, Nunquid nihil est veritas Et clamasti de longinquo: Immo vero; Ego sum, qui sum. Et audivi, sicut auditur in corde, et non erat prorsus uncle dubitarem. Faciliusque dubitarem vivere me, quam non esse veritatem. (Lib. VII. cap. x.)

To Mrs. Hutton Date: LONDON, January 18, 1746. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1746) Author: John Wesley --- MADAM,--I believe I may undertake for Mr. Piers [The Rev. Henry Piers.] that he will stand reproved when I speak to him, which I will as soon as I can. Joseph Pimm (the husband of Katharine Pimm) told me yesterday that he had given the printer an answer to the paper published by his wife. I am obliged to you for not being ready to believe it. [Evidently some slander against Wesley.] I pray God to repay sevenfold into yours and Mr. Hutton's bosom all the kindness you have so often shown to one who must always acknowledge himself Your much obliged servant.

‘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”’ (Second Letter, p. 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 irreconcilable 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 suspicions 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.’

8. ‘In a note at the bottom of page 8 you observe, “The band society in London began May 1, some time before I set out for Germany.” Would you insinuate here that you did not set it up in imitation of the Moravians’ Sir, I will tell you the naked truth. You had remarked thus: ‘You took the trouble of a journey to Germany to them; and were so much in love with their methods that, at your return hither, you set up their bands among your disciples’ (page 17). This was an entire mistake; for that society was set up, not only before I returned, but before I set out. And I designed that note to insinuate this to you without telling your mistake to all the world. ‘I imagined that, supposing your account of the Moravians true, it would be impossible for any serious Christian to doubt of their being very wicked people.’ I know many serious Christians who suppose it true, and yet believe they are in the main good men. ‘A much worse character, take the whole body together, cannot be given of a body of men.’ Let us try: ‘Here is a body of men who have not one spark of either justice, mercy, or truth among them; who are lost to all sense of right and wrong; who have neither sobriety, temperance, nor chastity; who are, in general, liars, drunkards, gluttons, thieves, adulterers, murderers.’ I cannot but think that this is a much worse character than that of the Moravians, take it how you will. 'Let the reader judge how far you are now able to defend them.' Just as far as I did at first. Still I dare not condemn what is good among them; and I will not excuse what is evil.

5. You next ‘take the pains to lay before the reader an instance or two of confusion, &c.’ The first I read thus: -- ‘While we were at the room, Mrs. Jones, sitting at home, took the Bible to read; but on a sudden threw it away, saying, “I am good enough; I will never read or pray more.” She was in the same mind when I came, often repeating, “I used to think I was full of sin and that I sinned in everything I did; but now I know better: I am a good Christian; I never did any harm in my life; I don’t desire to be any better than I am.” She spoke many things to the same effect, plainly showing that the spirit of pride and of lies had the full dominion over her. I asked, “Do you desire to be healed” She said, “I am whole.”“But do you desire to be saved” She replied, “I am saved; I ail nothing; I am happy.” ‘This is one of the fruits of the present salvation and sinless perfection taught by you among the weak and ignorant.’ (Page 11.) I should wonder if the scarecrow of Sinless Perfection was not brought in some way or other. But to the point: You here repeat a relation as from me, and that ‘in confirmation,’ you say, ‘of your own veracity,’ and yet leave out both the beginning of that relation, part of the middle, and the end of it. I begin thus: ‘Sun. 11. -- I met with a surprising instance of the power of the devil’ (Journal, ii. 415). These words, of all others, should not have been left out, being a key to all that follows. In the middle of the relation, immediately after the words ‘I am happy,’ I add, ‘Yet it was easy to discern she was in the most violent agony both of body and mind; sweating exceedingly, notwithstanding the severe frost, and not continuing in the same posture a moment,’ -- a plain proof that this was no instance of presumption, nor a natural fruit of any teaching whatever.

8. You will likewise, at all hazards, stand your ground as to the charge of stoical insensibility. I answered before, ‘How do you support the charge Why, thus: “You say, The servants of God suffer nothing.” And can you possibly misunderstand these words if you read those that immediately follow -- “His body was wellnigh torn asunder with pain: but God made all his bed in his sickness; so that he was continually giving thanks to God and making his boast of His praise.”’ [See letter of Feb. 2, 1745, sect. III, 4.] You reply, ‘If you meant no more than that a man under the sharpest pains may be thankful to God, why did you call this a strange truth’ (page 118). Because I think it is so. I think it exceeding strange that one in such a degree of pain should be continually giving thanks to God. Not that I suppose him ‘insensible of his torments.’ ‘His body,’ I say, ‘was wellnigh torn asunder with pain.’ But the love of God so abundantly overbalanced all pain, that it was as nothing to him. ‘The next instance is as follows: One told you, “Sir, I thought last week there could be no such rest as you describe; none in this world wherein we should be so free as not to desire ease in pain. But God has taught me better; for on Friday and Saturday, when I was in the strongest pain, I never once had one moment's desire of ease.”’ Add, ‘but only that the will of God might be done.’ Neither has this any resemblance of ‘stoical insensibility.’ I never supposed that this person did not feel pain (nor, indeed, that there is any state on earth wherein we shall not feel it), but that her soul was filled with the love of God and thankfully resigned to His will. ‘Another instance is taken from one of your hymns, where are these lines (page 119): Doom, if Thou canst, to endless pains, And drive me from Thy face.’ Add: But if Thy stronger love constrains, Let me be saved by grace. [Poetical Works of J. and C. Wesley, i. 236.]

So this you give as a genuine instance of my proceedings; and, I suppose, of your own fairness and candor! ‘We agreed at length to decide it by lot.’ True, at length: after a debate of some hours; after carefully hearing and weighing coolly all the reasons which could be alleged on either side; our brethren still continuing the dispute, without any probability of their coming to one conclusion, -- we at length (the night being now far spent) all agreed to this. ‘Can there be greater rashness and extravagance’ I cannot but think there can. ‘Reason is thus in a manner rendered useless.’ No; we had used it as far as it could go, from Saturday, March 17 (when I received the first letter), to Wednesday, 28, when the case was laid before the Society. ‘Prudence is set aside.’ Not so; but the arguments here were so equal that she saw not how to determine. ‘And affairs of moment left to be determined by chance!’ ‘By chance!’ What a blunder, then, is that, ‘The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposal thereof is of the Lord’! This I firmly believe is truth and reason, and will be to the end of the world. And I therefore still subscribe to that declaration of the Moravian Church, laid before the whole body of Divines in the University of Wirtemberg, and not by them accounted enthusiasm: ‘We have a peculiar esteem for lots, and accordingly use them both in public and private to decide points of importance when the reasons brought on each side appear to be of equal weight. And we believe this to be then the only way of wholly setting aside our own will, of acquitting ourselves of all blame, and clearly knowing what is the will of God.’ (Journal, ii. 55-6.)

5. You next remarked several instances of my enthusiasm. The first was that of Mrs. Jones. The next ran thus: ‘Again, you say, “I expounded out of the fullness that was given me”’ (Remarks, p. 64). I answered, ‘I mean, I had then a fuller, deeper sense of what I spoke than I ordinarily have.’ [See letter of Feb. 2, 1745, sect. III. 8.] But if you still think ‘it would have been more decent to have said, “According to the best of my power and ability, with God’s assistance, I expounded,”’ I will say so another time. With regard to the third instance of enthusiasm you remarked, ‘If you would not have us look on this as miraculous, there is nothing in it worthy of being related’ (Remarks, pp. 65-6). I answered: ‘It may be so; let it pass, then, as a trifle not worth relating: but still it is no proof of enthusiasm. For I would not have you look upon it as miraculous, but as a signal instance of God's particular providence.’ [Ibid.] How friendly and generous is your reply! -- ‘You seem ashamed of it. I am glad you give this fooling up, and hope for the future you will treat your readers better.’ (Second Letter, p. 131.) Sir, I am not ashamed of it; nor shall I ever give this fooling up till I give up the Bible. I still look upon this ‘as a signal instance of God's particular providence.’ But ‘how is this consistent with yielding it to be a trifle’ (page 132). My words do not imply that I yield it so to be. Being urged with the dilemma, ‘Either this is related as miraculous’ (and then it is enthusiasm), ‘or it is not worth relating,’ I answered (to avoid drawing the saw of controversy), ‘Let it pass, then, as a trifle not worth relating; but still’ (if it be a trifle, which I suppose, not grant), ‘it is no proof of enthusiasm. For I would not have you look upon it as miraculous.’

You subjoin, 'This you may desire, for aught I know, to pass as a trifle too' (Second Letter, p. 134). No; it is so terrible an instance of the judgment of God (though at length ‘mercy rejoiced over judgment’), as ought never to be forgotten by those who fear God so long as the sun or moon endureth. 7. The account of people falling down in fits you cite as a fifth instance of my enthusiasm; it being ‘plain,’ you say, that I 'look upon both the disorders and the removals of them to be super natural' (Remarks, p. 67). I answered: ‘It is not quite plain. I look upon some of these cases as wholly natural; on the rest as mixed, both the disorders and the removals being partly natural and partly not.’ [See letter of Feb. 2, 1745, sect. III.10.] You reply, ‘It would have been kind to have let us know your rule by which you distinguish these.’ I will. I distinguish them by the circumstances that precede, accompany, and follow. ‘However, some of these you here allow to be in part supernatural. Miracles, therefore, are not wholly ceased.’ Can you prove they are by Scripture or reason You then refer to two or three cases (related in Journal, ii. 186-7). I believe there was a supernatural power on the minds of the persons there mentioned, which occasioned their bodies to be so affected by the natural laws of the vital union. This point, therefore, you have to prove, or here is no enthusiasm -- that there was no supernatural power in the case.

8. You remarked, ‘It will be difficult to persuade any sober person that there is anything supernatural in these disorders’ (Remarks, pp. 68-9). The remainder of that paragraph I abridged thus: You attempt to account for those fits, by ‘obstructions or irregularities of the blood and spirits; hysterical disorders; watchings, fastings, closeness of rooms, great crowds, violent heat’; and lastly by ‘terrors, perplexities, and doubts in weak and well meaning men; which’ you think, ‘in many of the cases before us, have quite overset their understandings’ (page 69). I answered, ‘As to each of the rest, let it go as far as it can go.’ (Let it be supposed to have some influence in some cases; perhaps fully to account for one in a thousand.) ‘But I require proof of the last way whereby you would account for these disorders.’ Why, ‘the instances,’ you say, ‘of religious madness have much increased since you began to disturb the world.’ I doubt the fact. You reply, ‘This no way disproves it’ (Second Letter, p. 137). Yes, it does, till you produce some proof. For a bare negation is the proper and sufficient answer to a bare affirmation. I add, ‘If these instances had increased daily, it is easy to account for them another way,’ as is done in the First Part of the Farther Appeal. [See Works, viii. 130-4.] You say, ‘Most have heard of or known several of the Methodists thus driven to distraction.’ I answered, ‘You may have heard of five hundred; but how many have you known Be pleased to name eight or ten of them. I cannot find them -- no, not one of them to this day, either man, woman, or child.’ [See letter of Feb. 2, 1745, sect. III. 10.] You reply, ‘This’ (the naming them) ‘would be very improper and unnecessary’ (Second Letter, p. 138). However, sir, it is extremely necessary that you should name them to me in private. I will then, if required, excuse you to the public; which till then I cannot do. The person I mentioned, whom you threw into much doubt and perplexity, then lived in the parish of St. Ann, Westminster. I related the case just as she related it to me. But she is able and ready to answer for herself.

When you first cited these as proofs of enthusiasm, I answered, 'I will put your argument into form, -- ‘He that believes those are miraculous cures which are not so is a rank enthusiast. 'But you believe those to be miraculous cures which are not so: ‘Therefore you are a rank enthusiast. ‘What do you mean by miraculous If you term everything so which is “not strictly accountable for by the ordinary course of natural causes,” then I deny the latter part of the minor proposition. And unless you can make this good, unless you can prove the effects in question are “strictly accountable for by the ordinary course of natural causes,” your argument is nothing worth.’ You reply: ‘Your answer to the objection is very evasive, though you pretend to put my argument in form. You mistake the major proposition, which should have been, -- ‘He that represents those cures as the immediate effects of his own prayers and as miraculous which are not so is a rank enthusiast, if sincere: ‘“But, This you have done: ergo, &c.”’ To this clumsy syllogism I rejoin: (1) That the words ‘if sincere’ are utterly impertinent; for if insincerity be supposed, enthusiasm will be out of the question. (2) That those words ‘as the effects of his own prayers’ may likewise be pared off; for they are unnecessary and cumbersome, the argument being complete without them. (3) That, with or without them, the proposition is false; unless so far as it coincides with that you reject. For it is the believing those to be miracles which are not that constitutes an enthusiast; not the representing them one way or the other, unless so far as it implies such a belief. 12. Upon my answer to the syllogism first proposed, you observe, ‘Thus’ (by denying the latter part of the minor) ‘you clear yourself from the charge of enthusiasm by acknowledging the cures to be supernatural and miraculous. Why, then, would you not speak out, and directly say that you can work real and undoubted miracles This would put the controversy between you and your opposers on a short foot, and be an effectual proof of the truth of your presences.’ (Second Letter, p. 142.)

V. 1. I have in some measure explained myself on the head of miracles in the Third Part of the Farther Appeal. But, since you repeat the demand (though without taking any notice of the arguments there advanced), I will endeavor once more to give you a distinct, full, and determinate answer. And (1) I acknowledge that I have seen with my eyes and heard with my ears several things which, to the best of my judgment, cannot be accounted for by the ordinary course of natural causes, and which I therefore believe ought to be ‘ascribed to the extraordinary interposition of God.’ If any man choose to style these miracles, I reclaim not. I have diligently inquired into the facts. I have weighed the preceding and following circumstances. I have strove to account for them in a natural way. I could not without doing violence to my reason. Not to go far back, I am clearly persuaded that the sudden deliverance of John Haydon was one instance of this kind, and my own recovery on May 10 another. I cannot account for either of these in a natural way. Therefore I believe they were both supernatural.

Yet I must desire you well to observe (3) that my will, or choice, or desire had no place either in this or any case of this kind that has ever fallen under my notice. Five minutes before, I had no thought of this. I expected nothing less. I was willing to wait for a gradual recovery in the ordinary use of outward means. I did not look for any other cure till the moment before I found it. And it is my belief that the case was always the same with regard to the most ‘real and undoubted miracles.’ I believe God never interposed His miraculous power but according to His own sovereign will; not according to the will of man--neither of him by whom He wrought, nor of any other man whatsoever. The wisdom as well as the power are His; nor can I find that ever, from the beginning of the world, He lodged this power in any mere man, to be used whenever that man saw good. Suppose, therefore, there was a man now on earth who did work ‘real and undoubted miracles,’ I would ask, By whose power cloth he work these and at whose pleasure -- his own, or God’s Not his own, but God’s. But if so, then your demand is not made on man, but on God. I cannot say it is modest thus to challenge God, or well suiting the relation of a creature to his Creator.

I would just remind you of only one instance more: ‘There sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked. The same heard Paul speak; who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.’ Here was so undoubted a miracle that the people ‘lifted up their voices, saying, The gods are come down in the likeness of men.’ But how long were even these convinced of the truth of his presences Only till ‘there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium’; and then they stoned him (as they supposed) to death! (Acts xiv. 8-19.) So certain it is that no miracles whatever which were ever yet wrought in the world were effectual to prove the most glaring truth to those that hardened their hearts against it. 4. And it will equally hold in every age and nation. ‘If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be’ convinced of what they desire not to believe, ‘though one rose from the dead.’ Without a miracle, without one rising from the dead, t T t Ta at pe, ‘if any man be willing to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God’; but if he is not willing to do His will, he will never want an excuse, a plausible reason, for rejecting it -- yea, though ever so many miracles were wrought to confirm it. For, let ever so much ‘light come into the world,’ it will have no effect (such is the wise and just will of God) on those who ‘love darkness rather than light.’ It will not convince those who do not simply desire to do the will of their Father which is in heaven; those who mind earthly things-who, if they do not continue in any gross outward sin, yet love pleasure or ease, yet seek profit or power, preferment or reputation. Nothing will ever be an effectual proof to these of the holy and acceptable will of God, unless first their proud hearts be humbled, their stubborn wills bowed down, and their desires brought, at least in some degree, into obedience to the law of Christ.

I presume you will allow there is one kind of miracles (loosely speaking) which are not ceased -- namely, tata fed, ‘lying wonders,’ diabolical miracles, or works beyond the virtue of natural causes, wrought by the power of evil spirits. Nor can you easily conceive that these will cease as long as the father of lies is the prince of this world. And why should you think that the God of truth is less active than him, or that He will not have His miracles also -- only, not as man wills, neither when he wills, but according to His own excellent wisdom and greatness 6. But even if it were supposed that God does now work beyond the operation of merely natural causes, yet what impression would this make upon you in the disposition your mind is now in Suppose the trial were repeated, were made again to-morrow. One informs you the next day, ‘While a clergyman was preaching yesterday where I was, a man came who had been long ill of an incurable distemper. Prayer was made for him, and he was restored to perfect health.’

Suppose, now, that this were real fact: perhaps you would scarce have patience to hear the account of it, but would cut it short in the midst with, ‘Do you tell this as something supernatural Then miracles are not ceased.’ But if you should venture to ask, ‘Where was this, and who was the person that prayed’ and it was answered, ‘At the Foundery near Moorfields; the person who prayed was Mr. Wesley,’ -- what a damp comes at once! What a weight falls on your mind at the very first setting out! It is well if you have any heart or desire to move one step farther. Or if you should, what a strong additional propensity do you now feel to deny the fact! And is there not a ready excuse for so doing -- ‘Oh, they who tell the story are doubtless his own people; most of whom, we may be sure, will say anything for him, and the rest will believe anything!’ But if you at length allowed the fact, might you not find means to account for it by natural causes ‘Great crowds, violent heats, with obstructions and irregularities of the blood and spirits’ will do wonders. If you could not but allow it was more than natural, might not some plausible reason be found for ranking it among the lying wonders, for ascribing it to the devil rather than God And if, after all, you was convinced it was the finger of God, must you not still bring every doctrine advanced to the law and to the testimony, the only sure and infallible test of all What, then, is the use of this continual demand, ‘Show us a sign, and we will believe’ What will you believe I hope no more than is written in the Book of God. And thus far you might venture to believe, even without a miracle.

8. To sum up this. No truly wise or sober man can possibly desire or expect miracles to prove either (1) that these doctrines are true; this must be decided by Scripture and reason: or (2) that these facts are true; this can only be proved by testimony: or (3) that to change sinners from darkness to light is the work of God alone, only using what instruments He pleases; this is glaringly self-evident: or (4) that such a change wrought in so many notorious sinners within so short a time is a great and extraordinary work of God; this also carries its own evidence. What, then, is it which remains to be proved by miracles Perhaps you will say, It is this: 'That God hath called or sent you to do this.' Nay, this is implied in the third of the foregoing propositions. If God has actually used us therein, if His work hath in fact prospered in our hands, then He hath called or sent us to do this. I entreat reasonable men to weigh this thoroughly, -- whether the fact does not plainly prove the call; whether He who enables us thus to save souls alive does not commission us so to do; whether, by giving us the power to pluck these brands out of the burning, He does not authorize us to exert it. Oh that it were possible for you to consider calmly, whether the success of the gospel of Jesus Christ, even as it is preached by us, the least of His servants, be not itself a miracle, never to be forgotten; -- one which cannot be denied, as being visible at this day, not in one but an hundred places; one which cannot be accounted for by the ordinary course of any natural cause whatsoever; one which cannot be ascribed with any color of reason to diabolical agency; and, lastly, one which will bear the infallible test--the trial of the written Word!

(6) This very difficulty occurred: ‘Will not my speaking of this be boasting at least, will it not be accounted so’ They replied: ‘If you speak of it as your own work, it will be vanity and boasting all over; but if you ascribe it wholly to God, if you give Him all the praise, it will not. And if, after this, some will account it so still, you must be content and bear the burthen.’ (7) I yielded, and transcribed my papers for the press; only laboring as far as possible to ‘render unto God the things which are God’s,’ to give Him the praise of His own work. 2. But this very thing you improve into a fresh objection. If I ascribe anything to God, it is enthusiasm. If I do not (or if I do), it is vanity and boasting, supposing me to mention it at all. What, then, can I do to escape your censure ‘Why, be silent; say nothing at all.’ I cannot, I dare not. Were I thus to please men, I could not be the servant of Christ.

7. However, with regard to the fruits of our teaching, you say, ‘It is to be feared the numbers of serious men who have been perplexed and deluded are much greater than the numbers of notorious sinners who have been brought to repentance and good life’ ( page 113). ‘Indeed, if you could prove that the Methodists were in general very wicked people before they followed you, and that all you have been teaching them is the love of God and their neighbor, and a care to keep His commandments, which accordingly they have done since, you would stop the mouths of all adversaries at once. But we have great reason to believe that the generality of the Methodists, before they became so, were serious, regular, and well-disposed people.’ (Page 103.) If the question were proposed, ‘Which are greater, the numbers of serious men who have been perplexed and deluded, or of notorious sinners who have been brought to repentance and good life, by these preachers throughout England within seven years’ it might be difficult for you to fix the conclusion. For England is a place of wide dimensions; nor is it easy to make a satisfactory computation, unless you confine yourself within a smaller compass. Suppose, then, we were to contract the question, in order to make it a little less unwieldy. We will bound our inquiry for the present within a square of three or four miles. It may be certainly known by candid men, both what has been and what is now done within this distance; and from hence they may judge of those fruits elsewhere, which they cannot be so particularly informed of.

Sir, I willingly put the whole cause on this issue: What are the general consequences of this preaching Are there more tares or wheat more ‘good men destroyed’ (that is the proper question) or ‘wicked men saved’ The last place where we began constant preaching is a part of Wiltshire and Somersetshire, near Bath. Now, let any man inquire at Road, Bradford, Wrexal, [Wraxhill Green, five miles south of Shepton Mallet.] or among the colliers at Coleford, (1) what kind of people were those ‘before they followed these men’ (2) what are the main doctrines they have been teaching for this twelvemonth (3) what effect have these doctrines upon their followers what manner of lives do they lead now And if you do not find (1) that three in four of these were two years ago notoriously wicked men; (2) that the main doctrines they have heard since were, ‘Love God and your neighbor, and carefully keep His commandments’; and (3) that they have since exercised themselves herein, and continue so to do; -- I say, if you, or any reasonable man, who will be at the pains to inquire, does not find this to be an unquestionable fact, I will openly acknowledge myself an enthusiast or whatsoever else you shall please to style me. Only one caution I would give to such an inquirer. Let him not ask the colliers of Coleford: ‘Were not the generality of you, before you followed these men, serious, regular, well-disposed people’ Were you not ‘offended at the profaneness and debauchery of the age’ and ‘Was it not this disposition which at first made you liable to receive these impressions’ (Page 103.) Because, if he talk thus to some of those who do not yet ‘follow these men,’ perhaps he will not live to bring back their answer.

II. But I must explain myself a little on that practice which you so often term ‘abusing the clergy.’ I have many times great sorrow and heaviness in my heart on account of these my brethren. And this sometimes constrains me to speak to them in the only way which is now in my power; and sometimes, though rarely, to speak of them -- of a few, not all in general. In either case I take an especial care (1) to speak nothing but the truth; (2) to speak this with all plainness; and (3) with love and in the spirit of meekness. Now, if you will call this abusing, railing, or reviling, you must. But still I dare not refrain from it. I must thus rail, thus abuse sinners of all sorts and degrees, unless I will perish with them. When I first read your declaration that our brethren 'in general had treated us with all meekness and temper,' I had thoughts of spreading before you a few of the flowers which they have strewed upon us with no sparing hand. But, on reflection, I judged it better to forbear. Let them die and be forgotten! As to those of the people called Methodists, whom you suppose to 'rail at and abuse the clergy' and to ‘revile and censure their neighbors,’ I can only say, Which are they Show me the men. And if it appear that any of those under my care habitually ‘censure’ or ‘revile’ others, whether clergy or laity, I will make them an example for the benefit of all the rest. Touching you, I believe I was afraid without cause. I do not think you advanced a willful untruth. This was a rash word. I hereby openly retract it, and ask pardon of God and you.

2. But may not love itself constrain us to lay before men ‘the terrors of the Lord’ And is it not better that sinners ‘should be terrified now than that they should sleep on and awake in hell’ I have known exceeding happy effects of this, even upon men of strong understanding; yet I agree with you that there is little good to be done by ‘the profuse throwing about hell and damnation,’ and the best way of deciding the points in question with us is cool and friendly argumentation. I agree, too, ‘that scheme of religion bids fairest for the true which breathes the most extensive charity.’ Touching the charity due to those who are in error, I suppose we both likewise agree that really invincible ignorance never did nor ever shall exclude any man from heaven; and hence I doubt not but God will receive thousands of those who differ from me, even where I hold the truth. But still, I cannot believe He will receive any man into glory (I speak of those under the Christian dispensation) ‘without such an inspiration of the Holy Ghost as fills his heart with peace and joy and love.’ 3. In this Mr. Whitefield and I agree; but in other points we widely differ. And therefore I still apprehend it is inexcusably unjust to link us together, whether we will or no. For by this means each is constrained to bear not only his own but another’s burthen. Accordingly I have been accused an hundred times of holding unconditional predestination. And no wonder; for, wherever this charge is advanced, -- ‘The Methodists preach sundry erroneous doctrines; in particular three, Unconditional Predestination, Perceptible Inspiration, and Sinless Perfection,’ -- the bulk of mankind will naturally suppose that the Methodists in general hold these three doctrines. It will follow that, if any of these afterwards hears ‘Mr. Wesley is a Methodist,’ he will conclude, ‘Then he preaches unconditional predestination, perceptible inspiration, and sinless perfection.’ And thus one man is made accountable by others, if not by you, for all the errors and faults of another.

Nearly allied to this is the ‘gross superstition of those who think to put devotion upon God instead of honesty’: I mean, who practice neither justice nor mercy, and yet hope to go to heaven because they go to church and sacrament. Can you find no such men in the Church of England I find them in every street. Nine times in ten, when I have told a tradesman, ‘You have cheated me; sold me this for more than it is worth, which I think is a breach both of justice and mercy. Are you a Christian Do you hope to go to heaven’ his answer, if he deigned any answer at all, has been to this effect: ‘As good a Christian as yourself! Go to heaven! Yes, sure; for I keep my church as well as any man.’ Now, what can be plainer than that this man keeps his church, not only as an act of goodness, but as a commutation instead of goodness -- as something which he hopes will do as well, will bring him to heaven, without either justice or mercy Perhaps, indeed, if he fell into adultery or murder, it might awaken him out of his dream, and convince him, as well as his neighbors, that this worship is not a mitigation but an aggravation of his wickedness; but nothing short of this will. In spite of all your reasoning and mine, he will persist in thinking himself a good Christian; and that if his ‘brother have aught against him,’ yet all will be well so he do but constantly ‘bring his gift to the altar.’ I entreat you, sir, to make the experiment yourself; to talk freely with any that come in your way. And you will surely find it is the very thing which almost destroys the (so called) Christian world. Every nominal Christian has some bit or scrap of outward religion, either negative or positive; either he does not do in some respect like other men, or he does something more than they. And by this, however freely he may condemn others, he takes care to excuse himself, and stifles whatever convictions he might otherwise have ‘that the wrath of God abideth on him.’

After a few impartial inquiries of this kind, I am persuaded you will not say, ‘As a commutation, surely no Protestant ever did (receive the sacrament) but yourself.’ Is there not something wrong in these words on another account, as well as in those, ‘You should not treat others as the children of the devil, for taking the same liberty which you and Mr. Whitefield take, who continue, notwithstanding, to be the children of God’ Is there not in both these expressions (and perhaps in some others which are scattered up and down in your letters) something too keen something that borders too much upon sarcasm upon tartness, if not bitterness Does not anything of this sort either make the mind sore or harden it against conviction Does it not make us less able to bear plainness of speech or at least less ready to improve by it Give me leave to add one word more before I proceed. I cannot but be jealous over you. I fear you do not know, near so well as you suppose, even what passes in your own mind. I question not but you believe that without inward holiness no man shall see the Lord; but are you sure you never once entertained a thought that something else might be put upon Him in the stead Perhaps not grossly, not if it appeared just in that shape: no, nor have I, for these twenty years. But I find the same thought to this day stealing in continually under a thousand different forms. I find a continual danger of stopping short of a full renewal in the image of God; a continual propensity to rest in whatever comes between--to put some work or other that I do, even for God’s sake, or some gift that I receive, in the stead of that great work of God, ‘the renewal of my soul after His likeness in righteousness and true holiness.’

10. I am aware of one inconvenience in answering what you say touching the consequences of my preaching. It will oblige me to speak what will try your temper beyond anything I have said yet. I could, indeed, avoid this by standing on my guard and speaking with great reserve. But had you not rather that I should deal frankly with you and tell you just what is in my heart I am the more inclined to do this because the question before us is of so deep importance; insomuch that, were I convinced you had decided it right, there would be an end at once of my preaching. And it lies in a small compass, as you say, ‘I am not making conjectures of what may happen, but relating mischiefs which actually have happened’ These, then, ‘the mischiefs which have actually happened,’ let us consider as calmly as possible. But first we may set aside the ‘thousands whom (it is said) we should have had pretending a mission from God to preach against the wickedness of the great had not the rebels been driven back.’ The rebels, blessed be God, are driven back.. [The Young Pretender's forces in 1745.] So that mischief has not actually happened. We may waive also 'the legion of monstrous errors and wickednesses, the sedition, murder, and treason of the last century'; seeing, whatever may be hereafter, it is certain these mischiefs also have not yet actually happened. Nor have I anything to do with that poor madman (I never heard of any more than one such) who came, some time since, ‘preaching in London streets against Prelacy’ and Methodism, and ‘denouncing curses against George Whitefield, John Wesley, and all bishops, priests, and deacons.’ [‘Smith’ speaks in his letter of Feb. 26 of ‘mischiefs which actually have happened.’ ‘Others have come preaching in the street against Prelacy, and denouncing the bitterest woes and curses against all bishops, priests, and deacons,’] I was more nearly concerned in what has actually happened at Wednesbury, Darlaston, and Walsall. And these were 'shameful disorders 'indeed. Publish them not in Gath or Askelon! Concerning the occasion of which, I may speak more freely to you than it was proper to do to the public.

There cannot be under heaven a greater mistake than this, that I ever did stand out, and that I do so now. There has not been one day for these seven years last past wherein my soul has not longed for union. And they have grossly abused your honest credulity whoever have made you believe the contrary. 7. ‘Since the Mr. Wesleys have published such stuff and inconsistencies, I cannot agree with them.’ My brother, make some of those inconsistencies appear, and it will be an act of solid friendship. But ‘time will manifest matters, and what is of God will stand, and what is of man will come to naught.’ Most true; and according to this sure rule, it has already appeared whose work is of God, both at Bradford, at Horton, and in several towns not far from your own neighborhood. 8. The account you give of the Moravians in general is the very same I had given before -- viz. that next to those of our own Church, ‘who have the faith and love which is among them, without those errors either of judgment or practice, the body of the Moravian Church, however mistaken some of them are, are in the main, all of whom I have seen, the best Christians in the world.’ In the same tract I sum up my latest judgment concerning them in these terms: ‘I believe they love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and have a measure of the mind that was in Him. And I am in great earnest when I declare once more, that I have a deep, abiding conviction by how many degrees the good which is among them overbalances the evil,[I speak of the simple and artless part of their congregations; as for the teachers in their Church, it is my solemn belief (I speak it with grief and reluctance) that they are no better than a kind of Protestant Jesuits (Wesley). See letter of Feb. 2, 1745, sect. I. 12.] and that I cannot speak of them but with tender affection, were it only for the benefits I have received from them; and that at this hour I desire union with them (were those stumbling-blocks once put away which have hitherto made that desire ineffectual) above all things under heaven.’

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: BRISTOL, January 26, 1747. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1747) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- Our number of patients increases here daily. We have now upwards of two hundred. Many have already desired to return thanks, having found a considerable change for the better already. But we are at a great loss for medicines, several of those we should choose being not to be had at any price in Bristol. I have been sometimes afraid you have suffered loss for want of a frank acknowledgement of the truth: I mean with regard to the gay world. If we openly avow what we approve, the fear or shame generally lights on them; but if we are ashamed or afraid, then they pursue, and will be apt to rally us both out of our reason and religion. -- I am, dear sir, Your very affectionate servant. My best respects attend Mrs. Blackwell and Mrs. Dewal.[Mrs. Hannah Dewal lived with the Blackwells at Lewisham, and was one of the most intimate friends of John and Charles Wesley. See C. Wesley's Journal, ii. 170, 379-83.] I hope you strengthen each other's hands.

To Howell Harris Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1747) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, March 3, 1747. MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I was glad to receive a letter from you, though sorry for some of the contents of it. I believed Brother Cownley would labor for peace and simply preach the gospel. I wrote pressingly to Brother Richards (who, I suppose, was at Plymouth since, in his return from Cornwall) to tread in the same steps. By degrees I trust these unkind affections will subside and brotherly love revive and increase. My brother said (this I know) ‘he had no more design to have a Society at Plymouth than a palace’; and he had not neither then nor when he desired John Trembath to call there. Nor, indeed, does he now concern himself therewith. The burthen lies upon me, and I am in a strait between two. I am much solicited to suffer those who press for it to be under my care. But what to do I know not. May God make plain my way before my face. From the day I saw him first, I never found the least shadow of double dealing in James Wheatley. I scarce know his fellow upon earth for simplicity and godly sincerity. His preaching in the street I cannot blame; but I should not have advised him to do it at that hour. I will take particular care that those who may hereafter call at Plymouth be of a mild and peaceable spirit. Those who are warm I will desire to go into Cornwall and return another way. I had fully determined to have gone or sent to Portsmouth; but on hearing Brother Jenkins had been there already, I gave up the design. Remember me, my dear brother, in all your prayers, who am Your affectionate brother and fellow laborer.

You begin: ‘Will you ask what I mean by “order” Was it not manifest I meant to speak against lay-preaching’ It was; but not against that alone. Therefore, before I entered upon the question, I defined the term in a wider sense, so as to include both this and every irregularity you had objected. You go on: ‘How could you give so strange an answer, “I bring this order you contend for into places where it never was before”’ I reply: This is not my whole answer; it is but one, and that the most inconsiderable, part of it: but it is strictly true. ‘Do you, then, bring in the ministry of regularly ordained ministers, where, before, people were used to the preaching of lay brethren’ Yes; them who were before used to no preaching at all, or to that of those whom you would term lay brethren, I bring to attend on the ministry of those regular preachers who have the charge of their several parishes. But very ‘ill consequences’ of our irregular preaching, you say, have ‘actually happened: a number of unsent persons going about the kingdom, and preaching the worst of heresies.’ ‘A number’! Where Within these nine years past, I have heard of two, and no more (besides that lunatic clergyman [See letter of June 25, 1746, sect. 10.]), who have gone about thus, though I doubt sent neither of God nor man. But I have heard of no heresy which they preached; only a little smooth, undigested nonsense. Nor can the ill done by these balance the thousandth part of the good already done by the preaching of other laymen -- namely, the turning so many bold, barefaced servants of the devil into humble, holy servants of God. However, evil ‘will happen if any State faction shall join the irregulars.’ If they shall! Yea, if they shall attempt it (which is far enough off), the irregulars will not join them. We bless God that the Government is at present very fully convinced of this. ‘But if unsent well-meaning laymen may preach, unsent ill-meaning laymen will, upon the first opportunity, spread sedition like wild-fire.’ Yea, and clergymen as well as laymen, sent as well as unsent. Thus it ever was, and I presume ever will be.

11. Perhaps a parallel drawn from physic may hold more exactly than you was apprised of. For more than twenty years I have had numberless proofs that regular physicians do exceeding little good. From a deep conviction of this, I have believed it my duty, within these four months last past, to prescribe such medicines to six or seven hundred of the poor as I knew were proper for their several disorders. [See letter of Jan. 26.] Within six weeks nine in ten of them who had taken these medicines were remarkably altered for the better; and many were cured of diseases under which they had labored for ten, twenty, forty years. Now, ought I to have let one of these poor wretches perish because I was not a regular physician to have said, ‘I know what will cure you; but I am not of the College: you must send for Dr. Mead’ [For Dr. Richard Mead, see heading to letter of Sept. 28, 1745.] ‘Before Dr. Mead had come in his chariot, the man might have been in his coffin. And when the doctor was come, where was his fee What! he cannot live upon nothing! So, instead of an orderly cure, the patient dies; and God requires his blood at my hands!’ [See letter of May 4, 1748.] 12. But you think, ‘if one should look out of his grave in the middle of the next century, he would find the orderly preaching at St. Luke's and St. Church had done more good than the disorderly preaching at Kennington.’ I cannot learn, by all the inquiries I have made, that at present it does any good at all; that either Dr. Bulkeley [See letter of June 17, 1746, sect. III. 5.] or Dr. Gally [Henry Gally, Vicar of St. Giles’ in-the-Fields 1732-69.] has in all these years converted one sinner to God. And if a man saves no souls while he is alive, I fear he will save few after he is dead.

But ‘it does abundance less harm.’ Perhaps not so, neither. ‘He that gathereth not with Me scattereth,’ more especially if he be a preacher. He must scatter from Him, if he does not gather souls to God. Therefore a lifeless, unconverting minister is the murderer-general of his parish. He enters not into the kingdom of heaven himself, and those that would enter in he suffers not. He stands in the gap between them and true religion. Because he has it not, they are easy without it. Dead form contents him, and why not them ‘Sure it is enough if we go as far as our guide!’ And if he is not outwardly vicious, he the more effectually secures them from all inward, solid virtue. How choice a factor for hell is this! destroying more souls than any Deist in the kingdom! I could not have blamed St. Chrysostom if he had only said, ‘Hell is paved with the skulls of such Christian priests!’ 13. I must be short on what remains. You suppose the impression made on men's minds by this irregular way of preaching is chiefly owing to ‘the force of novelty.’ I believe it was to obviate this very supposition that my preaching has so rarely made any impression at all till the novelty of it was over. When I had preached more than six score times at this town, I found scarce any effect; only that abundance of people heard, and gaped and stared, and went away much as they came. And it was one evening, while I was in doubt if I had not labored in vain, that such a blessing of God was given as has continued ever since, and I trust will be remembered unto many generations.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: SHEFFIELD, May 14, 1747. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1747) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- Are you not getting weary and faint in your mind Do you continue to strive for the mastery It is a good though painful fight. I am sometimes afraid of your turning back before you conquer. Your enemies are many, and your strength is small. What an amazing thing it will be, if you should endure to the end! I doubt you will sometimes be in danger by a snare you are not aware of: you will often meet with persons who labor till they are delivered of all they know, and who (perhaps ‘with very good intent, but little wit’) will tell you abundance of things, good or bad, of the Society, or any member of it. Now, all this is poison to your soul. You have only to give an account of yourself to God. Oh may you do it with joy, and not with grief! -- I am, dear sir, Your very affectionate servant.

3. In this, then, I entreat your Lordship to bear with me, and in particular when I speak of myself (how tender a point!) just as freely as I would of another man. Let not this be termed boasting. Is there not a cause Can I refrain from speaking, and be guiltless And if I speak at all, ought I not to speak (what appears to me to be) the whole truth Does not your Lordship desire that I should do this I will, then, God being my helper. And you will bear with me in my folly (if such it is), with my speaking in the simplicity of my heart. 4. Your Lordship begins: ‘There is another species of enemies, who give shameful disturbance to the parochial clergy, and use very unwarrantable methods to prejudice their people against them, and to seduce their flocks from them -- the Methodists and Moravians, who agree in annoying the Established ministry, and in drawing over to themselves the lowest and most ignorant of the people, by presences to greater sanctity’ (Charge, p. 4). But have no endeavors been used to show them their error Yes; your Lordship remarks, ‘Endeavors have not been wanting. But though these endeavors have caused some abatement in the pomp and grandeur with which these people for some time acted’ (truly, one would not have expected it from them!), ‘yet they do not seem to have made any impression upon their leaders.’ (Page 6.) Your Lordship adds: ‘Their innovations in points of discipline I do not intend to enter into at present; but to inquire what the doctrines are which they spread’ (page 7). ‘Doctrines big with pernicious influences upon practice’ (page 8). Six of these your Lordship mentions, after having premised, ‘It is not at all needful, to the end of guarding against them, to charge the particular tenets upon the particular persons among them’ (page 7). Indeed, my Lord, it is needful in the highest degree. For if the minister who is to guard his people, either against Peter Bohler, Mr. Whitefield, or me, does not know what our particular tenets are, he must needs ‘run as uncertainly and fight as one that beateth the air.’

‘I must explain myself a little on that practice which you so often term “abusing the clergy.” I have many times great sorrow and heaviness in my heart on account of these my brethren. And this sometimes constrains me to speak to them in the only way which is now in my power; and sometimes, though rarely, to speak of them -- of a few, not all in general. In either case, I take an especial care (1) to speak nothing but the truth; (2) to speak this with all plainness; and (3) with love and in the spirit of meekness. Now, if you will call this abusing, railing, or reviling, you must. But still I dare not refrain from it. I must thus rail, thus abuse sinners of all sorts and degrees, unless I will perish with them.’[See letter of June 17, 1746, sect. vi. II.] III. 14. ‘They value themselves upon extraordinary strictnesses and severities in life, and such as are beyond what the rules of Christianity require. They captivate the people by such professions and appearances of uncommon sanctity. But that which can never fail of a general respect is a quiet and exemplary life, free from the many follies and indiscretions which those restless and vagrant teachers are apt to fall into.’ (Charge, p. 25.)

By ‘extraordinary strictnesses and severities,’ I presume your Lordship means the abstaining from wine and animal food; which, it is sure, Christianity does not require. But if you do, I fear your Lordship is not thoroughly informed of the matter of fact. I began to do this about twelve years ago, when I had no thought of ‘annoying parochial ministers,’ or of ‘captivating’ any ‘people’ thereby, unless it were the Chicasaw or Choctaw Indians. But I resumed the use of them both, about two years after, for the sake of some who thought I made it a point of conscience; telling them, ‘I will eat flesh while the world standeth’ rather than ‘make my brother to offend.’ Dr. Cheyne advised me to leave them off again, assuring me, ‘Till you do, you will never be free from fevers.’ And since I have taken his advice, I have been free (blessed be God) from all bodily disorders. [I continued this about two years (Wesley). See Tyerman’s Wesley, i.28-9; and letter of Nov. 1, 1724.] Would to God I knew any method of being equally free from all ‘follies and indiscretions’! But this I never expect to attain till my spirit returns to God. 15. But in how strange a manner does your Lordship represent this! What a construction do you put upon it! ‘Appearances of an uncommon sanctity, in order to captivate the people. Pretensions to more exalted degrees of strictness, to make their way into weak minds and fickle heads.’ (Page 25.) ‘Pretences to greater sanctity, whereby they draw over to themselves the most ignorant of the people’ (page 4). If these are ‘appearances of uncommon sanctity' (which, indeed, might bear a dispute), how does your Lordship know that they are only appearances that they do not spring from the heart Suppose these were 'exalted degrees of strictness,’ is your Lordship absolutely assured that we practice them only ‘to make our way into weak minds and fickle heads' Where is the proof that these 'presences to greater sanctity’ (as your Lordship is pleased to phrase them) are mere presences, and have nothing of reality or sincerity in them

18. Your Lordship seems in some measure sensible of this, when you very gently condemn their opinion who think the Methodists ‘might better be disregarded and despised than taken notice of and opposed, if it were not for the disturbance they give to the parochial ministers, and their unwarrantable endeavors to seduce the people from their lawful pastors’ (Charge, p. 22). The same complaint with which your Lordship opened your Charge: ‘They give shameful disturbances to the parochial clergy; they annoy the Established ministry, using very unwarrantable methods, first to prejudice their people against them, and then to seduce their flocks from them’ (page 4). Whether we seduce them or no (which will be presently considered), I am sorry your Lordship should give any countenance to that low, senseless, and now generally exploded slander that we do it for a maintenance. This your Lordship insinuates by applying to us those words of Bishop Sanderson: [Robert Sanderson (1587-1663), Fellow of Lincoln College 1606; Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford, 1642; Bishop of Lincoln 1660. Izaak Walton in his Lives calls him ‘This pattern of meekness and primitive innocence.’] ‘And all this to serve their own belly, to make a prey of the poor deluded proselytes; for by this means the people fall unto them, and thereout suck they no small advantage’ (page 15). Your Lordship cannot but know that my Fellowship and my brother's Studentship afford us more than sufficient for life and godliness, especially for that manner of life which we choose, whether out of ostentation or in sincerity. [Charles Wesley’s Studentship yielded 4 a year paid quarterly, and 16s. 8d. annually for ‘livery,’ i.e. clothes. Had he been resident he would have had free rooms and ‘commons,’ or diet. Both Fellowship and Studentship were terminable on marriage. For Wesley's income, see Works, vii. 36.]

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: ST. IVES, July 18, 1747. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1747) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--Are you not yet weary and faint in your mind weary of striving to enter in at the strait gate I trust you are not, and that you never will till you enter into the kingdom. Many thoughts of that kind will probably rise in your heart; but you will have power to trample them under your feet. You have nothing to do with the things that are behind: the prize and the crown are before you. So run that you may obtain, desiring only to apprehend that for which you are apprehended of Christ Jesus. A great door and effectual is opened now, almost in every corner of this country. Here is such a change within these two years as has hardly been seen in any other part of England. Wherever we went we used to carry our lives in our hands; and now there is not a dog to wag his tongue. Several ministers are clearly convinced of the truth; few are bitter; most seem to stand neuter. Some of the gentlemen (so called) are almost the only opposers now drinking, reveling, cursing, swearing gentlemen, who neither will enter into the kingdom of heaven themselves, nor suffer any others if they can prevent it. The most violent Jacobites among these are continually crying out that we are bringing the Pretender; and some of these worthy men bear His Majesty's commission as Justices of the Peace. My best wishes attend Mrs. Blackwell, who, I hope, measures step for step with you in the way to the kingdom.--I am, dear sir, Your affectionate servant. I set out for Bristol on Thursday.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: BRISTOL, February 2, 1748. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--I have received the second bill of exchange which you was so kind as to send by Saturday's post. As we do not intend to build immediately, [See Journal, iii. 331, 376-7n. They met on Feb. 9 to consult about enlarging and strengthening the room in the Horsefair. In two or three days 230 was subscribed. Wesley preached in the new-built room on Sept. 13.] the money will be payable before we want it. I do not question but Mrs. Dewal and you will be serviceable to each other. God has given her an advisable spirit; and where that is, there will be every good and perfect gift. Poor Mr. Hall, when I was at Salisbury, furnished me with a sufficient answer to those who speak of the connexion between him and us. He could not have set the matter in a clearer light than by turning both me and my sister out of doors. [See Journal, iii. 329-30; and previous letter.] Both in Ireland and in many parts of England the work of our Lord increases daily. At Leeds only, the Society, from an hundred and fourscore, is increased to above five hundred persons. And shall you have no part in the general blessing I believe better things. You will fight and conquer; take up the cross till you receive the crown. You have both been enabled to set your faces heavenward; and you shall never look back. You are to strengthen each other's hands in God till you come to Mount Zion, and to the general Church of the first-born.--I am, dear sir, Your most affectionate friend and servant.

Again: the Apostle Paul saith to Timothy, 'Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. For I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man'(which public teaching necessarily implies),'but to be in silence. (I Tim. ii. 11-12.) To this Robert Barclay makes only that harmless reply: 'We think this is not anyways repugnant to this doctrine.' Not repugnant to this, 'I do not suffer a woman to teach'! Then I know not what is. 'But a woman " laboured with Paul in the work of the gospel." 'Yea, but not in the way he had himself expressly forbidden. ' But Joel foretold, "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." And "Philip had four daughters which prophesied." And the Apostle himself directs women to prophesy; only with their heads covered.' Very good. But how do you prove that prophesying in any of these places means preaching 11. 'All true worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving of His own Spirit. We ought not to pray or preach where and when we will, but where and when we are moved thereto by His Spirit. All other worship, both praises, prayers, and preachings, which man sets about in his own will, and at his own appointment, which he can begin and end at pleasure, do or leave undone, as himself sees meet, are but superstitions, will-worship, and abominable idolatries.' Here lies one of the main differences between Quakerism and Christianity.

It is true, indeed, that 'all true worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving of His own Spirit'; or (to speak plain), that we cannot truly worship God, unless His Spirit move or incline our hearts. It is equally true that 'we ought to pray and preach only where and when we are moved thereto by His Spirit.' But I fear you do not in any wise understand what the being 'moved by His Spirit' means. God moves man, whom He has made a reasonable creature, according to the reason which He has given him. He moves him by his understanding as well as his affections, by light as well as by heat. He moves him to do this or that by conviction full as often as by desire. Accordingly you are as really 'moved by the Spirit' when He convinces you you ought to feed him that is hungry, as when He gives you ever so strong an impulse, desire, or inclination so to do. In like manner, you are as really moved by the Spirit to pray, whether it be in public or private, when you have a conviction it is the will of God you should, as when you have the strongest impulse upon your heart. And He does truly move you to preach, when in His light you 'see light' clearly satisfying you it is His will, as much as when you feel the most vehement impulse or desire to 'hold forth the words of eternal life.' Now let us consider the main proposition: 'All worship which man sets about in his own will and at his own appointment' Hold! That is quite another thing. It may be at his own appointment, and yet not in his own will; for instance: It is not my own will to preach at all. It is quite contrary to my will. Many a time have I cried out, 'Lord, send by whom Thou wilt send; only send not me I' But I am moved by the Spirit of God to preach: He clearly shows me it is His will I should; and that I should do it when and where the greatest number of poor sinners may be gathered together. Moved by Him, I give up my will, and appoint a time and place, when by His power I trust to speak in His name.

To Mrs. Jones, of Fonmon Castle Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- [3] BRISTOL, February 12, 1748. At my return from Ireland, if not before, I believe the school in Kingswood will be opened. If your son comes there, you will probably hear complaints [See letter of Nov. 7, 1749.]; for the discipline will be exact: it being our view not so much to teach Greek and Latin as to train up soldiers for Jesus Christ. I am obliged now to go the shortest way to Holyhead, my brother being almost impatient for my arrival. I am sorry to hear that Mr. Thomas thinks of leaving Mr. Hodges: I doubt their separation will not be for the furtherance of the gospel. My love and service attend all your family.--I am Your affectionate friend and servant. I have sent a few copies for Miss Molly.[Mrs. Jones's eldest daughter, Mary, who married William Thomas, of Llanbradach, in Glamorganshire.]

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: DUBLIN, March 15, 1743. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--I have inquired of several, but cannot yet hear of any such merchant as Mr. John Warr in Dublin. A gentleman informed me this morning that there was one of that name, but he has been dead for many years. I suppose this cannot be the same person to whom Mr. Belchier's [William Belchier was a banker in Southwark. He represented that borough in Parliament in 1747 and 1754. Wesley dined with him at Epsom on Aug. 13, 1759. See Journal, iv. 349; W.H.S. iv. 67-9; and letter of April 9, 1755.] letter is directed. We have not found a place yet that will suit us for building. Several we have heard of, and seen some; but they are all leasehold land, and I am determined to have freehold, if it is to be had in Dublin; otherwise we must lie at the mercy of our landlord whenever the lease is to be renewed. I find the engaging, though but a little, in these temporal affairs is apt to damp and deaden the soul; and there is no remedy but continual prayer. What, then, but the mighty power of God can keep your soul alive, who are engaged all the day long in such a multiplicity of them It is well that His grace is sufficient for you. But do you not find need to pray always And if you can't always say, My hands are but employed below, My heart is still with Thee, is there not the more occasion for some season of solemn retirement (if it were possible, every day), wherein you may withdraw your mind from earth, and even the accounts between God and your own soul I commend you and yours to His continual protection; and am, dear sir, Your affectionate servant. I suppose my brother will be with you almost as soon as this.[Charles Wesley was detained a week through ill-health, but got to Holyhead on March 21.]

To William Holland Date: DUBLIN, March 17, 1748. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Satan hindered our journey hither as long as he could. We were a month in the journey from Bristol to Dublin, and after twelve days' stop at Holyhead were at length driven over by a violent storm. But we came neither too soon nor too late. Our Lord's time is the best time. You give me an agreeable account of Mr. Hutchins.[See letter of Dec. 20, 1746.] I immediately communicated it to my brother, who will consider that matter more deeply when he comes to London. He is to sail as soon as the wind serves. I rejoice to hear that you are acquainted with Brother Jones, and trust you will be blest to each other's souls. He is indeed simple of heart, and a faithful labourer in the vineyard of our blessed Lord. I greatly want two books, which I forgot to procure at London--the one the Count's Testament, the other the Herrnhut Gesang-Buch. Perhaps, if any of the brethren come from London, they would be so kind as to bring them for me. Peace be with you and yours, my dear brother.--I am Your ever loving brother. To 'John Smith' DUBLIN, March 22, 1748. SIR,--1. I rejoice to find that in some points we come nearer each other, and that we can bear with each other where we do not. I entirely agree that hell was designed only for stubborn, impenitent sinners, and consequently that it would be absurd to 'threaten damnation to any merely for differing from me in speculations.' But it is an absurdity which I have nothing to do with; for it never yet entered into my thoughts. 2. I rejoice likewise in your allowing that my 'speculations, though false, yea, and leading to a deviation from order, may yet possibly be neither wilful nor sinful'; and much more in that which follows--'I question not but God's mercy may both forgive and reward' even that zeal which is not according to knowledge.

12. If a single parish takes up your whole time and care, and you spend and are spent upon it, well. And yet I will be bold to say that no blessing from God will accompany your ministry, but the drunkard will be a drunkard still (and so the covetous, the brawler, the adulterer), unless you both believe and teach what you love to call my 'new notions of inspiration'; I mean as to the substance, not the particular manner of explication. You will all the day long stretch out your hands in vain, unless you teach them to pray that the Spirit of God may inwardly witness with their spirits that they are the children of God. I apprehend you are the person that 'wriggle on this head,' because the argument pinches: you appear to me to twist and wind to and fro, because I 'distinguish away,' not my doctrines, but your objections--unravelling the fallacies, showing what part is false, and what part true, but nothing to the purpose. Since you move it again, I will resume the point once more. You will pardon me if I speak home, that it may be seen which of us two it is that has hitherto given the 'evasive answers.' 13. You say, 'Notwithstanding all your pains to distort that text, for anything which has yet been said to the contrary, it may be understood of the Spirit's witness by miracles, by prophecy, or by the imperceptibly wrought assurances of the Holy Ghost.' This (unless it gives up the whole cause; as indeed it must if it does not imply a contradiction, seeing imperceptible assurance is no assurance at all) is neither an evasive nor an unevasive answer. It is just no answer at all. Instead of refuting my arguments, you reply, 'You distort the text. Ipse dixi.' 'The Quakers maintain divine illapses and sensible communications always; you only sometimes.' If you speak to the purpose, if you mean the inward witness of God's Spirit, I maintain it always as well as they. 'The Methodist writings abound with intimations of divine communications, prophetic whispers, and special guidances.' Perhaps so; but that is another question. We are now speaking of the inward witness of the Spirit.

You say: (1) 'Either that notification was not so distinct.' It was so distinct that she could not then doubt. 'Or (2) Was notified to her by one of suspected credit, whom she could not believe.' Yes; she then believed, and knew it was the voice of God. 'Or (3) She was not of sound understanding if she disbelieved it.' When she disbelieved it, she was not. For as the serpent deceived Eve, so he then deceived her, fqeivrwn toV novmma aujth'". [See 2 Cor. xi. 3.] 'But could she possibly deny a plain matter of fact' You add, as if I have said so, 'Yes, in process of time she might, particularly if she drew back to perdition '; and then subjoin, 'But what is this evasive answer to the case of Hannah Richardson' I think, nothing at all. I never applied it to her case. She never denied her having had such a testimony. But after a time she doubted (as I said before) whether that testimony was true. 16. I presume Eve in paradise was at least equal in understanding with any of her posterity. Now, unto her God said, 'In the day that thou eatest of the tree of knowledge thou shalt surely die.' And doubtless 'this notification was as distinct and perceptible to her as the sun at noonday.' Yet after a time (perhaps only a few days) she utterly disbelieved it. You exclaim, 'Absurd! Impossible! There could be no such thing; as I shall prove immediately.' 'Either this notification was not so distinct as is pretended, or, if distinct, was notified by one of suspected credit, whom she could not believe. Or else, if it was both distinct and credible, she was not of sound understanding if she disbelieved it, nor of sound memory if she doubted of it.' Therefore the whole story is absurd and a self-inconsistent (not a cunningly devised) fable.

Is not the plain answer this This notification was as distinct as pretended; and it was not notified by one of suspected credit, whom she did then firmly believe. But afterwards Satan deceived her by his subtilty, fqeirwn to nohma auths --'corrupting, spoiling, destroying, the soundness of her understanding,' and of her memory too; and then she disbelieved God, and believed him who said, 'Ye shall not surely die.' How much more is he able by the same subtilty to deceive any of the fallen children of men! 17. What follows you did not design for argument, but wit. 'I cannot help thinking that Paul, with all his infirmities, might more reasonably be looked upon as an inspired prophet than Mr. Wesley, though arrived, in his own imagination, to a sinless perfection.' I never told you so, nor any one else. I no more imagine that I have already attained, that I already love God with all my heart, soul, and strength, than that I am in the third heavens. But you make me abundant amends for this by your charitable belief that, though I may now imagine things that are not and be mistaken in many points, yet He who remembers I am but dust will at last 'forgive and reward me.' It is enough; the time of error and sin is short, for eternity is at hand. Strangers and pilgrims here below, This earth, we know, is not our place; And hasten through the vale of woe, And, restless to behold Thy face, Swift to our heavenly country move, Our everlasting home above.

To John Toltschig Date: CORK STREET, March 26, 1748. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Has Mr. Cennick left any orders with you concerning the house in Skinner's Alley If he has, if he is of the same mind, I am ready to do as I said to-day. If he has altered his mind, I design to preach there myself next week.--I am Your loving brother. I expected to have heard from him before he left Ireland.

To John Toltschig Date: CORK STREET March 29, 1748. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I don't think Mr. Cennick has used me well. He ought to have let me hear from him before he left the kingdom. It would have been only common civility, to say nothing of brotherly love. Since he has left all things undetermined (whether on purpose or no I leave to the Searcher of Hearts) my conscience is satisfied, and I think it would not be right to let the house lie empty any longer. I therefore design to preach there tomorrow. But whenever Mr. Cennick will indemnify me as to the bonds and covenants I am under, I will relinquish it to him at a month's warning.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To his Brother Charles Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- [10] DUBLIN, Saturday, April 16, 1748. DEAR BROTHER,--We returned hither last night. But I must (as you observe) make another journey into the country. Our Societies there already consist of 350 members. But they are most of them raw, undisciplined soldiers, and, without great care, will desert to their old master. The Conference must be in London this year, in order to the meeting of the Stewards from all the Societies. I hope to be there about Wednesday in Whitsun week. Skinner's Alley house is now, as it ever was, a millstone about my neck. I shall shake it off as soon as possible, and do as I would be done to. I can never get over 'We laid out so much money and have not had a penny returned.'[See letter of March 14.] T. Alsop is not equal to Reading, nor can John Jones ride long journeys.[John Jones was a medical man who became one of Wesley's trusted preachers. He was a master at Kingswood. See Journal, iii. 530; and letter of Sept. 3, 1756, to Nicholas Norton.] I am glad you are returned.

To John Toltschig Date: CORK STREET, April 16, 1748. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--In my last letter I said, 'Whenever Mr. Cennick will indemnify me as to the bonds and covenants I am under, I will relinquish it' (the house in Skinner's Alley) 'to him at a month's warning.' I say so still. There has not yet been any stop on my part, neither shall be. By your letter of the 14th instant I learn (as well as by Mr. Cennick's enclosed therein) that Mr. Horne has authority from Mr. Cennick to treat with me concerning it; who, you say, 'only waits for the time and place I shall appoint to meet with me.' I will be ready at Mr. Watts' in Park Street at six on Monday morning to show Mr. Horne what bonds and covenants I am under. And as soon as I am legally indemnified therefrom, I will put the house into his hands. The people at your Society hurt themselves only by the many untrue and unkind words which they continually utter concerning Your still loving though much injured brother.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: DUBLIN, April 20, 1748.. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--I am persuaded God has taught both Mrs. Blackwell and you to say, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.' Shall not all these things work together for good Perhaps God was jealous over you, lest your heart should lean to any of the things of earth. He will have you to be all His own, to desire nothing but Him, to seek Him and love Him with your whole heart. And He knows what are the hindrances, and what means will be most effectual toward it. Then let Him work according to the counsel of His own will. It is the Lord! Let Him do what seemeth Him good. Oh what a pearl, of how great price, is the very lowest degree of the peace of God! A little measure of it, I doubt not, you will find in the most trying circumstances. May God increase it a thousand-fold in both your hearts!--I am, dear sir, Your most affectionate servant,

To William Holland Date: DUBLIN, April 20, 1748. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I hope you now find things more according to your desire than when I left London, and that she who is as your own soul is more reconciled than she was to the will of our Lord concerning you. The Brethren also, I presume, now leave you to act as you are persuaded in your own mind. I have had some trials myself lately from those who are in union with them. I seek for peace; but when I speak unto them thereof, they make themselves ready for battle.[See letter of Feb. 6.] I trust they will do me much good; for I cannot possibly fasten any kindness on them. They seem determined to believe not one word I say. So much the more may I confirm my love toward them. O my brother, this is good and profitable for our souls. May our Lord give us all the mind that was in Him!--I am Your affectionate brother.

To William Horne Date: CORK STREET, April 22, 1748. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Mr. Meriton designs to call upon Mr. Edwards to-morrow and try whether he will accept of you for tenants. If he will, I shall be free from all encumbrances, and you will have the house by a common lease. If he will not, it will not hinder me; but I will meet you, if you please, at Mr. Watts' at six on Monday morning.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To William Horne Date: CORK STREET, April 27, 1748. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, or, to speak civilly, SIR,--You do well to speak your mind. If it was my mind to keep the house, I should do it without seeking any presence at all. I have the staff in my own hands. But it is not my mind to keep it. One thing I know, that you had the house before we came to Dublin. A second thing I believe, that if we had not come you would have had it still. And this determined me to take the lease of Mr. Perronet that you might have it again. My yea is yea, and my nay is nay. What I said at first I say still. Indemnify me as to the rents and covenants, and take the house when you will. I have empowered Mr. Meriton to act for me, as you do for Mr. Cennick.--I am Your affectionate brother, or, if you choose it rather, Your humble servant. To a Clergyman [14] TULLAMORE, May 4, 1748. REVEREND SIR,--I have at present neither leisure nor inclination to enter into a formal controversy; but you will give me leave just to offer a few loose hints relating to the subject of last night's conversation. I. 1. Seeing life and health are things of so great importance, it is without question highly expedient that physicians should have all possible advantages of learning and education. 2. That trial should be made of them by competent judges before they practice publicly. 3. That after such trial they be authorized to practice by those who are empowered to convey that authority. 4. And that, while they are preserving the lives of others, they should have what is sufficient to sustain their own. 5. But, supposing a gentleman bred at the University in Dublin, with all the advantages of education, after he has undergone all the usual trials, and then been regularly authorized to practice,-- 6. Suppose, I say, this physician settles at --for some years, and yet makes no cures at all; but, after trying his skill on five hundred persons, cannot show that he has healed one, many of his patients dying under his hands, and the rest remaining just as they were before he came,--

7. Will you condemn a man who, having some little skill in physic and a tender compassion for those who are sick or dying all around him, cures many of those without fee or reward whom the doctor could not cure-- 8. At least, did not; which is the same thing as to the case in hand, were it only for this reason--because he did not go to them, and they would not come to him. 9. Will you condemn him, because he has not learning or has not had an university education What then He cures those whom the man of learning and education cannot cure. 10. Will you object, that he is no physician nor has any authority to practice I cannot come into your opinion. I think medicus est qui medetur, 'he is a physician who heals,' and that every man has authority to save the life of a dying man. But, if you only mean he has no authority to take fees, I contend not; for he takes none at all. 11. Nay, and I am afraid it will hold, on the other hand, medicus non est qui non medetur;--I am afraid, if we use propriety of speech, 'he is no physician who works no cure.' 12. 'Oh, but he has taken his degree of Doctor of Physic, and therefore has authority.' Authority to do what 'Why, to heal all the sick that will employ him.' But (to waive the case of those who will not employ him; and would you have even their lives thrown away) he does not heal those that do employ him. He that was sick before is sick still; or else he is gone hence, and is no more seen. Therefore his authority is not worth a rush; for it serves not the end for which it was given. 13. And surely he has not authority to kill them by hindering another from saving their lives! 14. If he either attempts or desires to hinder him, if he condemns or dislikes him for it, it is plain to all thinking men he regards his own fees more than the lives of his patients.

10. Will you object, 'But he is no minister, nor has any authority to save souls' I must beg leave to dissent from you in this. I think he is a true, evangelical minister, diakonos, servant of Christ and His Church, who outw diakonei, so ministers, as to save souls from death, to reclaim sinners from their sins; and that every Christian, if he is able to do it, has authority to save a dying soul. But, if you only mean he has no authority to take tithes, I grant it. He takes none; as he has freely received, so he freely gives. 11. But to carry the matter a little farther. I am afraid it will hold, on the other hand, with regard to the soul as well as the body, medicus non est qui non medetur;--I am afraid reasonable men will be much inclined to think he that saves no souls is no minister of Christ. 12. 'Oh, but he is ordained, and therefore has authority.' Authority to do what 'To save all the souls that will put themselves under his care.' True; but (to waive the case of them that will not; and would you desire that even those should perish) he does not, in fact, save them that are under his care. Therefore what end does his authority serve He that was a drunkard is a drunkard still. The same is true of the Sabbath-breaker, the thief, the common swearer. This is the best of the case; for many have died in their iniquity, and their blood will God require at the watchman's hand. 13. For surely he has no authority to murder souls, either by his neglect, by his smooth if not false doctrine, or by hindering another from plucking them out of the fire and bringing them to life everlasting! 14. If he either attempts or desires to hinder him, if he condemns or is displeased with him for it, how great reason is there to fear that he regards his own profit more than the salvation of souls.--I am, reverend sir, Your affectionate brother.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- [18] NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, August 14, 1748. DEAR SIR,--I trust you do not grow weary or faint in your mind; although you cannot but find a thousand temptations. Business itself, when it comes in such a flood upon you, must needs be one of the greatest temptations, since it naturally tends to hinder your waiting upon God (as you would desire always to do) without distraction. And when our mind is hurried, it is hardly possible to retain either the spirit of prayer or of thankfulness. But still, with God no word shall be impossible. He has called you by His providence to this way of life; and He is able to preserve you in the midst of the world as well as in a desert. And I cannot doubt but He will, because you appear to be sensible of your danger. Walk, then, through the fire; you shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon you. Come unto Jesus upon the waves of the sea; the floods shall not run over you. I have had some thoughts of printing, on a finer paper and with a larger letter, not only all that we have published already, but, it may be, all that is most valuable in the English tongue, in threescore or fourscore volumes, in order to provide a complete library for those that fear God. I should print only an hundred copies of each. Brother Downes [See letter of Nov. 7, 1751.] would give himself up to the work; so that, whenever I can procure a printing-press, types, and some quantity of paper, I can begin immediately. I am inclined to think several would be glad to forward such a design; and if so, the sooner the better, because my life is far spent, and I know not how soon the night cometh wherein no man can work. I commend you, and dear Mrs. Blackwell, and Mrs. Dewal to the grace of God; and am, dear sir, Your affectionate brother and servant. I leave this place on Tuesday, and propose to spend ten or twelve days about Leeds. To a Friend [19] NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, August 14, 1748.

I must just stop to inform you (if you know it not) that this whole action of carrying me along against my will was an assault upon the King's highway, contrary to his peace, crown, and dignity. When your deputy had brought me prisoner into the house, he permitted Mr. Grimshaw, the minister of Haworth, Mr. Colbeck [Thomas Colbeck was steward of the Haworth Round, and a devoted class-leader and local preacher. See Laycock's Great Haworth Round, pp. 139-42; and letter of Nov. 25.] of Keighley, and one more [William Batty, one of Ingham's preachers. See Journal, ii. 294n.] to be with me, promising none should hurt them. Soon after, you and your friends came in and required me to promise 'I would come to Roughlee no more.' I told you 'I would cut off my hand rather than make any such promise.' Neither would I promise that none of my friends should come. After abundance of rambling discourse (for I could keep none of you long to one point) from about one o'clock till between three and four, in which one of you justly said, 'No, we will not be like Gamaliel, we will proceed like the Jews,' you seemed a little satisfied with my saying, 'I will not preach at Roughlee this time, nor shall I be here again till August next; then I will show you the authority by which I preach.' You then undertook to quiet the mob; to whom you went and spoke a few words, and their noise immediately ceased, while I walked out with you at the back door. I should have mentioned that I had desired you to let me go several times before, but could not prevail; and that, when I attempted to go with Richard Bocock, the mob came immediately to me, cursing and swearing and throwing whatever came to hand. One of them beat me down to the ground; and when I rose again, the rest came about me like lions and forced me back into the house.

But, before I take any farther step herein, I think myself obliged to make you a fair proposal. If you will promise me under your hand to suppress all mobs at Roughlee and the parts adjacent (as your duty both to God and the King require you to do, even at the hazard of your life); if you will promise to proceed only by law against those you apprehend to act contrary to law (which, indeed, I absolutely deny you to do), nor can it be supposed that none of the lawyers in Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol, or London should find it out (if it were so), but only the Solomons in Pendle Forest;--if I accordingly find a letter from you to this effect when I come to London, directed to the Foundery, near Moorfields, I shall be satisfied and proceed no farther. If not, I shall try another course. Only one piece of advice permit me to give. Do not consult herein with some petty attorney (who will certainly say your cause is good), but with some able barrister-at-law. This is the course I take. The counsel to whom I applied on this very Act of Parliament before I left London were Counsellor Glanville, a barrister of Gray's Inn, [See the next two letters.] and Sir Dudley Rider, the King's Attorney-General.--I am Your real friend.

To William Grimshaw Date: LONDON, November 2, 1748. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- So far as I can judge, the whole costs of information in the King's Bench will be between thirty and forty pounds: part of which should be speedily advanced; because, from the time the cause is first moved here, the counsellors should have their fees paid regularly. 'Tis miserable bad husbandry to starve a cause. Indeed, Mr. Glanville (I apprehend) will return his fees. However, they must be paid (for the present) as duly as those of Sir John Strange. In the end 'tis probable all the costs of suit will fall upon the rioters. The affidavits should be taken and sent without losing one day. The Judges often put off a cause which comes before them at the latter end of a term. Therefore you should not delay; near a fortnight of the term is gone already.

To John Bennet Date: LONDON, November 17, 1748. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- I will make affidavit, if Mr. Glanville think it needful. He will want Sir John Strange to assist him, and will move the Court to-morrow, if he has not done it this morning. If we leave out Mr. White,[See heading to letter of Aug. 26.] he must promise under his hand neither to persecute the Methodists directly nor indirectly. I would not leave him at liberty now (nor any of them) to do it 'according to law,' as they might term it. Our demand now rises higher--namely, that they 'wholly refrain from these men and let them alone.' I would express it in those very terms. Only let them print and welcome. By all means mention the expense to the leaders where you are. And the thing requires haste. I do not believe the Bishop's Court has anything to do with such matters. Let our brother tell them so in modest and proper terms. If they proceed, you must immediately remove the cause into the King's Bench, which will tear them all to pieces. Let them send him to prison if they see good. Wherever faith and love takes place, be sure enthusiasm will follow. The Thoughts upon Marriage [See letter of June 25, 1746, sect. 5n.] are full upon that point. The publishing them stopped the delusion here. You can only warn all the Societies against it with great plainness and gentleness. And be in nothing terrified. All will end well.

To John Bennet Date: LONDON, November 25, 1748. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1748) Author: John Wesley --- I have received a bill for ten pounds from T. Colbeck, which will defray the present expense of the prosecution. [See the previous three letters.] You do extremely well in receiving subscriptions for paying that debt at Birstall. It will lay such an obligation on the Society as will make them much readier to submit to discipline. You see how needful it is for you to step over into Yorkshire at least once in a quarter. It would be well if you could reach Lincolnshire too, though but for one week. I beg you would largely show them at Halifax how absurd it is to expect I should be at a shilling expense for their lawsuit. They must not begin if they cannot carry it on. If Webster's spirit be not altered, and that speedily, I shall send him back to Plymouth Dock.[Eleazer Webster was evidently a troublesome preacher. See letter of Feb. 9, 1750.] I trust your own soul is not neglected in the multiplicity of business which comes upon you from other men. O be much in prayer! I am often concerned for you. The Spirit of God be your Guide, and His love your portion for ever. To a Friend [23] NEWINGTON, December 10, 1748. DEAR SIR,--1. I have read your letter with attention, and much approve of the spirit with which it is wrote. You speak in love. I desire to do so too; and then no harm can be done on either side. You appear not to be wedded to your own opinion, but open to farther conviction. I would willingly be of the same temper; not obstinately attached to either side of the question. I am clearly satisfied of the necessity of this--a willingness to see what as yet I see not. For I know an unwillingness to be convinced would utterly blind either you or me; and that if we are resolved to retain our present opinion, reason and argument signify nothing.

7. I soon perceived that this latter consideration was of a more general nature than the former, and that it affected many of those whom the other did not so immediately concern; seeing it was as needful for all to save needless expenses, as for some to regain the health they had impaired--especially, considered as members of a Society, the wants of which they could not be unapprised of. They knew, of those to whom they were so peculiarly united, some had not food to sustain nature, some were destitute of even necessary clothing, some had not where to lay their head. They knew, or might know, that the little contributions made weekly did in no wise suffice to remove these wants, being barely sufficient to relieve the sick; and even that in so scanty a manner, that I know not if some of them have not with their allowance pined away, and at length died for want. If you and I have not saved all we could to relieve these, how shall we face them at the throne of God 8. I reflected: 'If one only would save all that he could in this single instance, he might surely feed or clothe one of his brethren, and perhaps save one life. What, then, might be done, if ten thousand, or one thousand, or only five hundred, would do it--yea, if half that number should say, "I will compute this day what I have expended in tea, weekly or yearly; I will immediately enter on cheaper food; and whatever is saved hereby I will put into that poor-box weekly, to feed the hungry and to clothe the naked "! I am mistaken, if any among us need want either food or raiment from that hour.'

9. I thought farther: 'It is said--nay, many tell me to my face--I can persuade this people to anything. I will make a fair trial. If I cannot persuade them, there may be some good effect. All who do not wilfully shut their eyes will see that I have no such influence as they supposed. If I can persuade any number, many who are now weak or sick will be restored to health and strength; many will pay those debts which others, perhaps equally poor, can but ill afford to lose; many will be less straitened in their own families; many, by helping their neighbour, will lay up for themselves treasures in heaven.' 10. Immediately it struck into my mind, 'But example must go before precept; therefore I must not plead an exemption for myself from a daily practice of twenty-seven years. I must begin.' I did so. I left it off myself in August 1746. And I have now had sufficient time to try the effects, which have fully answered my expectation. My paralytic complaints are all gone; my hand is steady as it was at fifteen, although I must expect that or other weaknesses soon, as I decline into the vale of years. And so considerable a difference do I find in my expense, that I can make it appear, from the accounts now in being, in only those four families at London, Bristol, Kingswood, and Newcastle, I save upwards of fifty pounds a year. 11. The first to whom I explained these things at large, and whom I advised to set the same example to their brethren, were a few of those who rejoice to assist my brother and me as our sons in the gospel. A week after, I proposed it to about forty of those whom I believed to be strong in faith; and the next morning to about sixty more, entreating them all to speak their minds freely. They did so; and in the end saw the good which might ensue, yielded to the force of Scripture and reason, and resolved (all but two or three) by the grace of God to make the trial without delay.

I answer: (1) Will nothing else agree with you I know not how to believe that. I suppose your body is much of the same kind with that of your great-grandmother. And do you think nothing else agreed with her or with any of her progenitors What poor, puling, sickly things must all the English then have been, till within these hundred years! But you know they were not so. Other things agreed with them; and why not with you (2) If, in fact, nothing else will, if tea has already weakened your stomach and impaired your digestion to such a degree, it has hurt you more than you are aware. It has prejudiced your health extremely. You have need to abhor it as deadly poison and to renounce it from this very hour. So says a drinker of drams: 'Nothing else will agree with me. Nothing else will raise my spirits. I can digest nothing without them.' Indeed! Is it so Then touch no more, if you love your life. (3) Suppose nothing else agrees with you at first; yet in a while many things will. When I first left off tea, I was half asleep all day long; my head ached from morning to night; I could not remember a question asked, even till I could return an answer. But in a week's time all these inconveniences were gone, and have never returned since. (4) I have not found one single exception yet; not one person in all England, with whom, after sufficient trial made, nothing else would agree. It is therefore well worth while for you to try again, if you have any true regard for your own health, or any compassion for those who are perishing all around you for want of the common necessaries of life.

I answer: (1) Yes, something is saved, though but little; especially if you tell them before, 'I shall not drink tea.' And many a little, you know, put together will make a great sum. (2) If the whole saved were ever so little, if it were but two mites, when you save this for God and your brethren's sake, it is much. (3) Your example in saving a little now may occasion the saving of more by-and-by. (4) It is not a little advantage which you may reap even now to your own soul, by habituating yourself not to be ashamed of being singular in a good thing; by taking up your cross, and denying yourself even in so small an instance; and by accustoming yourself to act on rational grounds, whether in a little matter or a great. 19. 'But what is saved will be no better employed.' Do you say this with regard to yourself or others If with regard to yourself, it will be your fault if you do not employ it better. I do not say you will, but I am sure you may; and if you do not, it is your own sin and your own shame. If with regard to others, how do you know that it will not be employed better I trust it will. It cannot be denied that it often has and that it always may be. And it is highly probable all who save anything from the best motive will lay it out to the best purpose. 20. 'As to example,' you say, 'I have lately been without hopes of doing any good by it.'

I suppose you mean, because so exceeding few will follow either your example or mine. I am sorry for it. This only gives me a fresh objection to this unwholesome, expensive food--viz. that it has too much hold on the hearts of them that use it; that, to use a scriptural phrase, they are 'under the power of' this trifle. If it be so, were there no other reason than this, they ought to throw it away at once; else they no more regard St. Paul than they do you or me: for his rule is home to the point,--'All things are lawful for me; but I will not be brought under the power of any.' Away with it, then, however lawful (that is, though it were wholesome as well as cheap), if you are already brought 'under the power of' it. And the fewer they are who follow this rule the greater reason there is that you should add one example more to those few. Though (blessed be God) they are not so few as you suppose. I have met with very many in London who use less of it than they had done for many years, and above an hundred who have plucked out the right eye and cast it from them, who wholly abstain from it. 21. You add, 'But I am equally, yea abundantly, more concerned to set an example in all Christian behaviour.' I grant it: this, therefore, 'ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.' 22. But 'one day,' you add, 'I saw your brother drink tea, which he said was for fear of giving offence.'

I answer: (1) Learn from hence to follow neither his nor my practice implicitly; but weigh the reason of each, and then follow reason, wheresoever it stands. But (2) Examine your heart, and beware inclination does not put on the shape of reason. (3) You see with your own eyes I do not drink it at all, and yet I seldom give offence thereby. It is not, then, the bare abstaining, but the manner of doing it, which usually gives the offence. (4) There is therefore a manner wherein you may do it too, and yet give no more offence than I. For instance: If any ask you, simply reply, 'I do not drink tea; I never use it.' If they say, 'Why, you did drink it'; answer, 'I did so; but I have left it off a considerable time.' Those who have either good nature or good manners will say no more. But if any should impertinently add, 'Oh, but why did you leave it off' answer mildly, 'Because I thought watergruel (suppose) was wholesomer as well as cheaper.' If they, with still greater ill-manners and impertinence, go on, 'What, you do it because Mr. Wesley bids you'; reply calmly, 'True; I do it because Mr. Wesley, on good reasons, advises me so to do.' If they add the trite cant phrase, 'What, you follow man!' reply, without any emotion, 'Yes, I follow any man, you or him or any other, who gives me good reason for so doing.' If they persist in cavilling, close the whole matter with, 'I neither drink it nor dispute about it.'

23. If you proceed in this manner, with mildness and love, exceeding few will be offended. 'But you ought,' say some, 'to give up an indifferent thing, rather than give an offence to any. So St. Paul: "I will eat no flesh whilst the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."' I reply: This is not an indifferent thing, if it affects the health either of myself or my brethren. Therefore that rule relating wholly to things indifferent is not applicable to this case. Would St. Paul have said, 'I will drink drams while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend' 'But tea is not so hurtful as drams.' I do not believe it is. But it is hurtful; and that is enough. The question does not turn on the degree of hurtfulness. 'However, it is but a small thing.' Nay, nothing is small if it touches conscience; much less is it a small thing to preserve my own or my brother's health, or to be a faithful steward even of the mammon of unrighteousness. O think it not a small thing whether only one for whom Christ died be fed or hungry, clothed or naked! To conclude the head of offence: You must at least allow that all this is no plea at all for your drinking tea at home. 'Yes, it is; for my husband or parents are offended if I do not drink it.' I answer: (1) Perhaps this in some rare cases may be a sufficient reason why a wife or a child should use this food--that is, with them, but nowhere else. But (2) Try, and not once or twice only, if you cannot overcome that offence by reason, softness, love, patience, longsuffering, joined with constant and fervent prayer. 24. Your next objection is, 'I cannot bear to give trouble; therefore I drink whatever others drink where I come, else there is so much hurry about insignificant me.'

I answer: (1) This is no plea at all for your drinking tea at home. Therefore touch it not there, whatever you do abroad. (2) Where is the trouble given, even when you are abroad, if they drink tea, and you fill your cup with milk and water (3) Whatever trouble is taken is not for 'insignificant me,' but for that poor man who is half starved with cold and hunger; for that miserable woman who, while she is poisoning herself, wipes her mouth and says she does no evil--who will not believe the poison will hurt her, because it does not (sensibly at least) hurt you. O throw it away! Let her have one plea less for destroying her body, if not her soul, before the time! 25. You object farther, 'It is my desire to be unknown for any particularity, unless a peculiar love to the souls of those who are present.' And, I hope, to the souls of the absent too; yea, and to their bodies also, in a due proportion, that they may be healthy, and fed, and clothed, and warm, and may praise God for the consolation. 26. You subjoin: 'When I had left it off for some months, I was continually puzzled with, Why, What, &c.; and I have seen no good effects, but impertinent questions and answers and unedifying conversation about eating and drinking.'

4. Every one here has an equal liberty of speaking, there being none greater or less than another. I could say freely to these when they were met together, 'Ye may all prophesy one by one' (taking that word in its lowest sense), 'that all may learn and all may be comforted.' And I often found the advantage of such a free conversation, and that 'in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.' Any who is inclined so to do is likewise encouraged to pour out his soul to God. And here especially we have found that 'the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.' IX. 1. This is the plainest and clearest account I can give of the people commonly called Methodists. It remains only to give you a short account of those who serve their brethren in love. These are Leaders of classes and bands (spoken of before), Assistants, Stewards, Visitors of the sick, and Schoolmasters. 2. In the Third Part of the Appeal [See Works, viii. 218-24.] I have mentioned how we were led to accept of Lay Assistants. Their office is, in the absence of the Minister,--(1) To expound every morning and evening. (2) To meet the United Society, the bands, the select society, and the penitents once a week. (3) To visit the classes once a quarter. (4) To hear and decide all differences. (5) To put the disorderly back on trial, and to receive on trial for the bands or Society. (6) To see that the Stewards, the Leaders, and the Schoolmasters faithfully discharge their several offices. (7) To meet the Leaders of the bands and classes weekly, and the Stewards, and to overlook their accounts.

2. At length I thought of a kind of desperate expedient. 'I will prepare and give them physic myself.' For six-or seven-and twenty years I had made anatomy and physic the diversion of my leisure hours; though I never properly studied them, unless for a few months when I was going to America, where I imagined I might be of some service to those who had no regular physician among them. I applied to it again. I took into my assistance an apothecary and an experienced surgeon; resolving at the same time not to go out of my depth, but to leave all difficult and complicated cases to such physicians as the patients should choose. 3. I gave notice of this to the Society; telling them that all who were ill of chronical distempers (for I did not care to venture upon acute) might, if they pleased, come to me at such a time, and I would give them the best advice I could and the best medicines I had. 4. Many came (and so every Friday since); among the rest was one William Kirkman, a weaver, near Old Nichol Street. I asked him, 'What complaint have you' 'O sir,' said he, 'a cough, a very sore cough. I can get no rest day nor night.' I asked, 'How long have you had it' He replied, 'About threescore years: it began when I was eleven years old.' I was nothing glad that this man should come first, fearing our not curing him might discourage others. However, I looked up to God, and said, 'Take this three or four times a day. If it does you no good, it will do you no harm.' He took it two or three days. His cough was cured, and has not returned to this day.

To Dr. Conyers Middleton Date: LONDON, January 4, 1749. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1749) Author: John Wesley --- REVEREND SIR,--1. In your late Inquiry you endeavour to prove (1) that there were no miracles wrought in the primitive Church; (2) that all the primitive Fathers were fools or knaves, and most of them both one and the other: and it is easy to observe the whole tenor of your argument tends to prove (3) that no miracles were wrought by Christ or His Apostles; and (4) that these too were fools or knaves, or both. 2. I am not agreed with you on any of these heads. My reasons I shall lay before you in as free a manner, though not in so smooth or laboured language, as you have laid yours before the world. 3. But I have neither inclination nor leisure to follow you step by step through three hundred and seventy-three quarto pages. I shall therefore set aside all I find in your work which does not touch the merits of the cause, and likewise contract the question itself to the first three centuries; for I have no more to do with the writers or miracles of the fourth than with those of the fourteenth century. 4. You will naturally ask: 'Why do you stop there What reason can you give for this If you allow miracles before the empire became Christian, why not afterwards too' I answer: Because, 'after the empire became Christian' (they are your own words), 'a general corruption both of faith and morals infected the Christian Church; which by that revolution, as St. Jerome says, " lost as much of her virtue as it had gained of wealth and power "' (page 123). And this very reason St. Chrysostom himself gave in the words you have afterwards cited: 'There are some who ask, Why are not miracles performed still Why are there no persons who raise the dead and cure diseases' To which he replies, that it was owing to the want of faith and virtue and piety in those times.

5. But, for fear any--considering how 'frank and open' your nature is, and how 'warmly disposed to speak what you take to be true' (page 7)--should fancy you meant what you said in this declaration, you take care to inform them soon after: 'The whole which the wit of man can possibly discover, either of the ways or will of the Creator, must be acquired by attending seriously'--to what to the Jewish or Christian revelation No; but 'to that revelation which He made of Himself from the beginning in the beautiful fabric of this visible world.' (Page 22.) 6. I believe your opponents will not hereafter urge you either with that passage from St. Mark or any other from Scripture--at least I will not, unless I forget myself; as I observe you have done just now. For you said but now, 'Before we proceed to examine testimonies for the decision of this dispute, our first care should be to inform ourselves of the nature of those miraculous powers which are the subject of it as they are represented to us in the history of the Gospel' (page 10). Very true; 'this should be our first care.' I was therefore all attention to hear your account of 'the nature of those powers as they are represented to us in the Gospel,' But, alas! you say not a word more about it; but slip away to those 'zealous champions who have attempted' (bold men as they are) 'to refute the Introductory Discourse' (page 11). Perhaps you will say, 'Yes, I repeat that text from St. Mark.' You do; yet not describing the nature of those powers, but only to open the way to 'one of your antagonists' (page 12); of whom you yourself affirm that 'not one of them seems to have spent a thought in considering those powers as they are set forth in the New Testament' (page 11). Consequently the bare repeating that text does not prove you (any more than them) to have 'spent one thought upon the subject.'

12. If, then, the end of those miraculous powers was 'to overcome inveterate prejudices and to enable the Christians to bear up against the shocks of persecution,' how can you possibly conceive that those powers should cease while some of the Apostles were living With what colour can you assert that they were less wanted for these ends in the second and third than in the apostolic age With what shadow of reason can you maintain that (if they ever subsisted at all) they were finally withdrawn before Christianity was established by the civil power Then, indeed, these ends did manifestly cease, persecution was at an end, and the inveterate prejudices which had so long obtained were in great measure rooted up--another plain reason why the powers which were to balance these should remain in the Church so long, and no longer. 13. You go on to acquaint us with the excellences of your performance. 'The reader,' you say, 'will find in these sheets none of those arts which are commonly employed by disputants to perplex a good cause or to palliate a bad one; no subtile refinements, forced constructions, or evasive distinctions; but plain reasoning, grounded on plain facts, and published with an honest and disinterested view to free the minds of men from an inveterate imposture. I have shown that the ancient Fathers, by whom that delusion was imposed, were extremely credulous and superstitious, possessed with strong prejudices, and scrupling no art or means by which they might propagate the same.' (Page 31.) Surely, sir, you add the latter part of this paragraph on purpose to confute the former; for just here you use one of the unfairest arts which the most dishonest disputant can employ, in endeavouring to forestall the judgement of the reader, and to prejudice him against those men on whom he ought not to pass any sentence before he has heard the evidence.

As to monkery, the worship of relics, invocation of saints, and the superstitious use of images, you have not even attempted to prove that these Fathers were guilty; so that, for aught appears, you might as well have charged them on the Apostles. 'Yet it is no more,' you solemnly assure us, 'than what fact and truth oblige you to say'! (Page 65.) When I meet with any of these assurances for the time to come, I shall remember to stand upon my guard. 6. In the following pages you are arguing against the miracles of the fourth and fifth century. After which you add: 'But if these must be rejected, where, then, are we to stop And to what period must we confine ourselves This, indeed, is the grand difficulty, and what has puzzled all the other doctors who have considered the same question before me.' (Page 71.) Sir, your memory is short. In this very discourse you yourself said just the contrary. You told us awhile ago that not only Dr. Marshall, [Thomas Marshall, D.D., Rector of Lincoln College 1672.] Dr. Dodwell, and Archbishop Tillotson, but the generality of the Protestant doctors were agreed to what period they should confine themselves, believing that miracles subsisted through the first three centuries and ceased in the beginning of the fourth (page 46 et seq.). 7. However, that none of them may ever be puzzled any more, you will 'lay down some general principles, which may lead us to a more rational solution of the matter than any that has hitherto been offered' (ibid.). Here again I was all attention. And what did the mountain bring forth What are these general principles, preceded by so solemn a declaration, and laid down for thirteen pages together (Pages 71-84.) Why, they are dwindled down into one--'that the forged miracles of the fourth century taint the credit of all the later miracles'! I should desire you to prove that the miracles of the fourth century were all forged, but that it is not material to our question.

I answer: (1) It is allowed that before the end of the third century the Church was greatly degenerated from its first purity. Yet I doubt not (2) But abundantly more rank heresies have been publicly professed in many later ages; but they were not publicly protested against, and therefore historians did not record them. (3) You cannot but know it has always been the judgement of learned men (which you are at liberty to refute if you are able) that the far greater part of those spurious books have been forged by heretics, and that many more were compiled by weak, well meaning men from what had been orally delivered down from the Apostles. But (4) There have been in the Church from the beginning men who had only the name of Christians. And these doubtless were capable of pious frauds (so called). But this ought not to be charged upon the whole body. Add to this (5) What is observed by Mr. Daille,--'I impute a great part of this mischief to those men who before the invention of printing were the transcribers and copiers out of manuscripts. We may well presume that these men took the same liberty in forging as St. Jerome complains they did in corrupting books, especially since this course was beneficial to them, which the other was not.'Much more to the same effect we have in his treatise Of the Right Use of the Fathers, Part I. chap. iii. N.B. These transcribers were not all Christians--no, not in name; perhaps few, if any of them, in the first century. (6) By what evidences do you prove that these spurious books 'are frequently cited by the most eminent Fathers as not only genuine but of equal authority with the Scriptures themselves' Or, lastly, that they either forged these books themselves or made use of what they knew to be forged These things also you are not to take for granted but to prove before your argument can be of force. 12. We are come at last to your general conclusion: 'There is no sufficient reason to believe that any miraculous powers subsisted in any age of the Church after the times of the Apostles' (page 91).

But pretended miracles, you say, arose thus: 'As the high authority of the apostolic writings excited some of the most learned Christians' (prove that!) 'to forge books under their names; so the great fame of the apostolic miracles would naturally excite some of the most crafty when the Apostles were dead to attempt some juggling tricks in imitation of them. And when these artful pretenders had maintained their ground through the first three centuries, the leading clergy of the fourth understood their interest too well to part with the old plea of miraculous gifts.' (Page 92.) Round assertions indeed! But surely, sir, you do not think that reasonable men will take these for proofs! You are here advancing a charge of the blackest nature. But where are your vouchers Where are the witnesses to support it Hitherto you have not been able to produce one through a course of three hundred years; unless you bring in those heathen, of whose senseless, shameless prejudices you have yourself given so clear an account. But you designed to produce your witnesses in the Free Inquiry a year or two after the Introductory Discourse was published. So you condemn them first, and try them afterwards; you will pass sentence now, and hear the evidence by-and-by! A genuine specimen of that 'impartial regard to truth' which you profess upon all occasions. 13. Another instance of this is in your marginal note: 'The primitive Christians were perpetually reproached for their gross credulity.' They were; but by whom Why, by Jews and heathens. Accordingly the two witnesses you produce here are Celsus the Jew and Julian the apostate. But, lest this should not suffice, you make them confess the charge. 'The Fathers,' your words are, 'defend themselves by saying that they did no more than the philosophers had always done; that Pythagoras's precepts were inculcated with an ipse dixit, and they found the same method useful with the vulgar' (page 93). And is this their whole defence Do the very men to whom you refer, Origen and Arnobius, in the very tracts to which you refer, give no other answer than this argument ad hominem Stand this as another genuine proof of Dr. Middleton's candour and impartiality!

14. A farther proof of your 'frank and open nature,' and of your 'contenting yourself with the discharge of your own conscience by a free declaration of your real sentiments' (page 40), I find in the very next page. Here you solemnly declare: 'Christianity is confirmed by the evidence of such miracles as, of all others on record, are the least liable to exception, and carry the clearest marks of their sincerity; being wrought by Christ and His Apostles for an end so great, so important, as to be highly worthy the interposition of the Deity; wrought by mean and simple men, and delivered by eye-witnesses, whose characters exclude the suspicion of fraud' (page 94). Sir, do you believe one word of what you so solemnly declare You have yourself declared the contrary. But if you do not, where shall we have you Or how can we believe you another time How shall we know, I will not say, when you speak truth, but when you would have us think you do By what criterion shall we distinguish between what is spoken in your real and what in your personated character how discern when you speak as Dr. Middleton and when as the public librarian 14. You go on: 'By granting the Romanists but a single age of miracles after the Apostles, we shall be entangled in difficulties, whence we can never extricate ourselves till we allow the same powers to the present age' (page 96). I will allow them, however, three ages of miracles, and let them make what advantage of it they can.

18. I cannot dismiss this Discourse without observing that the uncommon artfulness and disingenuity which glare through the whole must needs give disgust to every honest and upright heart; nor is it any credit at all to the cause you have espoused. Nay, I am persuaded there are many in these kingdoms who, though they think as you do concerning the Christian system, yet could not endure the thought of writing against it in the manner that you have done; of combating fraud (if it were so) with fraud, and practicing the very thing which they professed to expose and abhor. In your Free Inquiry itself you propose,-- 'I. To draw out in order all the principal testimonies which relate to miraculous gifts as they are found in the writings of the Fathers from the earliest ages after the Apostles; whence we shall see at one view the whole evidence by which they have hitherto been supported. 'II. To throw together all which those Fathers have delivered concerning the persons said to have been endued with those gifts.' (Page 1.) 'III. To illustrate the particular characters and opinions of the Fathers who attest those miracles. 'IV. To review all the several kinds of miracles which are pretended to have been wrought, and to observe from the nature of each how far they may reasonably be suspected. 'V. To refute some of the most plausible objections which have been hitherto made.' (Page 2.) I was in hopes you would have given, at least in entering upon your main work, what you promised so long ago, an account of 'the proper nature and condition of those miraculous powers which are the subject of the whole dispute as they are represented to us in the history of the Gospel' (Preface, p. 10). But as you do not appear to have any thought of doing it at all, you will give me leave at length to do it for you. The original promise of these runs thus: 'These signs shall follow them that believe: In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover' (Mark xvi.17-18).

You begin with the apostolic Fathers--that is, those who lived and conversed with the Apostles. 'There are several,' you say, 'of this character, whose writings still remain to us: St. Barnabas, St. Clemens, St. Ignatius, St. Polycarp, St. Hermas. Now, if those gifts had subsisted after the days of the Apostles, these must have possessed a large share of them. But if any of them had, he would have mentioned it in his writings, which not one of them has done.' (Page 3.) The argument, fully proposed, runs thus: If any such gifts had subsisted in them or in their days, they must have mentioned them in their circular Epistles to the Churches (for so their predecessors, the Apostles, did); but they did not mention any such gifts therein. Sir, your consequence is not of any force; as will easily appear by a parallel argument: If such gifts had subsisted in St. Peter or in his days, he must have mentioned them in his circular Epistles to the Churches. But he does not mention any such gifts therein; therefore they did not subsist in him or in his days. Your argument, therefore, proves too much; nor can it conclude against an apostolic Father without concluding against the Apostle too. If, therefore, the apostolic Fathers had not mentioned any miraculous gifts in their circular Epistles to the Churches, you could not have inferred that they possessed none; since neither does he mention them in his circular Epistles whom you allow to have possessed them. Of all the Apostles you can produce but one, St. Paul, who makes mention of these gifts: and that not in his circular Epistles to the Churches; for I know not that he wrote any such.

9. With regard to the narrative of his martyrdom, you affirm, 'It is one of the most authentic pieces in all primitive antiquity' (page 124). I will not vouch for its authenticity; nor, therefore, for the story of the dove, the flame forming an arch, the fragrant smell, or the revelation to Pionius. But your attempt to account for these things is truly curious. You say: 'An arch of flame round his body is an appearance which might easily happen from the common effects of wind. And the dove said to fly out of him might be conveyed into the wood which was prepared to consume him.' (Page 229.) How much more naturally may we account for both by supposing the whole to be a modern fiction, wrote on occasion of that account mentioned by Eusebius, but lost many ages ago!But, whatever may be thought of this account of his death, neither does this affect the question whether during his life he was endued with the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost. 10. There is one of those whom you style apostolic Fathers yet behind, of whom you talk full as familiarly as of the rest; I mean Hermas: 'to whom,' you say, 'some impute the fraud of forging the Sibylline books' (page 37). It would not have been amiss if you had told us which of the ancients, whether Christian, Jew, or heathen, ever accused him of this. If none ever did, some will be apt to think it is giving a person but hard measure to bring an accusation against him which never was heard of till sixteen hundred years after his death.

14. 'Cyprian, who wrote about the middle of the third century, says, " Beside the visions of the night, even in the daytime innocent children among us are filled with the Holy Spirit, and in ecstasies see and hear and speak those things by which God is pleased to admonish and instruct us"' (ibid.). Elsewhere he particularly mentions the casting out of devils: 'which,'says he, 'either depart immediately or by degrees, according to the faith of the patient or the grace of him that works the cure'(page 17). 'Arnobius, who is supposed to have wrote in the year of Christ 303, tells us, " Christ appears even now to men unpolluted and eminently holy who love Him; whose very name puts evil spirits to flight, strikes their prophets dumb, deprives the soothsayers of the power of answering, and frustrates the acts of arrogant magicians"' (page 18). 'Lactantius, who wrote about the same time, speaking of evil spirits, says, " Being adjured by Christians, they retire out of the bodies of men, confess themselves to be demons, and tell their names, even the same which are adored in the temples "' (ibid.). 15. 'These,' you say, 'are the principal testimonies which assert miraculous gifts through the first three centuries; which might be supported by many more of the same kind from the same as well as different writers. But none will scruple to risk the fate of the cause upon these.' (Page 19.) Thus far I do not scruple it. I do not doubt but the testimonies of these nine witnesses, added to the evidence of the apostolic Fathers, will satisfy every impartial man with regard to the point in question. Yet I see no cause, if there are nine witnesses more, to give up their evidence; seeing you may possibly raise objections against these which the others are unconcerned in. If, then, you should invalidate what I have to reply in behalf of the witnesses now produced, you will have done but half your work. I shall afterwards require a fair hearing for the others also.

2. You go on as you set out: 'Yet none of these have anywhere affirmed that they themselves were endued with any power of working miracles' (page 22). You should say, 'with any of those extraordinary gifts promised by our Lord and conferred on His Apostles.' No! Have 'none of these anywhere affirmed that they themselves were endued' with any extraordinary gifts What think you of the very first of them, Justin Martyr Either you are quite mistaken in the account you give of him elsewhere (pages 27, 30), or he affirmed this of himself over and over. And as to Cyprian, you will by-and-by spend several pages together (pages 101, &c.) on the extraordinary gifts he affirmed himself to be endued with. But suppose they had not anywhere affirmed this of themselves, what would you infer therefrom that they were not endued with any extraordinary gifts Then, by the very same method of arguing, you might prove that neither St. Peter, nor James, nor John were endued with any such; for neither do they anywhere affirm this of themselves in any of the writings which they have left behind them. 3. Your argument concerning the apostolic Fathers is just as conclusive as this, For if you say, 'The writers following the apostolic Fathers do not affirm them to have had any miraculous gifts, therefore they had none,' by a parity of reason you must say, 'The writers following the Apostles do not affirm them to have had any miraculous gifts, therefore the Apostles had none.' 4. Your next argument against the existence of those gifts is 'that the Fathers do not tell us the names of them which had them.' This is not altogether true. The names of Justin Martyr and Cyprian are pretty well known; as is, among the learned, that of Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria. (Pages 106, 212.)

Surely, sir, you talk in your sleep: you could never talk thus, if you had your eyes open and your understanding about you. 'We find the administration of them committed, not to those who had the government of the Church.' No! I thought Cyprian had had the government of the Church at Carthage, and Dionysius at Alexandria! 'Not to the bishops.' Who were these, then, that were mentioned last Bishops, or no bishops 'Not to the martyrs.' Well, if Cyprian was neither bishop nor martyr, I hope you will allow Justin's claim. 'Not to the principal champions of the Christian cause.' And yet you told us, not three pages since, that 'these very Fathers were the chief champions of the Christian cause in those days'! 'But to boys, and to women.' I answer: 'This is that which was spoken of by the Prophet Joel: It shall come to pass that I will pour out My Spirit, saith the Lord, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy'!--a circumstance which turns this argument full against you till you openly avow you do not believe those prophecies. 'And, above all, to private and obscure laymen, not only of an inferior but sometimes of a bad character.' I answer: (1) You cite only one ante-Nicene writer to prove them committed to 'private and obscure laymen.' And he says this and no more: 'Generally private men do things of this kind.'[WJ" ejpivpan ijdiw'tai toV toiou'ton pravttousi (Origen's Cont. Cels. 1. vii.).] By what rule of grammar you construe idiwtai 'private and obscure laymen' I know not. (2) To prove these were sometimes men of a bad character, you quote also but one ante-Nicene Father (for I presume you will not assert the genuineness of the so-called Apostolical Constitutions); and that one is, in effect, none at all: it is Tertullian, who, in his Prescription against Heretics, says, 'They will add many things of the authority' (or power) 'of every heretical teacher--that they raised the dead, healed the sick, foretold things to come.' ['Adjicient multa de autoritate cujusque doctoris haeretici, illos mortuos suscitasse, debiles reformasse, &c.'] 'They will add'! But did Tertullian believe them There is no shadow of reason to think he did. And if not, what is all this to the purpose No more than the tales of later ages which you add concerning the miracles wrought by bones and relics.

20. Now to apply. 'A mind,' you say, 'so totally possessed by superstitious fancies could not even suspect the pretensions of those vagrant jugglers, who in those primitive ages were so numerous and so industriously employed in deluding their fellow creatures. Both heathens, Jews, and Christians are all allowed to have had such impostors among them.' (Page 71.) By whom, sir, is this allowed of the Christians By whom but Celsus was it affirmed of them Who informed you of their growing so numerous and using such industry in their employment To speak the plain truth, your mind appears 'to be so totally possessed by' these 'vagrant jugglers,' that you cannot say one word about the primitive Church but they immediately start up before you, though there is no more proof of their ever existing than of a witch's sailing in an eggshell. 21. You conclude this head: 'When pious Christians are arrived to this pitch of credulity, as to believe that evil spirits or evil men can work miracles in opposition to the gospel, their very piety will oblige them to admit as miraculous whatever is pretended to be wrought in defence of it' (ibid.). Once more you have spoken out: you have shown without disguise what you think of St. Paul and the 'lying miracles' (2 Thess. ii. 9) which he (poor man!) believed evil spirits or evil men could work in opposition to the gospel; and of St. John talking so idly of him who 'doeth great wonders . . . and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth' (even though they were not Christians) 'by means of those miracles which he hath power to do' (Rev. xiii. 13-14). 22. You have now finished the third thing you proposed; which was 'to show the particular characters of the several Fathers who attest' that they were eye-and ear-witnesses of the extraordinary gifts in the primitive Church. You named nine of these--Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Theophilus, Tertullian, Minutius Felix, Origen, Cyprian, Arnobius, and Lactantius; at the same time observing that many other writers attest the same thing. But let the others stand by. Are these good men and true That is the present question. You say, 'No'; and, to prove that these nine are knaves, bring several charges against two of them.

4. You object, thirdly, that when 'Autolycus, an eminent heathen, scarce forty years after this, said to Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, " Show me but one raised from the dead, that I may see and believe" (ibid.), Theophilus could not.' Supposing he could not, I do not see that this contradicts the testimony of Irenaeus; for he does not affirm (though you say he does) that this was 'performed, as it were, in every parish or place where there was a Christian Church' (page 72). He does not affirm that it was performed at Antioch; probably not in any Church, unless where a concurrence of important circumstances required it. Much less does he affirm that the persons raised in France would be alive forty years after. Therefore--although it be granted (1) that the historians of that age are silent; (2) that the heathens said the thing was impossible; and (3) that Theophilus did not answer the challenge of the heathen Autolycus--all this will not invalidate in any degree the express testimony of Irenaeus or prove that none have been raised from the dead since the days of the Apostles. Section II. 1. 'The next gift is that of healing the sick, often performed by anointing them with oil; in favour of which,' as you observe, 'the ancient testimonies are more full and express' (page 75). But 'this,' you say, 'might be accounted for without a miracle, by the natural efficacy of the oil itself' (page 76). I doubt not. Be pleased to try how many you can cure thus that are blind, deaf, dumb, or paralytic; and experience, if not philosophy, will teach you that oil has no such natural efficacy as this.

5. I observe you take much the same liberty in your next quotation from Cyprian. 'He threatens,' you say, 'to execute what he was ordered to do " against them in a vision "' (page 102). Here also the last words, 'in a vision,' are an improvement upon the text. Cyprian's words are, 'I will use that admonition which the Lord commands me to use.' ['Utar ea admonitione, qua me Dominus uti jubet' (Epis. ix.).] But neither was this in order to introduce any questionable point either of doctrine or discipline, no more than his using the same threat to Pupianus, who had spoken ill of him and left his communion. 6. You go on: 'He says likewise he was admonished of God to ordain one Numidicus, a confessor, who had been left for dead, half burnt and buried in stones' (pages 103-4). True; but what 'questionable point of doctrine or discipline' did he introduce hereby or by ordaining Celerinus, 'who was overruled and compelled by a divine vision to accept that office' So you affirm Cyprian says. But Cyprian says it not--at least, not in those words which you cite in the margin, which, literally translated, run thus: 'I recommend to you Celerinus, joined to our clergy, not by human suffrage, but by the divine favour.' ['Non humane suffragatione, sed divina dignatione,conjunctum' (Epis xxxiv.).] 'In another letter, speaking of Aurelius, whom he had ordained a reader, he says to his clergy and people, " In ordaining clergy, my dearest brethren, I use to consult you first; but there is no need to wait for human testimonies when the divine suffrage has been already signified."' An impartial man would wonder what you could infer from these five passages put together. Why, by the help of a short postulatum, 'He was fond of power' (you have as much ground to say, 'He was fond of bloodshed'), you will make it plain, 'this was all a trick to enlarge his episcopal authority.' But as that postulatum is not allowed, you have all your work to begin again.

9. What you relate of Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, you have not from himself, but only from one who lived near an hundred years after Dionysius was dead. Therefore he is not at all accountable for it; as neither am I for any vision of St. Jerome. But I am concerned in the consequence you draw from it: 'If this was a fiction, so were Cyprian's too.' That will not follow. Many objections may lie against the one which have no place with regard to the other. 10. You now bring forth your grand discovery, that 'all the visions of those days were contrived, or authorized at least, by the leading men of the Church. For they were all applied, either (1) to excuse the conduct of particular persons, in some instances of it liable to censure; or (2) to enforce some doctrine or discipline pressed by some, but not relished by others; or (3) to confirm things not only frivolous but sometimes even superstitious and hurtful.' (Page 103.) Well, sir, here is the proposition. But where is the proof I hope we shall have it in your next Free Inquiry; and that you will then give us a few instances of such applications from the writers of the first three centuries. 11. Being not disposed to do this at present, you fall again upon the poor 'heretic Montanus, who first gave a vogue' (as you phrase it) 'to visions and ecstasies in the Christian Church' (page 110). So you told us before. But we cannot believe it yet, because Peter and Paul tell us the contrary.

Indeed, you do not now mention Montanus because it is anything to the question, but only to make way for observing that those who wrote against him 'employed such arguments against his prophecy as shake the credit of all prophecy. For Epiphanius makes this the very criterion between a true and a false prophet, " that the true had no ecstasies, constantly retained his senses, and with firmness of mind apprehended and uttered the divine oracles."' Sir, have you not mistook Have you not transcribed one sentence in the margin and translated another That sentence which stands in your margin is this: 'When there was need, the saints of God among the Prophets prophesied all things with the true Spirit and with a sound understanding and reasonable mind.' Now, it is difficult to find out how this comes to 'shake the credit of all prophecy.' 12. Why thus: 'Before the Montanists had brought those ecstasies into disgrace, the prophecy of the orthodox too was exerted in ecstasy. And so were the prophecies of the Old Testament, according to the current opinion of those earlier days.' (Page 111.) That this was then 'the current opinion' you bring three citations to prove. But if you could cite three Fathers more during the first three centuries expressly affirming that the Prophets were all out of their senses, I would not take their word. For though I take most of the Fathers to have been wise and good men, yet I know none of them were infallible. But do even these three expressly affirm it No, not one of them--at least, in the words you have cited. From Athenagoras you cite only part of a sentence, which, translated as literally as it will well bear, runs thus: 'Who in an ecstasy of their own thoughts, being moved by the Divine Spirit, spoke the things with which they were inspired even as a piper breathes into a pipe.' Does Athenagoras expressly affirm in these words that the Prophets were 'transported out of their senses' I hope, sir, you do not understand Greek. If so, you show here only a little harmless ignorance.

I doubt much whether you can produce one single apologist for any 'ridiculous comment on sacred writ,' who anywhere 'alleges that the second or third century could not relish or endure any better.' But if they were all to say this with one voice, yet no reasonable man could believe them; for it is notoriously contrary to matter of fact. It may be allowed that some of these Fathers, being afraid of too literal a way of expounding the Scriptures, leaned sometimes to the other extreme. Yet nothing can be more unjust than to infer from hence 'that the age in which they lived could not relish or endure any but senseless, extravagant, enthusiastic, ridiculous comments on sacred writ.' Will you say that all the comments on Scripture still to be found in the writings of Ignatius, Polycarp, Athenagoras, or even of Origen and Clemens Alexandrinus, are senseless and extravagant If not, this charge must fall to the ground; it being manifest that even 'the age in which they lived' could both 'endure and relish' sound, sensible, rational (and yet spiritual) comments on holy writ. Yet this extravagant charge you have repeated over and over in various parts of your work, thrusting it upon your reader in season and out of season: how fairly, let all candid men judge. 3. Touching the miraculous gift of expounding Scripture, you say, 'Justin Martyr affirms it was conferred on him by the special grace of God' (page 117). I cannot find where he affirms this. Not in the words you cite, which, literally translated (as was observed before), runs thus: 'He hath revealed to us whatsoever things we have understood by His grace from the Scriptures also.' You seem conscious these words do not prove the point, and therefore eke them out with those of Monsieur Tillemont.[Louis Sebastien de Tillemont (1637-98),the ecclesiastical historian; Ordained priest 1676. He took his name from Tillemont, near Paris where he settled.] But his own words, and no other, will satisfy me. I cannot believe it, unless from his own mouth.

8. You close this head with a very extraordinary thought. 'The gift of tongues may,' you say, 'be considered as a proper test or criterion for determining the miraculous pretensions of all Churches. If among their extraordinary gifts they cannot show us this, they have none to show which are genuine.' (Ibid.) Now, I really thought it had been otherwise. I thought it had been an adjudged rule in the case, 'All these worketh one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will'; and as to every man, so to every Church, every collective body of men. But if this be so, then yours is no proper test for determining the pretensions of all Churches: seeing He who worketh as He will may, with your good leave, give the gift of tongues where He gives no other; and may see abundant reasons so to do, whether you and I see them or not. For perhaps we have not always known the mind of the Lord, not being of the number of His counsellors. On the other hand, He may see good to give many other gifts where it is not His will to bestow this; particularly where it would be of no use, as in a Church where all are of one mind and all speak the same language. 9. You have now finished after a fashion what you proposed to do in the fourth place, which was 'to review all the several kinds of miraculous gifts which are pretended to have been in the primitive Church.' Indeed, you have dropped one or two of them by the way: against the rest you have brought forth your strong reasons. Those reasons have been coolly examined. And now let every impartial man, every person of true and unbiased reason, calmly consider and judge whether you have made out one point of all that you took in hand, and whether some miracles of each kind may not have been wrought in the ancient Church, for anything you have advanced to the contrary.

5. However, you plunge on: 'Since, then, the Christians were not able to bear the expense of copying them' (whether the heathens were disposed to buy them or no is at present out of the question), 'there is great reason to believe that their apologies, how gravely soever addressed to Emperors and Senates, lay unknown for many years' (ibid.). There is no great reason to believe it from anything you have advanced yet. You add: 'Especially when the publishing of them was not only expensive, but so criminal also, as to expose them often to danger and even to capital punishment.' In very deed, sir, I am sometimes inclined to suspect that you are yourself related to certain ancient Fathers (notwithstanding the learned quotations which adorn your margin) who used to say, 'Graecum est; non potest leg).' You lay me under an almost invincible temptation to think so upon this very occasion. For what could induce you, if you knew what he said, to place at the bottom of this very page a passage from one of those apologists, Justin Martyr, which so clearly confutes your own argument The words are: 'Although death be determined against those who teach or even confess the name of Christ, we both embrace and teach it everywhere. And if you also receive these words as enemies, you can do no more than kill us.' [Kaiper qanatou orisqentos kata twn didaskntwn, h olws omologountwn to onoma tou Cristou, hmeis pantacou kai aspazomeqa kai didaskomen. Ei de kai umeis ws ecqroi enteuxesqe toisde tois logois, ou pleon ti dunasqe tou foneuein. (Just. Mart. Apol. i. p 69.)] Could danger then, or the fear of 'capital punishment,' restrain those Christians from presenting these apologies No; capital punishment was no terror to them, who daily offered themselves to the flames till the very heathen butchers themselves were tired with slaughtering them.

7. Have you considered, sir, how the case stood in our own country scarce two hundred years ago Not a multitude indeed, and yet not a few, of our own countrymen then expired in the flames. And it was not a general persuasion among them that martyrs feel no pain in death. That these have feeling as well as other men plainly appeared in the case of Bishop Ridley crying out, 'I cannot burn! I cannot burn!' when his lower parts were consumed. Do you think the fear of shame or the desire of praise was the motive on which these acted Or have you reason to believe it was mere obstinacy that hindered them from accepting deliverance Sir, since 'human nature has always been the same, so that our experience of what now passes in our own soul will be the best comment on what is delivered to us concerning others,' let me entreat you to make the case your own. You must not say, 'I am not one of the ignorant vulgar; I am a man of sense and learning.' So were many of them--not inferior even to you, either in natural or acquired endowments. I ask, then, Would any of these motives suffice to induce you to burn at a stake I beseech you, lay your hand on your heart, and answer between God and your own soul what motive could incite you to walk into a fire but an hope full of immortality. When you mention this motive, you speak to the point. And yet even with regard to this both you and I should find, did it come to a trial, that the hope of a fool or the hope of an hypocrite would stand us in no stead. We should find nothing else would sustain us in that hour but a well-grounded confidence of a better resurrection; nothing less than the 'steadfastly looking up to heaven, and beholding the glory which shall be revealed.' 8. 'But heretics,' you say, 'have been martyrs.' I will answer more particularly, when you specify who and when. It may suffice to say now, whosoever he be, that, rather than he will offend God, calmly and deliberately chooses to suffer death, I cannot lightly speak evil of him.

3. He has a continual sense of his dependence on the Parent of good for his being and all the blessings that attend it. To Him he refers every natural and every moral endowment, with all that is commonly ascribed either to fortune or to the wisdom, courage, or merit of the possessor. And hence he acquiesces, in whatsoever appears to be His will, not only with patience but with thankfulness. He willingly resigns all he is, all he has, to His wise and gracious disposal. The ruling temper of his heart is the most absolute submission and the tenderest gratitude to his sovereign Benefactor. And this grateful love creates filial fear, an awful reverence toward Him, and an earnest care not to give place to any disposition, not to admit an action, word, or thought, which might in any degree displease that indulgent Power to whom he owes his life, breath, and all things. 4. And as he has the strongest affection for the Fountain of all good, so he has the firmest confidence in Him--a confidence which neither pleasure nor pain, neither life nor death, can shake. But yet this, far from creating sloth or indolence, pushes him on to the most vigorous industry. It causes him to put forth all his strength, in obeying Him in whom he confides. So that he is never faint in his mind, never weary of doing whatever he believes to be His will. And as he knows the most acceptable worship of God is to imitate Him he worships, so he is continually labouring to transcribe into himself all His imitable perfections--in particular, His justice, mercy, and truth, so eminently displayed in all His creatures.

10. And as he is easy to others, so he is easy in himself. He is free from the painful swellings of pride, from the flames of anger, from the impetuous gusts of irregular self-will. He is no longer tortured with envy or malice, or with unreasonable and hurtful desire. He is no more enslaved to the pleasures of sense, but has the full power both over his mind and body, in a continued cheerful course of sobriety, of temperance and chastity. He knows how to use all things in their place, and yet is superior to them all. He stands above those low pleasures of imagination which captivate vulgar minds, whether arising from what mortals term greatness or from novelty or beauty. All these, too, he can taste, and still look upward, still aspire to nobler enjoyments. Neither is he a slave to fame; popular breath affects not him; he stands steady and collected in himself.

(5) What reasonable assurance can you have of things whereof you have not personal experience Suppose the question were, Can the blind be restored to sight This you have not yourself experienced. How, then, will you know that such a thing ever was Can there be an easier or surer way than to talk with one or some number of men who were blind but are now restored to sight They cannot be deceived as to the fact in question; the nature of the thing leaves no room for this. And if they are honest men (which you may learn from other circumstances), they will not deceive you. Now, transfer this to the case before us: and those who were blind, but now see--those who were sick many years, but now are healed--those who were miserable, but now are happy--will afford you also a very strong evidence of the truth of Christianity, as strong as can be in the nature of things, till you experience it in your own soul; and this, though it be allowed they are but plain men, and in general of weak understanding--nay, though some of them should be mistaken in other points, and hold opinions which cannot be defended. 11. All this may be allowed concerning the primitive Fathers; I mean particularly Clemens Romanus, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origen, Clemens Alexandrinus, Cyprian; to whom I would add Macarius and Ephraim Syrus. I allow that some of these had not strong natural sense, that few of them had much learning, and none the assistances which our age enjoys in some respects above all that went before. Hence I doubt not but whoever will be at the pains of reading over their writings for that poor end will find many mistakes, many weak suppositions, and many ill-drawn conclusions. 12. And yet I exceedingly reverence them as well as their writings, and esteem them very highly in love. I reverence them, because they were Christians, such Christians as are above described. And I reverence their writings, because they describe true, genuine Christianity, and direct us to the strongest evidence of the Christian doctrine. Indeed, in addressing the heathens of those times, they intermix other arguments; particularly that drawn from the numerous miracles which were then performed in the Church, which they needed only to open their eyes and see daily wrought in the face of the sun.

To John Bennet Date: LONDON, January 9, 1749. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1749) Author: John Wesley --- What can be done more for William Darney's Societies [See letter of Feb. 9, 1750.] than this First, that you should visit them once or twice in a quarter; and then, that either John Nelson or our Yorkshire preacher should go through them as often as possible. I am sending a messenger to Sir John Strange (the other counsel), lest the Lancashire cause should be neglected on occasion of Mr. Glanville's death.[See Journal, iii. 328-9, 389; and letter of Aug. 26, 1748.] I wish you could talk yourself with James Hargrave. 'Tis very probable it would do good. I know not what to say concerning H. D. 'Tis an exceeding difficult case. I have no objection to your preaching in any meetinghouse. The place does not make the Dissenter. After you have once more talked freely and mildly to Sisters B-and C-, if they will not hear, you must let them go. [On the same page, and apparently part of the same letter, is the following:]

To James Edmundson Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1749) Author: John Wesley --- The great danger which I apprehend you to be in is that of healing your hurt slightly. It is God that has wounded you; and let Him heal the soul which hath sinned against Him. O beware that you never rest, or desire any rest, till Christ is revealed in your heart. You want nothing less than the eternal life which is in Him. And you will receive it if you faint not.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Dr. Lavington, Bishop of Exeter Date: CANTERBURY, February 1, 1750. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1750) Author: John Wesley --- SIR, -- 1. In your late pamphlets you have undertaken to prove that Mr. Whitefield and I are gross enthusiasts, and that our whole ‘conduct is but a counterpart of the most wild fanaticisms of the most abominable communion in its most corrupt ages’ (Preface, p. 3). You endeavor to support this charge against us by quotations from our own writings compared with quotations from celebrated writers of the Romish communion. 2. It lies upon me to answer for one. But I must not burthen you with too long an answer, lest ‘for want either of leisure or inclination’ (page 5) you should not give this any more than my other tracts a reading. In order, therefore, to spare both you and myself, I shall consider only your First Part, and that as briefly as possible. Accordingly I shall not meddle with your other quotations; but, leaving them to whom they may concern, shall only examine whether those you have made from my writings prove the charge of enthusiasm or no. This I conceive will be abundantly sufficient to decide the question between you and me. If these do prove the charge, I am cast; if they do not, if they are the words of truth and soberness, it will be an objection of no real weight against sentiments just in themselves, though they should also be found in the writings of Papists -- yea, of Mahometans or Pagans. 3. Let the eight pages you borrow stand as they are. I presume they will do neither good nor harm. In the tenth you say: ‘The Methodists act on the same plan with the Papists; not perhaps from compact and design, but a similar configuration and texture of brain or the fumes of imagination producing similar effects. From a commiseration of horror, arising from the grievous corruptions of the world, perhaps from a real motive of sincere piety, they both set out with warm pretences to a reformation.’ Sir, this is an uncommon thought -- that sincere piety should arise from the ‘configuration and texture of the brain’ I as well as that ‘pretences to a reformation’ should spring from ‘a real motive of sincere piety’!

7. You charge me, thirdly, with ‘putting on a sanctified appearance, in order to draw followers, by a demure look, precise behavior, and other marks of external piety. For which reason,’ you say, ‘Mr. Wesley made and renewed that noble resolution not willingly to indulge himself in the least levity of behavior or in laughter -- no, not for a moment; to speak no word not tending to the glory of God, and not a little of worldly things.’ (Pages 18-19.) Sir, you miss the mark again. If this ‘sanctified appearance was put on to draw followers’; if it was for ‘this reason’ (as you flatly affirm it was) that ‘Mr. Wesley made and renewed that noble resolution’ (it was made eleven or twelve years before, about the time of my removal to Lincoln College), then it can be no instance of enthusiasm, and so does not fall within the design of your present work; unless your title-page does not belong to your book, for that confines you to the enthusiasm of the Methodists.

I must beg you, sir, in your Third Part to inform your reader that, whenever any solecism or mangled sentences appear in the quotations from my writings, they are not chargeable upon me; that if the sense be mine (which is not always; sometimes you do me too much honor even in this), yet I lay no claim to the manner of expression; the English is all your own. 14. ‘Corporal severities or mortification by tormenting the flesh’ (page 31) is the next thing you charge upon me. Almost two sentences you bring in proof of this. The one, ‘Our bed being wet’ (it was in a storm at sea), ‘I laid me down on the floor, and slept sound till morning; and I believe I shall not find it needful to go to bed, as it is called, any more.’ But whether I do or not, how will you prove that my motive is to ' gain a reputation for sanctity’ I desire (if it be not too great a favor) a little evidence for this. The other fragment of a sentence speaks ‘of bearing cold on the naked head, rain and wind, frost and snow’ (page 32). True; but not as matter of ‘mortification by tormenting the flesh.’ Nothing less. These things are not spoken of there as voluntary instances of mortification (you yourself know perfectly well they are not, only you make free with your friend), but as some of the unavoidable inconveniences which attend preaching in the open air. Therefore you need not be so ‘sure that the Apostle condemns that ’afeda sat, “not sparing the body,” as useless and superstitious, and that it is a false show of humility’ (page 33). Humility is entirely out of the question, as well as chastity, in the case of hardships endured (but not properly chosen) out of love to the souls for which Christ died. 15. You add a word or two of my ‘ardent desire of going to hell,’ which, you think, I ‘adopted from the Jesuit Nieremberg’ (page 34). Sir, I know not the man. I am wholly a stranger both to his person and to his doctrine. But if this is his doctrine, I disclaim it from my heart. I ardently desire that both you and I may go to heaven.

But ‘Mr. Wesley says, “A poor old man decided the question of disinterested love. He said, I do not care what place I am in: let God put me where He will or do, with me what He will, so I may set forth His honor and glory.”’ (Page 35.) He did so. And what then Do these words imply ‘an ardent desire of going to hell’ I do not suppose the going to hell ever entered into his thoughts. Nor has it any place in my notion of disinterested love. How you may understand that term I know not. But you will prove I have this desire, whether I will or no. You are sure this was my ‘original meaning (page 36), in the words cited by Mr. Church [See letter of June 17, 1746, sect. II. 8.] -- Doom, if Thou canst, to endless pain, Or drive me from Thy face. ‘God’s power or justice,’ you say, ‘must be intended; because he speaks of God's love in the very next lines -- But if Thy stronger love constrains, Let me be saved by grace.’ Sir, I will tell you a secret. Those lines are not mine. However, I will once more venture to defend them, and to aver that your consequence is good for nothing: ‘If this love is spoken of in the latter lines, then it is not in the former.’ No! Why not I take it to be spoken of in both; the plain meaning of which is, ‘If Thou art not love, I am content to perish. But if Thou art, let me find the effects thereof; let me be saved by grace.’ 16. You next accuse me of maintaining a stoical insensibility. This objection also you borrow from Mr. Church. You ought likewise to have taken notice that I had answered it and openly disowned that doctrine: I mean, according to the rules of common justice. But that is not your failing.

What could the god of this world do in such a case to prevent the spreading of this ‘serious, sober religion’ The same that he has done from the beginning of the world. To hinder the light of those whom God hath thus changed from shining before men he gave them all in general a nickname: he called them Methodists. And this name, as insignificant as it was in itself, effectually answered his intention. For by this means that light was soon obscured by prejudice which could not be withstood by Scripture or reason. By the odious and ridiculous ideas affixed to that name they were condemned in the gross without ever being heard. So that now any scribbler, with a middling share of low wit, not encumbered with good nature or modesty, may raise a laugh on those whom he cannot confute, and run them down whom he dares not look in the face. By this means even a computer of Methodists and Papists may blaspheme the great work of God, not only without blame, but with applause --- at least from readers of his own stamp. But it is high time, sir, you should leave your skulking-place. Come out, and let us look each other in the face. I have little leisure and less inclination for controversy. Yet I promise, if you will set your name to your Third Part, I will answer all that shall concern me in that as well as the preceding. Till then I remain, sir, Your friend and well-wisher. PS. -- When you come to relate those ‘horrid and shocking things,’ there may be a danger you are not aware of. Even you yourself may fall (as little as you intend or suspect it) into seriousness. And I am afraid, if once you put off your fool’s coat, if you stand naked before cool and sober reason, you yourself may appear as inconsiderable a creature (to use your own phrase) ‘as if your name was Perronet.’

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON February 6, 1750. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1750) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- John Bennet has wrote foolishly both to Newcastle and to Ireland. [] If you do not help him, he will hurt you. I wish he would give Mr. Carmichael the guinea I promised, and send the rest of the book-money he has in his hands to me.

To John Bennet Date: LONDON, February 9, 1750. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1750) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Poor William Darney! I suspected as much (although I could hardly believe it), and therefore purposely wrote in the manner I did. If he could be so weak as to show any one that letter he must take it for his pains. As to those Societies unless they desire it I have no desire to see them any more. I have employment enough elsewhere. So that, if they will acquit me of a part of my charge, I shall thank them and bless God. I have wrote to Mr. Grimshaw this afternoon. I dare not consent to any person’s talking nonsense either in verse or prose to any who remain under my inspection. What account do you hear of Eleazer Webster How does he behave [See letter of Nov. 25, 1748.] There has been little order in the Yorkshire Societies yet, and this has occasioned their want of money. If they are regulated thoroughly, that want will cease. But I should think they should not yet attempt so expensive a work. There can be no good understanding between you and me so long as you encourage those tale, bearers. A villain most certainly he was whoever sent you that account from London. I doubt he is the same person I have traced through several parts of England -- a smooth, fawning, bad man, and not only a tale-bearer, but a liar and slanderer. Such are enough to separate chief friends. From the time I left you I have continually set a watch before my lips. I spoke my heart once, and no more, between Cheshire and London, where my brother had spoke; there I spoke, just as much as I believed the glory of God required. And all to whom I spoke said with one voice, ‘You are still as much prejudiced in favor of her as ever.’ I have been equally wary in all my letters. Even when the copy of your letter was sent me from Limerick, the sharpest word I wrote in answer was, ‘John Bennet is not wise.’

My brothel beware you do not hurt yourself. I have not found God so present with me for so long a lime, ever since I was twelve years old. [When he was a boy at Charterhouse. This throws welcome light on his religious life at school. See sect. 14 of letter in Dec. 1751 to Dr. Lavington.] If I have any choice of anything left, it is that God would lighten my burden as to these Societies, if He sees good, by taking me to Himself. Adieu!

I fear God and honor the King. I earnestly desire to be at peace with all men. I have not willingly given any offence either to the magistrates, the clergy, or any of the inhabitants of the city of Cork; neither do I desire anything of them but to be treated, I will not say as a clergyman, a gentleman, or a Christian, but with such justice and humanity as are due to a Jew, a Turk, or a Pagan. -- I am sir, Your obedient servant.

To Edward Perronet Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1750) Author: John Wesley --- IRELAND, [May] 1750. I have abundance of complaints to make as well as to hear. I have scarce any one on whom I can depend when I am an hundred miles off. ’Tis well if I do not run away soon, and leave them to cut and shuffle for themselves. Here is a glorious people; but oh! where are the shepherds The Society at Cork have fairly [Probably after the terrible riots in May. He left Ireland on July 22.] sent me word that they will take care of themselves and erect themselves into a Dissenting congregation. I am weary of these sons of Zeruiah; they are too hard for me. Dear Ted, stand fast, whether I stand or fall. [In another letter he says:] Charles and you behave as I want you to do; but you cannot or will not preach where I desire. Others can and will preach where I desire; but they do not behave as I want them to do. I have a fine time between the one and the other. [And again in a third:] I think both Charles and you have in the general a right sense of what it is to serve as sons in the gospel; and if all our helpers had had the same, the work of God would have prospered better both in England and Ireland. [About a fortnight afterwards he writes thus on the same subject:] You put the thing right. I have not one preacher with me, and not six in England, whose wills are broken enough to serve me as sons in the gospel. Come on, now. you have broken the ice, and tell me the other half of your mind. I always blamed you for speaking too little, not too much. When you spoke most freely, as at Whitehaven, [In Sept. 1749 (Journal, iii 430.)] it was best for us both. I did not always disbelieve when I said nothing. But I would not attempt a thing till I could carry it. Tu qued scis, nescis is an useful rule, till I can remedy what I know. As you observe many things are remedied already; and many more will be. But you consider I have none to second me. They who should do it start aside as a broken bow.

‘That accordingly on May 29 Butler came with a greater mob than before: that he went to the Mayor and begged him to come, which he for some time refused to do, but after much importunity rose up and walked with him down the street: that when they were in the midst of the mob, the Mayor said aloud, “It is your own fault for entertaining these preachers. If you will turn them out of your house, I will engage there shall be no more harm done; but if you will not turn them out, you must take what you will get”: that upon this the mob set up an huzza and threw stones faster than before: that he said, “This is fine usage under a Protestant Government! If I had a priest saying mass in every room of it, my house would not be touched”: that the Mayor replied, “The priests are tolerated, but you are not; you talk too much; go in, and shut up your doors”: that, seeing no remedy, he did so; and the mob continued breaking the windows and throwing stones in till near twelve at night. ‘That on May 31 the said Sullivan and two more went and informed the Mayor of what the mob was then doing: that it was not without great importunity they brought him as far as the Exchange: that he would go no farther, nor send any help, though some that were much bruised and wounded came by: that some hours after, when the mob had finished their work, he sent a party of soldiers to guard the walls. 5. ‘JOHN STOCKDALE deposes farther, ‘That on May 31 he with others was quietly hearing the word of God, when Butler and his mob came down to the house: that, as they came out, the mob threw showers of dirt and stones: that many were hurt, many beat, bruised, and cut; among whom was this deponent, who was so bruised and cut that the effusion of blood from his head could not be stopped for a considerable time.’ 6. ‘JOAN M'NERNEY, of Cork, deposes,

18. It was now generally believed there would be no more riots in Cork; although I cannot say that was my opinion. On May 19 I accepted the repeated invitation of Mr. Alderman Pembrock, and came to his house. Understanding the place where the preaching usually was would by no means contain those who desired to hear me, at eight in the morning I went to Hammond's Marsh. The congregation was large and deeply attentive. A few of the rabble gathered at a distance; but by little and little they drew near and mixed with the congregation. So that I have seldom seen a more quiet and orderly assembly at any church in England or Ireland. 19. In the afternoon, a report being spread abroad that the Mayor designed to hinder my preaching on the Marsh, I desired Mr. Skelton and Jones to wait upon him and inquire concerning it. Mr. Skelton asked if my preaching there would be offensive to him; adding, ‘If it would, Mr. Wesley would not do it.’ He replied warmly, ‘Sir, I will have no mobbing.’ Mr. Skelton said, ‘Sir, there was none this morning.’ He answered, ‘There was. Are there not churches and meeting-houses enough I will have no more mobs and riots.’ Mr. Skelton replied, ‘Sir, neither Mr. Wesley nor they that heard him made either mobs or riots.’ He answered plain, ‘I will have no more preaching; and if Mr. Wesley attempts to preach, I am prepared for him.’ I did not conceive till now that there was any real meaning in what a gentleman said some time since; who, being told, ‘Sir, King George tolerates Methodists,’ replied, ‘Sir, you shall find the Mayor is King of Cork.’

2. But, before I proceed, I must beg leave to ask, who is this evidence against the other five Why, one that neither dares show his face nor tell his name or the place of his abode; one that is ashamed (and truly not without cause) of the dirty work he is employed in, so that we could not even conjecture who he was but that his speech bewrayeth him. How much credit is due to such an evidence let any man of reason judge. 3. This worthy witness falls foul upon Mr. Cownley, and miserably murders a tale he has got by the end (page 13). Sir, Mr. M[assiot] is nothing obliged to you for bringing the character of his niece into question. He is perfectly satisfied that Mr. Cownley acted in that whole affair with the strictest regard both to honor and conscience. You next aver that Mr. Reeves ‘asked a young woman whether she had a mind to go to hell with her father’ (page 16). It is possible. I will neither deny nor affirm it without some better proof. But suppose he did; unless I know the circumstances of the case, I could not say whether he spoke right or wrong. 4. But what is this to the ‘monstrous, shocking, amazing blasphemy spoken by Mr. Charles Wesley who one day,’ you say, ‘preaching on Hammond's Marsh, called out, “Has any of you got the Spirit” and when none answered said, “I am sure some of you have got it; for I feel virtue go out of me”’ (page 18). Sir, do you expect any one to believe this story I doubt it will not pass even at Cork; unless with your wise friend who said, ‘Methodists! Aye, they are the people who place all their religion in wearing long whiskers.’ 5. In the same page you attack Mr. Williams for applying those words, ‘I thy Maker am thy husband.’ Sir, by the same rule that you conclude ‘these expressions could only flow from a mind full of lascivious ideas,’ you may conclude the 45th Psalm to be only a wanton sonnet and the Canticles a counterpart to Rochester's poems. [John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester (1647-80), poet and libertine, friend of Charles II and the second Duke of Buckingham, wrote amorous lyrics.]

But you say he likewise' made use of unwarrantable expressions, particularly with regard to faith and good works, and the next day denied that he had used them’ (pages 10-11). Sir, your word is not proof of this. Be pleased to produce proper vouchers of the facts, and I will then give a farther answer. Likewise, as to his ‘indecent and irreverent behavior at church, turning all the preacher said into ridicule, so that numbers asked in your hearing why the churchwardens did not put the profane, wicked scoundrel in the stocks,’ my present answer is, I doubt the facts. Will your ‘men of undoubted character’ be so good as to attest them 6. Of all these, Mr. Williams, Cownley, Reeves, Haughton, Larwood, Skelton, Swindells, Tucker, and Wheatley, you pronounce in the lump that they are ‘a parcel of vagabond, illiterate babblers’ (pages 3-4), of whom ‘everybody that has the least share of reason must know’ that, though ‘they amuse the populace with nonsense, ribaldry, and blasphemy, they are not capable of writing orthography or good sense.’ Sir, that is not an adjudged case. Some who have a little share of reason think they are capable both of speaking and writing good sense. But if they are not, if they cannot write or read, they can save souls from death; they can by the grace of God bring sinners from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. 7. But they ‘made a woman plunder her poor old husband, and another absent herself from her husband and children’ (pages 24-5), Pray, what are their names, where do they live, and how may one come to the speech of them I have heard so many plausible tales of this kind which on examination vanished away, that I cannot believe one word of this till I have more proof than your bare assertion.

18. You assert, seventhly, that I am ‘myself as fond of riches as the most worldly clergyman’ (page 21). ‘Two thousand pence a week! a fine yearly revenue from assurance and salvation tickets!’ (page 8). I answer: (1) What do you mean by ‘assurance and salvation tickets’ Is not the very expression a mixture of nonsense and blasphemy (2) How strangely did you under-rate my revenue when you wrote in the person of George Fisher! You then allowed me only an hundred pounds a year, What is this to two thousand pence a week (3) ‘There is not a clergyman,’ you say, ‘who would not willingly exchange his livings for your yearly penny contributions’ (page 21). And no wonder: for, according to a late computation, they amount to no less every year than eight hundred eighty-six thousand pounds, besides some odd shillings and pence; in comparison of which the revenue of his Grace of Armagh or of Canterbury is a very trifle. And yet, sir, so great is my regard for you and my gratitude for your late services that, if you will only resign your curacy of Christ's Church, I will make over to you my whole revenue in Ireland. 19. But ‘the honor’ I gain, you think, is even ‘greater than the profit.’ Alas, sir, I have not generosity enough to relish it! I was always of Juvenal's mind, -- Gloria quantalibet, quid erit, si gloria tanrum est[ Satires, vii. 81: ‘What is glory without profit too’] And especially while there are so many drawbacks, so many dead flies in the pot of ointment. Sheer honor might taste tolerably well; but there is gall with the honey, and less of the honey than the gall. Pray, sir, what think you Have I more honor or dishonor Do more people praise or blame me How is it in Cork nay (to go no farther) among your own little circle of acquaintance Where you hear one commend, do not ten cry out, ‘Away with such a fellow from the earth’ Above all, I do not love honor with dry blows. I do not find it will cure broken bones. But perhaps you may think I glory in these. Oh how should I have gloried, then, if your good friends at Dant's Bridge had burnt my person instead of my effigy!

You supply us yourself with one unexceptionable answer: ‘Those of the clergy with whom I have conversed freely own they have not learning sufficient to comprehend your scheme of religion’ (page 30). If they have not, I am sorry for them. My scheme of religion is this: Love is the fulfilling of the law. From the true love of God and man, directly flows every Christian grace, every holy and happy temper; and from these springs uniform holiness of conversation, in conformity to those great rules, ‘Whether ye eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God,’ and ‘Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you, even so do unto them.’ But this, you say, ‘those of the clergy with whom you converse have not learning enough to comprehend.’ Consequently their ignorance or not understanding our doctrine is the reason why they oppose us. 2. I learn from you that ignorance of another kind is a second reason why some of the clergy oppose us: they, like you, think us enemies to the Church. The natural consequence is that, in proportion to their zeal for the Church, their zeal against us will be. 3. The zeal which many of them have for orthodoxy, or right opinions, is a third reason for opposing us. For they judge us heterodox in several points, maintainers of strange opinions. And the truth is, the old doctrines of the Reformation are now quite new in the world. Hence those who revive them cannot fail to be opposed by those of the clergy who know them not. 4. Fourthly. Their honor is touched when others pretend to know what they do not know themselves, especially when unlearned and (otherwise) ignorant men lay claim to any such knowledge. ‘What is the tendency of all this,’ as you observe on another head, ‘but to work in men’s minds a mean opinion of the clergy’ But who can tamely suffer this None but those who have the mind that was in Christ Jesus.

9. Others may have been prejudiced by the artful misrepresentations these have made, or by those they have frequently heard from the pulpit. Indeed, this has been the grand fountain of popular prejudice. In every part both of England and Ireland the clergy, where they were inclined so to do, have most effectually stirred up the people. 10. There has been another reason assigned for the opposition that was made to me in particular at Cork -- namely, that the Mayor was offended at my preaching on Hammond's Marsh, and therefore resolved I should not preach at all; whereas, if I had not preached abroad, he would have given me leave to preach in the house. Would Mr. Mayor have given me leave to preach in my own house I return him most humble thanks. But should he be so courteous as to make me the offer even now, I should not accept it on any such terms. Greater men than he have endeavored to hinder me from calling sinners to repentance in that open and public manner; but hitherto it has been all lost labor. They have never yet been able to prevail; nor ever will, till they can conquer King George and his armies. To curse them is not enough. 11. Lastly. Some (I hope but a few) do cordially believe that ‘private vices are public benefits.’ I myself heard this in Cork when I was there last. These consequently think us the destroyers of their city, by so lessening the number of their public benefactors, the gluttons, the drunkards, the dram-drinkers, the Sabbath-breakers, the common swearers, the cheats of every kind, and the followers of that ancient and honorable trade, adultery and fornication. 12. These are the undeniable motives to this opposition. I come now to the manner of it. When some gentlemen inquired of one of the bishops in England, ‘My Lord, what must we do to stop these new preachers’ he answered, ‘If they preach contrary to Scripture, confute them by Scripture; if contrary to reason, confute them by reason. But beware you use no other weapons than these, either in opposing error or defending the truth.’

To John Bennet Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1750) Author: John Wesley --- [June 1750] You do entirely right in speaking your mind freely. To keep anything back is indeed to poison our own soul. It was chiefly this -- the being close, the not speaking your mind -- which had wellnigh overthrown you. If you had opened yourself at the beginning either to --- or any other things would not have gone so far. But it is the artifice of the devil to make us disaffected to those very persons who might be of the greatest use to our soul. It is a great blessing that you are thus far delivered. But you are not beyond the danger of a relapse nor will you be (I fear) till you are farther from home. It is not good (no, not for your body) to be so long in one place. I believe it would help you every way, for a while either to change with --- or come to London. Write freely. Peace be with you. Adieu.

I expected Mr. Hopper here on Tuesday night. [Christopher Hopper went with Wesley to Ireland on April 6, 1750. He arrived in Dublin soon after this letter was written, spent a few days there, and sailed with Wesley for England on June 22. He reached Bristol on the 25th, and went thence to Newcastle. See Wesley’s Veterans i. 135; and letter of Feb. 6.] If he had come, we might have embarked together for Bristol, and he would have gone by Manchester to Newcastle. I do not know but he may do so still. I trust you will never be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, but that He who has supported you hitherto will do it to the end. - I am, madam, Your most obedient servant.

To Mrs. Madan Date: LONDON November 9, 1750. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1750) Author: John Wesley --- There h much difficulty in knowing how to act in such a situation as yours is. You are not at liberty to choose what is, absolutely speaking, the most excellent way, which is to cut off all superfluity of every kind -- to expend all our time and all our substance in such a manner as will most conduce to the glory of God and our own eternal happiness. Nor is it easy to say how far you may vary from this: Something must be allowed to the circumstances you are in. But who can say how much Only the Spirit of God, only the unction from above which teacheth us of all things. But perhaps this in general may be said -- all the time you can redeem from fashionable folly you should redeem. Consequentially it is right to throw away as little as possible of that precious talent on dressing, visits of form, useless diversions, and trifling conversation. Hebert well observes: If so thou spend thy time, the sun will cry Against thee; for his light was only lent. [The Temple, The Church Porch, XIV, where it reads ‘If those take up thy day.’] And I can’t but think if you earnestly cry to Him who with every temptation can make a way to escape, [Mrs. Madan here adds a note: ‘And this, I bless God without any alteration of worldly circumstances or my situation of life, was done.’] He will deliver you from abundance of that impertinence which has hithero swallowed up so many of your precious moments.

8. Your Lordship will please to observe that I do not here touch in the least on the merits of the cause. Be the Methodists what they may, fools, madmen, enthusiasts, knaves, impostors, Papists, or anything yet your Lordship perceives this does not in any degree affect the point in question: still it behooves every Christian, nay, every reasonable heathen, to consider the subject he is upon, and to take care not to bring this into contempt (especially if it be of the last importance), however inexcusable or contemptible his opponents may be. 9. This consideration, my Lord, dwelt much upon my mind when I read the former parts of the Comparison. I immediately saw there was no encountering a buffoon by serious reason and argument. This would naturally have furnished both him and his admirers with fresh matter of ridicule. On the other hand, if I should let myself down to a level with him by a less serious manner of writing than I was accustomed to, I was afraid of debasing the dignity of the subject -- nay, and I knew not but I might catch something of his spirit. I remembered the advice, ‘Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him’ (Prov. xxvi. 4). And yet I saw there must be an exception in some cases, as the words immediately following show: ‘Answer a fool according to his foly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.' I conceive as if he had said, ‘Yet it is needful in some cases to “answer a fool according to his folly,” otherwise he will be “wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.’” I therefore constrained myself to approach, as near as I dared, to his own manner of writing. And I trust the occasion will plead my excuse with your Lordship and all reasonable men.

15. The comparer, doubtless, would answer: ‘Yes; for it would prevent the horrid consequences of your preaching.’ My Lord, give me leave to say once more, I willingly put the whole cause upon this issue. What are the general consequences of our preaching Are there more tares or wheat more good men destroyed (as Mr. Church once supposed) or wicked men saved The last places in your Lordship's diocese where we began constant preaching are near Liskeard in Cornwall and at Tiverton in Devonshire. Now, let any man inquire here (1) what kind of people were those a year ago who now constantly hear this preaching (2) what are the main doctrines the Methodists have been teaching this twelvemonth (3) what effect have these doctrines had upon their hearers And if you do not find (1) that the greater part of these were a year or two ago notoriously wicked men; (2) yet the main doctrines they have heard since were, ‘Love God and your neighbor, and carefully keep His commandments'; and (3) that they have since exercised themselves herein and continue so to do; -- I say, if any reasonable man, who will be at the pains to inquire, does not find this to be an unquestionable fact, I will openly acknowledge myself an enthusiast or whatever rise he shah please to style me.

3. This preaching has greatly impaired, if not destroyed, the love of their neighbor in many souls. They no longer burn with love to all mankind, with desire to do good to all. They are straitened in their own bowels, their love is confined to narrower and narrower bounds, till at length they have no desire or thought of doing good to any but those of their own community. If a man was before a zealous member of our Church, groaning for the prosperity of our Zion, it is past; all that zeal is at an end: he regards the Church of England no more than the Church of Rome; his tears no longer fall, his prayers no longer ascend, that God may shine upon her desolations. The friends that were once as his own soul are now more to him than other men. All the bands of that formerly endeared affection are as threads of tow that have touched the fire. Even the ties of filial tenderness are dissolved. The child regards not his own parent; he no longer regards he womb that bare or the paps that gave him suck. Recent instances of this also are not wanting. I will particularize if required. Yea, the son leave his aged father, daughter her mother, in want of the necessities of life. I know the persons; I have myself relieved them more than once: for that was ‘corban’ whereby they should have been profited. 4. These humble preachers utterly destroy the humility of their hearers, who are quickly wiser than all their former teachers; not because they ‘keep Thy commandments’ (as the poor man under the law said), but because they allow no commandments at all. In a few days they are ‘wiser in their own eyes than seven men that can render a reason.’ ‘Render a reason! Aye, there it is. Your carnal reason destroys you. You are for reason: I am for faith.’ I am for both. For faith to perfect my reason, that, by the Spirit of God not putting out the eyes of my understanding, but enlightening them more and more, I may ‘be ready to give’ a clear scriptural ‘answer to every man that asketh’ me ‘a reason of the hope that is in’ me.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: BRISTOL March 5, 1751. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1751) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- After an extremely troublesome day I reached Chippenham last night, twenty miles short of Bristol, and came hither between ten and eleven this morning at least as well as when I left London. The note delivered to me on Sunday night, which ran in these words, ‘I am not determined when I shall leave London,’ convinces me that I must not expect to see the writer of it at our approaching Conference. This is indeed deserting me at my utmost need, just when the Philistines are upon me. But I am content; for I am well assured the Lord is not departed from me. Is it not best to let all these things sleep to let him do just what he will do; and to say nothing myself good or bad, concerning it, till his mind is more cool and able to bear it I persuade myself neither Mrs. Blackwell, nor Mr. Lloyd [Samuel Lloyd, whose name Wesley sometimes spells ‘Loyd.’] or you will be wanting in your good offices. And will you not likewise advise and comfort her who is now likely to stand in need of every help You see how bold a beggar I am. I can't be satisfied yet, without asking you to do more for dear sir, Your most affectionate servant.

To John Bennet Date: BRISTOL March 12, 1751. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1751) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- Our building obliges me to return to London. So that my journey into the North must be deferred a little longer. I expect to leave London on the 27th instant; to be at Wednesbury the 31st, and at Alpraham on Thursday, April 4; whence I think (at present) to go on to Munchester. The Saturday following I am to be at Whitehaven. The Wednesday and Thursday in Easter week I can spend wherever you think proper. I propose taking Leeds in my return from Newcastle. We should all have been glad to see you here. I hope you both enjoy health both of body and mind. -- I am Your affectionate brother. PS. -- Perhaps you could spare time to visit Newcastle this spring. I should be glad to see Mr. Bodily. [This seems to be John Baddeley, Rector of Hayfield. See note to letter of Oct. 31, 1755.]

To his Wife Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1751) Author: John Wesley --- TETSWORTH, 42 miles from London. March 27, 1751. MY DEAR MOLLY, -- Do I write too soon Have not you above all the people in the world a right to hear from me as soon as possibly I can You have surely a fight to every proof of love I can give and to all the little help which is in my power. For you have given me even your own self. O how can we praise God enough for making us helps meet for each other! I am utterly astonished at His goodness. Let not only our lips but our lives show forth His praise! Will you be so kind as to send word to T. Butts [Thomas Butts had been the Wesleys’ traveling companion. On April 19, 1744, Charles Wesley sent him to Wednesbury with 60, which he had collected for the sufferers in the riots. He traveled with John Wesley in Sept. 1746. On Feb. 8, 1753, proposals were made for devolving all temporal affairs on the Stewards, and a circular was sent out in which Thomas Butts and William Briggs announced that they had been invested with the care of printing and publishing. A letter from Butts to Wesley (Arminian Mag. 1779, p. 258) dated Oct. 31, 1750, on ‘The duty of all to pay their debts,’ shows that he was ‘honest as honesty itself.’ Mrs. Hannah Butts, on whom Charles Wesley wrote some memorial verses, may have been his wife. He seems to have retired about 1759.] that Mr. Williams [Anthony Williams was a Bristol Methodist, at whose house Wesley was a frequent guest in 1739. He may have lent Wesley this money to pay Richard Thyer. See Journal Diary, ii. 175, 181.] of Bristol will draw upon him in a few days for twenty pounds (which I paid Rd. Thyer in full), and that he may call upon you for the money

If you still have a desire to make your will, Brother Briggs [William Briggs, of the Customs House had been for some time a Methodist preacher. He was a leader at the Foundry in 1745. See heading to letter of Feb. 25, 1769.] can write it for you. It requires no form of law -- no, nor even stamp paper. But if you apprehend any difficulty, Mr. I'Anson [Wesley’s legal friend and advisor. See W.H.S. v. 230-7.] will rejoice to advise you, either for my sake or your own. My dear, forward the business with Mr. Blisson [Mr. Wesleys trustee. See the next three letters.] and the stating the accounts by Mr. Crook [Mr. Crook was evidently making some account of Mrs. Wesley's affairs. See next letter.] as much as possible. But O let no business of any kind hinder the intercourse between God and your soul! Neither let anything prevent your spending at least one hour a day in private reading, prayer, and meditation. To hear you do this constantly will give a particular satisfaction to him who blesses God that he is Ever Yours. If any letter comes to you directed to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, [See address at end of next letter.] open it: it is for yourself. Dear Love, adieu!

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: MANCHESTER, April 7, 1751. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1751) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- You must blame yourself, ff your never denying me anything makes me ask more and more. But I am not assured whether it is proper for you to comply with what I am going to mention now. If it is, I know you will do it, although it will not be a pleasing task. Mr. Lloyd thinks it absolutely needful that a friend or two of my wife should meet Mr. Blisson and a friend or two of his, in order to persuade him (if it can be done) to come to an account as to what remains in his hand. If Mr. Lloyd and you would take this trouble on yourselves, I do not doubt but the affair would end well. We have hitherto had a very rough but a very prosperous journey. I only want more time; there being so many cams to various parts that I cannot possibly answer them all between this and Whitsuntide. O what reason have we to put forth all our strength! For what a Master do we serve! I trust we shah never be weary of His service. And why should we ever be ashamed of it I am persuaded Mrs. Blackwell and you do not forget me nor her that is as my own soul. -- I am, dear sir, Your affectionate servant.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: LEEDS, May 14. 1751. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1751) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- I am inclined to think Mr. Lloyd has hit upon the expedient which, if anything can, will induce Mr. Blisson to come to an amicable conclusion. I have wrote such a state of the case as he advised, and hope God will give a blessing to it. I am much obliged both to Mrs. Blackwell and you on my own and on my wife’s account. She has many trials; but not one more than God knows, and knows to be profitable for hen I believe you have been and will be a means of removing some. If these outward encumbrances were removed, it might be a means of her spending more time with me; which would probably be useful as well as agreeable to her. As the providence of God has called you to be continually engaged in outward things, I trust you will find Him continually present with you, that you may look through all, and Serve with careful Martha's hands And loving Mary's heart. I am glad Mrs. Dewal has not forgotten me. I hope you all remember at the throne of grace, dear sir, Your most affectionate servant.

To his Wife Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1751) Author: John Wesley --- [Leeds, May 15 1751] MY DEAR MOLLY, -- Love is talkative. Theref[ore I can't wait] any longer. For it is two w[eeks since] the former part of my last [letter] for you but [one]. And I found [such] nearness to you, that I could [not wait]. I hope, my Dear Love, that [you go] in the morning, and that you will dispatch all the [business] that nothing may hinder. [But] if God sees it will be [not so, may we] both say, Not as I will. . . . I suppose you kn[ow] . . . Dearest Love, adieu. Pray enclose Brother Armitage’s [letter]. Frank, and send it immediate[ly].

July 20. -- The Societies both must and shall maintain the preachers we send among them, or I will preach among them no more. The least that I can say to any of these preachers is, ‘Give yourself wholly to the work, and you shall have food to eat and raiment to put on.' And I cannot see that any preacher is called to any people who will not thus maintain him. Almost everything depends on you and me: let nothing damp or hinder us: only let us be alive, and put forth all our strength. July 24. -- As to the preachers, my counsel is, not to check the young ones without strong necessity. If we lay some aside, we must have a supply; and of the two I prefer grace before gifts. [Charles Wesley asks:] Are not both indispensably necessary Has not the cause suffered, in Ireland especially, through the insufficiency of the preachers Should we not first regulate, reform, and bring into discipline the preachers we have before we look for more Should we not also watch and labor, to prevent the mischief which the discarded preachers may occasion July 27. -- What is it that has eaten out the heart of half our preachers, particularly those in Ireland Absolutely idleness; their not bring constantly employed. I see it plainer and plainer. Therefore I beg you will inquire of each, ‘How do you spend your time from morning to evening’ And give him his choice, ‘Either follow your trade, or resolve before God to spend the same hours in reading, &c., [Wesley did his utmost to rouse and help his preachers to cultivate their minds. In Lent 1749 he met seventeen of them at Kingswood, and read lectures to them as he used to do to his pupils at Oxford.] which you used to spend in working.’

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: BRISTOL, July 3, 1751. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1751) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- Before I left London I wrote to Mr. Butterfield, [See letter of April 16, 1752.] informing him of two families which are in great distress. As I have heard nothing since, I suppose the letter miscarried; unless my ominous name prevented its meeting with success. However, I have done my part, and it is only a little labor lost. Nay, in one sense it is not lost; for if we only desire to help one another, the willing mind cannot lose its reward. My brother left us on Saturday. He designed to be at Worcester to-day, and then to proceed slowly towards Scotland. His mind seemed to be altogether changed before he went. He was quite free and open to us, and pressed us much to make use of his house in his absence, just as if it were our own. There is a fair prospect on every side. The people of Bristol in general are much alive to God and they are so united together that the men of false tongues can make no impression upon them. Do you know what is the mater with John Jones [See letter of April 16 1748.] I suppose he will speak freely to you. He seems to be much troubled at something, and I doubt, offended. I know, ff you can remove that trouble, it will be a pleasure to you to do it. We join in good wishes both to Mrs. Blackwell and you. --I am, dear sir, Your very affectionate servant.

To John Downes Date: LONDON, November 7, 1751. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1751) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- Your first hindrance is easily removed. Most of the preachers have now all they want. So might you have had if you had spoken to the Stewards, or (in case of their neglect) to me. As to your second bodily weakness is a good reason for a temporary retirement. Your third observation, that the people in general do not practice what they hear, is a melancholy truth. But what then Is this a sufficient cause why either you or I should leave them why we should give them up to their own heart’s lusts, and let them follow their own imaginations In no wise; especially while them are some among them whose conversation is worthy of the gospel of Christ. I grant also some of the preachers themselves do not adorn the gospel. Therefore we have been constrained to lay some of them aside, and some others are departed of themselves. [See letter of July 17.] Let us that remain be doubly in earnest. You should make an excursion (as to Alnwick) now and then. Is not John Fenwick a proper person to relieve James Tucker at Whitehaven If you think he is, pray send him thither forthwith. My love to your father and mother. I entreat you tell me without reserve what you think of C. Skelton. [See letters of July 17 Aug. 17.] Is his heart with us, or is it not Peace be with you. Adieu.

To John Bennet Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1751) Author: John Wesley --- [November 1751.] You judge quite right that one of our brethren ought to be at the Assizes at Chester. The most proper person of all others (if you receive this time enough) is John Bennet. It will be an exceeding great check to those who would otherwise blaspheme the gospel. That circumstance should be declared in open court, -- that this man was no Methodist; that the Germans have declared above two years agone in the pubic newspapers [See Journal, iii. 434-5. The Moravians wrote to the Daily Post in Sept. 1749, pointing out that they were not Methodists.] that they have nothing to do with the Methodists; and that therefore, whatever the Germans do, the Methodists are no more to answer for it than the Presbyterians. Stand fast.

To John Downes Date: LONDON, December 10, 1751. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1751) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I thank C. Herrington for his letter. [Is ‘C. Herrington’ Brother Errington See letter of Jan. 8, 1757.] He should not fail to write whenever he sees occasion. If you are straitened for preachers, could not you make use of George Atchinson from Stockton for a time I suppose James Tucker also is now with you. [From Whitehaven. See letter of Nov. 7.] He is, I verily believe, honest of heart; but a little too wise h his own eyes. Speak plainly to him, if you should ever hear that anything is amiss in his preaching or conversation. Brother Reeves will be here in a day or two. But he cannot return into the North yet. I wish you would regulate a little at a time, as you find your health will permit. But you must carefully guard against any irregularity, either as to food, sleep, or labor. Your water should be neithr quite warm (for fear of relaxing the tone of your stomach) nor quite cold. Of all flesh, mutton is the best for you; of all vegetables turnips, potatoes, and apples (roasted, boiled, or baked) if you can bear them. Take care you do not lose anything you have learned already, whether you learn more or not. You must needs be here (if alive) the 1st of March at our Conference. [The Conference was held in Leeds in May; but the name of John Downes is among those attached to the agreement given in the Journal iv. 9, and dated Jan. 29, 1752.] None will he present but those we invite. How apt is the corruptible body to press down the soul! But all shall work together for good. Now you can sympathize a little with me. We must expect no thanks from man. Evil for good will be our constant portion here. But it is well. The Lord is at hand. -- I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To John Downes Date: LONDON, December 28, 1751. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1751) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- Your letter is the picture of your heart. It is honest and upright. I believe a journey to London will do you good. If you could borrow an horse to Leeds, you may take my mare from thence, which is in Brother Shent’s keeping. [] As you ride slow, and not many miles a day, I suppose she would bring you hither very well; and when you are here, we can easily find means to supply your other wants. I think it is ill husbandry for you to work with your hands in order to get money, because you may be better employed. But if you will work, come and superintend my printing. I will give you forty pounds for the first year, and it will cost me nothing so to do. Afterwards, if need be, I will increase your salary; and still you may preach as often as you can preach. However, come, whether you print, or preach, or not. Peace be with your spifit. -- I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Dr. Lavington, Bishop Of Exeter Date: LONDON, December 1751. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1751) Author: John Wesley --- SIR, -- 1. You have undertaken to prove (as I observed in my former letter, a few sentences of which I beg leave to repeat) that the ‘whole conduct of the Methodists is but a counterpart of the most wild fanaticisms of Popery’ (Preface to the First Part, p. 3). You endeavor to support this charge by quotations from our own writings, compared with quotations from Popish authors. It lies upon me to answer for one. But in order to spare both you and myself, I shall at present consider only your Second Part, and that as briefly as possible. Accordingly I shall not meddle with your other quotations, but (leaving them to whom they may concern) shall examine whether those you have made from my writings prove the charge for which they were made or no. If they do, I submit. But if they do not, if they are ‘the words of truth and soberness,’ it is an objection of no real weight against any sentiment, just in itself, though it should also be found in the writings of Papists -- yea, of Mahometans or Pagans. 2. In your first section, in order to prove the ‘vain boasting of the Methodists,’ you quote a part of the following sentence: ‘When hath religion, I will not say since the Reformation, but since the time of Constantine the Great, made so large a progress in any nation within so short a space’ (I beg any impartial person to read the whole passage, from the eighty-fourth to the ninetieth page of the third Appeal. [A Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion, Part III. See Works, viii. 205-9.]) I repeat the question, giving the glory to God; and, I trust, without either boasting or enthusiasm. In your second you cite (and murder) four or five lines from one of my Journals 'as instances of the persuasive eloquence of the Methodist preachers' (pages 1, 9). But it unfortunately happens that neither of the sentences you quote were spoke by any preacher at all. You know full well the one was used only in a private letter, the other by a woman on a bed of sickness.

3. You next undertake to prove 'the most insufferable pride and vanity of the Methodists’ (sect. iii. p. 12, &c.). For this end you quote five passages from my Journals and one from the third Appeal. The first was wrote in the anguish of my heart, to which I gave vent (between God and my own soul) by breaking out, not into ‘confidence or boasting,’ as you term it, but into those expressions of bitter sorrow, ‘I went to America to convert the Indians; but oh, who shall convert me’ (Journal, i. 418). Some of the words which follow you have picked out, and very honestly laid before your reader, without either the beginning or end, or one word of the occasion or manner wherein they were spoken. Your next quotation is equally fair and generous: ‘Are they read in philosophy So was I, &c.’ (i. 422, &c.). This whole ‘string of self-commendation,’ as you call it, being there brought, ex professo, to prove that, notwithstanding all this, which I once piqued myself upon, I was at that hour in a state of damnation! The third is a plain narrative of the manner wherein many of Bristol expressed their joy on my coming unexpectedly into the room after I had been some time at London (ii. 457). And this, I conceive, will prove the charge of high treason as well as that of ‘insufferable pride and vanity.’ You say, fourthly: ‘A dying woman, who had earnestly desired to see me, cried out as I entered the room, “Art thou come, thou blessed of the Lord”’ (ii. 483). She did so. And what does this prove The fifth passage is this: ‘In applying which, my soul was so enlarged, that methought I could have cried out (in another sense than poor, vain Archimedes), “Give me where to stand, and I will shake the earth.”’ [See letters of June 11, 1747, sect. 20 (to Bishop Gibson), and Nov. 26, 1762.] My meaning is, I found such freedom of thought and speech (jargon, stuff, enthusiasm to you) that me-thought, could I have then spoken to all the world, they would all have shared in the blessing.

Afterward it follows: ‘What persons could in the nature of things have been (antecedently) less liable to exception, with regard to their moral character at least, than those the all-wise God hath now employed Indeed, I cannot devise what manner of men could have been more unexceptionable on all accounts. Had God endued us with greater natural or acquired abilities, this very thing might have been turned into an objection. Had we been remarkably defective, it would have been matter of objection on the other hand. Had we been Dissenters of any kind, or even Low Church-men (so called), it would have been a great stumbling-block in the way of those who are zealous for the Church. And yet, had we continued in the impetuosity of our High Church zeal, neither should we have been willing to converse with Dissenters, nor they to receive any good at our hands.’ [Works, viii; 226-7.] Sir, why did you break off your quotation in the middle of this paragraph, just at ‘more unexceptionable on all accounts’ Was it not on purpose to give a wrong turn to the whole, to conceal the real and obvious meaning of my words, and put one upon them that never entered into my thoughts 5. You have reserved your strong reason for the last--namely, my own confession: 'Mr. Wesley says himself, “By the most infallible of proofs, inward feeling, I am convinced of pride, &c.” ‘Sir, be pleased to decipher that’ &c. ‘Or I will spare you the pains, and do it myself, by reciting the whole sentence [See letter of Oct. 30, 1738, to his brother Samuel.]: ‘By the most infallible of proofs, inward feeling, I am convinced (1) Of unbelief; having no such faith in Christ as will prevent my heart from being troubled, which it could not be, if I believed in God, and rightly believed also in Him; (2) of pride throughout my life past, inasmuch as I thought I had what I find I have not.’ (Journal, i. 415.) Now, sir, you have my whole confession. I entreat you to make the best of it. But I myself ‘acknowledge three Methodists to have fallen into pride.’ Sir, I can tell you of three more. And yet it will not follow that the doctrines I teach ‘lead men into horrid pride and blasphemy.’

6. In the close of your fourth section you charge me with ‘shuffling and prevaricating with regard to extraordinary gifts and miraculous powers.’ Of these I shall have occasion to speak by-and-by. At present I need only return the compliment by charging you with gross, willful prevarication from the beginning of your book to the end. Some instances of this have appeared already. Many more will appear in due time. 7. Your fifth charges me with an ‘affectation of prophesying.’ Your first proof of it is this: ‘It was about this time that the soldier was executed. For some time I had visited him every day. But when the love of God was shed abroad in his heart, I told him, “Do not expect to see me any more: I believe Satan will separate us for a season.” Accordingly the next day I was informed the commanding officer had given strict orders that neither Mr. Wesley nor any of his people should be admitted’ (ii. 339-40.) I did believe so, having seen many such things before; yet without affecting a spirit of prophecy. But that I do claim it, you will prove, secondly, from my mentioning ‘the great work which God intends, and is now beginning, to work over all the earth.’ By what art you extract such a conclusion out of such premises I know not. That God intends this none who believe the Scripture doubt. And that He has begun it, both in Europe and America, any who will make use of their eyes and ears may know without any ‘miraculous gift of prophesying.’ 8. In your sixth section you assert that I lay claim to other miraculous gifts (page 45). As you borrow this objection from Mr. Church, I need only give the same answer I gave before. ‘I shall give,’ says Mr. Church, ‘but one account more, and that is what you give of yourself.’ The sum whereof is, ‘At two several times, being ill and in violent pain, I prayed to God, and found immediate ease.’ I did so. I assert the fact still. ‘But if these,’ you say, ‘are not miraculous cures, all this is rank enthusiasm. ‘I will put your argument in form: ‘He that believes those are miraculous cures which are not is a rank enthusiast: ‘But you believe those to be miraculous cures which are not:

The next words which you cite, ‘thrown into great perplexities,’ I cannot find in the page you refer to; neither those that follow. The sum of them is that ‘at that time I did not feel the love of God, but found deadness and wanderings in public prayer, and coldness even at the Holy Communion.’ Well, sir, and have you never found in yourself any such coldness, deadness, and wanderings I am persuaded you have. And yet surely your brain is always cool and temperate! never ‘intoxicated with the heated fumes of spirituous particles’! 13. If you quote not incoherent scraps (by which you may make anything out of anything), but entire connected sentences, it will appear that the rest of your quotations make no more for your purpose than the foregoing. Thus -- although I allow that on May 24 ‘I was much buffeted with temptations; but I cried to God, and they fled away; that they returned again and again; I as often lifted up my eyes, and He sent me help from His holy place’ (Journal, i. 476-7) -- it will only prove the very observation I make myself: ‘I was fighting both under the law and under grace. But then I was sometimes, if not often, conquered; now I was always conqueror.’ That some time after, I ‘was strongly assaulted again, and after recovering peace and joy was thrown into perplexity afresh by a letter, asserting that no doubt or fear could consist with true faith, that my weak mind could not then bear to be thus sawn asunder,’ will not appear strange to any who are not utter novices in experimental religion. No more than that, one night the next year, ‘I had no life or spirit in me, and was much in doubt whether God would not lay me aside and send other laborers into His harvest.’ 14. You add: ‘He owns his frequent relapses into sin for near twice ten years. Such is the case of a person who tells us that he carefully considered every step he took, one of intimate communication with the Deity!’ Sir, I did not tell you that; though, according to custom, you mark the words as mine. It is well for you that forging quotations is not felony.

My words are, ‘Oh what an hypocrite have I been (if this be so) for near twice ten years! But I know it is not so. I know every one under the law is even as I was ’-- namely, from the time I was twelve years old [See under sect. 40, and also letters of Feb. 9, 1750, and July ix, 1763.] till considerably above thirty. ‘And is it strange,’ you say, ‘that such an one should be destitute of means to resolve his scruples should be ever at variance with himself, and find no place to fix his foot’ Good sir, not too fast. You quite outrun the truth again. Blessed be God, this is not my case. I am not destitute of means to resolve my scruples. I have some friends and a little reason left. I am not ever at variance with myself, and have found a place to fix my foot: Now I have found the ground wherein Firm my soul's anchor may remain-- The wounds of Jesus, for my sin Before the world's foundation slain. And yet one of your assertions I cannot deny -- namely, that you 'could run the parallel between me and numbers of fanatical Papists '; and that not only with regard to my temper, but my stature, complexion, yea (if need were) the very color of my hair. 15. In your next section you are to give an account of the ‘spiritual succors and advantages received either during these trims, or very soon after’ (sect. x. p. 92, &c.). It is no wonder you make as lame work with these as with the conflicts which preceded them. ‘As the heart knoweth its own bitterness, so a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.' But it is no business of mine, as you have not done me the honor to cite any of my words in this section. 16. ‘The unsteadiness of the Methodists both in sentiments and practice’ (sect. xi. p. 95, &c.) is what you next undertake to prove. Your loose declamation with which you open the cause I pass over, as it rests on your own bare word; and haste to your main reason, drawn from my sentiments and practice with regard to the Moravians.

To any who knew something of inward religion I should have observed that this is what serious divines mean by desertion. But all expressions of this kind are jargon to you. So, allowing it to be whatever you please, I ask only, Do you know how long I continued in this state how many years, months, weeks, or days If not, how can you infer what my state of mind is now from what it was above eleven years ago Sir, I do not tell you or any man else that ‘I cannot now find the love of God in myself’; or that now, in the year 1751, I rarely feel more than a cold attention in the Holy Communion: so that your whole argument built on this supposition falls to the ground at once. 26. Sensible, I presume, of the weakness of this reason, you immediately apply to the passions by that artful remark: ‘Observe, reader, this is the man who charges our religion as no better than the Turkish pilgrimages to Mecca or the Popish worship of Our Lady of Loretto!’ Our religion! How naturally will the reader suppose that I fix the charge either on the Protestant religion in general, or on that of the Church of England in particular! But how far is this from the truth! My words concerning those who are commonly called religious are: ‘Wherein does their religion consist in righteousness and true holiness, in love stronger than death, fervent gratitude to God, and tender affection to all His creatures Is their religion the religion of the heart, a renewal of the soul in the image of God Do they resemble Him they worship Are they free from pride, from vanity, from malice, from envy, from ambition and avarice, from passion and lust, from every uneasy and unlovely temper Alas, I fear neither they (the greater part at least) nor you have any more notion of this religion than the peasant that holds the plough of the religion of a Gymnosophist. [Ancient Hindu philosophers and ascetics who discarded all clothing.]

Sir, has your passion quite extinguished your reason Have fierceness and rancor left you no understanding Otherwise, how is it possible you should run on at this senseless, shameless rate These things are true which Mr. Whitefield and Wesley object to each other. He holds the decrees; I do not: yet this does not prove us ‘detestable sectarists.’ And whether these things are true or false, your allegation of our ‘fierce and rancorous quarrels and mutual heinous accusations’ cannot stand good without better proof than you have yet produced. 34. Yet, with the utmost confidence, quasi re bene gesta, [‘As though you had accomplished some mighty affair.’] you proceed: ‘And how stands the matter among their disciples They are altogether by the ears, embroiled and broken with unchristian quarrels and confusions.’ How do you prove this Why thus: ‘Mr. Wesley's Fourth Journal is mostly taken up in enumerating their wrath, dissensions, and apostasies.’ No, sir, not a tenth part of it; although it gives a full and explicit account of the greatest dissensions which ever were among them. But to come to particulars, You first cite these words: ‘At Oxford, but a few who had not forsaken them.’ My words are: ‘Monday, October 1, 1739. I rode to Oxford; and found a few who had not yet forsaken the assembling themselves together.’ This is your first proof that ‘the Methodists are all together by the ears.’ Your second is its very twin brother: ‘Tuesday, 2. I went to many who once heard the word with joy; but “when the sun arose, they withered away.” ‘ (ii. 283-4.) Your third is this: ‘Many were induced (by the Moravians) to deny the gift of God, and affirm they never had any faith at all’ (ii. 315). You are at liberty to enjoy this argument also; and let it prove what it can prove. You, fourthly, cite these words: ‘Many of our sisters are shaken, grievously torn by reasonings. But few come to Fetter Lane, and then after their names are called over they presently depart. Our brethren here (those who were proselytes to the Moravians) have neither wisdom enough to guide nor prudence enough to let it alone. They (the Moravians) have much confounded some of our sisters, and many of our brothers are much grieved.’ (ii. 326-7.)

Who those other ‘forty were that,’ you say, ‘left them’ I know not. Perhaps you may inform me. Upon the whole, all these quotations prove only this: That about eleven years ago Mr. Cennick, falling into predestination, set the Society in Kingswood a-disputing with each other, and occasioned much confusion for some months. But still you have not gone one step toward proving (which is the one point in question) that the Methodists in general were even then ‘all together by the ears,’ and much less that they have been so ever since and that they are so now. However, you fail not to triumph (like Louis le Grand after his victory at Blenheim): ‘What shall we say now Are these the fruits of Methodism’ No, sir. They are the fruits of opposing it. They are the tares sown among the wheat. You may hear of instances of the same kind both in earlier and later ages. You add: ‘This. is bad enough; but it is not the worst. For consider what becomes of those that leave them’ Why, sir, what if ‘their last end be worse than their first’ Will you charge this upon me By the same rule you must have charged upon the Apostles themselves whatever befell those who, having ‘known the way of righteousness,’ afterwards ‘turned back from the holy commandment once delivered to them.’ 36. You conclude this section: ‘Mr. Wesley will probably say, “Must I be answerable for the Moravians, against whom I have preached and written” True, since he and the Moravians quarreled. But who gives them a box on the ear with the one hand and embraces them with the other Who first brought over this wicked generation Who made a Moravian his spiritual guide who fanaticized his own followers and deprived them of their senses whose Societies (by his own confession) run over in shoals to Moravianism forty or fifty at a time Would they have split upon this rock, if they had not been first Methodists Lastly: where is the spawn of Moravianism so strongly working as in the children of Methodism’

A seventh argument you ground on those words in the Plain Account of the People called Methodists: ‘It is a point we chiefly insist upon that orthodoxy or right opinions is a very slender part of religion, if any part of it at all.’ [See letter in Dec. 1748, sect. I. 2, to Vincent Perronet; also Sept. 18, 1756.] ‘The plain consequence whereof is’ (so you affirm) ‘that teaching and believing the fundamental errors of Popery, with the whole train of their abominations and idolatries, are of very little moment, if any.’ Strain again, sir; pull hard, or you will never be able to drag this conclusion out of these premises. I assert ‘(1) that in a truly righteous man fight opinions are a very slender part of religion; (2) that in an irreligious, a profane man, they are not any part of religion at all, such a man not being one jot more religious because he is orthodox.’ Sir, it does not follow from either of these propositions that wrong opinions are not an hindrance to religion; and much less that ‘teaching and believing the fundamental errors of Popery, with the whole train of their abominations and idolatries’ (practiced, I presume you mean, as well as taught and believed), ‘are of very little moment, if any.’ I am so far from saying or thinking this that, in my printed letter to a priest of that communion (did you never read it or hear of it before) are these express words [See letter in 1739 to a Roman Catholic priest.]: ‘I pity you much, having the same assurance that Jesus is the Christ, and that no Romanist can expect to be saved according to the terms of His covenant’ (it. 263). Do you term this ‘an extenuation of their abominations, a reducing them to almost a mere nothing’ 47. You argue,. eighthly, thus: ‘The Methodist doctrine of impressions and assurances holds equally for Popish enthusiasts.’ This needs no answer: I have already shown that the Methodist doctrine in these respects is both scriptural and rational. Your ninth argument is: ‘Their sudden conversions stand upon the same footing with the Popish.’ You should say, ‘are a proof that they are promoting Popery.’ I leave you to enjoy this argument also.

To the Society at Monyash, Derbyshire Date: POOLE, NEAR NANTWICH, March 25, 1752. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1752) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BRETHERN, -- I should very willingly have spent time among you; but at present my time will not permit, I have so many places to visit, between Manchester, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and so on, Berwick-upon-Tweed. Blessed be God that you are not yet moved from the hope of the gospel. He has permitted a fiery trial to fall upon you; but I trust the sharpest part of it is past. May God enable you to sand fast together in one mind and in one judgment! Watch, over one another in love; and let not that which is lame be turned out of the way. Do all things without murmurings and disputings, following peace with all men; and the God of peace be with you! -- I am, my dear brethren, Your affectionate brother.

To Dr. Lavington, Bishop of Exeter Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1752) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, May 8, 1752. MY LORD -- In my late letter to your Lordship I used no ceremony (I suppose it was not expected from one who was so deeply injured: and I trust I used no rudeness; if I did, I am ready to ask your Lordship's pardon. That letter [The Bishop of Exeter’s letter, pp. 2-3; see also Dr. Lavington’s letter in December 1751 to him.] related to a matter of fact published on your Lordship’s authority which I endeavored to falsify, and your Lordship now again endeavors to support. The facts alleged are (1) that I told Mrs. Morgan at Mitchell, ‘You are in hell; you are damned already’; (2) that I asked her to live upon free cost; (3) that she determined to admit no more Methodists into her house. At first I thought so silly and improbable a story neither deserved nor required a confutation; but when my friends thought otherwise, I called on Mrs. Morgan, who denied she ever said any such thing. I wrote down her words; part of which I transcribed in my letter to your Lordship, as follows:

But she declared father (so Mr. Bennet writes, ‘That Mr. John Wesley some time ago said to a maid of hers such thugs as were not fit to be spoken’ (page 11); and Mr. Morgan declared that he ‘did or said such indecent things to the above-named maid’ (the same fact, I presume, only a little embellished) ‘in his chamber in the night, that she immediately ran downstairs, and protested she would not go near him or any of the Methodists~ more’ (page 12). To save trouble to your Lordship as well as to myself, I will put this cause upon a very short issue: If your Lordship will only prove that ever I lay one night in Mrs. Morgan's house, nay, that ever I was in the town of Mitchell after sunset, I will confess the whole charge. What your Lordship mentions ‘by the way’ I will now consider. “Some of your Western correspondents imposed on the leaders of Methodism by transmitting to London a notoriously false account of my Charge to the clergy. Afterwards the Methodists confessed themselves to have been deceived; yet some time after, the Methodists at Cork in Ireland your own brother at the head of them, reprinted the same lying pamphlet as my performance.’ (Pages 4-5.) My Lord, I know not who are your Lordship's Irish correspondents; but here are almost as many mistakes as lines. For (1) They were none of my correspondents who sent that account to London. (2) It was sent, not to the leaders of Methodism, but to one who was no Methodist at all. (3) That it was a false account I do not know; but your Lordship may early put it out of dispute. And many have wondered that your Lordship did not do so long ago by printing the Charge in question. (4) I did never confess it was a false account; nor any person by my consent or with my knowledge. (5) That account was never reprinted at Cork at all. (6) When it was reprinted at Dublin, your Lordship had not disowned it. (7) My brother was not in Dublin when it was done; nor did either he or I know of it till long after.

Therefore, when my brother was asked how he could reprint such an account after your Lordship had publicly disowned it, I do not at all wonder that ‘he did not offer a single word in answer.’ Whether this as well as my former letter, be ‘mere rant and declamation’ or plain and sober reason, I must refer to the world and your Lordship's own conscience. -- I am, my Lord, Your Lordship’s most obedient servant.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1752) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, May 25, 1752. DEAR SIR, -- I want your advice. T. Butts [See letter of March 27, 1751.] sends me word that, after our printers’ bills are paid, the money remaining received by the sale of books does not amount to an hundred pounds a year. It seems, therefore, absolutely necessary to determine one of these three things, -- either to lessen the expense of printing (which I see no way of doing, unless by printing myself); to increase the income arising from the books (and how this can be done I know not); or to give up those eighty-six copies [Hymns and Sacred Poems published in 1749; a second edition appeared in 1752. Charles Wesley seems by deed to have had eighty-six copies for sale among his friends.] which are specified in my brother’s deed, to himself, to manage them as he pleases. Now, which of these ways, an things considered, should' you judge most proper to be taken I receive several agreeable accounts of the manner wherein God is carrying on His work in London; and am in hopes both Mrs. Blackwell and you partake of the common blessing. My wife set out for Bristol last week. [See previous letter.] I hope her fears will prove groundless, and that all her children will live to glorify God. Anthony, I hear, is recovered already. The people in all these parts are much alive to God, bung generally plain, artless, and simple of heart. Here I should spend the greatest part of my life, if I were to follow my own inclinations. [‘I know no place in Great Britain comparable to it for pleasantness.’ See Journal, iv. 323.] But I am not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. I trust it is your continual desire and care to know and love and serve Him. May He strengthen you both therein more and more! -- I am, dear, Your ever affectionate servant.

To John Topping Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1752) Author: John Wesley --- [June 11, 1752.] REVERAND SIR, To your first question, ‘whether any orthodox members of Christ’s Church ever took upon them the public office of preaching without Episcopal ordination, and in what century' I answer, Yes, very many, after the persecution of Stephen in the very first century, as you may read in the 8th chapter of the Acts. But I must likewise ask you, ‘In what century did any drunkard take that office upon himself either with or without Episcopal ordination And can he who is not a member of Christ’s Church be a minister of it’ To your second question, ‘Whether a pretence to an immediate mission to preach ought not to be confirmed by miracles’ I answer, Yes, by the grand miracle of saving sinners from their sins. I read of no other wrought by the preachers abovementioned. To your third question, 'By what scriptural authority I reconcile such a mission to preach with a non-administration of the sacraments’ I answer, ‘By the authority of the very same scriptures; wherein we do not find that they who then preached (except Philip alone) did so much as administer baptism to their own converts.’ -- I am, reverend sir, Your well-wisher. [This is apparently an instruction to Wesley’s preacher at Newcastle, who may have sent on the letter to Topping.] If the priest makes any reply, as ’tis very probable he will, send it to Mr. Wesley as soon as you get it, and let him know how to send to you. Direct to Mr. Wesley at the Foundry, near Moorfields, London. I trust that none of you will ever forget that the only way to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men is by walking as becometh the gospel. And that you may al do this, striving together for the hope of the gospel, is the fervent prayer of Your affectionate brother.

To Jonathan Pritchard Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1753) Author: John Wesley --- LONDON, January, 16, 1753. MY DEAR BROTHER, -- If there are two preachers in the Round (as I suppose there are now if Jonathan Maskew [See letter of Feb. 22.] is come), then you may tell Mr. Haughton I desire the preaching may be constantly at Chester in the manner I settled it when I was in the country. [Wesley paid his third visit to Chester, on his way to the North, on March 27, 1753. See Journal, iv. 56.] I hope to set out for the North about the beginning of March. I am not yet determined whether I go down toward Newcastle by Chester or endeavor to see you in my return. I hope Sister Roughly, Brother Jones, and all our friends are pressing on and walking in love. Ought I not to have heard something from you rather than from others concerning Sister Barlow of Manchester If she does remove to Chester, I trust it will be for the good of many; for she has both a searching and a healing spirit. -- I am Your affectionate brother.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: BIRSTALL. May 28, 1753. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1753) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- Your speaking so freely encourages me to write once more. [The letter of May 16 had been graciously received by this true-hearted friend. See also June 27.] Ever since I had the pleasure of knowing you, I have observed in you a real desire to please God and to have a conscience void of offence. But at the same time I have observed you had many enemies. Perhaps one was a natural cheerfulness of temper, which, though in itself it be highly desirable, yet may easily slide into an extreme. And in this case we know too well it may hurt us extremely. It may be, another hindrance in your way has sometimes been a kind of shame, which prevented your executing good and commendable deigns. Was it not owing to this that you who had received such blessings by means of field-preaching grew unwilling to attend it But is there any end of giving way to this enemy Will it not encroach upon us more and more I have sometimes been afraid that you have not gained ground in this respect for these two or three years. But the comfort is that in a moment God can repair whatever is decayed in our souls and supply whatever is wanting. What is too hard for Him Nothing but our own will. Let us give up this, and He will not withhold from us any manner of thing that is good. I believe the harvest has not been so plenteous for many years as it is now in all the North of England; but the laborers are few. I wish you could persuade our friend [Charles Wesley.] to share the labor with me. One of us should in any wise visit both the North and Ireland every year. But I cannot do both. The time will not suffice, otherwise I should not spare myself. I hope my life (rather than my tongue) says, I desire only to spend and to be spent in the world. Our love and service always attend Mrs. Blackwell and you. -- I am, dear sir, Your very affectionate servant.

I am persuaded you will receive these short lines in the same lo, e wherein I write them. That you may prosper more and more, both in your soul and in your labors, is the hearty desire of, my dear brother, [Wesley endorsed this letter ‘My letter to G. Whitd. He denies all!’] Your affectionate fellow laborer.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1753) Author: John Wesley --- LONDON June. 27 1753. DEAR SIR, -- Your speaking so freely lays me under a new obligation of speaking without any reserve. And the rather because you receive what is spoken in the manner which I desire -- that is, not so much regarding the person who speaks as the thing which is spoken. If there is truth and weight in this, let it stand; if not, let it fall to the ground. Some time since, I was considering what you said concerning our wanting a plan in our Societies. There is a good deal of truth in this remark; for although we have a plan as to our spiritual economy (the several branches of which are particularly recited in the Plain Account of the People called Methodists [See letter in Dec. 1748 to Vincent Perronet.]), yet it is certain we have barely the first outlines of a plan with regard to temporals. The reason is, I had no design for several years to concern myself with temporals at all. And when I began to do this, it was wholly and solely with a view to relieve not employ the poor, unless now and then with respect to a small number; and even this I found was too great a burthen for me, as requiring both more money, more time, and more thought than I could possibly spare: I say, than I could spare; for the whole weight laid on me. If I left it to others, it surely came to nothing. They wanted either understanding, or industry, or love, or patience to bring anything to perfection. Thus far I thought it needful to explain myself with regard to the economy of our Society. I am still to speak of your case, of my own, and of some who are dependent on me. I do not recollect (for I kept no copy of my last) that I charged you with want of humility or meekness. Doubtless these may be found in the most splendid palaces. But did they ever move a man to build a splendid palace Upon what motive you did this I know not; but you are to answer it to God, not to me.

If your soul is now as much alive to God, if your thirst after pardon and holiness is as strong, if you are as dead to the desire of the eye and the pride of life as you was six or seven years ago, I rejoice; if not, I pray God you may. And then you will know how to value a real friend. With regard to myself, you do well to warn me against ‘popularity, a thirst of power and of applause, against envy producing a seeming contempt for the conveniences or grandeur of this life, against an affected humility, against sparing from myself to give to others from no other motive than ostentation.’ I am not conscious to myself that this is my case. However, the warning is always friendly, and it is always seasonable, considering how deceitful my heart is and how many the enemies that surround me. What follows I do not understand. ‘Your beholding me in the ditch wherein you helped (though involuntarily) to cast me, and with a Levitical pity passing by on the other side’; ‘He (who) and you, sir, have not any merit; though Providence should permit all these sufferings to work together for my good.’ I do not comprehend one fine of this, and therefore cannot plead either guilty or not guilty. I presume they are some that are dependent on me, who (you say) ‘keep not the commandments of God; who show a repugnance to serve and obey; who are as full of pride and arrogance as of filth and of nastiness; who do not pay lawful debts, nor comply with civil obligations; who make the waiting on the offices of religion a plea for sloth and idleness; who, after I had strongly recommended them, did not perform their moral duty, but increased the number of those encumbrances, which they forced on you against your will.’ To this I can only say (1) I know not whom you mean. I am not certain that I can so much as guess one of them. (2) Whoever they are, had they followed my instructions they would have acted in a quite different manner. (3) If you will tell me them by name who have acted thus, I will renounce all fellow-ship with them. [See letters of May 16 and 28 to him.]

Dear sir, for the time to come (if you choose we should convene at all) let us convene with absolute openness and unreserve. Then you will find and know me to be Your very affectionate friend and servant.

Among the latter I was surprised to find a demonstration of the manner how God is present to all beings (page 57), how He begat the Son from all eternity (page 77), and how the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son (page 85). Quanto satius est fateri nescire quae nescias, quam ista effutientern nauseare, et ipsurn tibi displicere! [‘How much more laudable would it be to acknowledge you do not know what you do not know, than to follow that blunderer whom you must surely despise!’ See Cicero’s De Natura Deorum, i. 30.] How much better to keep to his own conclusion (page 95), ‘Reason proves that this mystery is possible’! Revelation assures us that it is true; Heaven alone can show us how it is. There are several propositions in his second book which I cannot assent to, particularly with regard to the divine foreknowledge. I can by no means acquiesce in the twenty-second proposition, ‘That it is a matter of free choice in God to think of finite ideas.’ I cannot reconcile this with the assertion of the Apostle, ‘Known unto God are all His works p’ a, from eternity.’ And if any one ask, ‘How is God's foreknowledge consistent with our freedom’ I plainly answer, I cannot tell. In the third book (page 209) I read, ‘The desire of God, purely as beatifying, as the source of infinite pleasure, is a necessary consequence of the natural love we have for happiness.’ I deny it absolutely. My natural love for happiness was as strong thirty years ago as at this instant. Yet I had then no more desire of God, as the source of any pleasure at all, than I had of the devil or of hell. So totally false is that, ‘That the soul inevitably loves what it judges to be the best.’ Equally false is his next corollary -- that ‘if ever fallen spirits see and feel that moral evil is a source of eternal misery, they cannot continue to will it deliberately' (ibid.). I can now show living proofs of the contrary. But I take knowledge, both from this and many other of his assertions, that Mr. R. never rightly understood the height and depth of that corruption which is in man, as well as diabolical nature.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON October 20, 1753. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1753) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER, -- I firmly believed that young woman would die in peace; though I did not apprehend it would be so soon. We have had several instances of music heard before or at the death of those that die in the Lord. May we conceive that this is literally the music of angels Can that be heard by ears of flesh and blood [See next letter.] It was not possible for me to send Jane Bates’s [Mrs. Bate (or Bates), of Wakefield. See Journal, iii. 112, 221-4 (her letter to Wesley); and C. Wesley’s Journal, i. 351, for his conversation with her husband.] letter before my return to London. I sent it last week to Ted Perronet. But whether he be now on earth or in paradise I know not. [Perronet soon recovered, and outlived Wesley. Briggs married his sister Elizabeth in 1749. See Journal viii. 52; and next letter.] He was believed to be dying some days since at Epworth, and vehemently rejoicing in God. William Briggs set out for Epworth last night in order to see him, either alive or dead. It is much easier for me to hope than to despair of any person or thing. I never did despair of John Hutchinson. For with God no word is impossible. And if he testifies a full and deep sense of his long revolt from God, I shall hope he will either live or die happy. But let me hear the particulars of your Journals, and I may have a stronger hope. I came back from Bedford [Bedford greatly needed a visit. The Moravians had caused trouble, and ‘the little Society just escaped with the skin of their teeth.’ See Journal, iv. 84-7.] last night. I know not whether it was your will or no (I believe not), but I am sure it was God's will for you to call there. How do you judge whether a thing be God's will or no I hope not by inward impressions. Let us walk warily. I have much constitutional enthusiasm, and you have much more .

Now I have nether more nor less faith in human testimony than I had ten or fifteen years ago. I could suspect every man that speaks to me to be either a blunderer or a liar But I will not. I dare not till I have proof. I give you a dilemma. Take one side or the other. Either act really in connection with me, or never pretend to it. Rather disclaim it, and openly avow you do and will not. By acting in connection with me, I mean take counsel with me once or twice a year as to the places where you will labor. Hear my advice before you fix whether you take it or no. At present you are so far from this that I do not even know when and where you intend to go; so far are you from following any advice of mine -- nay, even from asking it. And yet I may say without vanity that I am a better judge of this matter than either Lady Huntingdon, Sally, [Charles wrote his wife in the autumn of 1753: ‘The more heavily I labor in the vineyard, the longer I shag continue with you.’ See Telford’s Charles Wesley, pp. 195-6.] Jones [John Jones. See letter of April 16 1748.], or any other -- nay, than your own heart, that is will. I wish you all peace, zeal, and love.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON October 31, 1753. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1753) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER, -- My fever intermitted after twelve hours. After a second fit of about fourteen hours, I began taking the bark, and am now recovering my strength. I cannot apprehend that such music has any analogy at all to the inward voice of God. I take it to differ from this toto genere and to be rather the effect of an angel affecting the auditory nerves, as an apparition does the optical nerve or retina. [See previous letter.] Ted Perronet is now thoroughly recovered. I had a letter from him a day or two ago. You say, ‘That is not the will of God which His providence makes impracticable. But His providence made my going to Bedford impracticable.’ Prove the minor and I shall be content. In journeying, which of us lays his plan according to reason Either you move (quite contrary to me) by those impressions which you account divine, or (which is worse) pro ratione voluntas. [The next four paragraphs are omitted in the letter as printed in Wesley’s Works.] ‘I will not believe evil till I am forced.’ They are very good words. ‘I wonder you should ever desire it.’ What I have desired any time these ten years is, either that you would really act in connection, or that you would never say you do. Either leave off professing or begin performing. How can I say, ‘I do not know your intentions, when you had told me you intended to winter in Bristol’ I answer: (1) I heard of your intending to be at Bristol before ever I heard it from you. (2) Did you consult with me in this Was my approbation ever inquired after in the matter Or any other of the traveling preachers or stewards (3) Had you previously consulted with me (which you did not) in this one point, yet one swallow makes no summer.

O brother, pretend no longer to the thing that is not. You do not, will not act in concert with me. Not since I was married only (the putting it on that is a mere finesse), but for ten years last past and upwards you have no more acted in connection with me than Mr. Whitefield has done. I would to God you would begin to do it now; or else talk no more as if you did. My love to my sister. Adieu. You told W. Briggs ‘that you never declined going to any place because my wife was there.’ I am glad of it. If so, I have hope we may some time spend a little time together. Why do you omit giving the sacrament in Kingswood What is reading prayers at Bristol in comparison of this I am sure, in making this vehement alteration, you never consulted with me. My love to my sister. Adieu! To A. B. LONDON November 9, 1753. SIR, -- Partly business and partly illness prevented my acknowledging your favor of October the 11th. I have not yet had leisure to read the book. When I have, I will trouble you with a few lines more. I have always approved of the German method of practicing physic far beyond the English, which (so far as I can see) is in numberless respects contrary both to experience, common sense, and common honesty. -- I am, sir, Your obliged servant. A. B., At the Essex Coffee House, In Whitechappel

To Mr. Gillespie Date: LONDON, November 9 1753. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1753) Author: John Wesley --- I have never done so much for any of our preachers (except my brother) as for William Prior. [One of the preachers. See list Wesley had been at Newport on in Tyerman's Wesley, ii. 126-7. Oct. 3-5.] And one of my reasons for it was, that scarce any of our preachers had used me so ill. Therefore I was resolved to be more abundant in kindness toward him, if haply I might overcome evit with good. I am much in hopes I shall (by applying to a great man in town) set him and his family quite above want. His greatest temptation will then be removed, and I trust he will serve God with all his strength.

I will order a little box of books to Portsmouth, whence you may be farther supplied at Newport. But take care to keep a clear account of what are sold; otherwise the Stewards [The first Book Stewards were appointed in April of this year.] will send no more. If Brother Williams sees good, you might preach sometimes at the Common. Mr. Larwood [Samuel Larwood traveled with Wesley in Lincolnshire in 1747 and did good service in England and Ireland. He became an Independent minister at Zoar Chapel, Southwark, where he died of fever. Wesley buried him on Nov. 5, 1755. See Journal, iii. 281, iv. 140; Atmore’s Memorial, p. 239; Wesley’s Veterans i. x82, iii. 86, iv. 130; and next letter.] intended to call there in his return from Bristol; but the illness of his horse prevented. I hope he will be able to come in a little time. If we can spare Sister Aspernell [Bilhah Aspernell found peace with God in 1738, and soon after purity of heart. Wesley’s Diary for 1740 shows that he often visited her in London and had ‘tea, conversed, prayer.’ Thomas Walsh in Aug. 1754 said the reason why he was not ‘as serious as Sister Aspernell’ was ‘not because I do not bear so high a character, but because I am not so high in the grace of God.’ On Jan. 28, 1774, Wesley buried ‘the remains of that venerable mother in Israel.’ See Journal ii. 372-460& vi. 9-10; Arminian Mag. 1798, p. 360.] to visit her sister at Portsmouth for a few days, her conversation will do more good than all our preaching has yet done. Be mild; be patient toward all men. See that none return railing for railing. Be much in private prayer. Live in peace, and the God of peace shall be with you. -- I am, with love to all the brethren, Your affectionate brother.

To Mr. -- Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1753) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- When a preacher travels without his wife, he is exposed to innumerable temptations. And you cannot travel with your wife till she is so changed as to adorn the gospel. It seems, therefore, all you can do at present is to act as a local preacher. If at any time you have reason to believe that the goods then offered to you are stolen, you cannot buy them with a safe conscience. When you have no particular reason to think so, you may proceed without scruple. -- I am Your affectionate brother.

To Samuel Furly Date: BRISTOL September 21, 1754. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1754) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- It is necessary for me, if I would have a dean conscience, not to omit anything which I find by experience to be profitable to my soul. Therefore, if I find any particular preacher to be so profitable, or any particular acquaintance, it is necessary for me to make use of them. Otherwise my conscience would not be clear. If this be your case, you cannot innocently neglect any of the few opportunities that remain. When you are at Cambridge, you cannot enjoy them if you would. There, therefore, few acquaintance will be best. And probably these you will not find but make profitable. Till then the less you speak (unless to God) the better. --I am Your affectionate brother.

To this I replied (1) Sir, I have no self-interest in this matter; I consult your interest, not my own; I want nothing from you, I desire nothing from you, I expect nothing from you. But I am concerned for your immortal spirit, which must so soon launch into eternity. (2) It is true men of fortune must mind their fortune; but they must not love the world. ‘If any man love the world, the love of the Father h not in him.’ (3) It is true likewise you cannot go about to look for poor people; but you may be sufficiently informed of them by those that can. (4) And if some of these are never satisfied, this is no reason for not relieving others. (5) Suppose, too, that some make an ill use of what you give, the loss falls on their own head. You will not lose your reward for their faults. What you laid out, God will pay you again. (6) Yet certainly you do wall to have all the assurance you can that those to whom you give are likely to make a good use of it; and therefore to expect a stronger recommendation of them than their own, whether by letter or otherwise. (7) I rejoice that you have given to many by so worthy a man as Colonel Hudson, whose word is certainly a sufficient recommendation. (8) I rejoice likewise that you have given some hundreds of pounds to the hospitals, and wish it had been ten thousand. (9) To the support of the family I did not object; but begged leave to ask, whether this could not be done without giving ten thousand a year to one who had as much already and whether you could answer this to God in the day wherein He shah judge the world (10) I likewise granted that the family had continued above four hundred years; but observed meantime that God regarded it not one jot the more for this, and that four hundred or one thousand years are but a moment compared to eternity. (11) I observed likewise that great things may be done and little things not left undone.

To James Hutton Date: January 7, 1755. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1755) Author: John Wesley --- SIR--You justly observe in your letter of December 31, published in the London Daily Advertiser, that several friends and well-wishers of the Moravians into whose hands the writings of their adversaries have fallen ‘are somewhat impatient that the Moravians have hitherto published no direct answer to any wrote in this country and wish they would at last resolve to answer because their adversaries cry out in all companies that they have nothing to answer, and that their silence must be taken for confession.’ I myself am ‘not fond of finding the Moravians guilty without trial I take no pleasure in any abuses thrown out upon them.’ Yet I confess ‘I begin to be almost staggered that so little answer is still given to the many accusations against them.’ In order, therefore, to bring this matter to a short and clear issue, I have ‘summed up’ as briefly as possible the most material parts of ‘the charge against the Moravian’s by reducing of them into the form of Queries at an Examination.’ And I do indeed ‘hope to get plain, positive, and categorical answers’; as this is, you say, ‘the very method the Moravians had so repeatedly desired, in order to enable them to give a reason of the hope that is in them.’ You add: ‘I am glad that at last somebody will be so much concerned for the truth as to make some inquiry. For are not the charges against the Moravians of such a nature as to render an indolent indifference whether things are true or false almost unpardonable And should any man be listened to for a moment who would have the assurance to persuade the world, before he has seen the Queries and their Answers, that they will not come to the point’ None, I think, will have the assurance to deny that the Queries subjoined do ‘come to the point.’ And as ‘this is the very method which the Moravians have so repeatedly desired, who can doubt but they will give without delay plain, positive, categorical answers’

I might have drawn up the Queries with more accuracy, had I not considered, as you ‘hoped I would, the impatience in the public for an answer a close one to every point.' I have therefore, as you desired, ‘used all possible speed,’ and yet have ‘taken care to form my Queries in such a manner that they might deserve the utmost attention, and come dose to the point.’ Is it needful to remind you of that frank engagement to the public wherewith you close your letter ‘As soon as these Queries are finished, the Moravians, who expect them with earnest longing, will lose no time in answering them.’ --I am, &c. You see the impropriety of adding my name.

To Mrs. Hall Date: LEEDS May 9, 1755. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1755) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SISTER, -- I suppose my brother has informed you of our conversation together. The poor child will, I hope, be no farther burthensome to you. But then you must not interfere, but leave him to our disposal, who consider him just as if he were our own. Nether will you want the things we have needful for life and godliness. At the same time I doubt not but you will endeavor to be as frugal as may be. I am glad you and my sister Harper are to live together and to come nearer the Foundry. O bear with one another! Pray for the spirit of peace and love. -- I am Your very affectionate Brother. [Hall added to this letter the following message to his wife:] MY DEAR, -- I hope ere this you may have heard from my brother, and that he will pay you the twenty pounds due on his draught. Mr. Allen owes me about fifty pound, as I believe you will find by the account as settled with my brother; and before that sum be expended, if you use the necessary economy, you will hear perhaps of my arrival at Barbados and the measures I am taking to provide for all, and how to direct to your best friend,

If Mr. Lampe’s tunes [John F. Lampe was a musical composer engaged at Covent Garden Theatre. He received much spiritual blessing through the Wesleys, and composed tunes for their hymns.] are in print already, it is enough. I wish you had told me this six months ago, and the rest (which only we want) should have, been printed before now. Pray send them by Michael Fenwick to me hem. He will be in Bristol next week. Cyprian is a terrible witness of the sense of the then Church. For he speaks it not as his own private sense, but as incontestable, allowed rule. And by Antistes [The passage of Cyprian, cited in the letter of June 23, 1739 is Populus a scelerato antistite separare se debet.] there I really believe he means the minister of a parish. That pinches me; nevertheless I think with you till I see more light, though I should be hard set to defend myself against a skilful adversary. When I am convinced it is my duty, I will follow Cyprian’s advice. The same say you, and no more. I do not fluctuate yet. But I can’t answer the arguments on that side the question. Jos. Cowley says, ‘For such and such reasons I dare not hear a drunkard preach or mad prayers.’ I answer, ‘I dare.’ But I can’t answer his reasons. Adieu! I can stay here four or five weeks. Then I purpose for Cornwall. Can you come hither when I go Or will you go into Cornwall for me My love to my sister. What could put it into your head to recommend (if you did recommend) that rude, boisterous clown to Mr. Lloyd [See letter of March 20.]

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON, June 23, I755. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1755) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER -- A gentleman who keeps an academy at Brompton offers to take Westley Hall for nothing, to teach him the ancient and modern tongues, and when he has learnt them, to give him thirty pounds a year and his board if he will stay and assist him. His mother thinks (and I can’t say much to the contrary) that such an offer is not to be slighted. Send us your judgment upon the matter as soon as possible. [See letter of May 9. The boy is lovingly commemorated in Charles Wesley’s Funeral Hymns, published in 1759 (Poetical Works of J. and C. Wesley, vi. 234-5): Unspotted from the world and pure, And saved and sanctified by grace] Jam proximus ardet Ucalegon! [Virgil’s Aeneid, ii. 311: ‘And now the flames Spread to Ucalegon’s, our neighbor’s house.’] The good Bishop of London has excommunicated Mr. Gardiner for preaching without a license. It is probable the point will now speedily be determined concerning the Church: for if we must either dissent or be silent, actum est. We have no time to trifle. [That is Wesley’s spirit from first to last. He loves the Church of England but he cannot be silenced.] Adieu.

To Richard Tompson Date: LONDON, June 28 1755. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1755) Author: John Wesley --- Some days since, I received your favor of the 22nd instant, which came exceeding seasonably; for I was just revising my Notes on the 5th chapter to the Romans; one of which I found, upon a closer inspection, seemed to assert such an imputation of Adam’s sin to his posterity as might make way for the ‘horrible decree.’ I therefore struck it out immediately; as I would willingly do whatsoever should appear to be any way inconsistent with that grand principle, ‘The Lord is loving to every man; and His mercy is over all His works.’ If you have observed anything in any of the tracts I have published which you think is not agreeable to Scripture and reason, you will oblige me by pointing it out, and by communicating to me any remarks you have occasionally made. I seek two things in this world -- truth and love. Whoever assists me in this search is a friend indeed, whether personally known or unknown to, Your humble servant.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON, July 16, 1755. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1755) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER, -- Are there not more of the same kind who are not dissevered How will you know It deserves all diligence. I wish you had mentioned only his drunkenness in the Society. It was pity to add anything more. Keep to that, and we are agreed. Some time you may spend in recommending outward modes of worship; ‘but not all, not the most, not much of it.’ There are many greater things and more immediately necessary for our people. Holiness of heart and life they want most, and they want it just now. I have often heard that word ‘Babel’ [See letter of June 28.] used, and I do not understand it yet. What does it mean I cannot see one jot of it Of I guess at its meaning) in the Rules either of our Society or bands. I do not myself, and dare not, give that under my hand, to you or any man living. And I should count any one either a fool or a knave that would give it under his hand to me. You are by no means free from temptation. You are acting as if you had never seen either Stillingfleet, Baxter, or Howson. [John Howson (1556-1631); educated at St. Paul’s School and Christ Church; Chaplin to Elizabeth and James I; Bishop of Oxford 1619, Durham 1628; distinguished writer and preacher against Popery. His four polemical discourses against the Supremacy of St. Peter were published by order of James I in 1622.] I am very calm and cool, determining nothing but to do nothing rashly. Now, which is more in the temptation To my thought you are in it over head and ears. Whoever is convinced or not convinced, ordination and separation are not the same thing. If so we have separated already. Herein I am the fifteenth. Your gross bigotry lies here -- in putting a man on a level with an adulterer because he differs from you as to Church government. Ne scutica dignum horribili sectere flagello! [Horace’s Satires, I. iii. 119: ‘What merits but the rod punish not with the cat.’] What miserable confounding the degrees of good and evil is this!

I should wonder if Wales or Margate or something did not hinder your taking any step which I desire or which might save my time or strength. Then I will go to Cornwall [Wesley set out for Cornwall on Aug. 18.] myself; that is all. For a wife and a partner you and I may challenge the world together. But love is rot. Adieu.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: ST. IVES September 12, 1755. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1755) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- It seems there was a remarkable providence [See previous letter for his trust in Providence.] in this, that Michael Fenwick [This is high praise for Fenwick. The severe snub to his vanity came later (Journal, iv. 229 293; vi. 279). See Wesley’s Veterans, v. 193, where he spreads abroad a secret about Thomas Walsh (W.H.S. v. 185-6).] was so often hindered from settling in business because God had other work for him to do. He is just made to travel with me, being an excellent groom, vakt de chamber, nurse, and upon occasion a tolerable preacher. We have hitherto had an extremely prosperous journey: almost everything has been just as we desired; and I have no care upon my mind but what properly belongs to me -- to feed and guide the flock of Christ. Charles Perronet being out of town last Saturday, my pacquet directed to him fell into other hands. [Into Mrs. Wesley’s whose jealousy was growing.] This has raised a violent storm; for it contained a few lines which I writ to Mrs. Lefevre in answer to a letter she sent me the week before concerning Mr. Furly. So now ‘all the intrigue is discovered and the reason why I direct my letters to Mr. Perronet.’ ‘Tis pity! I should be glad if I had to do with reasonable people. But this likewise is for good. A wonderful odd circumstance has fallen out here. A young gentleman, [John Knill. See Journal, iv. 134.] nephew to the present Mayor, began some time since to attend our preaching, and last week fell raving mad. This incident (so deep is the wisdom of God!) has opened me a way into the Mayor’s family, brought me much acquainted with his wife, who is not easy if I do not call once or twice a day and alarmed the whole town with such a concern for their souls as was never known here before. The particulars I hope to send to Mr. Perronet in my next Journal. Who is so wise a God as our God! I trust you will have Him more and more in your thoughts and in your affections. -- I am, dear sir, Your ever affectionate servant.

To John Trembath Date: TIVERTON, September 21, 1755. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1755) Author: John Wesley --- The plain reason why I did not design to speak with you at Launceston was because I had no hope of doing you good. I observed long ago that you are not patient of reproof; and I fear you are less so now than ever. But since you desire it, I will tell you once more what I think, real or hear concerning you. I think you tasted of the powers of the word to come thirteen or fourteen years ago, and was then simple of heart and willing to spend and be spent for Christ. But not long after, not being sufficiently on your guard, you suffered loss by being applauded. This revived and increased your natural vanity, which was the harder to be checked because of your constitutional stubbornness -- two deadly enemies which have lain in wait for you many years and have given you many deep if not mortal wounds. I fear it is near ten years since you was so weakened by these, that you no longer set a watch over your mouth, but began frequently to speak what was not strictly true, to excuse yourself, divert others, or gain applause. I am afraid this has prevailed over you more and more as there was less and less of the life of God in the soul; so that I should almost wonder if you do not judge a diverting lie to be a very innocent thing. After your first marriage, being not used to nor fond of reading, and not spending many hours in private prayer, time grew heavy on your hands; especially as you could not bear the cross of being a regular traveling preacher: so you betook yourself to farming and other country employments, and grew more and more dead to God; especially when you began to keep company (whether by necessity or choice) with the men ‘whose talk is of bullocks,’ who have little to do either with religion or reason, and have but just wit enough to smoke, drink, and fisher you.

This, sir, is the very thing I want. I must therefore beg your sentiments on this head, and that as particularly as your other engagements will allow. Wishing you more and more of the wisdom from above, I remain, reverend dear sir, Your obliged and affectionate brother and servant.

To Paul Greenwood Date: BRISTOL October 8, 1755. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1755) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- In a multitude of counselors there is safety. This is a general rule. But your case is an exception. You must not consult with many persons. It would only puzzle and confound you. If you advise with another beside me, it should be he that is as myself, that is Thomas Walsh. [See letter of June 28 to Charles Wesley.] Unless there should be a very particular call you should not act publicly till you are ordained. [See W.H.S. vii. 20-1; and letter of June 16 about ordination.] Give yourself to reading, meditation, prayer; and do all the good you can in a private manner. Pride and impetuosity of temper will be apt to lead you out of the way. But what is faith, if it will not destroy the one and regulate the other --I am Your affectionate brother.

Oh rare darkness! ‘Nature has seven chief properties, and can have neither more nor less, because it is a birth from the Deity in nature.’ Is nature a birth from the Deity in nature Is this sense If it be, what kind of proof is it Is it not ignoturn per aeque ignotum [‘To prove an unknown proposition by one equally unknown.’] ‘For God is triune, and nature is triune.’ ‘Nature is triune’! Is not this flat begging the question ‘And hence arise properties, three and three.’ Nay, why not nine and nine’ And that which brings these three and three into union is another property.’ (Part II. p. 64.) Why so Why may it not be two, or five, or nine Is it not rather the will and power of God ‘The first three properties of nature are the whole essence of that desire which is, and is called, “nature”’ (page 69). How Are the properties of a thing the same as the essence of it What confusion is this! But if they were, can a part of its properties be the whole essence of it ‘The first three properties of nature are attraction, resistance, and whirling. In these three properties of the desire you see the reason of the three great laws of matter and motion, and need not be told that Sir Isaac ploughed with Jacob Behmen’s heifer.’ (Page 37.) Just as much as Milton ploughed with Francis Quarles's heifer. How does it appear that these are any of the properties of nature, if you mean by ‘nature’ anything distinct from matter And how are they the properties of desire What a jumbling of dissonant notions is here! ‘The fourth property’ (you affirm, not prove) ‘is called “fire”; the fifth, “the form of light and love.”’ What do you mean by the form of love Are light and love one and the same thing ‘The sixth, “sound or understanding.”’ Are, then, sound and understanding the same thing’ The seventh, “a life of triumphing joy”’ (page 58). Is, then, a life of triumphing joy ‘that which brings the three and three properties into union’ If so, how can it be ‘the result of that union’ Do these things hang together

‘Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat: in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die' (Gen. ii. 17). ‘And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not die’ (iii. 4). ‘And the woman, being deceived,’ did eat (1 Tim. ii. 14); ‘and gave unto her husband, and he did eat’ (Gen. iii. 6). ‘And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed; dust thou shalt eat all the days of thy life’ (verse 14); ‘and I will put enmity between thee and the woman’ (verse 15). ‘Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and’ (that is, in) ‘thy conception’ (verse 16). ‘And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast eaten of the tree, cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life’ (verse 17). ‘Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return’ (verse 19). Can any man read this and affirm, ‘God did not inflict the least punishment of any kind either on Eve or Adam or the serpent’ With what eyes or understanding, then, must he read! But you say, ‘All that came on Adam was implied in what he chose to himself’ (page 25). It was. He chose it to himself in the same sense that he who robs chooses to be hanged. But this does not at all prove that the death which one or the other suffers is no punishment. You go on: ‘Fire and brimstone or manna rained on the earth are only one and the same love. It was the same love that preserved Noah, burned up Sodom, and overwhelmed Pharaoh in the Red Sea.’ (Spirit of Love, Part II. pp. 72, 78.) Surely nothing can equal this, unless you add (which indeed you must do, to be consistent with yourself), ‘It is one and the same love which will say, “Come, ye blessed,” and “Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.”’

(3) ‘I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity’ (Isa. xiii. xx). ‘Behold, the Lord cometh to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity’ (xxvi. 21). ‘Is not destruction to the wicked, and a strange Punishment to the workers of iniquity’ (Job xxxi. 3). ‘I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings’ (Jer. xxi. 14). ‘I will punish you for all your iniquities’ (Amos iii. 2). ‘If ye will not hearken unto Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins’ (Lev. xxvi. 18). ‘I will punish all that oppress them’ (Jer. xxx. 20). Now, which am I to believe God or man 3. Your miserable philosophy leads you, in the third place, totally to deny the Scripture doctrine of Justification. Indeed, you do not appear to have the least conception of the matter; no, not even to know what the term' justification' means. Accordingly you affirm, -- ‘Salvation, which all divines agree includes both justification and sanctification, is nothing else but to be made like Christ’ (Spirit of Prayer, Part I. p. 53). ‘Regeneration is the whole of man's salvation’ (Part II. p. 37). ‘Redemption is nothing else but the life of God in the soul’ (Part I. p. 79). ‘The one only work of Christ as your Redeemer is to raise into life the smothered spark of heaven in you’ (Spirit of Love, Part II. p. 45). ‘He is our atonement and reconciliation with God, because by Him we are set again in our first state of holiness’ (Part I. p. 10). ‘The atonement of the divine wrath or justice’ (a mere solecism, on which your whole reasoning for several pages is built) ‘and the extinguishing of sin in the creature are only different expressions of the same thing’ (Part II. p. 86). Nay, the former is an expression of nothing: it is flat nonsense. ‘All that Christ does as an atonement has no other operation but that of renewing the fallen nature of man’ (page 106). Here are seven peremptory assertions. But till they are fully proved I cannot give up my Bible.

Concerning future punishments, we learn from revelation only: (1) That they are both for soul and body, which are distinguished in Scripture by ‘the worm that dieth not’ and ‘the fire which never shall be quenched’; and accordingly we are bid to ‘fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.’ Upon which I shall only remark, that whereas we find by experience the body and soul in this life are not capable of suffering the extremity of pain and anguish at the same time, insomuch that the greatest anguish of mind is lost and diverted by acute and pungent pain of body; yet we learn from Scripture that in hell the wicked will be subject to extreme torments of both together. (2) That the chief cause of their eternal misery will be an eternal exclusion from the beatific vision of God. This exclusion seems to be the only punishment to which we can now conceive a pure spirit liable. And according as all intelligent beings are at a less or greater distance from this fountain of all happiness, so they are necessarily more or less miserable or happy. (3) That one part of those punishments will be by fire, than which we have not any revelation more express and positive. And as it is an instance of great goodness in God that the joys of heaven are represented to us under the figurative images of light and glory and a kingdom, and that the substance shall exceed the utmost of our conception; so it is an argument of His strict justice that future punishments are more literally threatened and foretold. (4) The eternity of these punishments is revealed as plainly as words can express it. And the difficulty of that question, ‘What proportion endless torments can bear to momentary sins,’ is quite removed by considering that the punishments denounced are not sanctions entirely arbitrary, but are withal so many previous warnings or declarations of the natural tendency of sin itself. So that an unrepenting sinner must be miserable in another life by a necessity of nature. Therefore he is not capable of mercy; since there never can be an alteration of his condition, without such a change of the whole man as would put the natural and settled order of the creation out of course.

And let not any who live and die in their sins vainly hope to escape His vengeance. ‘For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; the Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished’ (2 Pet. if. 4-9). In that day, peculiarly styled ‘the day of the Lord,’ they ‘that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt’ (Dan. xii. 2). Among the latter will all those be found who are now by their obstinate impenitence ‘treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will’ then render ‘indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil’ (Rom. if. 5, 8-9). He hath declared the very sentence which He will then pronounce on all the workers of iniquity: ‘Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matt. xxv. 4x). And in that hour it will be executed: being ‘cast into outer darkness, where is wailing and gnashing of teeth’ (verse 30), they ‘will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power’ (2 Thess. i. 9). A punishment not only without end, but likewise without intermission. For when once ‘they are cast into that furnace of fire,’ that ‘lake of fire burning with brimstone, the worm,’ gnawing their soul, ‘dieth not, and the fire,’ tormenting their body, ‘is not quenched.’ So that ‘they have no rest day or night; but the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.’

To his Wife Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- [LEWISHAM, January 7, 1756.] Wednesday Afternoon. When I saw you, my dear, I did not expect to have so large a demand made so suddenly upon me. I shall be puzzled to answer it without coming to town on purpose, which I am unwilling to do before I have flushed the Address. [The Address to the Clergy is dated Feb. 6 1756. It was written in the first week of January. Wesley probably spent the week at Lewisham, returning to town on Friday, when the Sermon Register shows that he preached at Zoar, the chapel he had taken over in Southwark in November. See Journal, iv. 140, 141, 143; Works, x. 480-500; Green’s Bibliography, No. 175.] I desire you would give John Spencer [Sometimes spelt ‘Spenser’ by Wesley.] (taking his receipt) or Brother Atkinson (unless you choose to pay Mr. Davenport yourself) what note-money remains in your hands. Unless you can help me out for a month or two, I must borrow some more in town. If you can, you will do it with pleasure. My dear, adieu.

To Jonathan Pritchard Date: LONDON, January 16, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- If our brethren at Chester purpose ever to prosecute, they cannot have a fairer opportunity; provided they have a sufficient number of witnesses whose depositions will come home to the point, particularly with regard to those words, ‘You shah have no justice from me.’ Those depositions might be drawn up in the country, and sent up to Mr. I’Anson [See letter of Aug. 8, 1752.] in New Palace Yard, Westminster. The sooner the better; for Term will begin shortly. Delay does much hurt in cases of this kind. Do you hear how the Manchester mob is now [In April 1755, when Wesley was there, the mob ‘raged horribly. This, I find, has been their manner for some time. No wonder, since the good Justices encourage them.’ See Journal iv. 111.] --I am Your affectionate brother. Is Brother Moss gone yet into the Bristall Circuit

To Samuel Furly Date: LONDON, February 3, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY, -- The Serious Thoughts [Serious Thoughts occasioned by the late Earthquake at Lisbon, published in 1755, reached a sixth edition. See Journal, iv. 141.] will be sent as soon as they are reprinted. I sha;; make an addition of eight or ten pages, consisting chiefly of a correct and regular account of the earthquakes at Lisbon and other places. Now is the time to arise and shake yourself from the dust. Now assert your liberty. When you are on the field, you can’t make head against the enemy. But now you may secure armor of proof. You may be stronger every day than the other. Only be instant in prayer. I have an extremely pretty letter from Mr. Dodd. [Wesley’s answer to William Dodd was written two days later, also that to ‘P. V.’ (Richard Tompson).] It is wonderfully civil and peremptory. I purpose to answer him this week, and perhaps P. V. too. -- I am Your affectionate brother.

To William Dodd Date: LONDON, February 5, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- REVRAND SIR -- I am favored with yours of January 26, for which I return you my sincere thanks. Your frank and open manner of writing is far from needing any apology and I hope will never occasion your receiving such treatment from me as I did from Mr. Law, who, after some very keen expressions, in answer to the second private letter I sent him, plainly told me he desired to ‘hear no more on that head.’ I do desire to hear, and am very willing to consider whatever you have to advance on the head of Christian Perfection. When I began to make the Scriptures my study (about seven-and-twenty years ago), I began to see that Christians are called to love God with all their heart and to serve Him with all their strength; which is precisely what I apprehend to be meant by the scriptural term Perfection. After weighing this for some years, I openly declared my sentiments before the University [On Jan. 1, 1733. See Works, v. 202-12.] in the sermon on the Circumcision of the Heart, now printed in the second volume. About six years after, in consequence of an advice I received from Bishop Gibson, ‘Tell all the world what you mean by perfection,’ I published my coolest and latest thoughts in the sermon on that subject. I therein build on no authority, ancient or modern, but the Scripture. If this supports any doctrine it will stand; if not, the sooner it falls the better. Neither the doctrine in question nor any other is anything to me, unless it be the doctrine of Christ and His Apostles. If, therefore, you will please to point out to me any passages in that sermon which are either contrary to Scripture or not supported by it, and to show that they are not, I shall be full as willing to oppose as ever I was to defend them. I search for truth, plain Bible truth, without any regard to the praise or dispraise of men. If you will assist me in this search, more especially by showing me where I have mistaken my way, it will be gratefully acknowledged by, reverend sir, Your affectionate brother and servant.

It is a very little thing to excuse a warm expression [In his letter of Feb. 25 'P. V.' says: ‘I hope sir, that I have not (in the course of my papers) been wanting in respect towards you; willingly, I am sure I have not: you do indeed intimate something concerning a warm expression, which I am entirely ignorant of; so hope you will excuse it.’] (if you need any such excuse) while I am convinced of your real goodwill to, sir, Your servant for Christ’s sake.

To Samuel Furly Date: LONDON February 21, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY, -- There is but one possible way to gain the victory: conquer desire, and you will conquer fear. But as long as you are a slave you must be a coward. Be free therefore, or you can’t be bold. Never write to that person at all, nor of her [The reference is to his love affairs. See letter of March 14.]; and continue instant in prayer. Cut off the right hand and cast it from you; otherwise you will be a poor dastardly wretch all your days, and one sin will punish another till the day of grace is at an end. -- I am Your affectionate brother.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: MARLBOROUGH, March 1, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- I hope the enclosed [See next letter, which was probably enclosed to Blackwell to be forwarded to James West.] will do, for I have not leisure to alter it any more. To make professions does not belong to me; it is quite foreign to my character. Let those who mean nothing talk like Goneril and Regan in King Lear. [Wesley knew his Shakespeare, and annotated the fine quarto copy presented to him by a gentleman in Dublin. The two unworthy daughters make great professions: Goneril: Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter; Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty. Regan: I . . . find I am alone felicitate In your dear highness’s love.] By God’s help I will do what a good subject ought. Wishing Mrs. Blackwell and you all health of soul and body, I am, dear sir, Your affectionate servant.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: BRISTOL March 4, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR-- If the election of Mr. Spencer be a thing of any consequence, then it was extremely ill-judged to prevent his coming down. He ought to have been here at all hazards if he was not very dangerously ill. His absence will probably turn the scale; and if the Jacobites gain one member now, they will have two the next time. Whereas there is reason to believe, had Mr. Spencer appeared, there would have been no opposition. Last night I desired all the freemen of our Society to meet me after preaching, and enlarged a little upon His Majesty’s character and the reasons we had to spare no pains in his service. I believe all who had been wavering were fully convinced. But some had absolutely promised to vote for Mr. Smith, it having been confidently reposed that both the candidates were equally acceptable to His Majesty. The whole city is in confusion. Oh what pity there could not be some way of managing elections of every sort without this embittering Englishmen against Englishmen and kindling fires which cannot be quenched in many years! Wishing Mrs. Blackwell and you the peace which the world cannot give, I remain, dear sir, Yours most affectionately. To the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ [11] BRISTOL March 8, 1756. MR. URBAN, -- I have met with many persons in my life who did not abound with modesty; but I never yet met with one who had less of it than your anonymous correspondent. The whole account of Whiston Cliff, inserted in one of your magazines, I aver to be punctually true, having been an eye-witness of every particular of it. And if F. D. will set his name and aver the contrary, I will make him ashamed, unless shame and he have shook hands and parted. -- Yours, &c.

To William Dodd Date: KINGSWOOD, March 12, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- REVERAND, SIR, --You and I the more easily bear with each other, because we are both of us rapid writers, and therefore more the more liable to mistake. I will thank you for showing me any mistake I am in, being not so tenacious of my opinions now as I was twenty or thirty years ago. Indeed, I am not fond of any opinion as such. I read the Bible with what attention I can, and regulate all my opinions thereby to the best of my understanding. But I am always willing to receive more light; particularly with regard to any less common opinions, because the examining and defending them takes up much time, which I can ill spare from other employments. Whoever, therefore, will give me more fight with regard to Christian Perfection will do me a singular favor. The opinion I have concerning it at present I espouse merely because I think it is scriptural; if, therefore, I am convinced it is not scriptural, I shall willingly relinquish it. 2. I have no particular fondness for the term. It seldom occurs either in my preaching or writings. It h my opponents who thrust it upon me continually, and ask me what I mean by it. So did Bishop Gibson, till by his advice I publicly declared what I did not mean by it and what I did. This I supposed might be best done in the form of a sermon, [On Christian Perfection. See Works, vi. 1-19.] having a text prefixed wherein that term occurred. But that text is there used only as an occasion or introduction to the subject. I do not build any doctrine thereon, nor undertake critically to explain it.

To his Wife Date: WAERFORD, May 7, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR MOLLY, -- From Portarlington we rode (twenty miles as they call it) in about eight hours to Kilkenny. There our brethren in the Army received us gladly and opened a door which none were able to shut. Yesterday in the afternoon (through heavy rain; but it was nothing to me) we came hither. Here is a poor, shattered Society, who have been for these seven years tearing one anther in pieces. What I shall be able to do with them I know not; but it is enough if I can deliver my own soul. On Monday I hope to be in Clonmell, and on Wednesday evening in Cork. From time to time, my love, you should tell me all you know concerning public affairs; for it is hard to depend on the authority of the newspapers for the truth of anything. If King George recovers, [George II lived till 1760. The future George III came of age on June 4, 1756.] I know there will be a lengthening of our tranquility. If God should take him away, for anything I see yet, I should quit this kingdom as soon as possible. In the meantime let you and I improve to-day. The morrow will take thought for the things of itself. [See letter of April 19.] Sister Cownley [See letter of Jan. 10.] sends her kindest love to you and Jenny. Is there something remarkable in her dream I have heard of several other uncommon notices which have been given to others in this kingdom. But I shall stay till I can see the Persons concerned and like the accounts from their own mouths. I dreamed last night that I was carried to execution and had but a few minutes to live. We had not been talking of anything of the kind over-night. What I gather hence is, While we live, let us live; that if we do not meet again here, we may in a better place -- My dear Molly, adieu! I have now yours of April 29. It is all in all to keep the issues of our heart, and by His strength we are able so to do. Draw us, and we will run after Thee!

Pay the printers yourself; that is the sure way, unless Jo. Spencer [See letters of Jan. 7, March 4, and June 18.] gives you his account as I have written. I hope H. Brown [Brown was apparently engaged at the Book-Room.] will do everything you bid him. Else you must send him home. I have wrote to Mr. Blackwell from Dublin. Peace be with your spirit!

To Mr. ---- Date: CORK, May 14, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- I have consulted the preachers that are with me here, and they have no objection to your proposal; only it might be well if you delayed the putting it in execution till there is another traveling preacher in the Round, because otherwise many of the other Societies will suffer great loss. You should wherever you are take care of one thing: do not puzzle people about the Church. Those that are there, let them continue there, elsee the gain will not countervail the damage. Take care likewise that you do not buy the favor of the world too dear. -- I am Your affectionate brother.

To his Wife Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- LIMERICK, June, 18, 1756. MY DEAR LOVE -- At Newmarket on Wednesday night and last night at Ballingarrane our lodging was not very warm or elegant. But I do not perceive that I have taken any cold. Rather I am better than when I set out. A week or two ago I was not very strong; but I have now no reason to complain. I preach no more than twice a day, and not once abroad since my coming to Limerick. Let the wind be east, west, or north, we have rain every day; so that I keep to the Abbey [An old abbey at Limerick which the Society had secured and fitted up as a place of worship. See Crookshank’s Methodism in Ireland i. 50.] whether I will or no. I think the paper was to be 15s. a ream. I shall not be sorry if an hundred people will return the subscription money. Let not one copy unsubscribed for go under fifteen shinings. Many will be glad of them at any price. They may have the picture (and the errata) or let it alone. It is well done. I saw it before I left London. I am afraid there have not copies enough been sent to Ireland. The money remitted from hence at four payments was between fifty and sixty pounds. Brother Atkinson [See letter of Jan. 7.] can early compute how many subscribers this implies. I hear nothing of any books come to Dublin yet. I hope they were directed to Mr. Powell. [Samuel Powell was his Dublin printer. See W.H.S. vi. 90.] 'Tis not unlikely poor Sister Atkinson may talk so. But (unless you heard them with your own ears) do not believe a word of it concerning Jo. Downes or Rob. Windsor. You did well to send G. Whitefield and my brother the Notes. I will trust you; give a copy to any preacher or any other person you judge proper. Pray pay Mr. Wyat and Brother Birket [Birket may be Bowyer, the printer of the Notes.] as soon as you can. The next money should pay our printing debts. If J. Spencer [See letter, May 7.] can spare you for three weeks, go to Bristol by all means. It is an excellent thought. Now, my Molly, overcome evil with good.

Indeed, I fear our fleets are bought and sold. Poor King George! where will he find an honest man If I hear of the French landing, or beating our fleet on the 14th of July (the day those sights appeared in the air over Cornwall), I shall endearor to come into England directly; otherwise to go on my way. My brother does not oppose field-preaching in general; but he does not like preaching in Smithfield: though I know not why any should oppose it, unless they are apprehensive of the mob. I am now writing on Original Sin [The Doctrine on Original Sin, a reply to Doctor John Taylor of Norwich, was published in Jan 1757. Wesley decided to write it as early as April 10, 1751. See Journal, iii. 520; Green’s Bibliography, No. 182; and letter of July 3, 1759.]; so the papers came in good time. Jo. Haughton is in Dublin. Michael with his little wit does much good. Watch over Jo. Spencer. It win do him a solid kindness. You may perhaps convince him it is his interest to be honest and to save me all the money he can. Should not one preacher go to Norwich immediately and another to Portsmouth Molly, let us make the best of it. Oh for zeal! I want to be on the full stretch for God! -- My dear Love adieu! Pray put Brother Norton’s [See letter of Sept. 3 to Nicholas Norton, which refers to one from him in July.] into the post.

To Nicholas Norton Date: KINGSWOOD, September 3, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- In your letters of July, and August 27, you charge me (1) with self-inconsistency in tolerating lay-preaching, and not lay-administering; and (2) with showing a spirit of persecution in denying my brethren the liberty of acting (as well as thinking) according to their own conscience. As to the former charge, the fact alleged is true: I do tolerate unordained persons in preaching the gospel, whereas I do not tolerate them in administrating the sacraments. But it is not true I am inconsistent in so doing. I act on one and the same principle still. My principle (frequently declared) is thus: ‘I submit to every ordinance of man wherever I do not conceive there is an absolute necessity for acting contrary to it.’ Consistently with this I do tolerate lay-preaching, because I conceive there is an absolute necessity for it; inasmuch as, were it not, thousands of souls would perish everlastingly. Yet I do not tolerate lay-administering, because I do not conceive there is any such necessity for it; seeing it does not appear that, if this is not all, one soul will perish for want of it. I am therefore so far from self-inconsistency in tolerating the former and not the latter, that I readily should be self-inconsistent were I to act otherwise: were I to break, or allow others to break, an ordinance of man, where there is no necessity, I should contradict my own principle as much as if I did not allow it to be broken where there is.

‘But I would not dispute with you.’ Not for a time; not till your spirits were a little evaporated. But you argue too fast when you infer from hence that I myself cannot confute your favorite notion. You are not sure of that. But, come what will, you are resolved to try. Well, then, move fair and softly. You and Charles Perronet aver that you have a right to administer the Lord’s Supper, and that therefore you ought to administer it among the Methodists or to separate from them. If the assertion were proved, I should deny the consequence. But first, I desire proof of the assertion. Let him or you give the proof, only without any flourish or rhetorical amplifications (which exceedingly abound in all C. P.’s letters to my brother on this subject), and I will give you an answer, though we are not on even ground; for you have no business, and I have no leisure. And if you continue instant in prayer, particulady for a lowly and teachable spirit, I do not despair of your finding both that life and love which you have not lately enjoyed. -- I am Your affectionate brother I shall add a few remarks on C. P.’s letters, though the substance of them is contained in yours. ‘Some of the fundamentals of your constitution are wrong’ Our fundamentals are laid down in the Plain Account. Which of these are wrong, and yet ‘borne by you for eight years’ ‘Oh inconsistency! Oh excuseless tyranny!’ &c. Flourish. Set that down for nothing. ‘These very men who themselves break the laws of the State deny us liberty of conscience.’ In plain terms, These very men who preach the gospel contrary to law do not approve of our administering the sacraments. They do not. They greatly disapprove of it; and that without any inconsistency at all, because the case is not parallel. The one is absolutely necessary to the salvation of thousands; the other not. ‘Your brother has to the last refused me liberty of conscience.’ Under what penalty This heavy charge amounts in reality to this: I still think you have no fight to administer the Lord’s Supper; in consequence of which I advise you not to do it. Can I do less or have I done more

That Methodism (so called) -- that is, vital religion, loving faith, in the hearts of those who are vulgarly termed Methodists -- should seem to you, sitting snug at London or Bristol, to be ‘very much in its decline,’ is no wonder. But I, who see things in every place with my own eyes, know it is very much in its increase. Many are daily added to them that believe; many more are continually awakened: so that the Societies from east to west, from north to south, in both kingdoms, increase in grace as well as number. ‘I wish the argument’ (which is no argument at all, as being grounded on a palpable mistake) ‘Be not too home to bear a dispute among honest men.’ Very well! Another clear proof of the love that thinketh no evil. ‘If you had consented.’ This is the very point. I could not consent (which implies some degree of approbation) to what I judged to be totally wrong. Yet nether did I persecute. I inflicted no penalty of any kind on those whom I judged to have done wrong; because I believed they acted from conscience though erroneous: I only mildly advised them to desist. ‘I never will be again united with any who will not let others choose their own religion.’ Then you will never unite with any but knaves; for no honest men who preside over any community will let the members of it do what they judge to be wrong and hurtful to that community without endeavoring to prevent it, at least, by mild, loving friendly advice. ‘I go away, not of choice, but of necessity.’ So you must think till God opens your eyes. ‘Your kindness at our first acquaintance, the Providence that brought us together, and the keeping up that acquaintance after so many snares of the enemy to destroy it, make it sacred as well as dear to me.’ And yet for such a reason as this, -- because I advise you to abstain from doing what I think you have no fight to do, what I judge to be both evil in itself and productive of ill consequences, --for this reason you burst all the bonds asunder and cast away the cords from you. The Lord God enlighten the eyes of your understanding and soften and enlarge your heart!

You oblige me by speaking your sentiments so plainly: with the same plainness I will answer. So far as I know myself, I have no more concern for the reputation of Methodism or my own than for the reputation of Prester John. I have the same point in view as when I set out -- the promoting as I am able vital, practical religion; and in all our discipline I still aim at the continuance of the work which God has already begun in so many souls. With this view, and this only, I permitted those whom I believed God had called thereto to comfort, exhort, and instruct their brethren. And if this end can be better answered some other way, I shall subscribe to it without dray. But is that which you propose a better way This should be coolly and calmly considered. If I mistake not, there are now in the county of Cornwall about four-and-thirty of these little Societies, part of whom now experience the love of God, part are more or less earnestly seeking it. Four preachers-- Peter Jaco, Thomas Johnson, W. Crabb, and William Alwood [Peter Jaco was a Cornishman who became one of Wesley's preachers in 1754; his portrait and autobiography are given in the first volume of the Arminian Mag. 1778, p. 541 (See Wesley’s Veterans, ii. 7-17). Thomas Johnson was born at Wakefield in 1720, became an itinerant in 1752, and died in 1797; he was acceptable and useful wherever he went (Atmore’s Memorial, pp 220-3). William Crabb was amiable and devoted; but he suffered much from weakness, and died about 1764 (ibid. p. 94). William Alwood was seized by the press-gang at Stockton in 1759 (Journal, iv. 328-9): see W.H.S. iii. 182, and letter of March 6, 1759, to him.] -- design for the ensuing year, partly to call other sinners to repentance, but crafty to feed and guide those few feeble sheep, to forward them (as of the ability which God giveth) in vital, practical religion. Now, suppose we can effect that Peter Jaco and Thomas Johnson be ordained and settled in the curacies of Buryan and St. Just, and suppose William Crabb and William Alwood fix at Launceston and Plymouth Dock as readers and exhorters, will this answer the end which I have in view so well as traveling through the county

It will not answer it so well even with regard to those Societies with whom Peter Jaco and Thomas Johnson have settled. Be their talents ever so great, they will ere long grow dead themselves, and so will most of those that hear them. I know, were I myself to preach one whole year in one place, I should preach both myself and most of my congregation asleep. Nor can I believe it was ever the will of our Lord that any congregation should have one teacher only. We have found by long and constant experience that a frequent change of teachers is best. This preacher has one talent, that another. No one whom I ever yet knew has all the talents which are needful for beginning continuing and perfecting the work of grace in an whole congregation. But suppose this would better answer the end with regard to those two Societies, would it answer in those where W. Alwood and W. Crabb were settled as inspectors or readers First, who shall feed them with the milk of the Word The ministers of their parishes Alas, they cannot! they themselves neither know, nor live, nor teach the gospel. These readers Can, then, either they or I or you always find something to read to our congregation which will be as exactly adapted to their wants and as much blessed to them as our preaching And here is another difficulty still: what authority have I to forbid their doing what I believe God has called them to do I apprehend, indeed, that there ought, if possible, to be both an outward and inward call to this work; yet, if one of the two be supposed wanting I had rather want the outward than the inward call. I rejoice that I am called to preach the gospel both by God and man. Yet I acknowledge I had rather have the divine without the human than the human without the divine call.

But, waiving this, and supporting these four Societies to be better provided for than they were before, what becomes of the other thirty Will they prosper as well when they are left as sheep without a shepherd The experiment has been tried again and again, and always with the same event: even the strong in faith grew weak and faint; many of the weak made shipwreck of the faith; the awakened fell asleep; sinners, changed for a while, returned as a dog to the vomit. And so, by our lack of service, many of the souls perished for whom Christ died. Now, had we willingly withdrawn our service from them by voluntarily settling in one place, what account of this could we have given to the great Shepherd of all our souls I cannot therefore see how any of those four preachers or any others in like circumstances can ever, while they have health and strength, ordained or unordained, fix in one place, without a grievous wound to their own conscience and damage to the general work of God. Yet I trust I am open to conviction; and your farther thoughts on this or any subject will be always acceptable to, reverend and dear sir, Your very affectionate brother and fellow laborer.

To the Monthly Reviewers Date: LONDON, September 9, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- GENTLEMEN, -- For a considerable time I have had a desire to trouble you with a few fines; but have been prevented, partly by a variety of other business, partly by the small probability of your impartially considering what was said. I will, however make the trial. If you can read candidly, well; if not, it is but a little labor lost.

Now, gentlemen, can you say, between God and your own souls, that these verses deserve the treatment you have given them I think you cannot. You are men of more understanding. You know they are not contemptible. If any of you will strike a real blot, if you will point out even in public (though that is not the most obliging way) anything justly reprovable in our writings, probably we shall acknowledge and correct what is amiss -- at least, we shall not blame you. But every impartial man must blame that method of proceeding which neither consists with justice nor humanity. Perhaps you may say you have been provoked. By whom ‘By Mr. Romaine.’ I answer, I am not Mr. Romaine [William Romaine (1714-95) was appointed lecturer at St. Dunstan’s-in-the-West in 1749, assistant morning preacher at St. George’, Hanover Square, 1750-6, Curate of St Olave’s, Southwark, 1756-9; Rector of St. Anne’s Blackfriars, 1766-95. He was a frequent visitor at Benjamin Ingham’s and one of the leading Calvinistic clergy of his time.]; neither am I accountable for his behavior. And what equity is this One man has offended you: therefore you fall upon another. Will it excuse you to say, ‘But he is called by the same name’ especially when neither is this his own name, but a term of derision. Gentlemen, do to others as you would have them do to you: then you will no more injure one who never offended you (unless this offend you, that he does ready believe Jesus Christ to be God over all, blessed for ever); then you will not return hatred for goodwill, even to so insignificant a person as

To James Clark Date: LONDON, September 18, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- REVEREND SIR, -- Yesterday I received your favor of July 9. As you therein speak freely and openly, I will endeavor to do the same, at which I am persuaded you will not be displeased. 1. Of the words imputed to Mr. Langston I said nothing because he denied the charge, and I had not the opportunity of having the accuser and the accused face to face. 2. That there are enthusiasts among the Methodists I doubt not, and among most other people under heaven; but that they are made such by our doctrine and discipline still remains to be proved. If they are in such spite of our doctrine and discipline, their madness will not be laid to our charge. I know nothing of the anonymous pamphlet on Inspiration. [In his second letter Clark refers to ‘a pamphlet wrote by an anonymous author of your Society, wherein he made a collection all the texts of The New Testament where there is any mention of the Spirit or its influences.] How does it appear to be wrote by one of my disciples Be it good bad or indifferent, I am not concerned or any way accountable for it. 3. I believe several who are not episcopally ordained are nevertheless called of God to preach the gospel. Yet I have no exception to the Twenty-third Article, though I judge there are exempt cases. That the seven deacons were outwardly ordained even to that low office cannot be denied; but when Paul and Barnabas were separated from the work to which they were called, this was not ordaining them. St. Paul was ordained long before, and that was not by man or men. It was inducting him into the providence for which our Lord had appointed him from the beginning. For this end the prophets and teachers fasted and prayed and laid their hand upon them - a rite which was used, not in ordination only, but in blessing many other occasions.

To the Monthly Reviewers Date: LONDON, October 5, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- Really, gentlemen, you do me too much honor. I could scarce expect so favorable a regard from those who are professed admirers of Mr. Aaron Hill’s verse and Mr. Caleb Flemings prose. Nevertheless I cannot but observe a few small mistakes in the eight lines with which you favor me. You say, ‘We suppose the specimen of Mr. Wesley’s Hymns’ (the false spelling is of little consequence) ‘was sent us for this purpose’ - namely to publish. Truly it was not: it never entered my thought; as, I apprehend, may appear from: the whole tenor of the letter wherein those lines were inserted. ‘And if the Moravians please to select a like sample of what has been done by them, they may expect from us the same justice.’ [See letters of Oct. 24, 1755, and Sept. 9, 1756.] Another little mistake: those lines are not selected, but are found in the very first hymn (as I observed in my last) that occurs in the first verses which my brother and I have ever published. ‘We have received a letter complaining of our having jumbled the poetry of the Methodists and Moravians in an indiscriminate censure.’ Not so. The Chief thing complained of was, (1) Your ‘jumbling whole bodies of people together and of condemning them by the lump without any regard either to prudence, justice or humanity.’ (2).Your ‘treating with such contempt those who by no means contemptible writers - Mr. Norris and Mr. Herbert.’ The last and least thing was your ‘coupling the hymns of Moravians and Methodists together.’ It was here I added, ‘As probably you have a never few seen the books which you condemn, I will transcribe a few lines’; but neither did I give the least intimation of ‘appealing hereby to the public in proof of our superiority over the Moravians.’ This is another mistake. At first I was a little inclined to fear a want of integrity had occasioned this misrepresentation; but, upon reflection, I would put a milder construction upon it, and only impute it to want of understanding. Even bodies of men do not see all things; and are then especially liable to err, when they imagine themselves hugely superior to their opponents, and so pronounce ex cathedra.

‘The cure’ of sin ‘will be perfected in heaven’ (page 47). Nay; surely in paradise, if no sooner. ‘This is a noble prerogative of the beatific vision.’ No; it will then come too late. If sin remains in us till the day of judgment, it will remain for ever. ‘Our present blessedness does not consist in being free from sin.’ I really think it does: but whether it does or no, if we are not free from sin, we are not Christian believers; for to all these the Apostle declares, ‘Being made free from sin, ye are become the servants of righteousness’ (Rom. vi. 18). ‘If we were perfect in piety’ (St. John’s word is ‘perfect in love’), ‘Christ’s priestly office would be superseded.’ No; we should still need His Spirit, and consequently His intercession, for the continuance of that love from moment to moment. Beside, we should still be encompassed with infirmities and liable to mistakes, from which words or actions might follow, even though the heart was all love, which were not exactly right. Therefore in all these respects we should still have need of Christ’s priestly office; and therefore, as long as he remains in the body, the greatest saint may say, ‘Every moment, Lord, I need The merit of Thy death.’ The text cited from Exodus asserts nothing less than that iniquity ‘cleaves to all our holy things till death.’ ‘Sin remains, that the righteousness of faith may have its due honor’ (page 48). And will the righteousness of faith have its due honor no longer than sin remains in us Then it must remain not only on earth and in paradise but in heaven also. ‘And the sanctification of the Spirit its proper esteem.’ Would it not have more esteem if it were a perfect work ‘It’ (sin) ‘ will make us lowly in our own eyes’ (ibid.). What! will pride make us lowly Surely the utter destruction of pride would do this more effectually. ‘It will make us compassionate.’ Would not an entire renewal in the image of God make us much more so ‘It will teach us to admire the riches of grace.’ Yea; but a fuller experience of it, by a thorough sanctification of spirit, soul, and body, will make us admire it more. ‘It will reconcile us to death.’ Indeed it will not; nor will anything do this like perfect love.

To Samuel Furly Date: LONDON November 20, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- Just at the time when you resolved to quit your trifling companion, God gave you a serious one [See letters of April 16, 1756 and March 7, 1758.]: a plain token that He will withhold from you no good thing, if you will yet turn to Him. Do you now find your mind disengaged and free Can you say, Delco dehinc omnes ex animo mulieres [‘Henceforth I blot out all women from my mind.’] If so, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free Be not entangled again in that yoke of bondage. Beware of the very first approach, and watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. I hope Mr. Drake [See letters of Sept. 25, 1755, and Dec. 4, 1756.] is determined to contract no acquaintance with any man that knows not God. Let him have sense and learning and every other recommendation, still it will not quit cost; it is necessary to be courteous to all. But that does not imply intimacy. He knows, and we know, the value of time. See that you improve every part of The least of these a serious care demands; For though they’re little, they are golden sands. --I am Your affectionate brother.

To Dorothy Furly Date: LONDON, December 22, 1756. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1756) Author: John Wesley --- It is a happy thing if we can learn obedience by the things which we suffer. Weakness of body and heaviness of mind will, I trust, have this good effect upon you. The particular lesson which you have now to learn is to be faithful in comparatively little things, particularly in conversation. God hath given you a tongue: why That you may praise Him therewith; that all your conversation may be, for the time to come, ‘meet to minister grace to the hearers.’ Such conversation and private prayer exceedingly assist each other. By resolutely persisting, according to your little strength, in all works of piety and mercy, you are waiting on God in the old scriptural way. And therein He will come and save you. Do not think He is afar off. He is nigh that justifieth, that sanctifieth. Beware you do not thrust Him away from you. Rather say, My heart would now receive Thee, Lord: Come in, my Lord, come in Write as often and as freely and fully as you please to Your affectionate brother and servant.

To Samuel Furly Date: LONDON, February 11, 1757. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1757) Author: John Wesley --- The times and seasons of continuing comfort and all other spk~ual blessings the Father hath reserved in His own power. And them may be many wise reasons unknown to us (who are of yesterday and know nothing) why He does not answer every prayer as soon as we offer it. Indeed, one very common reason is sin lieth at the door -- perhaps sin of omission, the not following the light, not using the power we have. I know not that this is your cue. Possibly God may see good to take this way to break the stubbornness of your will and destroy your pride of understanding. Certainly you am in the hands of Him that loves you, and that will speedily deliver, if you persevere in waiting for Him and in rejecting all comfort but that which flows from the Spirit of adoption, crying in your heart, Abba Father!

To his Wife Date: LIVERPOOL, April 24, 1757. [April 24 was a Sunday, and Wesley heard ‘two very useful sermons at St. Thomas’s Church.’ See Journal, iv. 203.] Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1757) Author: John Wesley --- I see plainly, my dear Molly, you are resolved to make me love you better and better. Be as careful as ever you will (only not so as to make yourself sick) and as diligent as ever you can. This is one of the talents which God has given you. O use it to the uttermost! Put forth all your strength in things temporal as well as in things spiritual. Whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it with your might. What a blessed rule is that of Kempis. ‘Do what is in thee, and God will supply what is lacking’! Only, my love, watch over your own spirit! Take heed that it be not sharpened. Fret not thyself because of the ungodly, but in quietness and patience possess your own soul. I believe my letter to the Stewards will stir them up. What if you gave it to T. Butts [See letter of March 27, 1751.] and desired him and John Matthews [John Matthews died of consumption on Dec. 28, 1764. During twenty years Wesley did not remember his saying or doing anything he would wish to have been unsaid or undone. See Journal v. 93, 103; and letter of April 24, 1761.] to second it If they speak to William Atkinson [See letter of March 9, 1765.] in good earnest, it will certainly do good, one way or the other. [Mrs. Wesley had evidently made some suggestion for business arrangements.] Now I have burnt your letter. My health continues to a miracle. Ten days hence I shall probably see John Haime [See letter of March 1744, and June 21, 1748.]; and Joseph Jones [Joseph Jones was for some time one of Wesley’s preachers. He married, and settled in Somersetshire as a farmer. See Atmore’s Memorial pp. 225-6; Journal, iv. 328; and for Bilbrook, Staffordshire, iii. 519 iv. 14.] if he finds his way back from Bilbrook. It grows late: but I could not persuade myself to lose one post; though I cannot tell you how much I am, dear Molly, Your affectionate Husband, Lover and Friend.

To Ebezezer Blackwell Date: WHITEHAVEN, May 28, 1757. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1757) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR, -- Does the rule still hold, ‘Out of sight out of mind’ I am afraid it does with poor Miss Freeman, [See letter of April 26, 1760.] as she does not give me one fine in answer to the long letter I wrote from Liverpool. I was in hopes we might have interchanged several letters in less than six weeks’ time. As for you, I presume you are full of business; and yet not so full of temporal business as to exclude the thoughts of higher concerns -- business that will endure when earth and the works of it are burned up. Were anything temporal even to damp or lessen (though not destroy) our care and zeal for things eternal, what could countervail the loss What could make us amends for the damage thereby sustained Sometimes, indeed, we may go through abundance of business, and yet have God in all our thought. But is this the case always Are not even lawful, nay necessary, things at other times a grievous hindrance, especially when we undertake them without any suspicion of danger, and consequently without any prayer against that danger In this respect, as in many others, I have lately had peculiar reason to be thankful. In every place people flock about me for direction in secular as well as spiritual affairs; and I dare not throw even this burthen off my shoulders, though I have employment enough without it. But it is a burthen, and no burthen; it is no encumbrance, no weight upon my mind. If we see God in all things and do all for Him, then all things are easy. I think it is fourteen or fifteen days since my wife wrote to me. I am afraid she is not well, or is angry at my brother and consequently with me. If any letters for me come enclosed to Mr. Belchier, [See letter of April 9, 1755.] I will be obliged to you if you will not send them to her, but direct them to me at Newcastle, where I hope to be in a few days. Wishing all grace and peace to you and yours, I am, dear sir, Your most affectionate servant. I breakfasted at Keswick last Tuesday.

To Mrs. Crosby Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1757) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, June 14, 1757. MY DEAR SISTER, -- I was concerned at not hearing from you for so long a time, whereas I would not willingly pass a fortnight without it. Whenever you have leisure write, whether any one else does or not. I shah be here near three weeks, and then at York. It comforts me to hear that your love does not decrease: I want it to increase daily. Is there not height and depth in Him with whom you have to do, for your love to rise infinitely higher and to sink infinitely deeper into Him than ever it has done yet Are you fully employed for Him, and yet so as to have some time daily for reading and other private exercises If you should grow cold, it would afflict me much. Rather let me always rejoice over you. As for me, I seem only to be just beginning to aim feebly at God; though I have found more liberty in the respects you mention lately than of a long season. Dear Sally, never forget to pray for Your affectionate brother.

To Dorthy Furly Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1757) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, June 14, 1757. You have reason to praise God for what He has done and to expect all that He has promised. Indeed, if it were required that you should work this in yourself, your impotence might be a bar to your expectations; and so might your unworthiness, if God required any merit of yours in order to His working in you. But what impotence in you can be a bar to the almighty power of God And what unworthiness can hinder the free love of God His love in and through Christ Jesus So that all the promises lie fair before you. The land flowing with milk and honey, the Canaan of His perfect love, is open. Believe, and enter in! It is an observation of one of the ancients that it is far easier not to desire praise than not to be pleased with it. A bare conviction that it is, generally speaking, deadly poison may prevent our desiring it; but nothing less than humble love filling the heart will prevent our being pleased with it, for the sense of honor is as natural to man as the sense of tasting or feeling. But when that which is spiritual is fully come, this which is corruptly natural shall be done away. Whatever enemies you have, it is enough that you have a Friend who is mightier than them all. O let Him reign in your heart alone! Do not spare to speak with all freedom to, dear Miss Furly, Your affectionate brother and servant.

To Mrs. Crosby Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1757) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, July 1, 1757. MY DEAR SISTER, -- Certainly you judge right. Do not entangle yourself with the things of this world; neither give occasion to any to speak reproachfully. Therefore accept of no deed or writing whatsoever which should tie her down to do anything for you one day longer than she would do without it. [Probably Miss Bosanquet, whom she had met in May. See letter of June 14.] What she will do day by day without hurting herself or any one else is liable to no exception. O stand fast in glorious liberty; and be subject to no creature, only so far as love constrains. By this sweetest and strongest tie you are now subject to, dear Sally, Your affectionate friend and brother. I shall look for a letter at York.

To Samuel Furly Date: YORK, July 12, 1757. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1757) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY, -- In all my experience I never knew one so much altered for the worse as C. P. [Charles Perronet. See letters of Sept. 3, 1756 (to Nicholas Norton), and Dec. 14, 1757.] in so short a time. I am afraid that enemy is in real, actual possession of his understanding; though God, I hope, has still hold of his heart. Certainly the conversing with him at present would not be profitable to you. Nothing could be more seasonable than the notes you give me concerning M. B. [Miss Bosanquet and Mrs. Crosby.] I was just going to answer a letter from one who can say anything to her without offence. So that proper advice may now be conveyed to her with great probability of success. I hope you will write to Mr. Drake [See letter of Dec. 4, 1756.] without delay. He is in danger; for every possible snare is laid for him. His aunt here, Mrs. Dickson, [Dickens.] has been of great service to him. He was hurried hence by his mother (a woman bitter of spirit) to keep him out of my way. You may direct your next to me at Mr. Hutton's, [‘William Hutton mercer and grocer, a man in good repute in the town,’ with whom Wesley stayed when at Epworth. See Stevenson’s Wesley Family, p. 348; and letter of July 28 1775, to Mrs. Woodhouse.] in Epworth, Lincolnshire, by Thorne bag. Dear Sammy, fight on! Adieu. Miss Tancred, a gay, giddy girl, a mere coquette, is put in the way of Mr. Drake. Warn him earnestly to keep clear of her.

To Dorothy Furly Date: TREMENEARE, September 6, 1757. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1757) Author: John Wesley --- Why you should be afraid on account of anything you said to me I do not know. Certainly, if you had said whatever was in your heart, it might have been a means of lessening your burthen and not of increasing it. I believe you have often a desire, and almost a resolution, of saying a great deal to me; but when you come to write or speak, your heart fails. Why should it Why should you repress yourself I should not despise but love you for your openness. It is the fruit and the proof of an honest heart. I know you are weak; I know a little of your particular weaknesses. But so much the more am I concerned for you as a tender, sickly flower. Away, then, with this reserve; it answers no end but to trouble and embarrass you. Tell me freely and plainly any difficulty you meet with, any enemy against whom you want help. Use me as a friend, as I hope you will use Sarah Crosby, and you will find it a blessing to your soul. It will again bring the promise of holiness near; which, indeed, always seems to be far off when we give way to any known sin, when we any way grieve the Spirit of God. There may be some rare cases wherein God has determined not to bestow His perfect love till a little before death; but this I believe is uncommon: He does not usually put off the fulfilling of His promises. Seek, and you shall find; seek earnestly, and you shall find speedily. Lift up the hands that hang down; deny yourself; take up your cross, whether that of meeting your class or any other. Fight on, and victory is at hand! -- I am, dear Miss Fury, Your affectionate servant.

But you say, ‘Really, before it can be effected, something must be done on your part.’ Tell me what, and I will do it without delay, however contrary it may be to my ease or intonation, provided only that it consist with my keeping a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man. It would not consist with this to give up the flock under my care to any other minister till I and they were convinced they would have the same advantages for holiness under him which they now enjoy. But ‘paying us visits can serve no other purpose than to bring us under needles difficulties.’ I will speak very freely on this head. Can our conversing together serve no other purpose You seem, then, not to have the least conception of your own wanting any such thing! But whether you do or not, I feel I do. I am not in memet torus totus teres atque rotundus. [Horace’s Satires, II vii. 86: ‘In myself completely smooth and rounded.’] I want more light, more strength, for my personal walking with God; and I know not but He may give it me through you. And (whether you do or no) I want more light and strength for guiding the flock committed to my charge. May not the Lord send this also by whom He will send and by you as probably as any other It is not improbable He may by you give me clearer light either as to doctrine or discipline. And even hereby how much comfort and profit might redound to thousands of those for whom Christ hath died! which, I apprehend would fully compensate any difficulties that might arise from such conversation.

To Dorothy Furly Date: ST. AUSTELL CORNWALL, September 25, 1757. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1757) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER, -- It is a rule with me to take noting ill that is well meant; therefore you have no need ever to be afraid of my putting an ill construction on anything you say, for I know you mean only to save your soul. In most genteel religious people there is so strange a mixture that I have seldom much confidence in them. I love the poor; in many of them I find pure, genuine grace, unmixed with paint, folly, and affection. But I think Mrs. Gaussen is upright of heart; and perhaps you may find one or two gentlewomen like her. [See letters of June 18, 1757 and March 26, 1770.] It is plain God sees it best for you frequently to walk in a thorny path. By this means He aims at destroying your pride of heart and breaking your stubborn will. You have had large experience that there is no substantial or lasting happiness but in Him. O be true to yourself and to your own experience! Do not seek it where it cannot be found. Hew out to yourself no more broken cisterns, but let all the springs of your happiness be in Him. You cannot be too careful to keep out of the way of anything that has been the occasion of sin. And it is very possible to show civility and moderate respect to any person without coming in the way of danger. All private conversation may be avoided and ought to be, at all hazards. Do not run yourself into temptation; and God will deliver you from evil. Nature and the devil will always oppose private prayer; But it is worth while to break through. That it is a cross will not hinder its being a blessing -- nay, often the more reluctance the greater blessing. I think it was not you who advised poor Sam to be a mere regular clergyman [Her brother. See letter of April 8, 1758.] unconnected with the Methodists. Certainly this is the best way to preferment; but it is not the best way to heaven or to do good upon each. When it is too late, the awakened clergy will probably see this. -- I am Your affectionate brother.

To Dorthy Furly Date: BRISTOL, October 21, 1757. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1757) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER, -- God will do His own work in His own manner, and exceeding variously in different persons. It matters not whether it be wrought in a more pleasing or painful manner, so it is wrought, so nature is subdued, pride and self-will dethroned, and the will of God done in us and by us. Therefore trouble not yourself about the experience of others: God knows you, and let Him do with you as He sees best. I judge your late distress to be partly the effect of disease, but chiefly preternatural. In the Third Journal there is a case nearly parallel; only the symptoms were more severe. For in a moment Lucretia Smith [Journal, ii. 410; and letter of April 26, 1739.] felt such a cloud spread over her that she could not believe there was a God or an after-state. You did right to pray, as you could pray; and this is the best method which can be taken in heaviness or darkness of any kind. Then, if sin be the cause, it will be discovered. But take care that you do not refuse any help; even rough speakers may be of service. Only spread what they say before the Lord, and He will turn it to good. -- I am Your affectionate broker.

‘That any who has learnt his religion from the New Testament should mistake their doctrine for the Christian is astonishing’ (page 40). Theirs or yours for it happens to be one and the same with regard to the present point. ‘By many deceits they change the truth of God into a lie’ (ibid.). If they do, so do you. Indeed, you heavily complain of the imputation. You say: ‘It is both astonishing and provoking that, after all, men will say there is no difference between their scheme and yours.’ And yet, after all, so it is: truth is great, and will prevail. In the leading point, that of justification, both you and they teach, ‘Men are justified by a knowledge of the righteousness of Christ.’ Only they think it is a divine, supernatural, experimental knowledge, wrought in the inmost soul; and you think it is a barn historical knowledge, of the same kind with that which the devils have. One specimen more of your unparalleled charity, which in any but yourself would be astonishing: ‘If any one chooses to go to hell by a devout path, let him study any one of those four famous treatises: Mr. Guthrie’s Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ; Mr. Marshall's Gospel Mystery of Sanctification [Walter Marshall, Vicar of Humley; elected 1662, became Non-conformist minister at Gosport, and died in 1690. The Gospel Mystery was published in 1692.]; Mr. Boston’s Human Nature in its Fourfold State; or Dr. Doddridge’s Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul. If any profane person who desires to be converted enter into the spirit of those books, he thereby becomes twofold more a child of hell than he was before.’ (Page 436.) Such is the doctrine, such is the spirit, of Palaemon! condemning the whole generation of God’s children; sending all his opponents to hell at once; casting arrows, firebrands, death on every side! But I stop. God be merciful to thee a sinner; and show thee compassion though thou hast none for thy fellow servants! Otherwise it will be more tolerable, I will not say for Seneca or Epictetus, but for Nero or Domitian, in the day of judgment than for thee!

To Mrs. Ryan Date: NORWICH, November 21, 1757 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1757) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER, -- May the peace and love of God spring up in your heart as in time past, and more abundantly! You have refreshed my bowels in the Lord; I feel your words, and praise God on your behalf. I not only excuse but love your simplicity; and whatever freedom you use, it will be welcome. Surely God will never suffer me to be ashamed of my confidence in you. I have been censured for it by some of your nearest friends; but I cannot repent of it. [See previous letter.] Will not you put forth all your strength (which, indeed, is not yours; it is the Spirit of the Father which now worketh in you), -- (1) in managing all things pertaining to the house, so as to adorn the gospel of God our Savor (2) in feeding the sheep He has committed to your immediate care and carrying the weak and sickly in your bosom (3) in assisting, quickening, and directing the family at Kingswood, whom I trust you will always bear upon your heart (4) in reproving, stirring up, or confirming all whom the providence of God shall put into your hands and (lastly) in watching over and helping forward in the ways of God one who has more need of help than all the rest, and who is always willing to receive it from you because you always speak the truth in love

To Walter Sellon Date: LONDON, December 1, 1757. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1757) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER -- If only one stone were removed out of the way, the thing might be immediately effected. Only prevail upon John Brandon [John Brandon, a dragoon, formed a smll Society in Leicester, which Wesley visited in April 1757. He became an itinerant in 1765.] to spend a month or two in London or any other part of England, and I will immediately send another preacher to Leicester, Ashby, and the adjacent places. But during the present scarcity of laborers we cannot spare a second for that small circuit till you spare us the first. It is surprising that, from one end of the land to the other, so little good is done in a regular way. What have you to do but to follow that way which the providence of God points out And when they drive you from Smithsby, you know where to have both employment and the things needful for the body. I think also it will be highly profitable for your soul to be near those who have more experience in the ways of God. -- I am Your affectionate brother.

To Samuel Furly LONDON, February 17, 1759. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1759) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY,--James Kershaw [James Kershaw had been one of Wesley's preachers from 1752 to 1757. He returned to tile ranks, and in 1765 is stationed at Yarm. See letters of March 1, 1762, and Oct. 16, 1765, to Christopher Hopper.] is an independent minister. Probably, if we live till another Conference, he may be in connexion with us. Hitherto he acts as an independent. We have no Society at Renninghall. I take John Pearse [One of the early preachers. See Tyerman's Wesley ii. 127.] to be an honest man. As soon as he sees the truth he will preach it. Dolly Furly was considerably better in health before I came from Bristol. And she was all athirst for God. I think her soul prospers more and more. I will desire Mr. Gilbert [Nicholas Gilbert became an itinerant in 1744, and died in 1763. See Journal, v. 10 n; and for the Christian Library, letter of Aug. 14, 1748, to Ebenezer Blackwell.] to see whether the four volumes of the Library which you mention can be spared. And if they can, if they are not necessary for the making up of sets, they will be sent with the last Journal and the Pilgrim's Progress. It is very possible the day of grace may be at end before the day of life is. But I believe this is very rarely the case. I have narrowly observed, and have found but one indisputable instance in thirty years. Nancy [Probably his young wife.] must give me credit for her letter a little longer, for I am at present much straitened for time. March 1 I hope to be at Mr. Berridge's, whence I must strike off for Colchester; so that you will not see me this spring, unless you come to Everton.--I am, dear Sammy, Yours affectionately.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Editor's Introductory Notes: 1759 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1759) Author: John Wesley --- [1] EVERTON, March 2, 1759. DEAR SIR,--When it is probable I may alter my judgement or practice, I am very willing to speak upon any head. But when I am clearly and fully fixed, then I do not speak; for it would be lost labour. For this reason I did not speak the other night; because I was fully fixed. My wife picks my lock and steals my papers. Afterwards she says, 'You cannot trust me.' I answer, 'I cannot, till you restore what you stole and promise to steal no more.' She replies, 'I will burn them, or lodge them with another, on such terms.' I answer nothing. Do you ask, Why so! I answer to you: (1) I will not consent my goods shall be burnt, much less accept it as a favour: I require her to restore them. (2) I will not thank her for lodging them with another: I require that they be restored to me. (3) I will not so much as consider the terms: I require the restitution of my own goods without any terms. And I know you would do so were it your case. And so would any man of common sense. 'But she will not restore them.' Then she must keep them. But let her not blame me because I cannot trust her. Permit me to add one word to you. You think yourself a match for her; but you are not. By her exquisite art she has already made you think ill of two very deserving women. [Mrs. Ryan and Mrs. Crosby. See next letter and that of July 12, 1758.] And you have been more than once much puzzled what to think of me! Nor could you help thinking me a little in the wrong. I am almost afraid she likewise entertains you with the faults of many in the Society; the knowing of which (be they real or feigned) does you no good at all. O sir, let us look inward; let us live at home! The more we know of our own faults and the less of other people's, the more will the work of God prosper in our hearts. Wishing all happiness to you and yours, I am, dear sir, -- Your affectionate servant

From Ebenezer Blackwell Editor's Introductory Notes: 1759 [2] DEAR SIR,--I this day received your favour of the 2nd inst. I am sensible of my incapacity either to speak or write in that lively, concise manner you do; but as well as I can I will paragraph by paragraph give a direct answer to your letter. And, first, I desire never to interfere between you and Mrs. Wesley, without there is at least a probability of my being of service to one, or (what I would much rather wish) to both of you; and I declare I have seldom if ever spoken of one to the other without being first desired either by yourself or Mrs. Wesley. Therefore you may be assured I will not in the least hinder your maintaining the authority of the husband in the greatest latitude that either myself or any man of common sense would wish. I likewise say that I do not think myself a match for Mrs. Wesley or any one that studies to deceive me; but I deny that by any exquisite art she has made me think ill of two very deserving women. I suppose you mean Mrs. Ryan and Mrs. Crosby. The first I know nothing of, having never seen her in my life, and hardly ever (for I won't say never) spoken of her to anybody but yourself. The latter I only know from the letter wrote by yourself, which she owned to me was her handwriting, and which I think will plainly prove to every one of common sense that she is not that very deserving woman you think her; and, permit me to add, I am afraid she has too much art for my dear friend.

To William Alwood Editor's Introductory Notes: 1759 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1759) Author: John Wesley --- [3] NORWICH, March 6, 1759. DEAR BILLY,--You spoil my plan. I had appointed, with God's leave, to be at Wakefield on Wednesday, April 18. But you tell me I must be at York. If I must, who can help it! Then I must set out from Epworth that morning, dine at Selby about noon, and so go on in the afternoon for York. But I hope you will begin the building directly. I suppose Dr. Cockburn has my plan. Lose no time. I have some money in my hands for you. The King's business requireth haste. You may still direct your letters to London.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother. To Mr. Will. Alwood, At Mr. John Hall's, In Newgate Street, York.

To Dorothy Furly NORWICH, March 6, 1759. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1759) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I shall always be glad to hear from you when you can write without hurting yourself. But I am almost afraid to write, for fear of tempting you to answer whether you can or not. Since you left Kingswood, I hope you use the water at the Hot Wells as often as possible. If anything medicinal profit you, probably it will be this. But perhaps God will not suffer you to be healed by outward medicines. It may be He is determined to have all the glory of His own work. Meantime He designs by this weakness of body to keep your soul low, as a weaned child. There is a wonderful mystery in the manner and circumstances of that mighty working whereby He subdues all things to Himself and leaves nothing in the heart but His pure love alone. I have no doubt but God will give you the answer to that prayer,-- Let me Thy witness live, When sin is all destroyed I And then my spotless soul receive, And take me home to God! --I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

At Colchester likewise the word of God has free course; only no house will contain the congregation. On Sunday I was obliged to preach on St. John's Green. The people stood on a smooth sloping ground, sheltered by the walls of an old castle, and behaved as men who felt that God was there. I am persuaded your Ladyship still remembers in your prayers Your willing servant for Christ's sake. To the Right Honourable the Countess of Huntingdon, In London.

To Ebenezer Blackwell NORWICH, March 12, 1759. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1759) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--You have entirely satisfied me as to what I was afraid of. [See letter of March 2, and Blackwell's answer. His relations with his wife were easier for the moment.] We are at present upon pretty good terms; and I am not without hope that this good understanding will continue for some time longer. I am sure it will, if He who has the hearts of all men in His hand sees it to be expedient for me. You have never yet spoken to me with more freedom than was agreeable to me. Your freedom is the best proof of your friendship. There are not many that will deal freely with me; nor, indeed, are there many from whom I would desire it, lest it should hurt themselves without profiting me. But I do desire it of you; and do not doubt but it will profit me, as it has done in time past. I know not if in all my life I have had so critical a work on my hands as that wherein I am now engaged. I am endeavouring to gather up those who were once gathered together and afterwards scattered by James Wheatley. [On Nov. 3, 1758, Wheatley had offered him the Tabernacle. Wesley preached there on Dec. 21, and took the lease on the 26th. He found on March 7 that 'the Society, once consisting of many hundred members, was mouldered into nothing.' See Journal, iv. 290-6, 301.] I have reunited about seventy of them, and hope this evening to make up an hundred. But many of them have wonderful spirits, having been always accustomed to teach their teachers; so that how they will bear any kind of discipline I cannot tell.

To Miss Johnson () COLCHESTER March 20, 1759. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1759) Author: John Wesley --- My wife, Miss --, surprised me last night by informing me you are left mistress of a large fortune. Shall I say, agreeably surprised me! I cannot tell; because I believe there is another world, and I do not know what influence this change may have on your condition. Therefore I am in fear and in hope. You may be hereby far more happy or far more miserable in eternity! O make a stand! Consider the situation you are in; perhaps never before were you in so great danger. You know a little of your natural tempers: now you have means of indulging and thereby inflaming them to the uttermost. And how many will incite you so to do! How few will dare to warn you against it! Now what food will you have for pride! what infinite temptations to think more highly than you ought to think! You do so already. But O where will you stop! The good Lord arrest the storm in mid career! How impetuously now, unless God interpose, must self-will whirl you along! How deeply, unless He help, will you shortly be immersed in practical Atheism! as ten thousand things will concur to drive God out of your thoughts, as much as if He were not in the world. But, above all, how will you escape from being swallowed up in idolatry! love of the world, such as you never knew before!

Hitherto you have been greatly superior to every delicacy in food; but even this may assault you now, and perhaps raise in you other desires which you are now a stranger to. At present you are above the follies of dress; but will you be so a twelvemonth hence! May you not easily slide into the pride of life, in this as well as other instances! especially considering how your vanity will be gratified thereby! For who will not admire and applaud your admirable taste! It will only remain for you to marry some agreeable person that has much wit and sense with little or no religion; then it is finished! Either you will be throughly miserable in this world or miserable to eternity. 'But what business is this of yours! Cannot you let me alone! What have I to do with you!' Believe me, I could very easily let you alone, if I had not a real and tender goodwill toward you, and if I did not know (what perhaps you do not) that you have need even of me. You want friends who understand you well, and who dare tell you the whole, plain truth; and yet not in a surly, imperious manner, for then you could not receive it. I have endeavoured to do this once more. Will not you forgive me! I cannot but think, if you do not thank, you will at least excuse Your affectionate servant.

To Clayton Carthy Editor's Introductory Notes: 1759 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1759) Author: John Wesley --- [7] NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, June 12, 1759. DEAR CLAYTON,--I hope you have received the sermon upon the New Birth. I can easily send you one a week. I have finished eight, and am now transcribing the fourth. You should supply any word that is wanting. Go east, west, north, or south, to Norton [Norton St. Philips (Journal, iii. 324).] or elsewhere, and speak sense or nonsense for a quarter of an hour. I believe it will avail both for your soul and body more than you imagine. I do 'think what is doing.' By this post (to leave that poor sinner without excuse) I have wrote once more in the following words: I make you one more offer. Only leave off speaking against me behind my back (whereby you do not hurt me, but the cause of God) and restore my papers to me, and you will find me Your still affectionate Husband. [Carthy had incurred Mrs. Wesley's anger by defending her husband's character. See letter of April 9.] My part is to go on my way and to finish my work.--I am, dear Clayton, Yours affectionately. To Mr. Carthy, At the New Room, In Bristol.

To Dorothy Furly Editor's Introductory Notes: 1759 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1759) Author: John Wesley --- [11] LONDON, August 19, 1759. MY DEAR SISTER,--The observing that rule might prevent abundance of mischief: I wish others would observe it as well as you. Thomas Walsh was a good and a wise man; yet there were some circumstances, not commonly known, which easily account for the darkness he went through before he went to paradise. [See Wesley's Veterans, v. 190-8.] I hope you have talked with Cornelius Bastable as well as heard him preach. He is an uncommon monument of the power of grace, strengthening the understanding as well as renewing the heart. For so weak an head and so bad a temper as he once had I do not know among all our preachers. Probably the difference between you and others lies in words chiefly. All who expect to be sanctified at all expect to be sanctified by faith. But meantime they know that faith will not be given but to them that obey. Remotely, therefore, the blessing depends on our works, although immediately on simple faith. Enjoy while you may the advantage which I had once, and shall have again when God sees best.--I am Your affectionate brother. Certainly you may say to me whatever you have a mind, either by writing or speaking.

Yet one thing I observed with concern. A great part of these men are almost naked; and winter is now coming upon them in a cold prison and a colder climate than most of them have been accustomed to. But will not the humanity and generosity of the gentlemen of Bristol prevent or relieve this distress! Did they not make a notable precedent during the late war! And surely they are not weary of well-doing. Tuesday night we did a little according to our power; but I shall rejoice if this be forgotten through the abundance administered by their liberality in a manner which they judge most proper. Will it not be both for the honour of their city and country, for the credit of our religion, and for the glory of God, who knows how to return it sevenfold into their bosom!-- I am Your humble servant.

To his Wife Editor's Introductory Notes: 1759 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1759) Author: John Wesley --- [15] COLEFORD, October 23, 1759. DEAR MOLLY,--I will tell you simply and plainly the things which I dislike. If you remove them, well. If not, I am but where I was. I dislike (1) Your showing any one my letters and private papers without my leave. This never did any good yet, either to you or me or any one. It only sharpens and embitters your own spirit. And the same effect it naturally has upon others. The same it would have upon me, but that (by the grace of God) I do not think of it. It can do no good. It can never bring me nearer, though it may drive me farther off. And should you do as you often threaten, then the matter is over. I know what I have to do. In all this you are fighting against yourself. You are frustrating your own purpose, if you want me to love you. You take just the wrong way. No one ever was forced to love another. It cannot be: love can only be won by softness; foul means avail nothing. But you say, 'I have tried fair means, and they did not succeed.' If they do not, none will. Then you have only to say, 'This evil is of the Lord: I am clay in His hand.'

I dislike (2) Not having the command of my own house, not being at liberty to invite even my nearest relations so much as to drink a dish of tea without disobliging you. I dislike (3) The being myself a prisoner in my own house; the having my chamber door watched continually so that no person can go in or out but such as have your good leave. I dislike (4) The being but a prisoner at large, even when I go abroad, inasmuch as you are highly disgusted if I do not give you an account of every place I go to and every person with whom I converse. I dislike (5) The not being safe in my own house. My house is not my castle. I cannot call even my study, even my bureau, my own. They are liable to be plundered every day. You say, 'I plunder you of nothing but papers.' I am not sure of that. How is it possible I should I miss money too, and he that will steal a pin will steal a pound. But were it so, a scholar's papers are his treasure--my Journal in particular. 'But I took only such papers as relate to Sarah Ryan and Sarah Crosby.' That is not true. What are Mr. Landey's letters to them Besides, you have taken parts of my Journal which relate to neither one nor the other. I dislike (6) Your treatment of my servants (though, indeed, they are not properly mine). You do all that in you lies to make their lives a burthen to them. You browbeat, harass, rate them like dogs, make them afraid to speak to me. You treat them with such haughtiness, sternness, sourness, surliness, ill-nature, as never were known in any house of mine for near a dozen years. You forget even good breeding, and use such coarse language as befits none but a fishwife. I dislike (7) Your talking against me behind my back, and that every day and almost every hour of the day; making my faults (real or supposed) the standing topic of your conversation. I dislike (8) Your slandering me, laying to my charge things which you know are false. Such are (to go but a few days back)--'that I beat you,' which you told James Burges [One of the masters at Kingswood.

And now, Molly, what would any one advise you to that has a real concern for your happiness Certainly (1) to show, read, touch those letters no more, if you did not restore them to their proper owner; (2) to allow me the command of my own house, with free leave to invite thither whom I please; (3) to allow me my liberty there that any who will may come to me without let or hindrance; (4) to let me go where I please and to whom I please without giving an account to any; (5) to assure me you will take no more of my papers nor anything of mine without my consent; (6) to treat all the servants where you are, whether you like them or no, with courtesy and humanity, and to speak (if you speak at all) to them, as well as others, with good nature and good manners; (7) to speak no evil of me behind my back; (8) never to accuse me falsely; (9) to be extremely cautious of saying anything that is not strictly true, both as to the matter and manner; and (10) to avoid all bitterness of expression till you can avoid all bitterness of spirit. These are the advices which I now give you in the fear of God and in tender love to your soul. Nor can I give you a stronger proof that I am Your affectionate Husband.

To his Wife BEDFORD, November 24, 1759. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1759) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR MOLLY,--You have been much upon my thoughts this morning. Shall I tell you what I thought Then take it in good part. Take it kindly, as it is kindly meant. What do you gain by keeping my papers [See letter of Oct. 23.] or, at least, think you gain Why, this: you gain the satisfaction of showing them, or parts of them, to others; you gain the power of justifying yourself, and of hurting (at least by vexing) me; you gain occasion to make people think ill of me, and to make them think well of you. And hereby you make yourself more friends and me more enemies. Very well. But are you quite sure of this Is it pure satisfaction which you gain by showing them Is there not often a doubt whether you do right, a secret misgiving which spoils the satisfaction Will the showing them justify you for taking them Is it not rather adding sin to sin And will not even men of the world say, 'What a wretch is this, first to rob, then to expose her own husband' If, therefore, you make them think ill of me, you do not make them think well of yourself. If you make me more enemies, you do not make yourself one more friend--nay, all these after a time are less your friends than ever they were before.

To Samuel Furly Editor's Introductory Notes: 1760 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- [2] LONDON, February 25, 1700. DEAR SAMMY,--At present I have but just time to tell you I hope to be at Leeds on Tuesday, March 11. Your manner of proposing your objection puts me in mind of your friend Mr. Dodd. You speak ex cathedra. But the matter is not so clear as it appears to you. It is, however, a point, though considered long ago, worth considering again and again. But you must stay your stomach till you either see or hear again from Your affectionate brother.

To Miss March Editor's Introductory Notes: 1760 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- [3] WEDNESBURY, March 4, 1760. Certainly the more freedom you use the more advantage you will find. But at the same time it will be needful continually to remember from whom every good and perfect gift cometh. If He blesses our intercourse with each other, then we shall never repent of the labour. It is a blessing indeed when God uncovers our hearts and clearly shows us what spirit we are of. But there is no manner of necessity that this self-knowledge should make us miserable. Certainly the highest degree of it is well consistent both with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Therefore how deeply soever you may be convinced of pride, self-will, peevishness, or any other inbred sin, see that you do not let go that confidence whereby you may still rejoice in God your Saviour. Some, indeed, have been quite unhappy, though they retained their faith, through desire on the one hand and conviction on the other. But that is nothing to you; you need never give up anything which you have already received: you will not, if you keep close to that,-- For this my vehement soul stands still; Restless, resigned, for this I wait. We have a fuller, clearer knowledge of our own members than of those belonging to other Societies; and may therefore, without any culpable partiality, have a better opinion of them. It is a great thing to spend all our time to the glory of God. But you need not be scrupulous as to the precise time of reading and praying; I mean, as to the dividing it between one and the other. A few minutes one way or the other are of no great importance. May He who loves you fill you with His pure love!--I am Your affectionate brother.

To his Wife Editor's Introductory Notes: 1760 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- [6] LIVERPOOL, March 23, 1760. Poor Molly! Could you not hold out a little longer! not one month not twenty days Have you found out a presence already for talking in the old strain A thin one indeed: but, such as it is, it may serve the turn for want of a better. 'You have taken a bed to pieces. And you want to put it in my study. And I do not tell you whether you may or no'! Truly I cannot look upon this whole affair as any other than a presence. For what need had you to take the bed in pieces at all and what need was there (if it was taken in pieces) that it should lie in the one little room which I have when you have four rooms to yourself Alas, that to this hour you should neither know your duty nor be willing to learn it! Indeed, if you was a wise, whether a good woman or not, you would long since have given me a carte blanche: you would have said, 'Tell me what to do, and I will do it; tell me what to avoid, and I will avoid it. I promised to obey you, and I will keep my word. Bid me do anything, everything. In whatever is not sinful, I obey. You direct, I will follow the direction.' This it had been your wisdom to have done long ago, instead of squabbling for almost these ten years. This it is both your wisdom and your duty to do now; and certainly better late than never. This must be your indispensable duty, till (1) I am an adulterer; (2) you can prove it. Till then I have the same right to claim obedience from you as you have to claim it from Noah Vazeille. [Her son.] Consequently every act of disobedience is an act of rebellion against God and the King, as well as against Your affectionate Husband.

To John Berridge Editor's Introductory Notes: 1760 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- [8] DUBLIN, April 18, 1760. DEAR SIR,--Disce, docendus adhuc quae censet amiculus [Horace's Epistles, I. xvii. 3:'To the instruction of an humble friend, Who would himself be better taught, attend.']; and take in good part my mentioning some particulars which have been long on my mind, and yet I knew not how to speak them. I was afraid it might look like taking too much upon me or assuming some superiority over you. But love casts out, or at least overrules, that fear. So I will speak simply, and leave you to judge.

It seems to me that, of all the persons I ever knew save one, you are the hardest to be convinced. I have occasionally spoken to you on many heads; some of a speculative, others of a practical nature: but I do not know that you was ever convinced of one, whether of great importance or small. I believe you retained your own opinion in every one, and did not vary an hair's breadth. I have likewise doubted whether you was not full as hard to be persuaded as to be convinced'; whether your will do not adhere to its first bias, right or wrong, as strongly as your understanding. I mean with regard to any impression which another may make upon them. For perhaps you readily, too readily, change of your own mere motion; as I have frequently observed great fickleness and great stubbornness meet in the same mind. So that it is not easy to please you long, but exceeding easy to offend you. Does not this imply the thinking very highly of yourself particularly of your own understanding Does it not imply, what is always connected therewith, something of self sufficiency 'You can stand alone; you care for no man; you need no help from man.' It was not so with my brother and me when we were first employed in this great work. We were deeply conscious of our own insufficiency; and though in one sense we trusted in God alone, yet we sought His help from all His children, and were glad to be taught by any man. And this, although we were really alone in the work; for there were none that had gone before us therein, there were none then in England who had trod that path wherein God was leading us. Whereas you have the advantage which we had not: you tread in a beaten path; others have gone before you, and are going now in the same way, to the same point. Yet it seems you choose to stand alone; what was necessity with us is choice with you; you like to be unconnected with any, thereby tacitly condemning all.

But possibly you go farther yet; do not you explicitly condemn all your fellow labourers, blaming one in one instance, one in another, so as to be throughly pleased with the conduct of none Does not this argue a vehement proneness to condemn a very high degree of censoriousness Do you not censure even peritos in sua arte ['Those who are clever in their particular profession.' ] Permit me to relate a little circumstance to illustrate this. After we had been once singing an hymn at Everton, I was just going to say, 'I wish Mr. Whitefield would not try to mend my brother's hymns. He cannot do it. How vilely he has murdered that hymn, weakening the sense as well as marring the poetry!' But how was I afterwards surprised to hear it was not Mr. Whitefield, but Mr. B.! In very deed it is not easy to mend his hymns any more than to imitate them. Has not this aptness to find fault frequently shown itself in abundance of other instances sometimes with regard to Mr. Parker or Mr. Hicks, [William Parker, Mayor of Bedford, was excluded by the Moravians from their Society, and preached at the Foundery in 1758 (Journal, iv.86, 201, 248). For William Hicks, see ibid. 335, 344; and letter of June 14, 1780.] sometimes with regard to me And this may be one reason why you take one step which was scarce ever before taken in Christendom: I mean, the discouraging the new converts from reading--at least, from reading anything but the Bible. Nay, but get off the consequence who can: if they ought to read nothing but the Bible, they ought to hear nothing but the Bible; so away with sermons, whether spoken or written! I can hardly imagine that you discourage reading even our little tracts, out of jealousy lest we should undermine you or steal away the affections of the people. I think you cannot easily suspect this. I myself did not desire to come among them; but you desired me to come. I should not have obtruded myself either upon them or you: for I have really work enough, full as much as either my body or mind is able to go through; and I have, blessed be God, friends enough--I mean, as many as I have time to converse with.

To Ebenezer Blackwell NEWRY, April 26, 1760, Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--I hope your lameness is now at an end, but not the benefit you have reaped from it. May we not in every trial, great or small, observe the hand of God And does He send any sooner than we want it or longer than we want it I found the inflammation which I had in my eyes last month [The inflammation began at Warrington, and 'was much increased by riding forty miles with a strong and cold wind exactly in my face' to Chester. See Journal, iv. 373] came just in the right time. The danger is that anything of this kind should pass over before the design of it is answered. Whether Miss Freeman [She went with him in Dublin to see the French prisoners sent from Carrickfergus. See Journal, iv. 377; and letter of May 28, 1757.] should make use of Lough Neagh, or Lough Leighs (forty miles nearer Dublin), I suppose she is not yet able to determine till I can send her some farther information. And that I cannot do to my own satisfaction till I am upon the spot; for though Lough Neagh is scarce fifteen miles from hence, yet I can hardly find any one here who knows any more of the circumstances of it than if it lay in the East Indies. Hitherto I have had an extremely prosperous journey. And all the fields are white to the harvest. But that the labourers are few is not the only hindrance to the gathering it in effectually. Of those few, some are careless, some heavy and dull, scarce one of the spirit of Thomas Walsh. The nearest to it is Mr. Morgan [James Morgan. See letters of Sept. 2, 1758, and June 23, 1760.]; but his body too sinks under him, and probably will not last long. In a few days I expect to be at Carrickfergus, [See next letter.] and to have from those on whose word I can depend a full account of that celebrated campaign. I believe it will be of use to the whole kingdom. Probably the Government will at last awake and be a little better prepared against the next encounter.

When you have half an hour to spare, I hope you will give it me under your own hand that Mrs. Blackwell and you are not only in good health, but labouring more than ever after an healthful mind, and trampling the world and the devil under your feet.--I am, dear sir Your ever affectionate servant. The week after next I shall spend mostly at Sligo.

To Lord Rawdon SLIGO, May 18, 1760. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- MY LORD,--I have taken the liberty to speak to Lady Rawdon [See letter of March 18.] all that was in my heart, and doubt not that your Lordship will second it on every proper occasion. The late awful providence I trust will not pass over without a suitable improvement. God has spoken aloud, and happy are they that hear and understand His voice. In one respect I have been under some apprehension on your Lordship's account also. I have been afraid lest you should exchange the simplicity of the gospel for a philosophical religion. O my Lord, why should we go one step farther than this, 'We love Him because He first loved us'--I am Your Lordship's most obedient servant. We go to Castlebar to-morrow, thence to Loughrea.

To Dorothy Furly ATHLONE, June 1, 1760. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I am persuaded it is not a little thing which will make me angry at you. I hope your thinking evil of me would not; for you may have many reasons so to do. Try: perhaps by prayer and a little resolution you may avoid hearing those disputes about holiness. It implies no more than this: If John Jones or any other begins a discourse concerning the errors or sins of absent persons, tell him, 'I beg you would say no more on this head; I dare not, and I will not, hear, unless those persons were present.' If one begins any caution of that kind, stop him, only with mildness and good humour; say, 'I believe you speak out of kindness: but I must not hear; it both distresses and hurts my soul. Therefore, if you really wish my welfare, be silent, or let us call another cause.' Where you see good, you may add, 'I consulted Mr. Wesley on this head, and this was the advice he gave me.' No one ever 'walked in the light as God is in the light' (I mean in the full sense of the expression) till 'the blood of Jesus Christ had cleansed him from all sin.' 'If we are perfectly saved, it is through His blood.' This is the plain meaning of the text; and it may be fulfilled in you before you sleep. God is Sovereign, in sanctifying as well as justifying. He will act when as well as how He pleases; and none can say unto him, What doest Thou When the lungs are ulcerated, cold bathing not only does no hurt, but is the most probable cure. Sammy is a letter in my debt. I do not know but he is providentially called to this kingdom. I have now finished more than half my progress, having gone through two of the four provinces. Who knows whether I shall live to go through the other two It matters not how long we live, but how well.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Samuel Furly Editor's Introductory Notes: 1760 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- [10] MOUNTMELLICK, June, 19, 1760. DEAR SAMMY,--Certainly you cannot remove without giving Mr. Crook a quarter's warning. If you do remove, you need be under no concern about repaying, nor about those you leave behind. Our preachers, when it is needful, must allow them a little more time. [He had been helping the Methodists in the neighbourhood of his curacy. See letters of Nov. 21, 1759, and June 23, 1760. ] How easy it is to puzzle a cause, and to make a thousand plausible objections to any proposition that can be advanced. This makes me quite out of conceit with human understanding and human language. So confused is the clearest apprehension! So ambiguous the most determinate expressions! Lay aside the terms 'Adamic law, 'gospel law,' or any law. The thing is beyond dispute, and you may as well demand a scriptural proof that two and two make four. Adam in Paradise was able to apprehend all things distinctly, and to judge truly concerning them; therefore it was his duty so to do. But no man living is now able to do this; therefore neither is it the duty of any man now living. Neither is there any man now in the body who does or can walk in this instance by that rule which was bound upon Adam. Can anything be more plain than this--that Adam could, that I cannot avoid mistaking Can anything be plainer than this--If he could avoid it, he ought or than this--If I cannot, I ought not I mean it is not my duty: for the clear reason that no one can do the impossible. Nothing in the Sermon or the Law contradicts this. If anything does, it is wrong. Oh what a work might be done in this kingdom if we had six zealous, active, punctual men in it! Be you one.--I am, dear Sammy, Your affectionate brother.

To his Brother Charles Editor's Introductory Notes: 1760 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- [11] COOLALOUGH, June 23, 1760. DEAR BROTHER,--Where you are I know not, and how you are I know not; but I hope the best. Neither you nor John Jones [See letter of June 1.] has ever sent me your remarks upon that tract in the late volume of Sermons. [The fourth volume, which included six tracts. Thoughts on Christian Perfection is the fifth. The doctrine had been largely considered at the London Conference in Aug. 1759, and the tract was published soon after. The Preface to it is dated Bristol, Oct. 16, 1759. See letter of June 12, 1759.] You are not kind. Why will you not do all you can to make me wiser than I am Sam. Furly told me his objections at once; so we canvassed them without loss of time. [See previous letter.] Do you know what is done, anything or nothing, with regard to the small edition of the Notes [First edition, 4to, 1755. Third, corrected, Bristol; Grabham & Pine, 1760-2, 12mo, 3 vols, See letter of June 18, 1756.] Mr. I'Anson writes me a long account of the Sussex affair. It is of more consequence than our people seem to apprehend. If we do not exert ourselves, it may drive us to that bad dilemma--Leave preaching, or leave the Church. We have reason to thank God it is not come to this yet. Perhaps it never may. In this kingdom nothing is wanting but a few more zealous and active labourers. James Morgan, [See letter of April 26.] John Johnson, [John Johnson became an itinerant preacher in 1755, and after sixteen years settled at Lisburn. For some time he was General Superintendent in Ireland. He died on Dec. 29, 1803, at the age of seventy eight. See letter of Sept. 26, 1784, to him.] and two or three more do their best; the rest spare themselves. I hope Sally and your little ones are well. Where and how is my wife I wrote to her on Saturday last. Adieu! Where must the Conference be, at Leeds or Bristol If we could but chain or gag the blatant beast, there would be no difficulty. [12]

If you really are of the same mind with me, if you want to make the best of a few days, to improve the evening of life, let us begin to-day! And what we do let us do with our might. Yesterday is past, and not to be recalled: to-morrow is not ours. Now, Molly, let us set out: Let us walk hand in hand To Immanuel's land! If it please God we meet again, let us meet for good. Had you rather we should lodge at the room [When they were to be together at Bristol The Rev. George Stonehouse lived there for some time. See C. Wesley's Journal, ii. 215n, 223, &C.] or at Mr. Stonehouse's Peace be with your spirit!--I am, dear Molly, Your affectionate Husband.

What has exceedingly hurt you in time past, nay, and I fear to this day, is want of reading. I scarce ever knew a preacher read so little. And perhaps by neglecting it you have lost the taste for it. Hence your talent in preaching does not increase. It is just the same as it was seven years ago. It is lively, but not deep; there is little variety; there is no compass of thought. Reading only can supply this, with meditation and daily prayer. You wrong yourself greatly by omitting this. You can never be a deep preacher without it any more than a thorough Christian. O begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercises. You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterwards be pleasant. Whether you like it or no, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way: else you will be a trifler all your days, and a pretty, superficial preacher. Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer. Take up your cross, and be a Christian altogether. Then will all the children of God rejoice (not grieve) over you, and in particular Yours, &c.

To Samuel Furly LAUNCESTON, September 4, 1760. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY,--People in England, and in Ireland much more, are apt to veer from north to south. In May last Mr. Archdeacon wanted to see me, of all people in the world, and was ready (as he sent me word), not only to receive me into his church and house, but to go with me wherever I went. In July he is quite of another mind, having found I take too much upon me. Either this is owing (as I much fear) to a false brother, who, after eating of my bread, privately lifts up his heel against me, or he was struck to the heart on reading the Appeals and some of our other writings, and has now, by the assistance of the neighbouring clergy, worn off the impression. That he was provided with a curate before he received yours, I do not believe. However, all is well. [Furly had evidently been applying to the Archdeacon for a curacy. See letter of June 19.] Most of our preachers had very near left off preaching on practical religion. This was, therefore, earnestly recommended to them in the Conference at London. I am glad they followed the advice which was then given, which may be done without neglecting to speak on justification. This I choose to do on Sundays chiefly, and wherever there is the greatest number of unawakened hearers. I thought I had sent to you the answer to those queries which I sent a copy of to the printer in Bristol. But whether you have it or no, do you preach according to your light, as I do according to mine. I am now entering into Cornwall, which I have not visited these three years, and consequently all things in it are out of order. [The previous day at Launceston he had found 'the small remains of a dead, scattered Society; and no wonder, as they have had scarce any discipline and only one sermon in a fortnight.'Next day he had a similar experience at Camelford; but the state of other Societies cheered him. See Journal, iv. 406.] Several persons talk of sharing my burthen, but none does it; so I must wear out one first.--I am, dear Sammy, Your affectionate brother.

It is sure, in exposing the Philosophy of Behmen, I use ridicule as well as argument; and yet I trust I have by the grace of God been in some measure 'serious in religion,' not 'half a month 'only, but ever since I was six years old, [His father admitted him to the Lord's Table when he was only eight. See Stevenson's Wesley Family, p. 330.] which is now about half a century. I do not know that the Pope has condemned him at all, or that he has any reason so to do. My reason is this, and no other: I think he contradicts Scripture, reason, and himself; and that he has seduced many unwary souls from the Bible way of salvation. A strong conviction of this, and a desire to guard others against that dangerous seduction, laid me under a necessity of writing that letter. I was under no other necessity; though I doubt not but Mr. Law heard I was, and very seriously believed it. I very rarely mention his books in public; nor are they in the way of one in an hundred of those whom he terms my people--meaning, I suppose, the people called Methodists. I had therefore no temptation, any more than power, to forbid the use of them to the Methodists in general. Whosoever informed Mr. Law of this wanted either sense or honesty. He is so deeply displeased with the Address to the Clergy because it speaks strongly in favour of learning; but still, if this part of it is only 'fit for an old grammarian grown blear-eyed in mending dictionaries,' it will not follow that 'almost all of it is mere empty babble'; for a large part of it much more strongly insists on a single eye and a clean heart. Heathen philosophers may term this 'empty babble'; but let not Christians either account or call it so!--I am, sir, Your humble servant.

To his Brother Charles REDRUTH September 21, 1760. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--I do not apprehend that letter to be any proof of L. A.'s understanding. [Nehemiah Curnock thought this reference might be to Wesley's sister Anne. see Journal, iv. 413n.] I believe you had not time to consider it. Do you really think she was the inditer That she was the transcriber of it I allow; but is not the hand of Joab in this Did you not take knowledge not only of the sentiments but the very language of honest James Relly [See Tyerman's Wesley, ii. 400-1n. He was an Antinomian of bad repute. But see letter of July 7, 1761.] Your message by John Jones seems to supersede the necessity of my writing; yet I think of sending a few civil lines, without entering into the merits of the cause. Is it not an excellent copy of our friend's countenance to 'beg leave to live apart' Quis enim negat ['For who forbids this'] If the unbeliever will depart, let her depart. But she will as soon leap into the sea. [Our friend is his wife. Charles wrote on the letter: 'She asks to part.'] I speak everywhere of bribery and run goods. I suppose John Jones has sent you the Minutes of the Conference. [Held at Bristol in August.] On Friday se'nnight I hope to preach at Shepton Mallet at noon and at Bristol in the evening. [On Oct. 3 he preached at both places at the time mentioned.] Vive hodie! ['Live to-day', the motto on his seal.] Adieu. I should think if you was solus cum solo, ['Closeted only with him.'] the point to be insisted on with John Gambold would be, 'You went to the Moravians to find happiness. Have you found it What have you gained by the exchange' It is time enough, I suppose, for me to write; for you cannot go to London soon.

To his Brother Charles PLYMOUTH Dock, September 28, 1760. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--I have no objection to the bestowing another reading upon Mr. Law's Letters. But I think I have answered them quantum sufficit by the letter in Lloyd's Evening Post [And the London Chronicle. See letter of Sept. 17.]; only, if need be, it may be inserted in some of the monthly magazines. Since I wrote that letter I have procured (which I could not before) the Address to the Clergy. It is amazing! Nothing is more plain than that he never read it. I doubt whether he ever saw it. [This letter shows the importance the brothers attached to Law's strictures.] I care not a rush for ordinary means; only that it is our duty to try them. All our lives and all God's dealings with us have been extraordinary from the beginning. We have all reason, therefore, to expect that what has been will be again. I have been preternaturally restored more than ten times. I suppose you will be thus restored for the journey, and that by the journey as a natural means your health will be re-established, provided you determine to spend all the strength which God shall give you in His work. Cornwall has suffered miserably by my long absence and the unfaithfulness of the preachers. I left seventeen hundred in the Societies, and I find twelve hundred. If possible, you should see Mr. Walker. [Samuel Walker, Vicar of Truro. See letter of July 16, 1761.] He has been near a month at the Hot Wells. He is absolutely a Scot in his opinions, but of an excellent spirit. Mr. Stonehouse's horse performs to a miracle. He is considerably better than when I had him. On Friday evening (if nothing extraordinary occur) I hope to be at Bristol between five and six. Probably I shall leave Shepton Mallet at two. My love to Sally. Adieu.

To Mrs. Abigail Brown LONDON, November 21, 1760. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR ABBY,--I cannot advise. You must follow your own conscience. Act as you are fully persuaded in your own mind. Consider first what is best with regard to eternity, and then take your measures accordingly. Mr. Fisher [See letter of Sept. 28.] will assist you in whatever you would have done; and if you want money, I have desired him to help you to it. Speak freely to me, if you love me; and believe me to be, dear Abby. Your sincere friend and affectionate brother.

The author of the letter to Mr. Berridge is a more considerable writer. In many things I wholly agree with him, though not in admiring Dr. Taylor; but there is a bitterness even in him which I should not have expected in a gentleman and a scholar. So in the very first page I read, 'The Church, which most of your graceless fraternity have deserted.' Were the fact true (which it is not), yet is the expression to be commended Surely Dr. Green himself thinks it is not. I am sorry, too, for the unfairness of his quotations. For instance: he cites me (a page 53) as speaking of 'faith shed abroad in men's hearts like lightning.' Faith shed abroad in men's hearts! I never used such an expression in my life: I do not talk after this rate. Again, he quotes, as from me (b page 57), so, I presume, Mr. W. means, 'a behaviour does not pretend to add the least to what Christ has done.' But be these words whose they may, they are none of mine. I never spoke, wrote--no, nor read them before. Once more, is it well judged for any writer to show such an utter contempt of his opponents as you affect to do with regard to the whole body of people vulgarly termed Methodists 'You may keep up,' say you, 'a little bush-fighting in controversy; you may skirmish awhile with your feeble body of irregulars; but you must never trust to your skill in reasoning' page 77). Upon this I would ask: (1) If these are such poor, silly creatures, why does so wise a man set his wit to them 'Shall the King of Israel go out against a flea' (2) If it should happen that any one of these silly bush-fighters steps out into the plain, engages hand to hand, and foils this champion by mere dint of reason, will not his defeat be so much the more shameful as it was more unexpected But I say the less at present, not only because Mr. Berridge is able to answer for himself, but because the title--page bids me expect a letter more immediately addressed to myself.

You blame me (4) for acting from 'a lucrative principle,' though you 'deny you used the word robbing.' (True; for you only said, 'To rob and plunder.') In proof of this you refer to the houses I have built (in Bristol, Kingswood, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne). But don't you know, sir, those houses are none of mine I made them over to trustees long ago. I have food to eat and raiment to put on; and I will have no more till I turn Turk or Pagan.--I am, sir, in very good humour, Your well-wisher. PS.--It is not very material whether T. H., Somebody, and Philodemus are the same individual or not. I have subjoined his Questions with my Answers; though they have all been answered fifty times before. Q. 1. Whether a very considerable body of the Methodists do not declare that there can be no good hopes of salvation without Assurance A. Yes: if you mean by that term a divine evidence or conviction that Christ loved me and gave Himself for me. Q. 2. Whether they do not put a greater confidence in what they call Regeneration than in the moral or social duties of life A. No. They hold the due discharge of all these duties to be absolutely necessary to salvation. The latter part of this query, 'of the mercy of the Divine Being,' seems to have lost its way. Q. 3. Whether the Stage in later years has ever ridiculed anything really serious A. Yes; a thousand times. Who that reads Dryden's, Wycherley's, or Congreve's plays can doubt it Q. 4. Whether anything can be religious that has not right reason to countenance it A. No. True religion is the highest reason. It is indeed wisdom, virtue, and happiness in one.

To Samuel Furly LONDON, December 9, 1760. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY,--I am determined to publish nothing against Mr. Hervey unless his answer to my letter is published. Indeed, it is not his; it is Mr. Cudworth's, [See letter of Nov. 29, 1758.] both as to matter and manner. So let it pass for the present. Richard Tompson (who lives in Prince's Square, Ratcliff Highway) told me honestly, 'Sir, I want a little money, and I can have it by printing the letters which passed between you and me.' I answered, 'You know I never designed my letters for public view, but you may print them if you please. I am quite indifferent about it.'[See letter of Aug. 22, 1759, to Tompson.] When I say 'I have no time to write largely in controversy,' I mean this; every hour I have is employed more to the glory of God. Therefore, if short answers to opponents will not suffice, I cannot help it; I will not, I cannot, I dare not spend any more time in that kind of writing than I do. 'Well, but many think you ought.' Undoubtedly they do; but I am to be guided by my own conscience. I am laying another plot for you. Mr. Fletcher is rector of Madeley, in Shropshire. [Fletcher became vicar in 1760. See letter of Jan. 25, 1762, to Furly.] If he takes you to be his curate, probably you may be ordained priest. I will write to him about it.--I am, with love to Nancy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To the Editor of the 'London Magazine' Editor's Introductory Notes: 1760 Date: LONDON, December 12, 1760. Patience, dear sir, patience! or I am afraid your choler will hurt your constitution as well as your argument. Be composed, and I will answer your queries, 'speedily, clearly, and categorically.' Only you will give me leave to shorten them a little, and to lay those together which have some relation to each other. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- Permit me likewise, before I enter on particulars, to lay a few circumstances before you which may add some light to the subject and give you a clearer knowledge of the people with whom you are so angry. About thirty years since, I met with a book written in King William's time, called The Country Parson's Advice to his Parishioners. There I read these words: 'If good men of the Church will unite together in the several parts of the kingdom, disposing themselves into friendly societies, and engaging each other in their respective combinations to be helpful to each other in all good, Christian ways, it will be the most effectual means for restoring our decaying Christianity to its primitive life and vigour and the supporting of our tottering and sinking Church.' A few young gentlemen then at Oxford approved of and followed the advice. They were all zealous Churchmen, and both orthodox and regular to the highest degree. For their exact regularity they were soon nicknamed Methodists; but they were not then, or for some years after, charged with any other crime, real or pretended, than that of being righteous over-much. [See letter of June 11, 1731, to his mother.] Nine or ten years after, many others 'united together in the several parts of the kingdom, engaging in like manner to be helpful to each other in all good, Christian ways.' At first all these were of the Church; but several pious Dissenters soon desired to unite with them. Their one design was to forward each other in true, scriptural Christianity.

Q. 7. 'Why did you not in your New Testament distinguish those places with italics where you altered the old translation' Because it was quite needless; as any who choose it may easily compare the two translations together. 'But should you not have given the learned a reason for every alteration' Yes, if I had written for the learned; but I did not, as I expressly mentioned in the Preface. Q. 8. 'Do you not assume too much in philosophy and physic as well as in theology' I hope not. Q. 9. 'Why did you meddle with electricity' For the same reason as I published the Primitive Physick--to do as much good as I can. Q. 19. 'Are you a clergyman at all' Yes. 'Are you not a Quaker in disguise' No. 'Did not you betray the Church, as Judas his Master, with a kiss' No. 'If you be in the wrong, God confound your devices!' I say the same thing. 'If in the right, may He display it to all people!' Amen! In His own time. I take this opportunity to answer the queries also which occur on page 614: 1. 'If the operations of the Spirit overpower the natural faculties, must they not destroy free agency' I neither teach nor believe that the ordinary operations of the Spirit do overpower the natural faculties. 2. 'If every man be furnished with an inward light as a private guide and director, must it not supersede the necessity of revelation' This affects the Quakers, not the Methodists, who allow no inward light but what is subservient to the written Word, and to be judged thereby: they are therefore no 'enthusiasts'; neither is it yet proved that they are 'deluded' at all. They follow no ignis fatuus, but 'search the Scriptures freely and impartially.' And hence their 'doctrines are not the dogmas of particular men,' but are all warranted by Scripture and reason.--I am, sir, Your sincere well-wisher.

To the Editor of 'Lloyd's Evening Post' TO MR. T. H., alias E. L., &c. &c. Date: December 20, 1760. What, my good friend again! Only a little disguised with a new name and a few scraps of Latin! I hoped, indeed, you had been pretty well satisfied before; but since you desire to hear a little farther from me, I will add a few words, and endeavour to set our little controversy in a still clearer light. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1760) Author: John Wesley --- Last month you publicly attacked the people called Methodists without either fear or wit. You charged them with 'madness, enthusiasm, self-contradiction, imposture,' and what not! I considered each charge, and, I conceive, refuted it to the satisfaction of all indifferent persons. You renewed the attack, not by proving anything, but affirming the same things over and over. I replied; and, without taking notice of the dull, low scurrility, either of the first or second letter, confined myself to the merits of the cause, and cleared away the dirt you had thrown. You now heap together ten paragraphs more, most of which require very little answer. In the first you say: 'Your foolishness is become the wonder and admiration of the public.' In the second: 'The public blushes for you, till you give a better solution to the articles demanded of you.' In the third you cite my words, I still maintain 'the Bible, with the Liturgy, and Homilies of our Church; and do not espouse any other principles but what are consonant to the Book of Common Prayer.' You keenly answer: 'Granted, Mr. Methodist; but whether or no you would not espouse other principles if you durst is evident enough from some innovations you have already introduced, which I shall attempt to prove in the subsequent part of my answer.' Indeed, you will not. You neither prove, nor attempt to prove, that I would espouse other principles if I durst. However, you give me a deadly thrust: 'You falsify the first Article of the Athanasian Creed.' But how so Why, I said: 'The fundamental doctrine of the people called Methodists is, Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the true faith.' Sir, shall I tell you a secret--It was for the readers of your class that I changed the hard word 'catholic' into an easier.

In your eighth you throw out an hard word, which somebody has helped you to, Thaumaturg --what is it --about lay preachers. When you have answered the arguments in the Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion, I will say something more upon that head. In the ninth you say something, no way material, about the houses at Bristol, Kingswood, and Newcastle; and in the last you give me a fair challenge to a 'personal dispute.' Not so; you have fallen upon me in public, and to the public I appeal. Let all men, not any single umpire, judge whether I have not refuted your charge, and cleared the people called Methodists from the foul aspersions which, without why or wherefore, you had thrown upon them. Let all my countrymen judge which of us have spoken the words of truth and soberness, which has reason on his side, and which has treated the other with a temper suitable to the gospel. If the general voice of mankind gives it against you, I hope you will be henceforth less flippant with your pen. I assure you, as little as you think of it, the Methodists are not such fools as you suppose. But their desire is to live peaceably with all men; and none desires this more than JOHN WESLEY.

None is excused unless sick; in which case he is provided gratis both with advice and medicines. (8) And, in order to assist them in things of the greatest concern (besides a sermon every Sunday and Thursday), they have a large Bible chained on one side of the chapel, which any of the prisoners may read. By the blessing of God on these regulations the prison now has a new face: nothing offends either the eye or ear; and the whole has the appearance of a quiet, serious family. And does not the Keeper [Samuel Johnson, in his Lives of the Poets, says that Abel Dagge, the keeper, treated savage with the utmost tenderness and civility, when confined in Newgate jail, Bristol, for debt. Dagge was one of the firstfruits of Whitefield's ministry in Bristol prison in 1737, and adorned his profession. see Journal, ii. 173; Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon, ii. 356-7; and letter of May 7, 1739.] of Newgate deserve to be remembered full as well as the Man of Ross? May the Lord remember him in that day! Meantime will not one follow his example? --I am, sir, Your humble servant.

But 'the Methodist who pretends to be of the Church of England in forms of worship and differs from her in point of doctrine is not, let his presences be what they will, a member of that Church.' Alas, sir! your friends will not thank you for this. You have broke their heads sadly. Is no man of the Church, let him pretend what he will, who differs from her in point of doctrine? Au! obsecro; cave dixeris! [Terence's Eunuchus, IV. iii. 14: 'Stop, I beseech you; beware what you say.'] I know not but you may stumble upon scandalum magnatum. [Terence's Adelphi, 111. iv. 12: 'Libel against persons of exalted rank.'] But stay; you will bring them off quickly. 'A truly good man may scruple signing and swearing to Articles that his mind and reason cannot approve of.' But is he a truly good man who does not scruple signing and swearing to Articles which he cannot approve of? However, this does not affect us, for we do not differ from our Church in point of doctrine. But all do who deny justification by faith; therefore, according to you, they are no members of the Church of England. 'Methodists preachers', you allow, 'practice, sign, and swear whatever is required by law' --a very large concession; 'but the reserves they have are incommunicable and unintelligible.' Favour us, sir, with a little proof of this; till then I must plead, Not guilty. In whatever I sign or swear to I have no reserve at all. And I have again and again communicated my thoughts on most heads to all mankind; I believe intelligibly, particularly in the Appeals to Men of Reason and Religion. But 'if Methodism, as its professors pretend, be a new discovery in religion' This is a grievous mistake; we pretend no such thing. We aver it is the one old religion; as old as the Reformation, as old as Christianity, as old as Moses, as old as Adam.

To Mrs. Crosby Date: LONDON, February 14, 1761. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1761) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER, --Miss Bosanquet gave me yours on Wednesday night. Hitherto, I think you have not gone too far. You could not well do less. I apprehend all you can do more is, when you meet again, to tell them simply, 'You lay me under a great difficulty. The Methodists do not allow of women preachers; neither do I take upon me any such character. But I will just nakedly tell you what is in my heart.' This will in a great measure obviate the grand objection and prepare for J. Hampson's coming. I do not see that you have broken any law. Go on calmly and steadily. If you have time, you may read to them the Notes on any chapter before you speak a few words, or one of the most awakening sermons, as other women have done long ago. The work of God goes on mightily here both in conviction and conversion. This morning I have spoken with four or five who seem to have been set at liberty within this month. I believe within five weeks six in one class have received remission of sins and five in one band received a second blessing. [Wesley had been visiting the classes in London during the week.] Peace be with you all! --I am Your affectionate brother.

Your fourth (for want of a better) is to serve for a reply to my answer. In this you stoutly say: 'Sir, your performance is frivolous and fallacious.' Very well; but others must judge of that. 'Shocks, sir, or violent operations of the Spirit are too fully evidenced by your trances, ecstasies, and I know not what.' I assure you, neither do I; but if you please to tell me, when you do know a little of the matter, I will give you what satisfaction I can. 'These appear in the practices of your followers, and as such must destroy free agency.' Nay, sir, you are now too severe, especially in that keen 'as such.' 'As you then assert such practices, you are (excuse the harshness of the expression) an enemy to religion and a deceiver of the people.' Sir, I do excuse you. I am pretty well used to such expressions: if they hurt not you, they hurt not me. 'Until you publish in plain, intelligible words your scheme of principles, it is impossible to say what you are.' I have done it ten times over, particularly in The Principles of a Methodist, the Appeals to Men of Reason and Religion, and (what I am not without hope might be intelligible even to you) Instructions for Children. 'I must be plain with you: you seem, sir, to have as much knowledge of the Scriptures as a Mahometan.' Sir, I thank you; and I presume you do not expect any other answer to this. 'That you are an enthusiast, a very great enthusiast, not I, let your own Journals demonstrably prove.' Nay, why not you? I fear my Journals will not give such proof as will satisfy any impartial person. 'As to dogmas, I do not know that it is good English: I know it is false dog-Latin.' Now, I really thought it was neither Latin nor English: I took it to be mere heathen Greek. Whenever you please to favour the public with your name and place of abode, you may perhaps (if I have leisure) hear farther from Your humble servant and well-wisher.

To the Editor of the 'London Chronicle' Date: LONDON, February 19, 1761. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1761) Author: John Wesley --- SIR, --Is it not surprising that every person of understanding does not discern -- at the very first view that the tract entitled A Caveat against the Methodists is in reality a Caveat against the Protestants? Do not the arguments conclude (if they conclude at all), not against the Methodists only, but against the whole body of Protestants? The names, indeed, of Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley are used; but this is mere finesse! Greater men are designed, and all along are wounded through our sides. I was long in hopes of seeing an answer to this artful performance from someone of more leisure as well as abilities, and some whose name would have recommended his work. For that thought has something of truth in it, -- Oh what a tuneful wonder seized the throng When Marlbro's conquering name alarmed the foe! Had Whiznowisky [Duke Michael Wisnowiski, son of a famous general, was a weak man elected king in 1668 by the Poles, and was a mere puppet in their hands: 'infirm in body and weak in mind, without influence, because without courage and riches,' 'an object of somewhat contemptuous homage.' He died in 1674. See W.H.S. vii. 115-16.] 1ed the armies on, The General's scarecrow name had foiled each blow. However, who knows but reason for once may be stronger than prejudice? And many may forget my scarecrow name, and mind not who speaks but what is spoken. I am pleading now not for Methodists only, but for the whole body of Protestants; first for the Church of England, then for the Protestants of every denomination: in doing which I shall first give the substance of each section of the Romish tract; secondly an answer, and retort it upon the members of the Church of Rome. Oh that this may incite some more skilful advocate to supply my lack of service! 'The Methodists' (Protestants) 'are not the people of God; they are not true gospel Christians; nor is their new raised Society the true Church of Christ, nor any part of it' (page 3).

Finding all other means ineffectual, on Monday the 2nd instant I opened my wife's bureau and took what I found of my own. (No notes, bills, or papers of hers: in saying this, she only does as she uses to do.) Some hours after, she talked like an Empress Queen; on which I told her plainly, 'While you are in this mind I will neither bed nor board with you.' On .... following I found her of a better mind; so on Saturday and Sunday [He was then in London. ] we were together as usual. But if we should live to meet again, and she behaves as she did on that day, I should think it my bounden duty to do as I did then. I judge her case to be proper lunacy; but it is a preternatural, a diabolical lunacy, and therefore at those times (I know what I say) I do not think my life is safe with her. And yet I feel just as much resentment toward her as I do to Sall. Roqt. Peace be with you and yours.

But you say: 'Such as do not profess this doctrine will not be affected by my sermon.' Indeed they will; for the world (as you yourself did) lump all that are called Methodists together. Consequently whatever you then said of Methodists in general falls on us as well as them; and so we are condemned for those very principles which we totally detest and abhor: a small part of the Preservative (had you taken the pains to read it) would have convinced you of this. 'Did you send them to convince me of some important truth? I have the New Testament.' So have I; and I have read it for above these fifty years, and for near forty with some attention. Yet I will not say that Mr. Green may not convince me of some truth which I never yet learned from it. I want every help, especially from those who strive both to preach and to live the gospel. Yet certainly I must dissent from you or you from me wherever either conceives the other to vary from it. Some of my writings you 'have read.' But allow me to ask, Did not you read them with much prejudice or little attention? Otherwise surely you would not have termed them 'perplexing.' Very few lay obscurity or intricacy to my charge. Those who do not allow them to be true do not deny them to be plain. And if they believe me to have done any good at all by writing, they suppose it is by this very thing --by speaking on practical and experimental religion more plainly than others have done. I quite agree we 'neither can be better men nor better Christians than by continuing members of the Church of England.' And not only her doctrines but many parts of her discipline I have adhered to at the hazard of my life. If in any point I have since varied therefrom, it was not by choice but necessity. Judge, therefore, if they do well who throw me into the ditch, and then beat me because my clothes are dirty! Wishing you much of the love of God in your heart and much of His presence in your labours, I remain, reverend sir, Your affectionate brother.

To his Wife Date: WHITEHAVEN, April 24, 1761. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1761) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR MOLLY,--Although I have not had any answer to my former letters, yet I must trouble you once more, and repeat the advice I gave you before, 'Beware of tale-bearers.' God has given you plenty of temporal blessings; and if you only avoid this snare (to which your natural temper lays you open), you may have plenty of spiritual too. Indeed, He mingles afflictions with your cup. But may not these be blessings also? May they not be admirable means to break the impetuosity and soften the harshness of your spirit? Certainly they may. Certainly they have this effect on many; and why not on you likewise? Is not everything contrary to your will intended to conquer it, and to bring it into a full subordination to the will of God? And when once this is done, what can hurt you? Then you are invulnerable; you are defended from head to foot by armour which neither the world nor the devil can pierce. Then you will go on unmoved, through honour and dishonour, through evil report and good report. You will happily experience in your own soul the truth of that fine observation, 'In the greatest afflictions which can befall the just, either from heaven or earth, they remain immovable in virtue, and perfectly submissive to God, by an inward, loving regard to Him uniting all the powers of their soul.'--I am with much sincerity, dear Molly, Your affectionate Husband. What is become of the Chancery suit? Of Noah [Noah and Anthony Vazeille, her sons.]? Of John [See letter of April 24, 1757.] and Jenny Matthews, and poor Anthony?

To Mrs. Hall Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1761) Author: John Wesley --- NEAR NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, June 14, 1761. DEAR PATTY--Why should any of us live in the world without doing a little good in it? I am glad you have made a beginning. See that you are not weary of well doing; for it will often be a cross. But bear the cross, and it will bear you. The best fruit grows under the cross. I have often thought it strange that so few of my relations should be of any use to me in the work of God. My sister Wright was, of whom I should least have expected it; but it was only for a short season. My sister Emly and you, of whom one might have expected more, have, I know not how, kept at a distance, and sometimes cavilled a little, at other times as it were approved, but never heartily joined in the work. Where did it stick? Did you not throughly understand what my brother and I were doing? Did you not see the truth? Or did the cause lie in your heart? You had no will to join hand in hand. You wanted resolution, spirit, patience. Well, the day is far spent. What you do, do quickly. 'Life for delay no time will give!' [My] work in the country cannot be finished before the latter end of August, as the circuit is now larger by [some] hundred miles than when I was in the North two [years] ago. O let the one thing be ever uppermost in our thoughts! To promote either your temporal or eternal good will always be a pleasure to, dear Patty, Your affectionate Brother. [Wesley was much concerned about his sister. See letter of Dec. 26 to his brother.] Endorsed 'I am obliged to my dear B[rother] for [this].'

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: BRADFORD, July 16, 1761. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1761) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--Methinks it is a long time since I saw or heard anything of you. I hope, however, that Mrs. Blackwell and you are not only alive, but more alive than ever, seeking and enjoying something more than King George is likely to find either at his wedding or his coronation. [George III was married to Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz on Sept. 8, and crowned on Sept. 22.] And can you likewise give me a comfortable account of Miss Freeman, both as to her health and her spirit? I often think of her, and sometimes have a mind to send her another letter, though she is one in my debt already. Mr. Venn was so kind as to come over hither yesterday and spend the evening with us. [This visit of Henry Venn is not mentioned in the Journal, but another is noticed on July 24. See next letter.] I am a little embarrassed on his account, and hardly know how to act. Several years before he came to Huddersfield some of our preachers went thither, carrying their lives in their hands, and with great difficulty established a little, earnest Society. These eagerly desire them to preach there still; not in opposition to Mr. Venn (whom they love, esteem, and constantly attend), but to supply what they do not find in his preaching. It is a tender point. Where there is a gospel ministry already, we do not desire to preach; but whether we can leave off preaching because such an one comes after is another question, especially when those who were awakened and convinced by us beg and require the continuance of our assistance. I love peace, and follow it; but whether I am at liberty to purchase it at such price I really cannot tell.

I hear poor Mr. Walker is near death. [Samuel Walker, of Truro. He died at Blackheath on the 19th.] It seems strange that, when there is so great a want of faithful labourers, such as him should be removed; but the will of God is always best, and what He does we shall know hereafter! I have been for some days with Mr. Grimshaw, an Israelite indeed. A few such as him would make a nation tremble. He carries fire wherever he goes. Mr. Venn informs me that Mr. Whitefield continues very weak. [Whitefield took a serious cold in Bristol, and was laid aside in March and April. He was an invalid for twelve months, and obliged with a few exceptions to refrain from preaching. See Tyerman's Whitefield, ii. 441-3.] I was in hope, when he wrote to me lately, that he was swiftly recovering strength. Perhaps, sir, you can send me better news concerning him. What need have we, while we do live, to live in earnest!--I am, dear sir, Your affectionate servant. If you have not a mind for me to write again, you must not write yourself. For about a fortnight I shall be at or near Leeds.

To Ebenezer Blackwell Date: NORWICH, August 15, 1761. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1761) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--As you are encompassed with a thousand temptations, and some of them of the most dangerous kind, it is an unspeakable blessing that you still continue with your face heavenward. And if you have resolution to break through a thousand hindrances and allow some time every day for private prayer, I doubt not but you will receive every gospel blessing in this world and in the world to come. Mr. Venn [See previous letter, and that of June 22, 1763. Venn was present at the Conference in Leeds on Aug. 10, 1762.] and I have had some hours' conversation together, and have explained upon every article. I believe there is no bone of contention remaining, no matter of offence, great or small. Indeed, fresh matter will arise if it be sought; but it shall not be sought by me. We have amicably compromised the affair of preaching. He is well pleased that the preachers should come once a month. That story was one of those which we cleared up. But Mr. Oddie [James Oddie, one of Wesley's ablest and most judicious preachers. He entered into trade at Yarm, and married, as his second wife, Mrs. Colbeck, of Keighley, from whom he was separated in 1785. For a short time he preached at Dewsbury in connexion with John Atlay. see Journal, iv. 531; Atmore's Memorial, pp. 298-300; and letter of Feb. 13, 1762.] (the person of whom it was told) will be in town next week, and can himself give you full satisfaction concerning it. On this day se'nnight I hope to be in town, and tomorrow se'nnight at West Street Chapel. With sincere love to Mrs. Blackwell and Mrs. Dewal, I am, dear sir, Your very affectionate servant. I thank you for sending me the letters.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON, September 8, 1761. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1761) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--Our Conference [The Conference in London began on Tuesday, Sept. 1, and closed on Saturday.] ended, as it began, in peace and love. All found it a blessed time: Excepto, quod non simul esses, caetera laeti. [Horace's Epistles, 1. x. 50: 'Our minds with this exception gay, That you, our friend, were far away.'] The Minutes John Jones can help you to, who sets out hence in two or three days. The right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass. Not the least of them is that my wife cordially loves T. Maxfield. Why should not Bath be supplied from Bristol? Order it so. I have no objection. They will by that means often have a more able preacher than they would otherwise have. If he does not linger by the way, a preacher may be at Bristol on Thursday night. I do not at all think (to tell you a secret) that the work will ever be destroyed, Church or no Church. What has been done to prevent the Methodists leaving the Church you will see in the Minutes of the Conference. I told you before, with regard to Norwich, dixi. I have done at the last Conference all I can or dare do. Allow me liberty of conscience, as I allow you. On Monday se'nnight I hope to set out for Bristol. My love to Sally. Adieu! I know not what you will do with an exceeding honest mad woman, Mrs. Greer, of Newry, in Ireland, who, I hear, is embarking for Bristol. She comes without her husband's consent. P. Jaco desires to take a journey to Canterbury before he returns to Bristol. I doubt not the Moravians will be courteous. And I fear that is all. Pray tell Brother Sheen [See letter of Dec. 26 to Charles Wesley.] I am satisfied with his letter. He may stay at Bristol till I come. And be so kind as to tell Isaac I approve of his reasons, and think he ought to go home; but have the Stewards found one fit to succeed him?

To Matthew Lowes Date: LONDON, September 8, 1761. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1761) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--If local preachers who differ from us will keep their opinions to themselves, then they may preach in our Societies; otherwise they must not. And upon this condition we are all willing to receive William Darney into connexion with us. The sooner you set out for Whitehaven the better. The Society there need not be frightened at a married preacher, considering we have paid forty pounds of their debt out of the collection. And if the expense for wives be too heavy, I will help them out. Do all you can to propagate the books in that circuit and to fulfil the office of an Assistant.--I am, with love to Sister Lowes, Your affectionate friend and brother. [See letters of March 6, 1759 (to him), and Oct. 30, 1761.] Mr. Lowes, At the Orphan House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

To Matthew Lowes Date: LONDON, October 30, 1761. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1761) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--The thing is settled. Thomas Newall [Thomas Newall became a preacher in 1761, and retired in 1780 .] is to labour with you in the Whitehaven Circuit, and see that you break up fresh ground. In the meantime William Darney is to divide the Allendale Circuit with T. Hanby. [Thomas Hanby, born in Carlisle in 1733; President in 1794. Wesley ordained him on Aug. 1, 1785, with John Pawson and Joseph Taylor, 'three of our well-tried preachers,' to minister in Scotland. See Wesley's Veterans, ii. 51-77.] As to maintenance, first let the Society do what they can. And they have good encouragement. Secondly, at Christmas I will make up what is wanting to you and Sister Lowes. 'Dwell in the land, and be doing good, and verily thou shalt be fed.'--I am Your affectionate friend and brother. [See letters of Sept. 8, 1761, and Jan. 25, 1762, to him.] See that you perform the whole office of an Assistant.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON, December 26, 1761. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1761) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--Spend as many hours in the congregation as you will or can. But exercise alone will strengthen your lungs. Or electrifying, which I wonder you did not try long ago. Never start at its being a quack medicine. I desire no other, particularly since I was so nearly murdered by being cured of my ague secundum artem. You should always (and I hope you do) write standing and sloping. We are always in danger of enthusiasm, but I think no more now than any time these twenty years. The word of God runs indeed, and loving faith spreads on every side. Don't take my word or any one's else, but come and see. 'Tis good to be in London now. It is impossible for me to correct my own books. I sometimes think it strange that I have not one preacher that will and can. I think every one of them owes me so much service. Is it right that my sister Patty should suffer Mr. Hall to live with her? I almost scruple giving her the sacrament, seeing he does not even pretend to renounce Betty Rogers. [Mrs. Hall. Westley Hall died in 1776. Betty Rogers seems to be the young seamstress by whom he had an illegitimate child. See Stevenson's Wesley Family, pp. 370-3; and letter of June 14.] Was it right for W. Baynes [William Baynes had been a preacher (1749-56), and was a master at Kingswood School at the time of the fire in 1757. See Journal, iv. 242, vi. 177-8; C. Wesley's Journal, I;. 256.] to carry on his affair with Sammy Whittaker without consulting either you or me?

To Samuel Furly LONDON, January 25, 1762. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY,--But that I have pretty near attained to the happiness nil admirari, I should have a little wondered at your long silence. But it is not strange, if 'Time changes Thought,' and it would not surprise me much, if in a year or two more, you should wonder at the strange man's face as one you ne'er had known. If you entangled yourself with no kind of promise to the Archbishop, I doubt not but your ordination will prove a blessing. [Wesley hoped to get him ordained as Fletcher's curate. See letter of Dec. 9, 1760.] The care of a parish is indeed a weighty thing, which calls for much and earnest prayer. In managing it you must needs follow your own conscience, whoever is pleased or displeased. Then, whether your success be less or more, you will by-and-by give up your account with joy. I myself hear frequently unscriptural as well as irrational expressions from those at whose feet I shall rejoice to be found in the day of the Lord Jesus; but blasphemy I never heard from one of them, either teacher or hearer. What is wide of Scripture or reason I mildly reprove; and they usually receive it in love. Generally they are convinced; when I cannot convince, I can bear them, yea, and rejoice at the grace of God which is in them. Sammy, beware of the impetuosity of your temper! It may easily lead you awry. It may make you evil affected to the excellent ones of the earth. Don't expect propriety of speech from uneducated persons. The longer I live the larger allowances I make for human infirmities. I exact more from myself and less from others. [A beautiful sign of mellowing character.] Go thou and do likewise!-- I am, with love to Nancy, Your ever affectionate friend and brother. Take nothing, absolutely nothing, at second hand.

To Matthew Lowes LONDON, January 25, 1762. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MATTHEW,--I ordered Mr. Franks [His Book Steward. See letter of Nov. 6, 1773.] to pay the &pound;8 bill to-day, which is &pound;4 more than I had in my hands. What we shall do for money till the next Conference I do not know. But the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. You do well to be exact in discipline. Disorderly walkers will give us neither credit nor strength. Let us have just as many members as walk by one rule. I will beg or borrow from William Newall [See letters of Oct. 30, 1761, and Feb.13, 1762.]--anything but steal. My wife joins in love to you and yours.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Matthew Lowes LONDON, February 13, 1762. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Order concerning Brother Newall as you see good. If he is not wanted in the Manchester Round, I believe he would be welcome in James Oddie's. [See letters of Aug. 15, 1761, and of Jan. 25, 1762 (to Lowes).] You must not be surprised if there is a deadness in many places during the winter season. But the spring will return. Fear nothing. Hope belongs to us. Fight on, and conquer.-- I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Christopher Hopper LONDON, March I, 1762. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Public commotions fill the minds and hands of those who might otherwise employ themselves in hindering the course of the gospel. And probably they are of great use to give more seriousness and thoughtfulness to a young and inexperienced Prince. [See letter of Jan. 18.] I am glad you are in the Orphan House, were it only that you may drop a word in season to T. Olivers. This day fortnight I am to set out for Ireland. When will you set out for Scotland They want you sadly at Aberdeen. Shall I send you two or three guineas for your journey James Kershaw [See letter of Feb. 17, 1759.] may spend a month or two in Newcastle Circuit to supply your place. I think it is of importance. Much good may be done, by you in particular. We join in love to you all.--I am Ever yours.

To Dr. Horne Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- [4] LEWISHAM, March 10, 1762. REVEREND SIR,--When you spoke of 'heresies making their periodical revolutions,' of 'Antinomianism rampant among us,' and immediately after of 'the new lights at the Tabernacle and Foundery,' must not your hearers naturally think that Mr. Whitefield and I were reviving those heresies But do you know the persons of whom you speak Have you ever conversed with them Have you read their writings If not, is it kind, is it just, to pass so severe a censure upon them Had you only taken the trouble of reading one tract, the Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion, you would have seen that a great part of what you affirm is what I never denied. To put this beyond dispute, I beg leave to transcribe some passages from that treatise; which will show not only what I teach now, but what I have taught for many years. I will afterward simply and plainly declare wherein I as yet differ from you; and the rather that, if I err therein, you may by God's assistance convince me of it. I. 1. 'Justification sometimes means our acquittal at the last day (Matt. xii. 37). But this is altogether out of the present question; that justification whereof our Articles and Homilies speak meaning present forgiveness, pardon of sins, and consequently acceptance with God, who therein "declares His righteousness," or mercy, by or "for the remission of the sins that are past," saying, "I will be merciful to thy unrighteousness, and shine iniquities I will remember no more" (Rom. iii. 25; Heb. viii. 12). 'I believe the condition of this is faith (Rom. iv. 5, &c.): I mean, not only that without faith we cannot be justified, but also that, as soon as any one has true faith, in that moment he is justified. 'Good works follow this faith, but cannot go before it (Luke vi. 43); much less can sanctification, which implies a continued course of good works springing from holiness of heart. But it is allowed that entire sanctification goes before our justification at the last day (Heb. xii. 14).

To Matthew Lowes LONDON, March 11, 1762. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MATTHEW,--I have enclosed that part of the Minutes of the Conference which relates to discipline. On the other paper (which you may read in every Society just before you visit the classes) you will see the design of the General Yearly Collection, [See Works, viii. 335-6.] to which every Methodist in England is to contribute something. If there is any who cannot give an halfpenny in a year, another will give it for him. The Society here has subscribed near &pound;300. Your affectionate friend and brother. [For letter to S. Furly, March 20, see end of vol. viii.]

To Thomas Rankin BRISTOL, March 20, 1762. MY DEAR BROTHER,--You should act as an Assistant in Sussex. Therefore see that our Rules be everywhere observed; and spread our books wherever you go, particularly Kempis, Primitive Physick, and Instructions for Children. [See letters of Feb. 20, 1762, and Sept. 21, 1764.] Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- Before eight weeks are ended the Societies will be able to secure you an horse. O be simple! Be a little child before God!--I am Your affectionate brother. Read and pray much. To Mr. Thomas Rankin, At Mr. Barker's, In Sevenoaks, Kent.

To Jenny Lee Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- [5] LIMERICK, June 7, 1762. MY DEAR SISTER,--You did well to write freely. The more largely you write the more welcome your letters will be; and your soul is now so feeble and tender that it needs every help. It is certain that God has made bare His arm and wrought a great deliverance for you. He has more fully revealed His Son in you. He has purified your heart. He has saved you from pride, anger, desire. Yea, the Son has made you free, and you are free indeed. Stand fast, then, my dear friend, in this glorious liberty. Stand fast by simple faith! Look unto Jesus! Trust Him, praise Him for ever. Lean upon Him alone! And be not careful about this or that name for the blessing you have received. Do not reason one moment what to call it, whether perfection or anything else. You have faith: hold it fast. You have love: let it not go. Above all, you have Christ! Christ is yours! He is your Lord, your love, your all! Let Him be your portion in time and in eternity! Send word just how you are in every particular to Your affectionate brother.

To Christopher Hopper CORK, June 18, 1762. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--So your labour has not been in vain. I shall expect an account of the remaining part of your journey too. And you will be able to inform me of the real character and behaviour of Robert Miller also. I do not rightly understand him. But I see James Kershaw and he do not admire one another. Pray let me know as particularly as you can how William Fugill [Fugill, a native of Rothwell, near Leeds, was at first useful and acceptable; but he fell into 'some grievous sins,' and was excluded in 1764. See Atmore's Memorial, pp. 147-8.] has behaved in Scotland, and what has hindered the increase of the work at Edinburgh. I thought the Society would have been doubled before now. I expect to be in Dublin on Saturday, July 24. Then Providence will determine how I shall go forward, and whether I am to embark for Parkgate, Liverpool, or Holyhead in my way to Leeds, where I hope to meet you all on August 10. [Hopper was appointed to the Leeds Circuit at this Conference.]--I am Yours affectionately. I hope you will all exert yourselves in the Midsummer Collection for Kingswood.

Here is a plain fact. You may dispute, reason, cavil about it, just as long as you please. Meantime I know by all manner of proof that these are the happiest and the holiest people in the kingdom. Their light shines before men. They are zealous of good works, and labour to abstain from all appearance of evil. They have the mind that was in Christ, and walk as Christ also walked. And shall I cease to rejoice over these holy, happy men because they mistake in their judgement If they do, I would to God you and I and all mankind were under the same mistake; provided we had the same faith, the same love, and the same inward and outward holiness!--I am, dear Sammy, Yours affectionately. Will not you meet us at Leeds on the 10th of August [The Conference met there on that date.]

To Miss March BRISTOL, October 9, 1762. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- Though I have very little time, I must write a few lines. I thank you for your comfortable letter. Some have more of heat and some of light. The danger is that one should say to the other, 'I have no need of thee,' or that any should mistake his place and imagine himself to be what he is not. Be not backward to speak to any whom you think are mistaken either in this or other things. A loving word spoken in faith shall not fall to the ground; and the more freely you speak to me at any time or on any head the more you will oblige Your ever affectionate brother.

To Samuel Furly BRISTOL, October 13, 1762. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--In general, when I apprehend, 'Certainly this is a contradiction,' if I find other persons of equal sagacity with myself, of equal natural and acquired abilities, apprehend it is not, I immediately suspect my own judgement; and the more so because I remember I have been many times full as sure as I am now, and yet afterwards I found myself mistaken. As to this particular question, I believe I am able to answer every objection which can be made. But I am not able to do it without expending much time which may be better employed. For this reason I am persuaded it is so far from being my duty to enter into a formal controversy about it that it would be a wilful sin; it would be employing my short residue of life in a less profitable way than it may be employed. The proposition which I will hold is this: 'A person may be cleansed from all sinful tempers, and yet need the atoning blood.' For what For 'negligences and ignorances'; for both words and actions (as well as omissions) which are in a sense transgressions of the perfect law. And I believe no one is clear of these till he lays down this corruptible body. [See letter of Sept. 15 to him.] Now, Sammy, dropping the point of contradiction or no contradiction, tell me simply what you would have more. Do you believe evil tempers remain till death all, or some if some only, which I love truth wherever I find it; so if you can help me to a little more of it, you will oblige, dear Sammy, Yours, &c.

To Jonah Freeman Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- [11] CITY ROAD, December 20, 1762. MY DEAR BROTHER,--That you have received a considerable blessing from God is beyond all dispute. Hold fast whereunto you have attained, and do not reason about it. Do not concern yourself whether it should be called by this or another name. It is right as far as it goes. And whatsoever is yet lacking, God is able and willing to supply.--I am Your affectionate brother. Mr. Jonah Freeman, At Mr. Clark's, Hosier, In Farr's Alley, Aldersgate Street.

To Samuel Furly LONDON, December 20, 1762. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1762) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY,--Charles Perronet, the author of that remark on 2Peter iii. 13, does not believe Christ will reign at all upon earth, nor any millennium [See letter of March 10, 1763.] till we come to heaven. The argument by which he endeavours to prove that St. Peter there speaks only to what will precede the Day of Judgement is this: 'If those expressions, a new heaven and a new earth, refer only to this world when they occur in Isaiah, then they refer to nothing more where they are used by St. Peter.' I should never have suspected Dr. Sherlock [William Sherlock (1641-1707) was then Prebendary of St. Paul's, and became Dean in 1691; he was Master of the Temple 1685-1704. His Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity in 1690 was answered by Robert South (1633-1716) in his Animadversions. Sherlock replied with his Defence (1694), and in 1695 Dr. South wrote his Tritheism, accusing Sherlock of that heresy. The contest was sharp, and men of note took part in it on both sides.] of writing anything in a burlesque way. He never aimed at it in his controversy with Dr. South, and seemed exceeding angry at his opponent for doing so. Probably he knew himself to be overmatched by the Doctor, and therefore did not care to engage him on his own ground. 'But why should you be angry,' says Dr. South, 'at wit It might have pleased God to make you a wit too.' I think the danger in writing to Bishop Warburton is rather that of saying too much than too little. The least said is the soonest amended, and leaves an ill-natured critic the least to take hold of. I have therefore endeavoured to say as little upon each head as possible. If he replies, I shall say more. But I rather think he will not, unless it be by a side stroke when he writes on some other subject. [See letters of Dec. 11, 1762, and March 10,1763.]

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON, January 5, 1763. [Wesley wrote 1762, but the year was young. The contents of the letter show that it should be 1763, as Charles Wesley endorsed it.] Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER, -- You take me right. I am far from pronouncing my remarks ex cathedra. I only desire they may be fairly considered. I was a little surprised to find Bishop Warburton [See letter of Dec. 11, 1762.] so entirely unacquainted with the New Testament; and, notwithstanding all his parade of learning, I believe he is no critic in Greek. If Thomas Maxfield continues as he is, it is impossible he should long continue with us.[This was a time Of great ‘care and trouble’ to Wesley, due to Maxfield and Bell. Wesley had defended Maxfield from charges at the Conference of 1761, and had written plainly to him. See Journal, iv. 541-2; Tyerman’s Wesley, ii. 432-41.] But I live in hope of better things. Meantime festina lente! I baptized two Turks two or three weeks ago.[On Dec. 4, 1762, at the desire of Maxfield, Wesley baptized these two men, who proved to be impostors. See Journal, iv. 540, v. 3; and letter of Feb. 8.] They seem to be strong in faith; and their story is very probable, but I am not sure it is true. I wait for farther evidence. This week I have begun to speak my mind concerning five or six honest enthusiasts. [Maxfield led a select band in London. They had ‘dreams, visions, and impressions,’ and he encouraged these enthusiasts. See letter of Nov. 2, 1762.] But I move only an hair’s breadth at a time, and by this means we come nearer and nearer to each other. No sharpness will profit. There is need of a lady’s hand as well as a lion’s heart.

Mr. Whitefield has fallen upon me in public open-mouthed, and only not named my name. So has Mr. Madan. [See letters of July 12, 1758; and March 20, 1763.] But let them look to it. I go on my way. I have a sufficient answer as to George Bell [Wesley heard George Bell pray for nearly an hour on Nov. 24, and afterwards told him ‘what I did not admire.’ See next letter and that of Feb. 9.]; but I will not give it before the time. We join in love to you both. My wife gains ground. She is quite peaceable and loving to all. Adieu!

To the Editor of the ‘London Chronicle’ Date: WINDMILL HILL, January 7, 1763. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- SIR,--When I returned to London two or three months ago, I received various accounts of some meetings for prayer which had lately been held by Mr. Bell and a few others. But these accounts were contradictory to each other. Some highly applauded them, others utterly condemned; some affirmed they had done much good, others that they had done much hurt. This convinced me it was requisite to proceed with caution and to do nothing rashly. The first point was to form my own judgment, and that upon the fullest evidence. To this end I first talked with Mr. Bell himself, whom I knew to be an honest, well-meaning man. Next I told him they were at liberty for a few times to meet under my roof. They did so, both in the Society room at the Foundry and in the chapel at West Street. By this means I had an opportunity of hearing them myself, which I did at both places. I was present the next meeting after that, which is mentioned by Mr. Dodd and Mr. Thompson in the Public Ledger. The same things which they blame I blame also; and so I told him the same evening: and I was in hopes they would be done away, which occasioned my waiting till this time. But, having now lost that hope, I have given orders that they shall meet under my roof no more. What farther steps it will be necessary for me to take is a point I have not yet determined. -- I am, sir, Your humble servant.

To the Editor of the ‘London Chronicle’ Date: LONDON, February 9, 1763. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- SIR,--I take this opportunity of informing all whom it may concern (1) that Mr. Bell is not a member of our Society; (2) that I do not believe either the end of the world or any signal calamity will be on the 28th instant; and (3) that not one in fifty, perhaps not one in five hundred, of the people called Methodists believe any more than I do either this or any other of his prophecies.--I am Your humble servant.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON, February 26, 1763. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--I perceive verba fiunt mortuo [Plautus’s Poenulus, IV. ii. 18: ‘Words are wasted on a dead man.’]; so I say no more about your coming to London. Here stand I; and I shall stand, with or without human help, if God is with me. Yesterday Mr. Madan and I with a few more gave the full hearing to the famous Turk and his associate. [See letter of Feb. 8.] He is an exquisite wretch; was originally a Spanish Jew, afterwards a Turk, then a Papist, then a Jew again, then a Protestant, and now at last (under Mr. Lombardi’s wing) a zealous Papist! Concerning his companion we are still in doubt. We fear he is little better; though we cannot prove it. Mr. Gaussen tells us the stroke will come to-morrow evening; the rest say not till Monday. [The earthquake which Bell prophesied. The Gaussens were London friends. See C. Wesley’s Journal, ii, 217; and previous letter.] Let us live to-day! I labor for peace; but they still make themselves ready for battle. Peace be with you and yours! Adieu!

To Mrs. ---- Date: LONDON, March 21, 1763, Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--My coming into the country is quite uncertain, till I see what turn things here will take. I am glad to hear the work of God prospers among you; &c.

To the Editor of the ‘London Chronicle’ Date: LONDON, April 5, 1763. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- SIR, -- Some time since, I heard a man in the street bawling, ‘The Scripture Doctrine of Imputed Righteousness asserted and maintained by the Rev. John Wesley!’ I was a little surprised, not having published anything on the head; and more so when, upon reading it over, I found not one line of it was mine, though I remembered to have read something like it. Soon after (to show what I really do maintain) I published Thoughts on the Imputed Righteousness of Christ, mentioning therein that ‘pious fraud’ which constrained me so to do. The modest author of the former publication now prints a second edition of it, and faces me down before all the world -- yea, and proves that it is mine. Would you not wonder by what argument Oh, the plainest in the world. ‘There is not,’ says he, ‘the least fraud in the publication nor imposition on Mr. Wesley; for the words are transcribed from the ninth and tenth volumes of his Christian Library.’ But the Christian Library is not Mr. Wesley’s writing: it is ‘Extracts from and Abridgements of’ other writers; the subject of which I highly approve, but I will not be accountable for every expression. Much less will I father eight pages of I know not what which a shameless man has picked out of that work, tacked together in the manner he thought good, and then published in my name. He puts me in mind of what occurred some years since. A man was stretching his throat near Moorfields and screaming out, ‘A full and true Account of the Death of the Rev. George Whitefield!’ One took hold of him, and said, ‘Sirrah! what do you mean Mr. Whitefield is yonder before you.’ He shrugged up his shoulders, and said, ‘Why, sir, an honest man must do something to turn a penny.’ -- I am, sir, Your humble servant.

13. When I returned in October 1762, I found the Society in an uproar and several of Mr. Maxfield’s most intimate friends formed into a detached body. Enthusiasm, pride, and great uncharitableness appeared in many who once had much grace. I very tenderly reproved them. They would not bear it; one of them, Mrs. Coventry, [See letter of Jan. 26.] cried out, ‘We will not be brow-beaten any longer; we will throw off the mask.’ Accordingly, a few days after, she came, and before an hundred persons brought me hers and her husband’s tickets, and said, ‘Sir, we will have no more to do with you; Mr. Maxfield is our teacher.’ Soon after, several more left the Society (one of whom was George Bell), saying, ‘Blind John is not capable of teaching us; we will keep to Mr. Maxfield.’ 14. From the time that I heard of George Bell’s prophecy I explicitly declared against it both in private, in the Society, in preaching, over and over; and at length in the public papers. Mr. Maxfield made no such declaration; I have reason to think he believed it. [Maxfield says in his Vindication, p. 16: ‘At Wapping Mr. Bell mentioned the destruction that was to be on the 28th of February. As soon as he had done speaking, I stood up and set aside all that he had said about it; and went to the Foundery the next morning, and told Mr. Wesley what I had done.] I know many of his friends did, and several of them sat up the last of February at the house of his most intimate friend, Mr. Biggs, [See letter of Feb. 8.] in full expectation of the accomplishment. 15. About this time one of our stewards, [Mr. Arvin. who held the lease.] who at my desire took the chapel in Snowsfields for my use, sent me word the chapel was his, and Mr. Bell should exhort there, whether I would or no. Upon this I desired the next preacher there to inform the congregation that, while things stood thus, neither I nor our preachers could in conscience preach there any more. 16. Nevertheless Mr. Maxfield did preach there. On this I sent him a note desiring him not to do it, and adding, ‘If you do, you thereby renounce connection with me.’

17. Receiving this, he said, ‘I will preach at Snowsfields.’ He did so, and thereby renounced connection. On this point, and no other, we divided; by this act the knot was cut. Resolving to do this, he told Mr. Clementson, ‘I am to preach at the Foundry no more.’ 18. From this time he has spoke all manner of evil of me, his father, his friend, his greatest earthly benefactor. I cite Mr. Fletcher [See Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon, i. 321-2.] for one witness of this, and Mr. Madan for another. Did he speak evil of me to Mr. Fletcher one day only Nay, but every day for six weeks together. To Mr. Madan he said (among a thousand other things, which he had been twenty years raking together), ‘Mr. Wesley believed and countenanced all which Mr. Bell said; and the reason of our parting was this: he said to me one day, “Tommy, I will tell the people you are the greatest gospel preacher in England; and you shall tell them I am the greatest.” For refusing to do this Mr. Wesley put me away!’ Now, with perfect calmness, and I verily think without the least touch of prejudice, I refer to your own judgment what connection I ought to have with Mr. Maxfield, either till I am satisfied these things are not so or till he is thoroughly sensible of his fault.

To Mrs. Maitland Date: LONDON, May 12, 1763. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MADAM, -- Both in the former and in the Farther Thoughts on Perfection I have said all I have to say on that head. Nevertheless, as you seem to desire it, I will add a few words more. As to the word, it is scriptural; therefore neither you nor I can in conscience object against it, unless we would send the Holy Ghost to school and teach Him to speak who made the tongue. By that word I mean (as I have said again and again) ‘so loving God and our neighbor as to rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks.’ He that experiences this is scripturally perfect. And if you do not yet, you may experience it: you surely will, if you follow hard after it; for the Scripture cannot be broken. What, then, does their arguing prove who object against perfection ‘Absolute and infallible perfection’ I never contended for it. Sinless perfection Neither do I contend for this, seeing the term is not scriptural. A perfection that perfectly fulfils the whole law, and so needs not the merits of Christ I acknowledge none such--I do now, and always did, protest against it. ‘But is there not sin in those that are perfect’ I believe not; but, be that as it may, they feel none, no temper but pure love, while they rejoice, pray, and give thanks continually. And whether sin is suspended or extinguished, I will not dispute; it is enough that they feel nothing but love. This you allow ‘we should daily press after’; and this is all I contend for. O may God give you to taste of it to-day! -- I am, dear madam, Your very affectionate servant.

To Jenny Lee Date: ABERDEEN, May 26, 1763. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER, -- If you are likely to fall into a consumption, I believe nothing will save your life but the living two or three months upon buttermilk churned daily in a bottle. Change of air may do something, if you add riding every day. Else it will avail but little. Your conscience will not be clear unless you find fault wherever occasion requires. Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy brother, and not suffer sin upon him. Regard none who speak otherwise. You have but one rule, the oracles of God. His Spirit will always guide you, according to His word. Keep close to Him, and pray for, dear Jenny, Your affectionate brother.

By this means, chiefly, the distance between you and me has increased ever since you came to Huddersfield, and perhaps it has not been lessened by that honest, well-meaning man Mr. Burnett [G. Burnett, Vicar of Elland.] and by others, who have talked largely of my dogmaticalness, love of power, errors, and irregularities. My dogmaticalness is neither more nor less than a ‘custom of coming to the point at once,’ and telling my mind flat and plain without any preface or ceremony. I could, indeed, premise something of my own imbecility, littleness of judgment, and the like: but (1) I have no time to lose, I must dispatch the matter as soon as possible; (2) I do not think it frank or ingenuous -- I think these prefaces are mere artifice. The power I have I never sought. It was the undesired, unexpected result of the work God was pleased to work by me. I have a thousand times sought to devolve it on others; but as yet I cannot. I therefore suffer it till I can find any to ease me of my burthen. If any one will convince me of my errors, I will heartily thank him. I believe all the Bible as far as I understand it, and am ready to be convinced. If I am an heretic, I became such by reading the Bible. All my notions I drew from thence; and with little help from men, unless in the single point of Justification by Faith. But I impose my notions upon none: I will be bold to say there is no man living farther from it. I make no opinion the term of union with any man: I think, and let think. What I want is holiness of heart and life. They who have this are my brother, sister, and mother. ‘But you hold Perfection.’ True -- that is, loving God with all our heart, and serving Him with all our strength. I teach nothing more, nothing less than this. And whatever infirmity, defect, anomia, is consistent with this any man may teach, and I shall not contradict him.

As to irregularity, I hope none of those who cause it do then complain of it. Will they throw a man into the dirt and beat him because he is dirty Of all men living those clergymen ought not to complain who believe I preach the gospel (as to the substance of it). If they do not ask me to preach in their churches, they are accountable for my preaching in the fields. I come now directly to your letter, in hopes of establishing a good understanding between us. I agreed to suspend for a twelvemonth our stated preaching at Huddersfield, which had been there these many years. If this answered your end, I am glad: my end it did not answer at all. Instead of coming nearer to me, you got farther off. I heard of it from every quarter; though few knew that I did, for I saw no cause to speak against you because you did against me. I wanted you to do more, not less good, and therefore durst not do or say anything to hinder it. And, lest I should hinder it, I will make a farther trial and suspend the preaching at Huddersfield for another year. 1. To clear the case between us a little farther. I must now adopt your words: ‘I, no less than you, preach justification by faith only, the absolute necessity of holiness, the increasing mortification of sin, and rejection of all past experiences and attainments. I abhor, as you do, all Antinomian abuse of the doctrine of Christ, and desire to see my people walking even as He walked. Is it, then, worth while, in order to gratify a few bigoted persons or for the sake of the minute differences between us,’ to encourage ‘all the train of evils which follow contention for opinions in little matters as much as in great’ 2. If I was as strenuous with regard to perfection on one side as you have been on the other, I should deny you to be a sufficient preacher; but this I never did. And yet I assure you I can advance such reasons for all I teach as would puzzle you and all that condemn me to answer; but I am sick of disputing. Let them beat the air and triumph without an opponent.

To Duncan Wright Date: LONDON, July 4, 1763. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR DUNCAN,--You have chosen the better part, and will never regret of your choice. Write down the sermon you preached upon that subject, with what additions you see good, and I will correct and print it, if I live to return to London. Perhaps I may likewise print the ‘Advice concerning Children’ in a separate tract. I am glad Rd. Blackwell [Richard Blackwell became a preacher about 1766, and died of fever at Aberdeen on Dec. 27, 1767. See Atmore’s Memorial, p. 54.] goes to Colchester. Perhaps he and you by turns may spend the ensuing year in London.--I am Yours affectionately.

To Dorothy Furly Date: LONDON, July 16, 1763. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER, -- 1. So far as I know what will make me most holy and most useful I know what is the will of God. 2. Certainly it is possible for persons to be as devoted to God in a married as in a single state. 3. I believe John Downes is throughly desirous of being wholly devoted to God, and that (if you alter your condition at all) you cannot choose a more proper person.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Christopher Hopper Date: BRISTOL, September 3, 1763. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I am much inclined to think you will be more useful this year than ever you have been in your life. From the first hour abate nothing of our Rules, whether of Society or bands. Be a Methodist all over. Be exact in everything. Be zealous; be active. Press on to the one thing, and carry all before you. How much may be done before summer is at an end! Their little misunderstandings at Edinburgh you will soon remove by hearing the parties face to face. I hope a preacher is gone northward, and Brother Roberts come southward. [Robert Roberts, of Leeds, is named in the Deed of Declaration,1784. He was a farmer’s son, born at Upton near Chester in 1731. He became a preacher in 1759, and died in 1799, a zealous, judicious man. See letters of Nov. 2.] I hate delay. ‘The King’s business requires haste!’ -- I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Yours most affectionately. Take the field everywhere as often as possible. Who goes to the Highlands now quickly

To George Merryweather Date: LONDON, October 5, 1763. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- Your letter was sent from hence to Bristol. But I had left Bristol before it came. I have no objection to Mr. Jaco’s [See letter of Sept. 3, 1756, to Samuel Walker.] coming to Yarm to open the house; but I suppose he cannot stay long. He will soon be wanted again in his own circuit. It is strange that the number of hearers should decrease if you have regular preaching. I hope the morning preaching is never omitted. If it be, everything will droop. What relates to the account I will give Mr. Franks. [See letters of Jan. 25, 1762 (to Matthew Lowes), and Nov. 18, 1765.] Probably he will find where the mistake lies. O be in earnest! -- I am Your affectionate brother.

To Christopher Hopper Date: WELLING, November 2, 1763. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1763) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, -- ‘Dundee,’ you say, ‘would be thankful for a preacher.’ But who would give him things needful for the body He cannot live upon air; and we now expect that Scotland should bear its own burthen. John Hampson [Hampson was a popular preacher. He remained in Manchester, where the account-book for Dec. 27, 1762, and March 28, 1763, notes payments of 3 3s. to him; in Dec. it is 2 2s. In April and Dec. 1764, 3 3s.; in July 3 13s. 6d.] you must think of no more. But I doubt our Newcastle friends are out of all patience for want of R. Roberts. [See letter of Sept. 3.] In spring you will need a fourth preacher. But what would he have to do Why, then, I think you must get the plat without Cannongate. ‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.’ Sevenpence halfpenny! Pshaw! Let it be eightpence, even money. By-and-by we may give Mr. Trail more work. O let us work in this fruitful season! We join in love to Sister Hopper and you. -- I am Yours affectionately.

To his Brother Charles LONDON, March 1, 1764. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--If the parties require it, I will re-hear the cause of William Warren and Abraham Ore [Evidently some disputed matter in Bristol.]; but I do not apprehend there is anything to be said more than what you have heard already. I read Rollin's Belles-Lettres [The publication of extracts from the French historian was probably under consideration, but nothing was done.] several years ago. Some things I liked; some I did not. Mark in him what you admire, and I will give it a second reading and a farther consideration. You 'have no thoughts of venturing to London before May'! Then I must indeed 'do the best I can.' So I will comply with the advice of the Stewards, as well as my own judgement, and insist upon John Jones's assisting me on Sunday. [He was compelled to ask Jones to assist in the heavy sacramental services. See Journal, v. 47n; and letter of Sept. 3, 1756, to Nicholas Norton] I have delayed all this time purely out of tenderness to you. Adieu!

To Mrs. Freeman Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- [2] LONDON, March 2, 1764. MY DEAR SISTER,--Such love as yours is need not be ashamed. You must make me amends for anything past that looks unkind by altering it for the time to come. You have no reason to doubt of the work of God. It partly shines by its own light. And when that is not sufficient (as in times of temptation), a clear witness shall be superadded. And see that you strengthen your brethren, particularly those who are tempted to give up their confidence. O lift up the hands that hang down! Help those especially who did once taste of pure love. My will has nothing to do in my coming over this spring. If a ship be ready, I shall embark. O Jenny, look up and receive more!--I am Your affectionate brother. To Mrs. Jane Freeman.

To Samuel Furly LEWISHAM, March 6, 1764. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY,--After showing what is implied in 'gaining the whole world,' and what in 'losing our own soul,' [See letter of Jan. 14.] I ask, How is it possible that any man should consent to gain the whole world at the price of losing his own soul How amazing is it that any man living should do this! But, in order to abate this amazement, consider the suppositions on which he proceeds: (1) that a life of sin is a life of happiness; (2) that a life of religion is a life of misery; and (3) that he shall certainly live twenty, forty, or sixty years. Under the second of these articles you have a fair occasion of describing both false and true religion. For eight or ten weeks Mr. Maxfield has been laid up by a lingering illness. This has contributed not a little to the peace of our Society, who in general mind one thing--to save their own souls, and seldom strike first, though they sometimes strike again, especially when they are attacked without fear or wit, which has generally been the case. You have encouragement to go on at Slaithwaite, seeing already your labour is not in vain. I hope you add private to public application, visiting the poor people from house to house, and distributing little books. By this means only that deplorable ignorance will be removed.

I doubt you had a dunce for a tutor at Cambridge, and so set out wrong. Did he never tell you that, of all men living, a clergyman should 'talk with the vulgar' yea, and write, imitating the language of the common people throughout, so far as consists with purity and propriety of speech [See letter of Jan. 14.] Easiness, therefore, is the first, second, and third point; and stiffness, apparent exactness, artificialness of style the main defect to be avoided, next to solecism and impropriety. You point wrong, Sammy: you aim at a wrong mark. If he was a standard for any one (which I cannot possibly allow), yet Dr. Middleton [See letter of Jan. 4, 1749.] is no standard for a preacher--no, not for a preacher before the University. His diction is stiff, formal, affected, unnatural. The art glares, and therefore shocks a man of true taste. Always to talk or write like him would be as absurd as always to walk in minuet step. O tread natural, tread easy, only not careless. Do not blunder or shamble into impropriety. If you will imitate, imitate Mr. Addison or Dr. Swift. You will then both save trouble and do more good.--I am, with love to Nancy, dear Sammy, Your ever affectionate brother.

To Mr.-- SHEFFIELD, March 29, 1764. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Is it true that you have baptized several children since the Conference If it is, I cannot but interpret it as a clear renunciation of connexion with us. And if this be the case, it will not be proper for you to preach any longer in our Societies. But the land is wide. You have room enough to turn to the right hand or to the left.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Various Clergymen Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- [5] SCARBOROUGH, April 19, 1764. REVEREND SIR,--Near two years and an half ago [Thomas Marriott dates it 'Lewisham, 16-19 Nov. 1761.'] I wrote the following letter. You will please to observe (1) that I propose no more therein than is the bounden duty of every Christian; (2) that you may comply with this proposal, whether any other does or not. I myself have endeavoured so to do for many years, though I have been almost alone therein, and although many, the more earnestly I talk of peace, the more zealously make themselves ready for battle.-- I am, reverend sir, Your affectionate brother.[The letter received by John Newton is in print, dated 'Bristol, Oct. 15, 1766'; and this is crossed out, and 'London, Dec. 10,' written in.] DEAR SIR,--It has pleased God to give you both the will and the power to do many things for His glory; although you are often ashamed you have done so little, and wish you could do a thousand times more. This induces me to mention to you what has been upon my mind for many years, and what I am persuaded would be much for the glory of God if it could once be effected; and I am in great hopes it will be, if you heartily undertake it, trusting in Him alone. Some years since, God began a great work in England; but the labourers were few. At first those few were of one heart; but it was not so long. First one fell off, then another and another, till no two of us were left together in the work besides my brother and me. This prevented much good, and occasioned much evil. It grieved our spirits and weakened our hands; it gave our common enemies huge occasion to blaspheme. It perplexed and puzzled many sincere Christians; it caused many to draw back to perdition; it grieved the Holy Spirit of God. As labourers increased, disunion increased. Offences were multiplied; and, instead of coming nearer to, they stood farther and farther off from each other; till at length those who were not only brethren in Christ but fellow labourers in His gospel had no more connexion or fellowship with each other than Protestants have with Papists.

To Thomas Newall NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, May 7, 1764. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Pray tell Brother Johnson [John or Thomas Johnson. See notes in letters of Sept. 3, 1756 (to Samuel Walker), and June 23, 1760.] I am satisfied about the horse. I don't know what rules they are which he speaks of. I suppose the Conference will begin at Bristol the second week in August. [The Conference began on Aug. 6.] I have often complained that most of our preachers were unfaithful to each other, not [saying] freely to each other what they thought amiss. I doubt that has been the case between you and John Atlay. [Atlay was afterwards Wesley's Book Steward. See letter of May 6, 1774, to him.] 'Tis well if you have spoke freely to him. You don't know what good you might do thereby. An hint or two will do nothing. Take the opportunity when you give him my letter, and your labour will not be in vain. Press all our believers strongly and explicitly to go on to perfection.--I am Your affectionate brother. For the present you must act as an Assistant. To Mr. Newall, At Mr. John Hall's In Newgate Street, London.

If it should be (God forbid) that I should find none to join with me therein, I will (by God's help) comply with it myself. None can hinder this. And I think my brother will be likeminded--yea, and all who act in connexion with us. Probably it might contribute much to this end, if those of our brethren who have opportunity would be at Bristol on Thursday, the 9th of August. We might then spend a few hours in free conversation, either apart from or in conjunction with the other preachers. I apprehend, if your Ladyship could then be near, it might be of excellent service in confirming any kind and friendly disposition which our Lord might plant in the hearts of His servants. Surely, if this can be effectually done, we shall again see Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Then The children of thy faith and prayer Thy joyful eyes shall see, Shall see the prosperous Church, and share In her prosperity! [Poetical Works of J. and C. Wesley, viii. 245.] --I am, my dear Lady, Your Ladyship's most affectionate and obedient servant.

To Dorothy Furly EDINBURGH, May 28, 1764. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Certainly it would be right to spend some time in setting down both the outward providences of God and the inward leadings and workings of His Spirit as far as you can remember them. But observe withal you are called to be a good steward of the mammon of unrighteousness. You must therefore think of this too in its place, only without anxiety. Otherwise that neglect of your calling will hinder the work of God in your heart. You are not serving mammon by this, but serving Christ: it is part of the task which He has assigned you. Yet it is true your heart is to be free all the time; and see that you stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. I thought your name had been altered before now. [See letter of July 16, 1763, about her marriage to John Downes.] In a new station you will have need of new watchfulness. Still redeem the time, be steadily serious, and follow your own conscience in all things.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother. In my return from the Highlands, I expect to spend a day at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the 18th or 19th of June.

To Matthew Errington Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- [12] EDINBURGH, May 30, 1764. O Matthew, how is this There is not one Milton here, nor one set of the Philosophy. Pray send immediately twelve sets of the Philosophy and twenty Miltons [Wesley's Extract from Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' 18mo, 322 pp., printed in 1763. Errington has written a figure 8 over the word Miltons.] (if you have more than twenty at Newcastle, for you must not be left without some); and see that they be here before I return, which I expect will be on Saturday fortnight. So on Tuesday fortnight, June 19, you will (if God permit) see me at Newcastle. The word of God has free course in North Britain, even among honourable and right honourable sinners.--I am, with love to all, dear Matthew, Your affectionate brother. I hope to spend two days with you and to preach at the Fell at three on Thursday, 21st. Send also 24 Plain Accounts. [None.] 50 Character of a Methodist. 100 Rules of Society. [60.] 30 Primitive Physick (if you have them). 12 Earnest Appeals. [None.] 30 Answer to Bp. Warburton. [20.] 20 Kempis. Lose not a day. 40 Short Hymns. To Mr. Matthew Errington, At the Orphan House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Answered.[Errington's note.]

To Margaret Lewen Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- [13] [June 1764.] 1. You Want to know God, in order to enjoy Him in time and in eternity. 2. All that you Want to know of Him is contained in one book, the Bible. Therefore your one point is to understand this. And all you learn is to be referred to this, as either directly or remotely conducive to it. 3. Might it not be well, then, to spend at least two hours every day in reading and meditating upon the Bible reading every morning (if not every evening too) a portion of the Old and then of the New Testament If you would save yourself the trouble of thinking, add Mr. Henry's Comment: if you would only be assisted in thinking, add the Explanatory Notes. 4. But I find a difficulty already. Can you help me over it Have you more candour than almost any one in the world Will you not blame me for recommending, as they come in the way, tracts published by myself I think you will not. So I will set down these (in their place) as freely as other books. 5. Your studying hours (if your constitution will bear it) might be five or six hours a day; perhaps from nine to twelve in the morning, and from two to four or five in the afternoon. And whenever you begin to be tired with books that require a strong and deep attention, relax your mind by interposing history or poetry or something of a lighter nature. 6. The first thing you should understand a little of is Grammar; in order to which it will suffice to read first the Kingswood English Grammar (which is exceeding short), and then Bishop Lowth's Introduction. 7. Next it would be worth your while to acquire a little knowledge in Arithmetic; and Dilworth's Arithmetic would give you full as much as you want. 8. You might proceed to Geography. But in this I would not advise you to encumber yourself with many books. You need only master one, Randal's Geographical Grammar; and then betake yourself to the Globes. I believe those of Mr. Adams are the best; to which you may add his little book of Instructions.

16. You are glad to begin and end with Divinity. But I must not expatiate here. I will only recommend to your careful perusal Bishop Pearson On the Creed, Mr. Nelson's Sermons, and the Christian Library. This course of study, if you have the resolution to go through it, will, I apprehend, take you up three, four, or five years, according to the degree of your health and of your application. And you will then have knowledge enough for any reasonable Christian. But remember, before all, in all, and above all, your great point is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent.--I am, dear Miss Lewen, Your affectionate brother.

Oh that you may be ever as dead to the world as you are now! I apprehend the greatest danger from that quarter. If you should be induced to seek happiness out of Christ, how soon would your good desires vanish! especially if you should give way to the temptation to which your person, your youth, and your fortune will not fail to expose you. If you escape this snare, I trust you will be a real Christian, having the power as well as the form of religion. I expect you will then have likewise better health and spirits; perhaps to-morrow. But O, take Christ to-day! I long to have you happy in Him! Surely few have a more earnest desire of your happiness than, my very dear Lady, Your Ladyship's most affectionate servant. To a Gentleman [16] WIGAN, July 13, 1764. DEAR SIR,--There was one thing when I was with you that gave me pain: you are not in the Society. But why not Are there not sufficient arguments for it to move any reasonable man Do you not hereby make an open confession of Christ, of what you really believe to be His work, and of those whom you judge to be in a proper sense His people and His messengers By this means do not you encourage His people and strengthen the hands of His messengers And is not this the way to enter into the spirit and share the blessing of a Christian community Hereby, likewise, you may have the benefit of the advices and exhortations at the meeting of the Society, and also of provoking one another at the private meetings to love and to good works.

You need not lose the benefit of those prayers which experience shows are attended with a peculiar blessing. 'But I do not care to meet a class; I find no good in it.' Suppose you find even a dislike, a loathing of it; may not this be natural, or even diabolical In spite of this, break through, make a fair trial. It is but a lion in the way. Meet only six times (with previous prayer), and see if it do not vanish away. But if it be a cross, still bear it for the sake of your brethren. 'But I want to gain my friends and relations.' If so, stand firm. If you give way, you hurt them and they will press upon you the more. If you do not, you will probably gain them; otherwise you confirm both their wrong notions and wrong tempers. Because I love you I have spoken fully and freely; to know that I have not spoken in vain will be a great satisfaction to Your affectionate brother.

To Samuel Furly Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- [17] LIVERPOOL, July 15, 1764. DEAR SAMMY,--I have had many thoughts, since we parted, on the subject of our late conversation. I send you them just as they occur. 'What is it that constitutes a good style' Perspicuity and purity, propriety, strength, and easiness, joined together. Where any one of these is wanting, it is not a good style. Dr. Middleton's style wants easiness: it is stiff to an high degree. And stiffness in writing is full as great a fault as stiffness in behaviour. It is a blemish hardly to be excused, much less to be imitated. He is pedantic. 'It is pedantry,' says the great Lord Boyle, 'to use an hard word where an easier will serve.' Now, this the Doctor continually does, and that of set purpose. It is abundantly too artificial. Artis est celare artem ['It is the perfection of art to conceal itself.']; but his art glares in every sentence. He continually says, 'Observe how fine I speak!' Whereas a good speaker seems to forget he speaks at all. His full round curls naturally put one in mind of Sir Cloudesley Shovel's peruke, that 'eternal buckle takes in Parian stone.' [Pope's Moral Essays, iii. 295-6: 'That life-long wig which Gorgon's self might own, Eternal buckle takes in Parian stone.'] Yet this very fault may appear a beauty to you, because you are apt to halt on the same foot. There is a stiffness both in your carriage and speech and something of it in your very familiarity. But for this very reason you should be jealous of yourself and guard against your natural infirmity. If you imitate any writer, let it be South, Atterbury, or Swift, in whom all the properties of a good writer meet. I was myself once much fonder of Prior than Pope; as I did not then know that stiffness was a fault. But what in all Prior can equal for beauty of style some of the first lines that Pope [Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady.] ever published--

I advise you, Sammy, sacredly to abstain from reading any stiff writer. A bystander sees more than those that play the game. Your style is much hurt already. Indeed, something might be said if you was a learned infidel writing for money or reputation. But that is not the case: you are a Christian minister, speaking and writing to save souls. Have this end always in your eye, and you will never designedly use an hard word. Use all the sense, learning, and fire you have; forgetting yourself, and remembering only these are the souls for whom Christ died; heirs of an happy or miserable eternity!--I am, with love to Nancy, Your affectionate friend and brother. The Rev. Mr. Furly, At the Rev. Mr. Venn's, In Huddersfield, Yorks.

To the Earl of Dartmouth LAMPETER, July 26, 1764. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- MY LORD,--Upon an attentive consideration, it will appear to every impartial person that the uniting of the serious clergy in the manner I proposed in a former letter [See letter of April 19.] is not a matter of indifferency, but what none can reject unless at the peril of his own soul. For every article therein mentioned is undeniably contained in the royal law, the law of love; and consequently the observance thereof is bound upon every man as indispensably necessary to salvation. It will appear, farther, that every single person may observe it, whether the other will or no. For many years I, for instance, have observed this rule in every article. I labour to do so now; and will by God's help, whatever others do, observe it to the end.

I rejoice that your Lordship so heartily concurs in doing what is in your power to promote a general observance of it. Certainly this is not possible to be effected by merely human means; but it seems your Lordship has taken one good step towards it by communicating it to several. I am persuaded, at the same time, your Lordship's wish is that it might take place everywhere. The same step I purpose to take, by sending to each of those gentlemen the substance of what I wrote to your Lordship, and desiring them to tell me freely whatever objections they have against such an union. As many of those as are grounded on reason, I doubt not will be easily answered. Those only which spring from some wrong temper must remain till that temper is subdued. For instance: First, 'We cannot unite,' says one, 'because we cannot trust one another.' I answer to your reason or understanding, No matter whether we can or no. Thus far we must unite, trust or not; otherwise we sin against God. Secondly, I can trust you; why cannot you trust me I can have no private end herein. I have neither personal hopes nor fears from you. I want nothing which you can give me; and I am not afraid of your doing me any hurt, though you may hurt yourself and the cause of God. But I cannot answer your envy, jealousy, pride, or credulity. As long as those remain, objections, however cut off, will spring up again like Hydra's heads.

To Lady Maxwell Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- [19] BRISTOL, September 22, 1764. MY DEAR LADY,--You need be under no manner of apprehension of writing too often to me. The more frequent your letters are the more welcome they will be. When I have not heard from you for some time, I begin to be full of fears; I am afraid either that your bodily weakness increases or that your desires after God grow cold. I consider you are at present but a tender, sickly plant, easily hurt by any rough blast. But I trust this will not be so long; for you have a strong Helper. And the Lord, whom you serve, though feebly and imperfectly, will suddenly come to His temple. When, Lord Are all things ready now Here is the sinner; one whose mouth is stopped, who has nothing to pay, who pleads neither her own harmlessness, nor works, nor good desires, nor sincerity, but can adopt that strange word I give up every plea beside, Lord, I am damned; but Thou hast died. He has died; therefore you shall live. O do not reason against Him! Let Him take you now! Let Him take you just as you are and make you what is acceptable in His sight.

It gives me pleasure indeed to hear that God has given you resolution to join the Society. Undoubtedly you will suffer reproach on the account; but it is the reproach of Christ. And you will have large amends when the Spirit of glory and of God shall rest upon you. Yet I foresee a danger: at first you will be inclined to think that all the members of the Society are in earnest. And when you find that some are otherwise (which will always be the case in so large a body of people), then prejudice may easily steal in and exceedingly weaken your soul. O beware of this rock of offence! When you see anything amiss (upon hearsay you will not readily receive it), remember our Lord's word, 'What is that to thee Follow thou Me.' And I entreat you do not regard the half-Methodists--if we must use the name. Do not mind them who endeavour to hold Christ in one hand and the world in the other. I want you to be all a Christian;--such a Christian as the Marquis De Renty or Gregory Lopez was; such an one as that saint of God, Jane Cooper, [See letter of Sept. 11, 1765.] all sweetness, all gentleness, all love. Methinks you are just what she was when I saw her first. I shrink at the thought of seeing you what she was when I saw her last. But why should I What is all the pain of one that is glorifying God in the fires with 'Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit' May I not take upon me to give you one advice more Be very wary how you contract new acquaintance. All, even sincere people, will not profit you. I should be pained at your conversing frequently with any but those who are of a deeply serious spirit and who speak closely to the point. You need not condemn them, and yet you may say, 'This will not do for me.' May He that loves you richly supply all your wants and answer your enlarged desires! So prays, my very dear Lady, Your affectionate servant.

To Ann Foard Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- [20] BRISTOL, September 29, I 764. MY DEAR SISTER,--I am glad you wrote. You should do it oftener, and the more freely the better. None shall see your letters, so that you need be under no apprehension of any inconvenience following. In the Thoughts upon Perfection and in the Farther Thoughts you have a clear, consistent account of it. Did you never hear any one speak of it in the manner I do there Or does -- speak in the same manner with -- Wherein do they differ And does not -- -- Nancy, do not start, but speak freely. It may be of more service than you are aware of; and be assured you will bring no inconvenience upon yourself.

I was likewise grieved at the danger you was in of stopping short. Certainly you may attain that blessing soon. And I am throughly persuaded you did taste of it; though how you lost it I know not. It will be eternally true, 'If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.' Meanwhile faith is the voice of God in the heart proclaiming Himself. Have this faith, and you have salvation. And this is the very thing you want. When this is joined with a strong understanding, it is well; but it may exist with a very weak understanding. This is the case with Mrs. W., whose understanding is extremely weak. And yet she has strong faith, and such as exceedingly profits me; though I take knowledge the treasure is in an earthen vessel. I see all that is of nature; and this does not hinder my rejoicing in all that is of God. This is one branch of simplicity. While reason, assisted-- from above, enables me to discern the precious from the vile, I make my full use of the former without losing one moment in thinking upon the latter. Perhaps reason (enlightened) makes me simple. If I knew less of human nature (forgive me for talking so much of myself), I should be more apt to stumble at the weakness of it, and if I had not (by nature or by grace) some clearness of apprehension. It is owing to this (under God) that I never staggered at the reveries of George Bell. I saw it instantly, at the beginning and from the beginning, what was right and what was wrong. But I saw withal, 'I have many things to speak, but you cannot bear them now.' Hence many imagined I was imposed upon, and applauded themselves in their greater perspicacity; as they do at this day. 'But if you knew it, says his friend to Gregory Lopez, why did not you tell me' I answer with him, 'I do not speak all I know, but what I judge needful.' Still, I am persuaded there is no state under heaven from which it is not possible to fall. But I wish you was all love, and then you would not need to take any thought for the morrow.

To Christopher Hopper BRISTOL, September 29, 1764. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--My judgement is this,--that it is best for you to be at Edinburgh (but in a more airy lodging, if it can be had for love or money) before the end of next month, James Kershaw at Dundee, and Tommy Hanby at Aberdeen. If you have either love or pity for him, let him not stay too long at Dundee. His mind is by no means strong enough to bear that weight of applause. At any rate, take him out of the furnace, or he will be consumed. And you well know a change is best for the people as well as best for him. Is it not easiest for him and you to change at a day appointed, and then for you to stay at Dundee till you are relieved by James Kershaw Peace be with your spirits!--I am Your affectionate friend and brother. I hope you have been at Sir Archibald's. [Sir Archibald Grant. See Journal, iv. 451.]

To Samuel Furly YARMOUTH, October II, 1764. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY,--I have delayed writing thus long, [See letter of July 15. ] because I was not inclined to draw the saw of controversy, particularly on a subject not very important and with a person not very easy to be convinced. I simply told you my thoughts concerning style and concerning yourself. If you can profit by them, well; if not, there is no harm done. I wanted to have you write in the most excellent way; if you prefer any other, you may. I have no prejudice for or against any writer: but I may say, without much vanity, I know a good style from a bad one; and it would be a shame if I did not, after having spent five-and-forty years (with some natural understanding, much attention, and a free acquaintance with many eminent men) in reading the most celebrated writers in the English tongue. Observing you to want one of the things essential to a good style, namely, easiness, I warned you of it, and (to make the reason of my caution more clear) enlarged a little upon the head. You reply, 'Harmony is essential to a good style.' It may be so; I have nothing to say to the contrary. In the very lines I quoted there is admirable harmony; nihil supra; the soul of music breathes in them: but there is no stiffness. The lines are as easy as harmonious. This is the perfection of writing. Whether long periods or short are to be chosen is quite another question. Some of those you transcribe from Swift are long; but they are easy too, entirely easy, void of all stiffness, and therefore just such as I advise you to copy after. The paragraphs cited from Hawksworth are far inferior to them, not more harmonious, but more stiff and artificial. That from Wharton is worst of all, stiff as a stake, all art and no nature. I know not what taste they can have who admire his style; certainly they must prefer Statius to Virgil.

To the Printer of the 'St. James's Chronicle' LONDON, October 29, 1764. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- SIR,--The words inserted as mine in your last paper I absolutely disclaim. I never said, 'If any of you have any money in the Public Funds, it would be less sin to take it out and cast it into the depth of the sea than to let it continue there.' I believe a man may let money continue there without any sin at all. Whoever desires to see my full deliberate thoughts on this subject may read the sermon on the Mammon of Unrighteousness. [The Use of Money. See Works, vi. 124-36.] And this I am ready to defend against any that will set his name; but I do not love fighting in the dark.--I am Your humble servant. PS.--The farther Remarks of the 'Presbyterian Doctor of Physic' I may perhaps have leisure to read by-and-by.

6. If you constantly meet your band, I make no doubt that you will constantly meet your class; indeed, otherwise you are not of our Society. Whoever misses his class thrice together thereby excludes himself, and the preacher that comes next ought to put out his name. I wish you would consider this. Halt not between two. Meet the brethren, or leave them. It is not honest to profess yourself of a Society and not observe the rules of it. Be therefore consistent with yourself. Never miss your class till you miss it for good and all. And when you meet it, be merciful after your power; give as God enables you. If you are not in pressing want, give something, and you will be no poorer for it. Grudge not, fear not; lend unto the Lord, and He will surely repay. If you earn but three shillings a week and give a penny out of it, you will never want. But I do not say this to you who have ten or fifteen shillings a week and give only a penny! To see this has often grieved my spirit. I have been ashamed for you, if you have not been ashamed for yourself. Why, by the same rule that you give a penny, that poor man should give a peppercorn! O be ashamed before God and man! Be not straitened in your own bowels. Give in proportion to your substance. You can better afford a shilling than he a penny. This is more to him than that to you. Open your eyes, your heart, your hand. If this one rule was observed throughout England, we should need no other collection. It would soon form a stock sufficient to relieve all that want and to answer all occasions. Many of these occasions are now exceeding pressing, and we are nowise able to answer them; so that the cause of God suffers and the children of God, and that without remedy.

7. This is in great measure owing to our not considering ourselves (all the Methodists) as one body. Such undoubtedly they are throughout Great Britain and Ireland; and as such they were considered at our last Conference. We then seriously considered the heavy burthen which now lies on our brethren in various parts. When we could hire no place that could contain the congregation, they were constrained to build; but hereby they were unavoidably involved in debt, some of them to the amount of several hundred pounds. The Assistants were desired to lay this case before all our brethren in England, and to receive what each of them were willing to give, either at that time or at Easter or Midsummer. But the greater part of them thought no more about it. Four or five of them did, and brought in all about &pound;200 at our last Conference. This was divided among our Societies who were most distressed; and all the Assistants were desired, when they visit the classes at Christmas, to ask each particular person, poor or rich, 'What will you give towards the relief of the brethren Give either now, or at Easter, or at Midsummer; it is all one.' If this be done in good earnest, I trust in two or three years all our Societies may be out of debt. And by this shall all men know whose disciples we are, because we love one another. 8. I mention but one thing more. Let all who are able constantly attend the morning preaching. Whenever the Methodist preachers or people leave off this, they will soon sink into nothing.--I am, my dear brethren, Your affectionate brother.

To Thomas Rankin Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- [23] LONDON, November 6, 1764. DEAR TOMMY,--If the Crowan or Buryan Society are able to bear the expense of building themselves, we have no objection; but we must not increase our debt this year. This is what we determined. If you do build, build large enough. In general, we do not pay rent out of the public stock, but get help from friends in the circuit. For once we may allow forty shillings. I shall write to Plymouth Dock this post. I hope John Catermole (a sound man) will come and help you. I shall either mend William Darney or end him. He must not go on in this manner. Spread the little tracts wherever you go. You know the solid good which results therefrom. Go on; spend and be spent for a good Master.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Thomas Rankin Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- [25] LONDON, December 15, 1764. DEAR TOMMY,--I will send a man down to W. Darney [See letter of Nov. 6.] that is as rough as himself--namely, T. Bryant. But he is much changed for the better, and I think will not now jar with you. You need not, indeed, be very near one another: Cornwall is wide enough. Otherwise let T. Bryant stay in Devonshire and Peter Price move westward. [Price was admitted on trial as a preacher in Aug. 1765.] John Catermole sticks fast at Kingswood, and can get no farther. I wish you could conquer J. Paynter too. And who knows Love may do the deed. Want of sleep will occasion hoarseness. You should sleep at least six hours in twenty-four, either at once or at twice. For hoarseness look into the Primitive Physick; and try, one after another if need be, the garlic, the apple, the conserve, and the balsam. I know not how you will procure subscribers to Goodwin [See letters of Nov. 2and Dec. 31.] while you are pressing the general subscription.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend.

To his Brother Charles Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1764) Author: John Wesley --- [26] LONDON, December, 31, 1764. DEAR BROTHER,--Pray tell T. Lewis [See letter of Dec. 7.] I believe one I spoke to yesterday will make us a good housekeeper. She is selling off her things, and can come in two or three weeks. John Matthews [See letter of April 24, 1757.] sent for me between two and three on Friday morning. One had a little before asked him how he found himself; and he answered, 'The Lord protects, for ever near.' When I came, he was perfectly sensible. I began to pray at three, and before I had spoken many words his soul was set at liberty without a groan. Here is a subject for your pen. He has had 'the witness' in my sense for several months--that is, he knew he was in the favour of God, and had no doubt of going to heaven. I hope Goodwin is above three-quarters printed. [See letter of Dec. 15.] You know doctors differ. I could trust Dr. Turner as well as any. I shall say a word to the preachers in Ireland. I really thought Mark Davis had had more wit and more modesty. I do not yet find anything on the Atonement fit for a Deist. Pray inquire of your learned friends. My love to Sally. I have sent you by Miss Billo the Preface to Goodwin and the Appeals. You will English the Latin verses, and produce the neatest and correctest edition of them which has ever appeared.

To Thomas Rankin OVINGTON, January 13, 1765. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--I will give you a month from this day to make a fair trial of William Darney whether he will walk according to our Rules or no; if not, we must part. But if he had rather, he may go into the Wiltshire Round, [Darney went to the London Circuit in September.] where a preacher is now wanting. T. Bryant is not now in connexion with us. [See previous letter.] I am glad you give me warning concerning Richard Austen. I trust that you will soon set them right at the Dock. Gentleness, added to plainness of speech, will have influence upon honest Brother Jones. [See letter of June 9.] I advise you gradually to remove all such leaders and stewards as do not cordially love the Methodist doctrine and discipline.--Dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother. Pray give my love to Brother Mallon, of Mary Week Society. I thank him for his letter, and exhort him to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made him free. To Mr. Rankin, At Mr. John Andrews', In Redruth, Cornwall. Per Gloucester,

To the Printer of the 'St. James's Chronicle' Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- [2] LONDON, February 5, I 765. SIR,--To the four questions proposed to me in your last week's paper, I answer: 1. None of those six persons lately ordained by a Greek bishop were ordained with my consent or knowledge. 2. I will not, cannot, own or receive them as clergymen. 3. I think an ordination performed in a language not understood by the persons ordained is not valid. 4. I think it is absolutely unlawful for any one to give money to the Bishop (or to any one for him) for ordaining him.--I am, sir, Your humble servant.

To Thomas Rankin Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- [4] LONDON, March 9, 1765. MY DEAR BROTHER,--Nothing can hurt you, if you are calm, mild, and gentle to all men, especially to the froward. I think you have done all you could do at present for poor brother Jane. [See letter of Feb. 9.] I will send to William Atkinson [See letter of Jan. 7, 1756.] and ask him how the house is settled. I know nothing about it; for I never saw the writings. I suppose the Bill intended to be brought into Parliament will never see the light. The great ones find other work for one another. They are all at daggers' drawing among themselves. Our business is to go straight forward.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother. To Mr. Rankin, At Mr. John Andrews', In Redruth, Cornwall.

And these Letters another good man, Mr. Erskine, has introduced into Scotland, and warmly recommended. Why have you done this 'Because you have concealed your principles, which is palpable dishonesty.' When I was first invited into Scotland (about fourteen years ago), Mr. Whitefield told me: 'You have no business there; for your principles are so well known, that if you spoke like an angel none would hear you. And if they did, you would have nothing to do but to dispute with one and another from morning to night.' I answered: 'If God sends me, people will hear. And I will give them no provocation to dispute; for I will studiously avoid controverted points, and keep to the fundamental truths of Christianity. And if any still begin to dispute, they may; but I will not dispute with them.' I came: hundreds and thousands flocked to hear. But I was enabled to keep my word. I avoided whatever might engender strife, and insisted upon the grand points--the religion of the heart and salvation by faith--at all times and in all places. And by this means I have cut off all occasion of dispute from the first day to this very hour. And this you amazingly improve into a fault, construe into a proof of dishonesty. You likewise charge me with holding unsound principles, and with saying, 'Right opinions are (sometimes) no part of religion.' The last charge I have answered over and over, and very lately to Bishop Warburton. [See letter of Nov. 26, 1762.] Certainly, had you read that single tract, you would never have repeated that stale objection. As to my principles, every one knows, or may know, that I believe the Thirty-first Article of the Church of England. But can none be saved who believe this I know you will not say so. Meantime, in the main point (Justification by Faith) I have not wavered a moment for these seven-and-twenty years. And I allow all which Mr. Hervey himself contends for in his entrance upon the subject,--'Come to Jesus as a needy beggar; hang upon Him as a devoted pensioner.' And whoever does this, I will be bold to say shall not perish everlastingly.

As to your main objection, convince me that it is my duty to preach on controverted subjects, Predestination in particular, and I will do it. At present I think it would be a sin. I think it would create still more divisions. And are there not enough already I have seen a book written by one who styles himself Ecclesiae direptae et gementis Presbyter. ['A Presbyter of a torn-asunder and groaning Church.'] Shall I tear ecclesiam direptam et gementem ['A Church torn asunder and groaning.'] God forbid! No: I will so far as I can, heal her breaches. And if you really love her (as I doubt not you do), why should you hinder me from so doing Has she so many friends and helpers left, that you should strive to lessen their number Would you wish to turn any of her friends, even though weak and mistaken, into enemies If you must contend, have you not Arians, Socinians, Seceders, infidels to contend with; to say nothing of whoremongers, adulterers, Sabbath-breakers, drunkards, common swearers O ecclesia gemens! And will you pass by all these, and single out me to fight with Nay, but I will not. I do and will fight with all these, but not with you. I cannot; I dare not. You are the son of my Father, my fellow labourer in the gospel of His dear Son. I love your person; I love your character; I love the work wherein you are engaged. And if you will still shoot at me (because Mr. Hervey has painted me as a monster), even with arrows drawn from Bishop Warburton's quiver (how unfit for Mr. Erskine's hand!), I can only say, as I always did before, the Lord Jesus bless you in your soul, in your body, in your relations, in your work, in whatever tends to His own glory!--I am, dear sir, Your affectionate brother.

Will you say, 'But if I had gone on in that way, I should have lost my friends and my reputation' This is partly true. You would have lost most of those friends who neither love nor fear God. Happy loss! These are the men who do you more hurt than all the world besides. These are the men whom, if ever you would be a real Christian, you must avoid as you would avoid hell-fire. 'But then they will censure me.' So they will. They will say you are a fool, a madman, and what not. But what are you the worse for this Why, the Spirit of glory and of Christ shall rest upon you. 'But it will hurt me in my business.' Suppose it should, the favour of God would make large amends. But very probably it would not. For the winds and the seas are in God's hands as well as the hearts of men. 'But it is inconsistent with my duty to the Church.' Can a man of understanding talk so and talk so in earnest Is it not rather a copy of his countenance Indeed, if you can mean 'inconsistent with my pleasing this or that clergyman,' I allow it. But let him be pleased or displeased, please thou God! But are these clergymen the Church Unless they are holy men, earnestly loving and serving God, they are not even members of the Church; they are no part of it. And unless they preach the doctrines of the Church contained in her Articles and Liturgy, they are no true ministers of the Church, but are eating her bread and tearing out her bowels.

To Peggy Dale Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- [10] CASTLEBAR, June 1, 1765. MY DEAR MISS PEGGY,--Certainly you not only need not sin, but you need not doubt any more. Christ is yours. All is yours. You can give Him all your heart; and will He not freely give you all things But you can only return what He has given by continually receiving more. You have reason to bless Him who has cast your lot in a fair ground. Even in this world He does not withhold from you any manner of thing that is good. Let your heart be always open to receive His whole blessing! How far do you find power over your thoughts Does not your imagination sometimes wander Do those imaginations continue for any time or have you power to check them immediately Do you find continually the spirit of prayer and are you always happy I trust you will be happier every day; and that you will not forget, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother. Miss Dale, At the Orphan House, In Newcastle-upon-Tyne. By Portpatrick. Pd. two pence.

To the Leaders and Stewards LIMERICK, June 9, 1765. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BRETHREN,--Yours of March evening, 28th, I received yesterday. I shall have little time to spare this autumn; yet I will endeavour (with God's leave) to spend a few days in Cornwall. I hope to be at Tiverton on Tuesday, September 3; on Wednesday, 4th, at Bideford; on Thursday evening, 5th, at Millhouse; on Friday at Port Isaac; on Saturday the 7th at St. Cuthbert's; on Sunday morning and afternoon at St. Agnes; on Monday, 9th, St. Just; Tuesday, 10th, St. Ives; Friday, 13th, St. Just; Saturday, 21st, Bristol. [The Journal, v. 141-8, shows how closely he kept to his plan.] Let Mr. Rankin fix the time and place of the Quarterly Meetings. Peace be multiplied upon you.--I am, my dear brethren, Your affectionate brother.

Give me leave, my dear friend, to add a word likewise concerning your bodily health. You should in any wise give yourself all the air and exercise that you can. And I should advise you (even though long custom made it difficult, if that were the case) to sleep as early as possible; never later than ten, in order to rise as early as health will permit. The having good spirits, so called, or the contrary, very much depends on this. I believe medicines will do you little service: you need only proper diet, exact regularity, and constant exercise, with the blessing of God. Your speaking or writing was never tedious to me yet; and I am persuaded never will be. Your letters are more and more agreeable to, my very dear Lady, Your most affectionate servant.

To Thomas Rankin Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- [12] KILKENNY, July 15, 1765. DEAR TOMMY,--I received yours yesterday. I suppose you have now my answer to your last. The Conference is to begin at Manchester on Thursday, August 20. I have no objection to what you proposed to Mr. Hoskins, only my age. If he had left that gentleman trustee, I would not have given a groat for all his legacies. I wish he would not delay. A day ought not to be lost. Yours affectionately. I hope to set out for Cornwall (as I said before) immediately after the Conference. If possible, let the will be finished before I come. This would prevent much reproach. You will carry Mr. Hoskins's letter directly. To Mr. Rankin, At Mr. John Andrews', In Redruth. Per Gloucester.

To Miss March BRISTOL, October 13, 1765. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- A year or two ago you was pretty clear of enthusiasm: I hope you are so still. But nothing under heaven is more catching, especially when it is found in those we love; and, above all, when it is in those whom we cannot but believe to be sound of understanding in most instances, and to have received larger measures of the grace of God than we have ourselves. There are now about twenty persons here who believe they are saved from sin (1) because they always love, pray, rejoice, and give thanks; and (2) because they have the witness of it in themselves. But if these lose what they have received, nothing will be more easy than to think they never had it. There were four hundred (to speak at the lowest) in London who (unless they told me lies) had the same experience. If near half of these have lost what they had received, I do not wonder if they think they never had it: it is so ready a way of excusing themselves for throwing away the blessed gift of God. I no more doubt of Miss Dale's having this once than I doubt of her sister's [Miss Peggy. See letter of June 4, 1767.] having it now. Whether God will restore her suddenly as well as freely I know not; whether by many steps, or in one moment. But here again you halt, as Sarah Crosby did, and Sarah Ryan does. You seem to think pain, yea much pain, must go before an entire cure. In Sarah Ryan it did, and in a very few others. [See previous letter.] But it need not: pain is no more salutary than pleasure. Saving grace is essentially such, saving pain but accidentally. When God saves us by pain rather than pleasure, I can resolve it only into His justice or sovereign will. To use the grace we have, and now to expect all we want, is the grand secret. He whom you love will teach you this continually.

To Christopher Hopper Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- [15] BRISTOL, October 16, 1765. MY DEAR BROTHER,--So honest Sander [Alexander Coates. See letter of July 7, 1761.] has outrode all the storms and got safe into the haven! The Lord does all things well. I should not wish to stay here any longer than I could be useful. You and James Kershaw are considerate men. You must set your wits to work to find out ways and means. I will venture to answer for one fifty pounds, payable next August. Let our brethren pray in good earnest, and God will provide the rest.--I am Yours affectionately. I am returning to London.

To Peggy Dale LONDON, November, 6, 1765. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--By our intercourse with a beloved friend it often pleases God to enlighten our understanding. But this is only the second point: to warm the heart is a greater blessing than light itself. And this effect I frequently find from your letters. The Lord repay it sevenfold into your own bosom! Do you still remain in the persuasion that you shall not live beyond three-and-twenty [See letter of Dec. 31. She died at the age of thirty-three.] Do you remember when or how it began Does it continue the same, whether your health is worse or better What a mercy is it that death has lost its sting! Will this hinder any real or substantial happiness Will it prevent our loving one another Can Death's interposing tide Spirits one in Christ divide Surely no! Whatever comes from Him is eternal as Himself. --My dear sister, adieu! To Miss Dale, At the Orphan House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne .

To William Orpe Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- [16] LONDON, November 13, 1765. MY DEAR BROTHER,--You must in no wise return to your father's; it would be at the price of your soul. You have already made the experiment, and you made it long enough, till you had wellnigh quenched the Spirit. If you should leap into the furnace again, how would you expect that God would bring you out As to your temptation concerning preaching, it is nothing uncommon. Many have had it as well as you, and some of them for a time gave place to the devil and departed from the work. So did John Catermole; so did James Morgan: but God scourged them back again. Do not reason with the devil, but pray, wrestle with God, and He will give you light. --I am Your affectionate brother. To Mr. Will. Orpe, At Mr. Dickenson's, Near the Dolphin, In Birmingham.

To Thomas Rankin LONDON, November 18, 1765. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--You have satisfied me with regard to the particulars which I mentioned in my letter from Cornwall. Only one thing I desire you to remember: never sit up later than ten o'clock--no, not for any reason (except a watch-night), not on any presence whatsoever. In general, I desire you would go to bed about a quarter after nine. Likewise be temperate in speaking--never too loud, never too long: else Satan will befool you; and, on presence of being more useful, quite disable you from being useful at all. Rd. Henderson [See letter of Sept. 9.] desired that he might be the book-keeper this year in Wiltshire, and save me two shillings in the pound. But whoever you approve of, so do I. Write to Mr. Franks [See letters of Oct. 5, 1763, and July 9, 1766 (to his brother).] accordingly.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother. To Mr. Thomas Rankin, At Mr. Joseph Garnet's, In Barnard Castle, County of Durham.

To George Gidley Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- [17] LONDON, November 25, 1765. DEAR GEORGE,--I have well considered the case of Nath. Fenton. It is certain we can have justice by moving the Court of King's Bench. But it would probably cost forty or fifty pounds. Now, I doubt whether this would be worth while, whether you had not better leave them to themselves for the present. Only pray send Mr. Hale (as I promised) my Answers to the Bishop of Exeter. If the Justice at Exeter will grant you warrants, take them by all means; and inform him (what probably he does not know) that I have tried already with the whole Bench of Justices whether the Conventicle Act affects the Methodists, and have cast them in Westminster Hall. And if any, high or low, has a mind to fight with me again, let them begin as soon as they please.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Christopher Hopper Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1765) Author: John Wesley --- [19] LONDON, December 17, 1765. MY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad you have been at Edinburgh, especially on so good an errand. But I wonder T. Olivers [Olivers had been appointed to Glasgow in August.] ever disappointed them at Musselburgh. It is bad husbandry to neglect old places in order to preach at new. Yet I am informed he has been useful in Scotland. Whether he should now go to Glasgow or delay it a little longer I have left to T. Taylor's [Taylor was Assistant in Edinburgh. See Wesley's Veterans, vii. 43-4; and letter of July 8, 1766.] choice. If you can spare Moseley Cheek six or eight days, let him visit poor Dunbar. If Brother Williams's affairs are not made up, he should not stay at so public a place as Edinburgh. On one condition--that Michael [Michael Fenwick. See letter of Sept. 12, 1755, to Ebenezer Blackwell.] will make it a point of conscience to follow your directions in all things, great and small--I consent to his staying at Newcastle. If he is guideable, he may do well. O cure him of being a coxcomb!--I am Yours affectionately. To Mr. Hopper, At the Orphan House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

To Mrs. Wyndowe LONDON, January 7, 1766. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1766) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SALLY,--From the time that I first took acquaintance with you at Earl's Bridge, [Wesley spent an hour at Byford on March 16, 1789. The Diary note is, '11 Byford, tea, within; 12 chaise' (Journal, vii. 478d).] I have still retained the same regard for you. Therefore I am always well pleased with hearing from you, especially when you inform me that you are pursuing the best things. And you will not pursue them in vain if you still resolutely continue to spend some time in private every day. It is true you cannot fix any determinate measure of time because of numberless avocations. And it is likewise true that you will often find yourself so dead and cold that it will seem to be mere labour lost. No; it is not. It is the way wherein He that raises the dead has appointed to meet you. And we know not how soon He may meet you, and say, 'Woman! I say unto thee, Arise!' Then the fear of [death] which has so long triumphed over you shall be put under your feet. Look up! my friend! Expect that He who loves you will soon come and will not tarry! To His care I commit you; and am, my dear Sally, Yours most affectionately. Mrs. Wyndowe, Byford, Near Stroud, Gloucestershire.

To Thomas Rankin Date: COLCHESTER, January 23, 1766. DEAR TOMMY,--Suppose the numbers swell to an hundred (as probably they will), consider what it would amount to to give seventy persons 50s. apiece before I am reimbursed for the expense of the edition! [Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, vol. i. (4to, 852 pp.), had been published in 1765. See letter of June 20.] Indeed, I did not think of this till my brother mentioned it. But all the preachers shall, if they desire it, have them at half price. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1766) Author: John Wesley --- I am glad John Ellis takes care of the books while you are in Newcastle Circuit. When Matthew Lowes returns, let Moseley Cheek go into the Barnard Castle Circuit. At Lady Day, or within a few days after, you should return thither yourself. Speak quite freely to John Fenwick. You may trust him.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother. To Mr. Thomas Rankin, At the Orphan House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

REVEREND SIR,--1. In the tract which you have just published concerning the people called Methodists you very properly say: 'Our first care should be candidly and fairly to examine their doctrines. For, as to censure them unexamined would be unjust, so to do the same without a fair and impartial examination would be ungenerous.' And again: 'We should in the first place carefully and candidly examine their doctrines.' (Page 68.) This is undoubtedly true. But have you done it Have you ever examined their doctrines yet Have you examined them fairly fairly and candidly candidly and carefully Have you read over so much as the Sermons they have published or the Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion I hope you have not; for I would fain make some little excuse for your uttering so many senseless, shameless falsehoods. I hope you know nothing about the Methodists, no more than I do about the Cham of Tartary; that you are ignorant of the whole affair, and are so bold only because you are blind. Bold enough! Throughout your whole tract you speak satis pro imperio, [Terence's Phormio, 1. iv. 19: 'With authority enough.']--as authoritatively as if you was, not an archbishop only, but Apostolic Vicar also; as if you had the full papal power in your hands, and fire and faggot at your beck! And blind enough; so that you blunder on through thick and thin, bespattering all that come in your way, according to the old, laudable maxim, 'Throw dirt enough, and some will stick.' 2. I hope, I say, that this is the case, and that you do not knowingly assert so many palpable falsehoods. You say: 'If I am mistaken, I shall always be ready and desirous to retract my error' (page 56). A little candour and care might have prevented those mistakes; this is the first thing one would have desired. The next is that they may be removed; that you may see wherein you have been mistaken, and be more wary for the time to come. 3. You undertake to give an account, first, of the rise and principles, then of the practices, of the Methodists.

9. A second charge which you advance is that 'we suppose every man's final doom to depend on God's sovereign will and pleasure' (I presume you mean on His absolute, unconditional decree), that we 'consider man as a mere machine,' that we suppose believers 'cannot fall from grace' (page 31). Nay, I suppose none of these things. Let those who do answer for themselves. I suppose just the contrary in Predestination Calmly Considered, a tract published ten years ago.[See Works, x. 204-59.] 10. A third charge is: 'They represent faith as a supernatural principle, altogether precluding the judgement and understanding, and discerned by some internal signs; not as a firm persuasion founded on the evidence of reason, and discernible only by a conformity of life and manners to such a persuasion' (page 11). We do not represent faith 'as altogether precluding,' or at all 'precluding, the judgement and understanding'; rather as enlightening and strengthening the understanding, as clearing and improving the judgement. But we do represent it as the gift of God--yea, and a 'supernatural gift': yet it does not preclude 'the evidence of reason'; though neither is this its whole foundation. 'A conformity of life and manners' to that persuasion 'Christ loved me and gave Himself for me' is doubtless one mark by which it is discerned, but not the only one. It is likewise discerned by internal signs: both by the witness of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit--namely, 'love, peace, joy, meekness, gentleness,' by all 'the mind which was in Christ Jesus.' 11. You assert, fourthly: 'They speak of grace, that it is as perceptible to the heart as sensible objects are to the senses; whereas the Scriptures speak of grace, that it is conveyed imperceptibly; and that the only way to be satisfied whether we have it or no is to appeal not to our inward feelings but our outward actions' (page 32).

We do speak of grace (meaning thereby that power of God which worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure), that it is 'as perceptible to the heart' (while it comforts, refreshes, purifies, and sheds the love of God abroad therein) 'as sensible objects are to the senses.' And yet we do not doubt but it may frequently be 'conveyed to us imperceptibly.' But we know no scripture which speaks of it as always conveyed and always working in an imperceptible manner. We likewise allow that outward actions are one way of satisfying us that we have grace in our hearts. But we cannot possibly allow that 'the only way to be satisfied of this is to appeal to our outward actions and not our inward feelings.' On the contrary, we believe that love, joy, peace are inwardly felt, or they have no being; and that men are satisfied they have grace, first by feeling these, and afterward by their outward actions. 12. You assert, fifthly: 'They talk of regeneration in every Christian as if it was as sudden and miraculous a conversion as that of St. Paul and the first converts to Christianity, and as if the signs of it were frightful tremors of body and convulsive agonies of mind; not as a work graciously begun and gradually carried on by the blessed Spirit in conjunction with our rational powers and faculties, the signs of which are sincere and universal obedience' (page 33).

This is part true, part false. We do believe regeneration (or, in plain English, the new birth) to be as miraculous or supernatural a work now as it was seventeen hundred years ago. We likewise believe that the spiritual life, which commences when we are born again, must in the nature of the thing have a first moment as well as the natural. But we say again and again we are concerned for the substance of the work, not the circumstance. Let it be wrought at all, and we will not contend whether it be wrought gradually or instantaneously. 'But what are the signs that it is wrought' We never said or thought that they were either 'frightful tremors of body' or 'convulsive agonies of mind' (I presume you mean agonies of mind attended with bodily convulsions); although we know many persons who, before this change was wrought, felt much fear and sorrow of mind, which in some of these had such an effect on the body as to make all their bones to shake. Neither did we ever deny that it is 'a work graciously begun by the Holy Spirit,' enlightening our understanding (which, I suppose, you call 'our rational powers and faculties') as well as influencing our affections. And it is certain He 'gradually carries on this work' by continuing to influence all the powers of the soul, and that the outward sign of this inward work is 'sincere and universal obedience.' 13. A sixth charge is: 'They treat Christianity as a wild, enthusiastic scheme, which will bear no examination' (page 30). Where or when In what sermon In what tract, practical or polemical I wholly deny the charge. I have myself closely and carefully examined every part of it, every verse of the New Testament, in the original, as well as in our own and other translations.

14. Nearly allied to this is the threadbare charge of enthusiasm, with which you frequently and largely compliment us. But as this also is asserted only, and not proved, it falls to the ground of itself. Meantime your asserting it is a plain proof that you know nothing of the men you talk of. Because you know them not, you so boldly say, 'One advantage we have over them, and that is reason.' Nay, that is the very question. I appeal to all mankind whether you have it or no. However, you are sure we have it not, and are never likely to have. For 'reason,' you say, 'cannot do much with an enthusiast, whose first principle is to have nothing to do with reason, but resolve all his religious opinions and notions into immediate inspiration.' Then, by your own account, I am no enthusiast; for I resolve none of my notions into immediate inspiration. I have something to do with reason; perhaps as much as many of those who make no account of my labours. And I am ready to give up every opinion which I cannot by calm, clear reason defend. Whenever, therefore, you will try what you can do by argument, which you have not done yet, I wait your leisure, and will follow you step by step which way soever you lead.

15. 'But is not this plain proof of the enthusiasm of the Methodists, that they despise human learning and make a loud and terrible outcry against it' Pray, sir, when and where was this done Be so good as to point out the time and place; for I am quite a stranger to it. I believe, indeed, and so do you, that many men make an ill use of their learning. But so they do of their Bibles; therefore this is no reason for despising or crying out against it. I would use it just as far as it will go; how far I apprehend it may be of use, how far I judge it to be expedient at least, if not necessary, for a clergyman, you might have seen in the Earnest Address to the Clergy. [See letter of Jan. 7, 1756, n.] But in the meantime I bless God that there is a more excellent gift than either the knowledge of languages or philosophy: for tongues and knowledge and learning will vanish away; but love never faileth. 16. I think this is all you have said which is any way material concerning the doctrines of the Methodists. The charges you bring concerning their spirit or practice may be dispatched in fewer words. And, first, you charge them with pride and uncharitableness: 'They talk as proudly as the Donatists of their being the only true preachers of the gospel, and esteem themselves, in contradistinction to others, as the regenerate, the children of God, and as having arrived at sinless perfection' (page 15). All of a piece. We neither talk nor think so. We doubt not but there are many true preachers of the gospel, both in England and elsewhere, who have no connexion with, no knowledge of us. Neither can we doubt but that there are many thousand children of God who never heard our voice or saw our face. And this may suffice for an answer to all the assertions of the same kind which are scattered up and down your work. Of sinless perfection, here brought in by head and shoulders, I have nothing to say at present.

I want only more of the spirit of love and power and of an healthful mind. As to those 'many believing wives who practice pious frauds on their unbelieving husbands,' I know them not--no, not one of that kind; therefore I doubt the fact. If you know any such, be pleased to give us their names and places of abode. Otherwise you must bear the blame of being the lover if not the maker of a lie. Perhaps you will say, 'Why, a great man said the same thing but a few years ago.' What if he did Let the frog swell as long as he can, he will not equal the ox. He might say many things, all circumstances considered, which will not come well from you, as you have neither his wit, nor sense, nor learning nor age, nor dignity. Tibi parvula res est: Metiri se quemque suo modulo ac pede verum est. [Horace's Epistles, 1. vii. 98. Wesley here gives a free and edged translation: 'You are not upon a level with Bishop Warburton. Let every man know his own size.' See next letter.] If you fall upon people that meddle not with you, without either fear or wit, you may possibly find they have a little more to say for themselves than you was aware of. I 'follow peace with all men'; but if a man set upon me without either rhyme or reason, I think it my duty to defend myself so far as truth and justice permit. Yet still I am (if a poor enthusiast may not be so bold as to style himself your brother), reverend sir, Your servant for Christ's sake. [5] November 26, 1762.

Let us see what the ten next quotations prove. 1. 'In applying these words, " I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance," my soul was so enlarged that methought I could have cried out (in another sense than poor vain Archimedes [See letter in Dec. 1751, sect. 3, to Bishop Lavington, vol. iii. p. 296.]), " Give me where to stand, and I will shake the earth "' (page 130). I meant neither more nor less (though I will not justify the use of so strong an expression) than I was so deeply penetrated with a sense of the love of God to sinners that it seemed, if I could have declared it to all the world, they could not but be moved thereby. 'Here, then, was a scene well prepared for a good actor, and excellently fitted up for the part he was to play' (page 131). But how came so good an actor to begin playing the part twelve years before the scene was fitted up 'He sets out with declaring his mission. 2. " I cried aloud, All things are ready; come ye to the marriage. I then delivered my message."' And does not every minister do the same whenever he preaches But how is this 'He sets out with declaring his mission.' Nay, but this was ten years after my setting out.

But see 'the character he gives his own saints!" The more I converse with this people the more I am amazed. That God hath wrought a great work is manifest by saving many sinners from their sins. And yet the main of them are not able to give a rational account of the plainest principles of religion."' They were not able then, as there had not been time to instruct them. But the case is far different now. Again: Did I 'give this character,' even then, of the people called Methodists in general No, but of the people of a particular town in Ireland, where nine in ten of the inhabitants are Romanists. 'Nor is the observation confined to the people. He had made a proselyte of Mr. Drake, [See letter of Sept. 25, 1755.] Vicar of B[awtry]. And, to show he was no discredit to his master, he gives him this character: " He seemed to stagger at nothing, though as yet his understanding is not opened."' (Page 162.) Mr. Drake was never a proselyte of mine; nor did I ever see him before or since. I endeavoured to show him that we are justified by faith. And he did not object; though neither did he understand.

'But in the first propagation of religion God began with the understanding, and rational conviction won the heart' (page 163). Frequently, but not always. The jailer's heart was touched first, then he understood what he must do to be saved. In this respect, then, there is nothing new in the present work of God. So the lively story from Moliere is just nothing to the purpose. ['But, for this discordancy, between his Mission and St. Paul's, he has a salvo. He observes occasionally, in several places of his Journal, that God now not only does a new work, but by new ways. This solution of our spiritual empiric will perhaps put the reader in mind of the quack in Moliere, who, having placed the liver on the left side and the heart on the right, and being told that the structure of the parts was certainly otherwise, replied: Oui, cela etoit autre fois ainsi; mais nos avons change tout cela, et nous faisons maintenant la medecine d'une methode toute nouvelle.'--The Doctrine of Grace, pp. 163-4; p. 136, 2nd Edn.] In drawing the parallel between the work God has wrought in England and in America I do not so much as 'insinuate that the understanding has nothing to do in the work' (page 165). Whoever is engaged therein will find full employment for all the understanding which God has given him. 'On the whole, therefore, we conclude that wisdom which divests the Christian faith of its truth, and the test of it, reason, and resolves all religion into spiritual mysticism and ecstatic raptures, cannot be the wisdom from above, whose characteristic is purity' (page 166). Perhaps so. But I do not 'divest faith either of truth or reason'; much less do I resolve all into 'spiritual mysticism and ecstatic raptures.' Therefore, suppose purity here meant sound doctrine (which it no more means than it does a sound constitution), still it touches not me, who, for anything that has yet been said, may teach the soundest doctrine in the world.

6. What farther proof of hypocrisy Why, 'he had given innumerable flirts of contempt in his Journals against human learning' (pages 252-3). Where I do not know. Let the passages be cited; else, let me speak for it ever so much, it will prove nothing. 'At last he was forced to have recourse to what he had so much scorned; I mean prudence' (page 255). All a mistake. I hope never to have recourse to false prudence; and true prudence I never scorned. 'He might have met Mr. Whitefield half-way; but he was too formidable a rival. With a less formidable one he pursues this way. "I laboured," says he, "to convince Mr. Green"' (my assistant, not rival) '"that he had not done well in confuting, as he termed it, the sermon I preached the Sunday before. I asked, Will you meet me half-way"' (The words following put my meaning beyond all dispute.) '"I will never publicly preach against you: will not you against me'' [ See Journal, iv. 94; and for a letter to William Green, October 25, 1789. ] Here we see a fair invitation to Mr. Green to play the hypocrite with him.' (Ibid.) Not in the least. Each might simply deliver his own sentiments without preaching against the other. 'We conclude that Mr. Wesley, amidst his warmest exclamations against all prudence, had still a succedaneum, which indeed he calls prudence; but its true name is craft' (page 257). Craft is an essential part of worldly prudence. This I detest and abhor. And let him prove it upon me that can. But it must be by better arguments than the foregoing. Truly Christian prudence, such as was recommended by our Lord and practiced by Him and His Apostles, I reverence and desire to learn, being convinced of its abundant usefulness. I know nothing material in the argument which I have left untouched. And I must now refer it to all the world whether, for all that has been brought to the contrary, I may not still have a measure of the 'wisdom from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.'

I have spoke abundantly more concerning myself than I intended or expected. Yet I must beg leave to add a few words more. How far I am from being an enemy to prudence I hope appears already. It remains to inquire whether I am an enemy to reason or natural religion. 'As to the first, he frankly tells us the father of lies was the father of reasonings also. For he says, "I observed more and more the advantage Satan had gained over us. Many were thrown into idle reasonings."' (Page 289.) Yes, and they were hurt thereby. But reason is good, though idle reasonings are evil. Nor does it follow that I am an enemy to the one because I condemn the other. 'However, you are an enemy to natural religion. For you say, "A Frenchman gave us a full account of the Chicasaws. They do nothing but eat and drink and smoke from morning till night, and almost from night till morning. For they rise at any hour of the night when they awake, and, after eating and drinking as much as they can, go to sleep again. Hence we could not but remark what is the religion of nature, properly so called, or that religion which flows from natural reason unassisted by revelation."' (Page 290.) I believe this dispute may be cut short by only defining the term. What does your Lordship mean by natural religion a system of principles But I mean by it in this place men's natural manners. These certainly 'flow from their natural passions and appetites' with that degree of reason which they have. And this in other instances is not contemptible, though it is not sufficient to teach them true religion. II. I proceed to consider, in the second place, what is advanced concerning the operations of the Holy Spirit. 'Our blessed Redeemer promised to send among His followers the Holy Ghost, called "the Spirit of truth" and "the Comforter," which should co-operate with man in establishing his faith and in perfecting his obedience, or (in other words) should sanctify him to redemption' (page 2). Accordingly 'the sanctification and redemption of the world man cannot frustrate nor render ineffectual. For it is not in his power to make that to be undone which is once done and perfected.' (Page 337.)

But does this agree with the following words--'Nature is not able to keep a mean: but grace is able; for "the Spirit helpeth our infirmities." We must apply to the Guide of truth to prevent our being "carried about with divers and strange doctrines."' (Page 340.) Is He not, then, everywhere to illuminate the understanding as well as to rectify the will And, indeed, do we not need the one as continually as the other 'But how did He inspire the Scripture He so directed the writers that no considerable error should fall from them.' (Page 45.) Nay, will not the allowing there is any error in Scripture shake the authority of the whole Again: what is the difference between the immediate and the virtual influence of the Holy Spirit I know Milton speaks of 'virtual or immediate touch [Paradise Lost, viii. 617.]'; but most incline to think virtual touch is no touch at all. 'Were the style of the New Testament utterly rude and barbarous and abounding with every fault that can possibly deform a language, this is so far from proving such language not divinely inspired that it is one certain mark of this original' (page 55). A vehement paradox this! But it is not proved yet, and probably never will. 'The labours of those who have attempted to defend the purity of Scripture Greek have been very idly employed' (page 66). Others think they have been very wisely employed, and that they have abundantly proved their point. Having now 'considered the operations of the Holy Spirit as the Guide of truth, who clears and enlightens the understanding, I proceed to consider Him as the Comforter who purifies and supports the will' (page 89). 'Sacred antiquity is full in its accounts of the sudden and entire change made by the Holy Spirit in the dispositions and manners of those whom it had enlightened; instantaneously effacing their evil habits and familiarizing them to the performance of every good action' (page 90). 'No natural cause could effect this. Neither fanaticism nor superstition, nor both of them, will account for so sudden and lasting a conversion.' (Ibid.) 'Superstition never effects any considerable change in the manners. Its utmost force is just enough to make us exact in the ceremonious offices of religion or to cause some acts of penitence as death approaches.' (Page 91.)

'Fanaticism, indeed, acts with greater violence, and, by influencing the will, frequently forces the manners from their bent, and sometimes effaces the strongest impressions of custom and nature. But this fervour, though violent, is rarely lasting; never so long as to establish the new system into an habit. So that when its rage subsides, as it very soon does (but where it drives into downright madness), the bias on the will keeps abating till all the former habitudes recover their relaxed tone.' (Page 92.) Never were reflections more just than these. And whoever applies them to the matters of fact which daily occur all over England, and particularly in London, will easily discern that the changes now wrought cannot be accounted for by natural causes;-- not by superstition, for the manners are changed, the whole life and conversation; not by fanaticism, for these changes are so lasting 'as to establish the new system into an habit'; not by mere reason, for they are sudden: therefore they can only be wrought by the Holy Spirit. As to Savonarola's being a fanatic or assuming the person of a prophet, I cannot take a Popish historian's word. And what a man says on the rack proves nothing, no more than his dying silent. Probably this might arise from shame and consciousness of having accused himself falsely under the torture. 'But how does the Spirit as Comforter abide with us for ever He abides with the Church for ever, as well personally in His office of Comforter, as virtually in His office of Enlightener.' (Page 96.) Does He not, then, abide with the Church personally in both these respects What is meant by abiding virtually And what is the difference between abiding virtually and abiding personally 'The question will be, Does He still exercise His office in the same extraordinary manner as in the Apostles' days' (page 97). I know none that affirms it. 'St. Paul has determined this question. "Charity," says he, "never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away" (I Cor. xiii. 8, &c.).'

'But if miracles are not ceased, why do you not prove your mission thereby' As your Lordship has frequently spoke to this effect, I will now give a clear answer. And I purposely do it in the same words which I published many years since....[See sect. v of the letter of June 17, 1746, to Thomas Church, which Wesley quotes here.] 'But "why do you talk of the success of the gospel in England, which was a Christian country before you was born" Was it indeed Is it so at this day I would explain myself a little on this head also. 'And (1) None can deny that the people of England in general are called Christians. They are called so, a few only excepted, by others as well as by themselves. But I presume no man will say the name makes the thing, that men are Christians barely because they are called so. It must be allowed (2) That the people of England generally speaking have been christened or baptized; but neither can we infer, "These were once baptized, therefore they are Christians now." It is allowed (3) That many of those who were once baptized, and are called Christians to this day, hear the word of God, attend public prayers, and partake of the Lord's Supper. But neither does this prove that they are Christians. For, notwithstanding this, some of them live in open sin; and others, though not conscious to themselves of hypocrisy, yet are utter strangers to the religion of the heart, are full of pride, vanity, covetousness, ambition, of hatred, anger, malice, or envy, and consequently are no more spiritual Christians than the open drunkard or common swearer.

'The third part of this office is to lead, direct, and govern us in our actions and conversations. "If we live in the Spirit," quickened by His renovation, we must also "walk in the Spirit," following His direction, led by His manuduction. We are also animated and acted by the Spirit of God, who giveth "both to will and to do." 'And "as many as are thus led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God" (Rom. viii. 14). Moreover, that this direction may prove more effectual, we are guided in our prayers by the same Spirit, according to the promise, "I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication" (Zech. xii. 10). Whereas, then, "this is the confidence we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us"; and whereas "we know not what we should pray for as we ought, the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Rom. viii. 26). "And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (verse 27). From which intercession (made for all true Christians) He hath the name of the Paraclete given Him by Christ, who said, "I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete" (John xiv. 16, 26). For "if any man sin, we have a Paraclete with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous," saith St. John. "Who maketh intercession for us," saith St. Paul (Rom. viii. 34). And we have "another Paraclete," saith our Saviour (John xiv. 16), "which also maketh intercession for us," saith St. Paul (Rom. viii. 27). A Paraclete, then, in the notion of the Scriptures, is an Intercessor.

'No, not the new birth itself, but your enthusiastic, ridiculous account of it.' What is, then, my account of the new birth I gave it some years ago in these words:-- 'It is that great change which God works in the soul when He brings it into life; when He raises it from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. It is the change wrought in the whole soul by the almighty Spirit of God, when it is "created anew in Christ Jesus," when it is "renewed after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness; when the love of the world is changed into the love of God, pride into humility, passion into meekness, hatred, envy, malice into a sincere, tender, disinterested love to all mankind. In a word, it is that change whereby the earthly, sensual, devilish mind is turned into "the mind which was in Christ Jesus."' [Sermon on the New Birth. See Works, vi. 71.] This is my account of the new birth. What is there ridiculous or enthusiastic in it 'But what do you mean by those tempests, and cries, and pains, and infernal throes attending the new birth' I will tell you as plainly as I can, in the very same words I used to Dr. Church, after premising that some experience much, some very little, of these pains and throes:-- '"When men feel in themselves the heavy burthen of sin, see damnation to be the reward of it, behold with the eye of their mind the horror of hell, they tremble, they quake, and are inwardly touched with sorrowfulness of heart, and cannot but accuse themselves, and open their grief unto Almighty God, and call unto Him for mercy. This being done seriously, their mind is so occupied, partly with sorrow and heaviness, partly with an earnest desire to be delivered from this danger of hell and damnation, that all desire of meat and drink is laid apart, and loathing of worldly things and pleasures comes in place, so that nothing then liketh them more than to weep, to lament, to mourn, and both with words and behaviour of body to show themselves weary of life."

To Ann Foard Date: LONDON, January 15, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MISS ANN,--Time changes thought, especially in youth and amidst variety of company. So that it would be nothing strange if you should forget those for whom you once had a regard; but you need not. Every reasonable affection is intended to last to eternity. And the true affection for our friends is, as Milton says, a scale whereby to heavenly love thou may'st ascend. [Paradise Lost, viii. 589-92.'Love refines/ The thoughts, and heart enlarges: hath his seat/ In reason, and is judicious; is the scale/ By which to heavenly love thou may'st ascend,'] For the present you seem to be in your place, the place which the wisdom of God has assigned you; and the crosses you now meet with, as they are not of your own choosing, will surely work together for good. Your want of more public opportunities may in a good measure be supplied by private exercises. Let no day pass without more or less private prayer, reading, and meditation. And does not God see in secret Does He not now read your heart, and see if it pants for His pure love If so, are not all things ready May you not now find what you never did before Ask Him that loves you, whose nature and whose name is Love!--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Lady Maxwell Date: NORWICH, February 23, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR LADY,--For a considerable time I was under apprehensions that you were in a state of temptation. And as I had no other way of helping you, this put me upon commending you the more frequently to Him that is able to save you. Your last, therefore, was doubly acceptable to me, as it relieved me from my fears concerning you and gave me the occasion of rejoicing over one for whom I have the most sincere and tender affection. Sure it is that the grace of God is sufficient for you in this and in every trying hour. So you have happily experienced it to be already; and so I trust you will experience to the end. But you must not imagine that you are yet out of the reach of temptation: thoughts will be suggested again and again; so that you have still need to be For ever standing on your guard And watching unto prayer. And let my dear friend keep at the utmost distance from temptation and carefully shun all occasions of evil. Oh it is a good though painful fight! You find you are not sent a warfare at your own cost. You have Him with you who can have compassion on your infirmities, who remembers you are but dust, and who at the same time has all power in heaven and earth, and so is able to save you to the uttermost. Exercise, especially as the spring comes on, will be of greater service to your health than an hundred medicines; and I know not whether it will not be restored in a larger measure than for many years when the peace of God fixes in your heart. [Her Life, p. 25, shows that she was then 'distressed in mind and weak in body.' ] Is it far off Do not think so. His ear is not heavy; He now hears the cry of your heart. And will He not answer Why not to-day Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly! Your openness obliges me to be more than ever, my dear Lady, Your affectionate friend and servant.

To George Whitefeld Date: LIVERPOOL, March 21, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Yesterday I came hither just in good time; for the ship which sailed a few days ago was the next night overtaken by a storm and is gone to the bottom with all the crew. If I can't find a convenient vessel here very soon, I think to go round (as I did before) by Portpatrick. I trust before you receive this you will have reason to bless God for His comfortable presence with you at Brighthelmstone. I should have rejoiced could I have made one of the company; but I was called to buffet with the wind and rain. All is well so we are but about our Master's work. Let us work in earnest while the day is. We are so far from having any travelling preachers to spare that there are not enough to supply the people that earnestly call for them. I have been this very year at my wits' end upon the account. But some of the local preachers are equal both in grace and gifts to most of the itinerants. Such is Richard Moss in particular. And I heartily rejoice when these are removed into a larger field of action. I trust you always remember in your prayers Your ever affectionate brother.

To Peggy Dale Date: PORTPATRICK, March 29, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR PEGGY,--Those you mention are Israelites indeed, to whom you will do well to speak with all freedom. A few more in Newcastle are of the same spirit; although they are but few in whom the gold is free from dross. I wish you could help poor Molly Stralliger. I am often afraid for her lest she should be ignorant of Satan's devices and lose all that God had wrought in her. Do you still find a witness in yourself that God has purified your heart from sin Do you never feel any return of pride, or anger, or self-will, or foolish desire Do you steadily endure, seeing Him that is invisible Are you always sensible of His loving presence Are you constantly happy in Him Does He keep you sleeping and waking, and make your very dreams devout O stand fast in glorious liberty! And be sure to remember daily, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

I shall hope to receive a particular account of your health and of your present situation in all respects. Need there be any reserve between us Cannot you speak to me with all simplicity May the peace and love of God fill and rule your heart!--I am, my dear Lady, Your most affectionate servant. A letter directed to Dublin will always find me.

To Peggy Dale Date: CASTLEBAR, May 17, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Concerning that displeasure, one may doubt whether it was any other than the concern you ought to have felt on the occasion; or, at least, whether it was any more than temptation to sin. But if it was, what would it prove Not that your heart had not been cleansed, but that, being off your guard, you suffered a degree of evil to re-enter. Was it so Then (if it be not done already) the Lord cleanse you from it this moment! Woman, be it unto thee even as thou wilt! Believe, and feel the blessing! Certainly the more vigorously you follow after Him the clearer will that unction be, without which it is not possible on some occasions to distinguish between temptation and sins. But you take the right way, without perplexing your mind about anything else. Now give yourself up to God. This is all you have to do. And even while you are doing it light will spring up. I feel it does me good to converse with you even at a distance. O never diminish either your love or your prayers for, my dear Peggy, Your affectionate brother.

To Lady Maxwell Date: CORK, June 4, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR LADY,--My belief is that a journey to England might be of great service to your health. And it is not improbable you might receive much benefit from the water of the Hot Wells near Bristol. In August I hope to be at Bristol, and again in the latter end of September. My chaise and horses are at Bristol, which you would oblige me much if you would please to use as your own (if you do not bring any with you) during your stay there; for you should if possible ride out daily. My wife, who is at Newcastle, will be exceeding glad to wait upon you there. And if you choose to rest a few days, I should be happy if you would make use of the Orphan House. You would be pleased with the Miss Dales, [See letter of Sept. 29.] and they with you; you and they have drank into one Spirit. Miss Peggy is one of the holiest young women that I have any knowledge of; indeed, I think both the sisters have no desire but to glorify God with their body and with their spirit. You will be so kind as to let me know when you expect to be at Newcastle, and possibly I may meet you there.

To Peggy Dale Date: ATHLONE, June 18, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR PEGGY,--By conversing with you I --should be overpaid for coming two or three hundred miles round about. But how it will be I know not yet. If a ship be ready for Whitehaven, then I shall aim at Whitehaven and Newcastle; otherwise I must sail for Holyhead or Chester. I hope you now again find the inward witness that you are saved from sin. There is a danger in being content without it, into which you may easily reason yourself. You may easily bring yourself to believe that there is no need of it, especially while you are in an easy, peaceful state. But beware of this. The witness of sanctification as well as of justification is the privilege of God's children. And you may have the one always clear as well as the other if you walk humbly and closely with God. In what state do you find your mind now Full of faith and love Praying always Then I hope you always remember, my dear Peggy, Your affectionate brother.

To Christopher Hopper Date: ATHLONE, June 18, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Sometimes the children forget the parents; but it is seldom the parents forget their children. I suppose it was the death of honest Paul Greenwood [See letter of Oct. 8, 1755.] which occasioned the report of yours. He could ill be spared: but he was ready for the Bridegroom; so it was fit he should go to Him. Michael [See letter of Nov. 27, 1766.] should take care to be either in Dublin or in the North of Ireland before the end of July. If it be possible for him to be a simple, plain man, pretending to nothing but to follow Christ, God will find him employment. And if he walk circumspectly and humbly in Ireland, the people of England will soon be reconciled to him. I wish you joy of having full employment. [After his breakdown in health.] You know, the more work the more blessing. There is good work to be done in this kingdom also; and many of our preachers do it in good earnest. But we want more labourers, especially in the North, where one preacher is increased into seven! and the people cry aloud for more. But, alas! we can neither make them nor hire them!--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother. I hope to see you and honest John [John Fenwick, who was helping Hopper.] at the Conference. An exact account of the Societies you will bring with you.

But what can be done to remedy this I wish you would give an attentive reading to the Minutes of the last Conference, and see if it will not be worth our while to enforce them with our might. We have weight enough, and can force them. I know not who can or will when we are gone. Let us now fix things on as firm a foundation as possible, and not depend upon seeing another Conference. Richard Bourke, John Dillon, and one or two more in this kingdom are truly devoted men; so are a few of the preachers in England. Si sic omnes! ['Oh that the rest were likeminded!'] What would be able to stand before them How go you on in London How is G. Whitefield, and my Lady, and Mr. Madan, and Romaine, and Berridge Do you converse with those that are most alive, and sparingly and warily with them that are dead while they live I hope Sally and your young ones are well. Oh what a work is it to train up children for heaven! Peace be with you and yours! Errwso. ['Farewell.']

To Duncan Wright Date: July 4, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR DUNCAN,--You have chosen the better part, and will never repent of your choice. Write down the sermon you preached upon that subject with what additions you see good, and I will correct and print it if I live to return to London. Perhaps I may likewise print the Advice concerning Children as a separate tract. I am glad Richard Blackwell [See letter of May 2. Wright was then in London. At the Conference in August he was appointed to Canterbury and Blackwell to Dundee.] goes to Colchester. Perhaps he and you by turns may spend the ensuing year in London.--I am Yours affectionately.

To the Printer of the 'Freeman's Journal' Date: WHITEFRIAR STREET, DUBLIN, July 9, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- SIR,--Two or three days ago I was desired to read a letter printed in the Dublin Mercury of June 27. I cannot possibly believe what I have heard strongly asserted that the author is a clergyman of our own Church; the slander is so dull, so trite, so barefaced, and so clothed in so base, ungenteel Billingsgate language. 'Cursed gospel gossip, sanctified devils, scoundrels, canting hypocritical villains,'--these are some of the flowers which he strews abroad with no sparing hand. The writer therefore must needs be one of the lowest class, as void of learning and good manners as even of conscience. His wonderful tale confutes itself. 'At the last lovefeast at midnight she fell into a trance.' Ex pede Herculem. Let every man of reason judge of the rest by this; none of our lovefeasts last till midnight--no, nor till ten, rarely till nine o'clock. But the poor man confounds a lovefeast with a watch-night (at which the service does usually continue till midnight or a little longer), knowing just as much of the one as the other. I call upon him hereby, if he does 'carry on a considerable trade in the city,' or any trade at all (except perhaps that of retailing whisky or crying bloody murders through the streets), to give up his name and place of his abode with the name of the curate whom he brought to reason with his wife. No evasion here can be received. Unless this be done without delay, all candid men will believe the whole story to be a senseless, shameless slander. If Mr. B (with whom I had formerly the pleasure of conversing at his own house, and who behaved like a gentleman and a Christian) had had objections to me or my fellow labourers, he would not have proposed them in such a manner. He would have spoken (in private or in public) as a gentleman to a gentleman; and I would have answered him plainly and directly. Indeed, I am ready to give any man of understanding a reason of the hope that is in me that I have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man.--I am Your humble servant.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: DUBLIN, July 25, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SISTER BENNIS,--When you write to me, you have only to 'think aloud,' just to open the window in your breast. When we love one another, there is no need of either disguise or reserve. I love you, and I verily believe you love me; so you have only to write just what you feel. The essential part of Christian holiness is giving the heart wholly to God; and certainly we need not lose any degree of that light and love which at first attend this: it is our own infirmity if we do; it is not the will of the Lord concerning us. Your present business is not to reason whether you should call your experience thus or thus, but to go straight to Him that loves you, with all your wants, how great or how many soever they are. Then all things are ready; help, while you ask, is given. You have only to receive it by simple faith. Nevertheless you will still be encompassed with numberless infirmities; for you live in an house of clay, and therefore this corruptible body will more or less press down the soul, yet not so as to prevent your rejoicing evermore and having a witness that your heart is all His. You may claim this: it is yours; for Christ is yours. Believe, and feel Him near.--My dear sister, adieu. Yours affectionately.

To John Whitehead Date: LONDON, August 15, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--As you desired it, you may labour in Lancashire for the ensuing year. [His name appears second of the four preachers for Lancashire. William Whitwell was his colleague at Bristol when this was written. See letter of Oct. 15, 1766.] I have considered what you say concerning the usefulness of being present at the General Conference. And I think we may steer a middle course. I will only require a select number to be present. But I will permit any other travelling preacher who desires it to be present with them. O let us be all alive to God and all athirst for His whole image!--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Peggy Dale Date: WITNEY, August 27, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR PEGGY,--I thought it was hardly possible for me to love you better than I did before I came last to Newcastle. But your artless, simple, undisguised affection exceedingly increased mine. At the same time it increased my confidence in you, so that I feel you are unspeakably near and dear to me. Oh what a cordial is this which is given to quicken us in our way! Surely An earnest of our great reward On earth our Master pays! We have all reason to give ourselves up to Him without reserve and to glorify Him with our bodies and with our spirits! If you cleave to Him with simplicity of heart, certainly you need not feel sin any more. Indeed, you will feel temptation of various kinds, and sometimes closing you in on every side. But still your soul may stand fast, believing on the Lord. By faith you will overcome all! Believe, while saved from sin's remains! Believe yourself to heaven . --I am, my dear Peggy, Your affectionate brother. Don't forget what you have learnt in music. [She married Charles Avison the organist.]

To George Merryweather Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- BRISTOL, October, 6, 1767. MY DEAR BROTHER,--I rejoice at the behaviour of Mr. Whitefield. [Whitefield had visited Yarm on Sept. 23.] At length he meets me half way. I have no objection to Mr. Oddie's changing places with Matthew Lowes [Oddie was at Newcastle, and Lowes at Yarm.] for a round or two. If they will be quiet, be you quiet too. [The law suit See letter of Jan. 29.] Get out of the fire as soon as you can. I have carried many suits in the King's Bench, but never was reimbursed in one.-- I am Your affectionate brother.

To Christopher Hopper Date: BRISTOL, October 9, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Tis pity but we could follow the blow at Belford [Fifteen miles beyond Alnwick. Wesley preached there on May 22, 1766: 'The hearers were seriously attentive, and a few seemed to understand what was spoken.' See Journal, v. 167.]; I think something might be done there. I appointed John Atlay to be at Glasgow till February, and Jos. Thompson in the Dunbar Circuit. Two preachers, if they are zealous and active, will do better than one. But why is not Joseph Thompson there I will not have my plan altered! Whoever does not observe the twelfth rule of a preacher ['Act in all things, not according to your own wish, but as a son in the gospel, and in union with your brethren, &c.'] renounces connexion with me! If Joseph Thompson does not intend to renounce this, let him come to Dunbar immediately. I will be on or off! I tell them what these two preachers are to do. 'Each preacher is to be a fortnight in the city and in the country alternately'--viz. at Leith, Dalkeith, Linlithgow, and Burrawytowys. Let them keep to this, and the fruit will soon appear. And if they do not keep to this, notwithstanding any reason or presence to the contrary, I will no farther concern myself with them. I will not attempt to guide those who will not be guided by me. There is a round cut out already. Let them keep to it, or renounce all intercourse with me! Legacy or not, Samuel Franks [Wesley's Book Steward; Olivers was Hilton's colleague in Dublin.] will answer your demands. But what do you make of John Hilton Did he do nothing in Scotland He was all life--all fire. I will tell Thomas Olivers part of my mind. Now let you and I go on in the name of God. We know in whom we have believed.--I am Yours affectionately.

This may be paid either yearly, quarterly, or in any such manner as the subscribers please. The grand objection is, there are not so many persons in our Societies who are able and willing to contribute so much. Perhaps so. But are there not some who are both able and willing to contribute more Are there none who clear several hundred pounds a year or who are two or three thousand pounds beforehand And will none of these give ten, twenty, perhaps fifty guineas in such a case as this a case of so general concern, and that can occur but once in their lives By this method the poor will be quite excused, unless any of them choose to throw in their mite. Praying God to give good success to this and to all your undertakings for His glory, I remain Your affectionate friend and servant, A. H. I think you love me and the cause wherein I am engaged. You wish to ease me of any burthen you can. You sincerely desire the salvation of souls and the prosperity of the work of God. Will you not, then, exert yourself on such an occasion as this Will you not gladly embrace the opportunity Surely you will not be straitened in your own bowels. Do according as God has prospered you. And do it willingly, not of necessity, knowing God loveth a cheerful giver.--I am Your affectionate brother. Thus far the printed circular, which is signed 'J. Wesley.' In a note to Costerdine, then in the Haworth Circuit, Wesley adds: MY DEAR BROTHER,--I have wrote to T. Colbeck, Jam. Greenwood, Jo. Greenwood, Sutcliffe, Southwell, Garforth, and Littledale. The rest in your circuit I leave to you. Leave no stone unturned. When you receive the printed letters, seal, superscribe, and deliver them in my name to whom you please. Be active. Adieu!

To Robert Costerdine Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- CANTERBURY, November, 26, 1767. MY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad you have spent a little time at Whitehaven: the poor people there need every help. There and in every other large town both you and your fellow labourers should take care of those two principal points: (1) to instruct the children; and (2) to visit the parents from house to house, according to the plan laid down at the last year's Conference. Then you will see the fruit of your labour, and the work of the Lord will prosper in your hands. Wherever you are, you should encourage the people to read as well as to pray. And to that purpose it is well to carry little books with you. Peace be with your spirit!--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Robert Costerdine Date: NORWICH, December 2, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--We judge it will be to the glory of God to make a push without delay toward the payment of the General Debt. Send me a list (to London) by the next post of ten, twenty, or more of the most able persons whom you can recollect in your circuit. I will first write to each of them myself. The rest (when you have the plan) I must leave to you. Let much prayer be made concerning this.-- I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Ann Foard Date: NORWICH, December 2, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--In the way of life you are entering upon you will have need of great resolution and steadiness. It will be your wisdom to set out with two rules, and invariably adhere to them: (1) 'I will do everything I can to oblige you, except what I cannot do with a clear conscience'; (2) 'I will refrain from everything I can that would displease you, except what I cannot refrain from with a clear conscience.' Keep to this on both sides from the hour you meet, and your meeting will be a blessing. You will do well likewise constantly to pray with as well as for one another. Now, Nancy, put on by the grace of God the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left! Beware of foolish desires! Beware of inordinate affections! Beware of worldly cares! But, above all, I think you should beware of wasting time in what is called innocent trifling. And watch against unprofitable conversation, particularly between yourselves. Then your union may be (as it ought) a type of the union between Christ and His Church; and you may in the end present each other before Him holy and unblameable at His coming. [See letter of Oct. 14, 1767. ] I am Your affectionate brother.

To James Oddie Date: LONDON, December 15, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JAMES,--I have written myself to Miss Dales, T. Moses, Brother Hewitson, Fenwick, Smith, Watson, Hosmer, Morrison, Davison, Parker, Lipton, Bowmaker, Al. Patterson, T. Dobson, Rd. Parker, Brother Bell, Joblin, W. Newton, R. Foster, Jon. Simpson, Brother Coward, Gibson, Jos. and George Morrison, Capt. Robinson, Mark Middleton, Jo. Allen, and Mrs. Bate. Do all you can with the rest; think not that one of you will be poorer for this. I will send you printed letters, which you may seal and deliver in my name to as many as you please (except the above). [Oddie was the Assistant in Newcastle. see letter of Jan. 12, 1768.] Speak, and spare not, trusting in God. But never let one thought come into your mind of dropping the Yearly Collection; not if any one would give me 20,000 to-day. Wherever this is dropped you drop me, for I cannot go on one year without it. I should think you had never been present at a Conference nor ever read the Minutes of any for these four years. Talk nothing discouraging, but encouraging. Prophesy good and not evil.--I am, dear James, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Woodhouse Date: LONDON, December 23, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Your letters are always welcome to me; but especially when they bring me the good news of your welfare. Whereunto you have attained, hold fast without reasonings and disputings. Stand fast in that degree of liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. And continually expect all the residue of His precious promises; even to rejoice evermore, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks. . . . . . . . leads to God, and generally leaves a solemn awe upon the spirit. The same I would say with regard to that extraordinary influence which you have sometimes felt. By the fruit you shall know from what root it springs. Has it any particular effect on your body or soul If you can inform me of this (and in the most minute manner as to all the circumstances), then I shall be able to form a more certain judgement of it. That Sunday morning you speak of . . . . .was in bed when it came over you I suppose .....

To John Fenwick Date: December 25, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- Well said, John Fenwick! Go on in the name of God! One year will suffice if you have faith. Richard Pearce, of Bradford, [Bradford-on-Avon. See Wesley's Veterans, i. 216.] writes he will give 20; Mr. Iles, of Stroud, that he will give 50. Surely God's time is come. Set all your shoulders to the work, and it shall be done. Have you Mr. Heaton's (the lawyer's) bill I think Michael Callendar [See heading to letter of Sept. 7, 1749.] will settle.

To George Merryweather Date: LONDON, December 28, 1767. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1767) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I thank Mr. Waldy and you for your ready and generous assistance. It seems the time is come. But John Fenwick writes from Newcastle: 'We are all here of opinion that what is done should be done at once; and we think the debt may be paid off in one year. Only let us set about it in faith. I will give 25; Mr. Davison will give 25; Jo. Morrison 25; Miss Dales 50.' Very well. This will not interfere. Some may give at once, some quarterly, some yearly. You will encourage your neighbours all you can. [See letters of Dec. 15, 1767, and Jan. 9, 1768.] I am, with love to Sister Merryweather, Your affectionate brother.

To Samuel Levick Date: LONDON, January 2, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- I can stay no longer. I wrote to Mr. Hoskins, Brother Trezize, Rd. Williams, Hitchens, Mitchell, Lovelace, Burrell, Eb--, Mary and Kath. Carmarthen, Brother Thomas, Mr. Thomas, Dyer, Brother Nance, Mitchell, Sister Launder, Brother Gundry, Nichols, Jo. Vinicombe, Rich. Permewan, and Jo. Bennets. The rest to you. Push home with rich and poor. Leave no stone unturned. Lose no time. Exert yourself, trusting in God. Give my printed letters whoever you judge. Therein you see your first plan. And let that go as far as it can go. But John Fenwick writes from Newcastle: 'We are all of opinion the debt may be cleared in one year. I will give 25. Robert Davison will give 25. John Morrison 25. Miss Dales 50.' Let us undertake it in faith, and it will be done! This should be insisted on with men of substance. [See letter of Jan. 19.] I want an exact account of the debts in your circuit. Is Jos. Pasco alive Be all alive!--I am, dear Sammy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Christopher Hopper Date: January 9, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I constitute you, Christopher Hopper by name, Lord President of the North. Enter upon your province, Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland, Durham, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire, without delay. Pray dispatch letters to Jacob Rowell, Jo. Heslop, Richard Boardman, [Rowell was Assistant at the Dales, and Boardman at York: for Heslop, see letters of Sept. 26 and Oct. 1; and Boardman, letter of March 27, 1771.] and your other deputies without loss of time; and quicken them to put forth all their strength and make one push for all. But hold! John Fenwick writes to me: 'I will give 25!' Do not abate him the five! No drawing back! I think the time is come for rolling this reproach from us. Your thought concerning the preachers is a noble one. If fifty of them set such an example, giving a little out of their little, such an instance would have an effect upon many. Let one stir up another. Spare no pains. Write east, west, north, and south. You have a ready mind and a ready pen; and it cannot be used in a better cause.--I am Yours affectionately.

To James Oddie Date: LONDON, January 12, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JAMES,--Desire an old tried Scot, William Darney by name, to take a turn or two in the Dunbar Circuit; and I will desire William Minethorp, now near York (a good man and a good preacher), to go down into your circuit and supply his place. Then Alnwick will have the preaching on Sunday, which is highly expedient. If we pay the debt in one year (and there is a fine prospect), it is all along of your Newcastle people; for nobody else thought of it. Go on, go on, in God's name!--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON, January 15, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--Six or seven hundred pounds is brought to a Conference, of which five hundred at least pays debt. Then extraordinary demands are answered. How much remains for law I am now near three hundred pounds out of pocket, which I borrowed to pay Mr. Pardon. When I receive some more from Newcastle, [See previous letter.] I will send it to Bristol; probably very soon. It is highly probable one of the three will stand before the Lord. But, so far as I can learn, such a thing has scarce been for these thousand years before, as a son, father, grandfather, atavus, tritavus, preaching the gospel, nay, and the genuine gospel, in a line. You know, Mr. White, sometime Chairman of the Assembly of Divines, was my grandmother's father. Look upon our little ones at Kingswood as often as you can. A word from you will be a quickening to them. O how many talents are we entrusted with! 'But what account can thy bad steward make' Indeed, we have need to gird up the loins of our mind and run faster the small remainder of our race. 'One thing!' Let us mind one thing only; and nothing great or small but as it ministers to it! Peace be with you and yours! Adieu.

To Mrs. Moon Date: LONDON, January 24, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Formerly, when persons reproached me for doing thus and thus, I have very frequently said, 'In truth I have not done it yet; but by the grace of God I will.' This seems to be the very case with you. You are accused for what you did not, but ought to have done. You ought to have informed me from time to time, not indeed of trifles or idle reports, but of things which you judged to be a real hindrance to the work of God. And God permitted you to be reminded of this omission by those who intended nothing less. Opposition from their brethren has been one cause why so many who were set free have not retained their liberty. But perhaps there was another more general cause: they had not proper help. One just saved from sin is like a newborn child, and needs as careful nursing. But these had it not. How few were as nursing fathers! How few cherished them as a nurse her own children! So that the greater part were weakened, if not destroyed, before their sinews were knit, for want of that prudent and tender care which their state necessarily required. Do all that you can to cherish them that are left; and never forget Your affectionate brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, January 31, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--Tommy Taylor we have tried. Therefore I do not desire to part with him. But was T. Dancer out of his wits How was it possible he could write to me about another master without first consulting you I understood what he wrote to be wrote by you all, and therefore immediately spoke to the young man and desired him to give warning where he was that he might be at liberty in March. Perhaps there is a Providence in this blunder. For if Mr. Williams is what he appears to be, he is deeply devoted to God. You shall have what money you want; if T. Lewis will draw upon Mr. Franks for it, not only sixty pounds, but (if need be) sixty to that. You should write to me often and not too briefly. I am, with love to Brother and Sister Hindmarsh and T. Taylor, dear Joseph, Your affectionate brother. If T. Lewis will not, do you draw on Mr. Franks. To Mr. Joseph Benson, At Kingswood School, Near Bristol.

To Mrs. Woodhouse Date: LONDON, February 3, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You did not willingly omit anything that was in your power. [See letters of May 17, 1766, and Nov. 12, 1768, to her] Therefore you have no reason to be uneasy on that account. Your father went to God in a good old age as a ripe shock of corn. Be you also ready; that, whenever our Lord cometh, He may find you watching! Undoubtedly God does sometimes show His children things to come in dreams or visions of the night. And whenever they bring us nearer to Him, it is well, whenever they are means of increasing our faith and holiness. Only we must take care not to depend upon them too much, and to bring all to the standard--the law and the testimony. I believe it would be a trial to you if you should hear I was called away. But you have a strong Helper in all trials. It might please God to calm your troubled mind by that particular outward representation; and let Him work in whatever manner He pleases. Peace and love are blessings, come how they will. These I hope you find increasing in you. Let your soul be all love, and it suffices.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To James Oddie Date: LONDON, February 14, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JEMMY,--I require William Ellis [Oddie's third colleague at Newcastle.] to go into the Dales (if he is not gone already) without delay. Otherwise I require you to forbid his preaching in any of our Societies. Push on the collection in God's name! I think you will not easily stop short of seven hundred. [See letters of Jan. 12 and 15.] It is not right, Jemmy; it is not right. They envy the rooms of those poor girls, [The Misses Dale at the Orphan House.] and want at all hazards to thrust them out. I wrote to Molly Dale on Saturday in haste; but to-day I have wrote her my cooler thoughts. Peace be with you and yours.--Dear Jemmy, adieu

To Robert Costerdine Date: MANCHESTER, March 28, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Be not discouraged. Go on in faith, and you will gain more subscriptions before the Conference. [For the debts of the Connexion, see letters of Nov. 24 and Dec. 2, 1767, to him.] If God permit, I shall be at York on Friday, June 24; Mond. the 27, Pateley Bridge; Tu. 28, Skipton; W. 29, Otley; Th. 30, Parkgate; Sat. July 2, Keighley; Su. 3, Haworth; Mond. 4, Bradford. This is the best way I could think of to spend a few days. [This fills out the entry in the Journal, v. 277. He left Newcastle on June 13, and 'in the residue of the month visited most of the Societies in Yorkshire.'] But I can preach sometimes at noon.-- I am Your affectionate friend and brother. I commonly preach at six in the evening.

To Robert Costerdine Date: KENDAL, April 13, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--If the debt of Colne house were given at Leeds Conference, it will be taken in of course. If it were not, I will lay Mr. Shaw's paper before the ensuing Conference. On Monday, June 27, I hope to be at Pateley Bridge (coming from Tadcaster, where I expect to preach at noon--one might meet me at Tadcaster); Tuesday, 28th, at Skipton; Wednesday, 29th, at Otley; Saturday, July 2nd, Keighley. You may have the three volumes. Do not spare to speak when you visit the classes again, and many will enlarge their subscription. --I am Yours affectionately.

To his Brother Charles Date: EDINBURGH, May 14, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--It is well Sally R is in peace. I have been long persuaded that if she continued to hinder him, God would, in mercy to them both, take her away. I am glad Mr. Fletcher has been with you. But if the tutor fails, what will become of our college at Trevecca Did you ever see anything more queer than their plan of institution Pray who penned it, man or woman I am afraid the visitor too will fail.[Fletcher was the visitor.] The archers here have sorely wounded Lord Buchan. [The Earl of Buchan died on Dec. 1, 1767, and his son succeeded him at the age of twenty-four.] But if Isaac stays with you in London, what have the Stewards of Bristol to do with him They may, then, easily find his equal; for, with regard to them, he is equal to--nothing. I am at my wits' end with regard to two things--the Church and Christian Perfection. Unless both you and I stand in the gap in good earnest, the Methodists will drop them both. Talking will not avail. We must do, or be borne away. Will you set shoulder to shoulder If so, think deeply upon the matter, and tell me what can be done. Age, vir esto! nervos intendas tuos. ['Come, be a man! Stretch your nerves.' The last three words are from Terence's Eunuchus, II. iii. 19.] Peace be with you and yours! Adieu.

He objects, secondly, that I 'assert the attainment of sinless perfection by all born of God.' I am sorry Mr. Erskine should affirm this again. I need give no other answer than I gave before, in the seventh page of the little tract [For A Plain Account of Christian Perfection and the sermon on The Lord our Righteousness, see letter of Feb. 28, 1766, to John Newton.] I sent him two years ago. I do not maintain this. I do not believe it. I believe Christian perfection is not attained by any of the children of God till they are what the Apostle John terms fathers. And this I expressly declare in that sermon which Mr. Erskine so largely quotes. He objects, thirdly, that I 'deny the imputation of Christ's active obedience.' Since I believed justification by faith, which I have done upwards of thirty years, I have constantly maintained that we are pardoned and accepted wholly and solely for the sake of what Christ hath both done and suffered for us. Two or three years ago Mr. Madan's sister showed him what she had wrote down of a sermon which I had preached on this subject. He entreated me to write down the whole and print it, saying it would satisfy all my opponents. I was not so sanguine as to expect this: I understood mankind too well. However, I complied with his request: a few were satisfied; the rest continued just as they were before. As long as Mr. Erskine continues of the mind expressed in his Theological Essays, there is no danger that he and I should agree any more than light and darkness. I love and reverence him, but not his doctrine. I dread every approach to Antinomianism. I have seen the fruit of it over the three kingdoms. I never said that Mr. Erskine and I were agreed. I will make our disagreement as public as ever he pleases; only I must withal specify the particulars. If he will fight with me, it must be on this ground and then let him do what he will and what he can. Retaining a due sense of your friendly offices, and praying for a blessing on all your labours,--I remain, reverend and dear sir, Your affectionate brother and servant.

To Ann Bolton Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, June 7, 1768. MY DEAR SISTER,--As there is nothing new in your disorder only an increase of the same symptoms, I believe, if you will observe the directions I formerly gave, this will help you more than an hundred medicines. Oily medicines would kill you quickly; so would anything that loads your stomach. You must take care to have air enough at night: it would not hurt you to have the window a little open. When you have that tickling cough, chew a small bit of bark (as big as half a peppercorn), swallow your spittle four or five times, and then spit out the wood. So much bark as this I can allow you, but no more, at the peril of your life. Try if red currants agree with you; if they do, eat as many as you can. O Nancy, I want sadly to see you: I am afraid you should steal away into paradise. A thought comes into my mind which I will tell you freely. If you go first, I think you must leave me your seal for a token: I need not say to remember you by, for I shall never forget you. Experience shows what is the best means of grace to you. Read and think of the love of God. That is your point. Jesus loves you! He is yours. Be not so unkind as to distrust Him! Cast your soul at His feet! Prisoner of hope, be bold! Come unto Him now and take the water of life freely! If you are able to write, write to me soon, directing to me at Mrs. Hudson's in York. I want to know everything that concerns you. For you are exceeding near to, my dear Nancy, Your affectionate brother.

The last scene of life in dying believers is of great use to those who are about them. Here we see the reality of religion and of things eternal; and nothing has a greater tendency to solemnize the soul and make and keep it dead to all below. We are reasonable creatures, and undoubtedly reason is the candle of the Lord. By enlightening our reason to see the meaning of the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit makes our way plain before us.

To Walter Sellon Date: WAKEFIELD, July 9, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad you have undertaken the Redemption Redeemed. But you must in no wise forget Dr. Owen's Answer to it; otherwise you will leave a loophole for all the Calvinists to creep out. The doctor's evasions you must needs cut in pieces, either interweaving your answers with the body of the work under each head or adding them in marginal notes. Your ever affectionate brother.

To Thomas Adam Date: SWINFLEET, July 19, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--One of Wintringham informed me yesterday that you said no sensible and well-meaning man could hear and much less join the Methodists; because they all acted under a lie, professing themselves members of the Church of England while they licensed themselves as Dissenters. You are a little misinformed. The greater part of the Methodist preachers are not licensed at all; and several that are are not licensed as Dissenters. I instance particularly in Thomas Adams and Thomas Brisco. When Thomas Adams desired a license, one of the Justices said, 'Mr. Adams, are not you of the Church of England Why, then, do you desire a license' He answered, 'Sir, I am of the Church of England; yet I desire a license, that I may legally defend myself from the illegal violence of oppressive men.' T. Brisco being asked the same question in London, and the Justice adding, 'We will not grant you a license,' his lawyer replied, 'Gentlemen, you cannot refuse it: the Act is a mandatory act. You have no choice.' One asked the chairman, 'Is this true' He shook his head, and said, 'He is in the right.' The objection, therefore, does not lie at all against the greater part of the Methodist preachers; because they are either licensed in this form or not licensed at all. When others applied for a license, the Clerk or Justice said, 'I will not license you but as Protestant Dissenters.' They replied, 'We are of the Church; we are not Dissenters: but if you will call us so, we cannot help it.' They did call them so in their certificates, but this did not make them so. They still call themselves members of the Church of England; and they believe themselves so to be. Therefore neither do these act under a lie. They speak no more than they verily believe. Surely, then, unless there are stronger objections than this, both well-meaning and sensible men may, in perfect consistence with their sense and sincerity, not only hear but join the Methodists.

To John Mason Date: PEMBROKE, August 6, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I would advise to make a longer trial of Kinsale. I am still in hope that good will be done there. And there has been considerable good done at Bandon; and will be more if the preachers do not coop themselves up in the house. But no great good will be done at any place without field-preaching. I hope you labour to keep the bands regular in every place, which cannot be done without a good deal of care and pains. Take pains likewise with the children and in visiting from house to house; else you will see little fruit of your labour. I believe it will be best to change the preachers more frequently.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother

To the Stewards of the Foundery Date: PEMBROKE, August 6, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BRETHREN,--The thing you mention is of no small concern, and ought not to be determined hastily. Indeed, it would be easy to answer, if we considered only how to save money; but we are to consider also how to save souls. Now, I doubt whether we should act wisely in this respect were we to give up the chapel in Spitalfields. We have no other preaching-place in or near that populous quarter of the town; and a quarter which, upon one account, I prefer before almost any other--namely, that the people in general are more simple and less confused by any other preachers. I think, therefore, it would not be worth while to give up this if we could gain a thousand pounds thereby. I should look upon it as selling the souls of men for money; which God will give us in due time without this. That many who live near the Foundery would be glad of it I allow, because it would save them trouble. But neither can I put the saving of trouble in competition with the saving of souls.--I am, my dear brethren, Your affectionate brother.

To Jane Hilton Date: BRISTOL, August 20, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I write often because I know you are yet weak and tender and in need of every help. I am not sorry that you have trials; they are intended to show you your own helplessness, and to give you a fuller confidence in Him who has all power in heaven and earth. You have reason to cast all your care upon Him; for He has dealt bountifully with you. When any trial comes, see that you do not look to the thing itself, but immediately look unto Jesus. Reason not upon it, but believe. See the hand of God in Shimei's tongue. If you want advice in any point, write to me without delay. And meantime stay your whole soul upon Him who will never leave you nor forsake you. Tell Him simply all you fear, all you feel, all you want. Pour out your soul into His bosom. Do you feel no pride, no anger, no desire You will feel temptations to all; and the old deceiver will tell you again and again, 'That is pride, that is anger!' But regard him not. And cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. Your affectionate brother. I am to spend a month or two in and near Bristol.

To Lawrence Coughlan Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- [22] [August 27, 1768,] DEAR LAWRENCE,--By a various train of providences you have been led to the very place where God intended you should be. And you have reason to praise Him that He has not suffered your labour there to be in vain. In a short time how little will it signify whether we had lived in the Summer Islands or beneath The rage of Arctos and eternal frost! [See Prior's Solomon, i. 264-5:'If any suffer on the polar coast The rage of Arctos and eternal frost.'] How soon will this dream of life be at an end! And when we are once landed in eternity, it will be all one whether we spent our time on earth in a palace or had not where to lay our head.

I still apprehend this to be scriptural doctrine, confirmed not by a few detached texts, but by the whole tenor of Scripture, and more particularly by the Epistle to the Romans. But if so, the contrary to it must be unsafe, for that general reason, because it is unscriptural. To which one might add this particular reason,--it naturally tends to lull mourners to sleep; to make them cry, 'Peace, peace,' to their souls, 'when there is no peace.' It directly tends to damp and still their convictions, and to encourage them to sit down contented before Christ is revealed to them and before the Spirit witnesses with their spirits that they are the children of God. But it may be asked, 'Will not this discourage mourners' Yes, it will discourage them from stopping where they are; it will discourage them from resting before they have the witness in themselves, before Christ is revealed in them. But it will encourage them to seek Him in the gospel way--to ask till they receive pardon and peace. And we are to encourage them, not by telling them that they are in the favour of God though they do not know it (such a word as this we should never utter in a congregation at the peril of our souls), but we should assure them, 'Every one that seeketh findeth, every one that asketh receiveth.' If a man does not know the pardoning love of God for himself, I would ask, How or by what means are you to know it for him Has God given you to search the heart and try the reins of your hearers Can you infallibly know the real state of that man's mind Can you be certain that no secret sin stands between God and his soul Are you sure he does not regard iniquity in his heart I am afraid you have not been sufficiently wary in this, but have given occasion to them who sought occasion. But this is not all. I doubt you did not see the hand of God in Shimei's tongue. 'Unto you it was given to suffer' a little of what you extremely wanted--obloquy and evil report. But you did not either acknowledge the gift or the Giver. You saw only Mr. T. Olivers, not God. O Jemmy, you do not know yourself.

O Jemmy, you do not know yourself. You cannot bear to be continually steeped in poison --in the esteem and praise of men; therefore I tremble at your stay in Dublin. It is the most dangerous place for you under heaven! All I can say is, God can preserve you in the fiery furnace, and I hope He will.--I am, dear Jemmy, Yours affectionately.

To Lady Maxwell Date: REDRUTH, September 9, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR LADY,--It is impossible for me to give you pain without feeling it myself. And yet the manner wherein you receive my plain dealing gives me pleasure too. Perhaps you never had so uncomplaisant a correspondent before. Yet I think you hardly ever had one who had a more tender regard for you. But it is this very thing which lays me under a constraint to tell you all I hear or fear concerning you, because I cannot be content that you should be a Christian after the common rate. No. I want you to have all the mind that was in Christ and in everything to walk as He walked. To live like an angel here below, unblameable in spotless love. What a comfort it is when we can have confidence in each other! I rejoice that you can speak freely even upon so delicate a subject. You may be assured that no eye but mine shall see your letter. One cannot be too wary in things of this kind; some men are so weak, and others so wicked. I give entire credit to everything you say, particularly concerning Mr. H.['H.' is Christopher Hopper.]; and I join with you in thinking there must be some mistake in the person who informed me of that circumstance. I do not believe he uttered such a word. I cannot think him capable of it. I am now entirely easy upon that head, being persuaded that, through the power of Christ strengthening you, you will stand fast both in the inward and outward liberty wherewith He has made you free. I am glad to hear Lady Baird [See letter of April 29, 1769.] has the courage to cast in her lot with a poor, despised people. In what instance do you apprehend Lady Baird to be in danger of enthusiasm When I know more particularly, I will take an opportunity of either speaking or writing.

To George Merryweather Date: BRISTOL, September 26, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I have appointed Richard Boardman [Boardman was Assistant in the Dales, and took the place of Rowell at Yarm.] to supply (for the present at least) the place of Jacob Rowell. I desire John Heslop [Heslop was second preacher at Yarm in 1767. He had evidently been paying attention to a lady there. See letter of Oct.1.] may preach at Yarm no more. Quietly let him sink into nothing. And the less he preaches in other places the better till he comes again to his senses. Indeed, if anything of so notorious a kind occurs, I will thank any steward for preventing such a preacher from doing any more hurt till he has an answer from me.--I am, with love to Sister Merryweather, Your affectionate brother.

To Jane Hilton Date: BRISTOL, September 30, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- Indeed, Jenny, you hardly deserve to hear from me. What, put me off with a letter of two lines! See that you make me amends by the length of your next; or else I will be angry at you, if I can. You, as it were, ask my advice. But I know nothing of the matter: you should have spoken to me when I saw you. Is the person a believer Is he a Methodist Is he a member of our Society Is he clear with regard to the doctrine of Perfection Is he athirst for it If he fails in any of these particulars, I fear he would be an hindrance to you rather than an help. Was not inordinate affection to him one cause of your losing the pure love of God before If it was, you have a great reason to be afraid lest it should again rob you of that pearl. Has it not already Have you all the life you had two months ago Is your soul still all love Speak freely, my dear Jenny, to Your affectionate brother.

To Christopher Hopper Date: BRISTOL, October 1, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- Truly, Christopher, I am at my wits' end. I know not what can be done. Possibly you may instruct me. The poor man is an incorrigible coxcomb. His last exploit with Mr. Oastler's niece has pinned the casket. I cannot imagine what can be done with him or how he can be trusted anywhere. He can be in no part of the South or West of England; neither my brother nor many others could suffer it. There is no vacancy in the North of England; and wherever he has been there, they are sick of him. I ask you again, Where can he be, where he will not do mischief In any part of Scotland or of Ireland If the time was come for my voyage to Ireland, I would take him with me, and drop him there.--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Hall Date: KINGSWOOD, October 6, I 768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR PATTY,--You do not consider, money never stays with me: it would burn me if it did. I throw it out of my hands as soon as possible, lest it should find a way into my heart. Therefore you should have spoken to me while I was in London, and before Miss Lewen's money flew away. [Wesley had settled some disputed points with Miss Lewen's father, and received on Nov. 2, 1767, the 1,000 legacy which she left him. See Journal, v. 226-7; Stamp's Orphan House, pp. 111-112; Tyerman's Wesley, ii. 589-90.] However, I know not but I may still spare you five pounds, provided you will not say, 'I will never ask you again,' because that is more than you can tell; and you must not promise more than you can perform. I scarce know what to say with regard to the other affair. It is a delicate point. Is she sure of her temporal affairs Remember her whom Lawrence Coughlan [See letters of Aug. 27, 1768, and Feb. 25, 1785 (to John Stretton).] married and ruined. Let me not have another blot of the same kind. Let her take care to tread upon firm ground. Oh how busy are mankind! and about what trifles! Things that pass away as a dream! Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, but to love and serve God.--I am, dear Patty, Your ever affectionate.

To Mrs. Woodhouse Date: LONDON, November 12, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I believe Mr. Rankin [Rankin had been Assistant at Epworth for two years, and was now in Cornwall.] will write soon. You did well to write to me. I am always glad to hear from you, more than from most other persons. I can hardly believe John Harrison's [Harrison was a 'Still' brother at Epworth. See Journal, iii. 5, 19.] story. Perhaps one ought not to believe it without having the accuser and accused face for face, especially if the girl has behaved well while she has been with you. It may be you did not pray for her, and then anger would easily arise. You must trust God with Mr. Woodhouse, [See letter of Feb. 3, 1768.] and He will do all things well. There is very little danger in any sore throat if, as soon as it begins, you apply an handful of nettles boiled, and repeated if need be after six hours. I have known one cured at the beginning by drinking a pint and an half of cold water and steeping his feet in hot water. But all strong drinks are hurtful. I have not lately heard from John Standring. [Standring, then travelling in South Lancashire, appears in the Minutes in 1766. He was greatly beloved by those among whom he laboured. See Atmore's Memorial, p. 400.] Do you now retain the love you had and the spirit of prayer And are you still able to give your whole heart to God Cleave to Him, and what can hurt you And write freely to, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To John Mason Date: LONDON, November 15, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--For one preacher to stay long at one place is neither profitable for him nor for the people. If there is only one preacher at Limerick, he must duly visit the country Societies. As David Evans is now gone over to Waterford, Brother Bourke will be at liberty. So either he or you should go without delay and relieve John Hilton at Londonderry. If any deny the witness of sanctification and occasion disputing in the select society, let him or her meet therein no more. I hope the singing goes on well.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Jane Hilton Date: LONDON, November 26, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--There seems to have been a particular providence in Hannah Harrison's coming to Beverley, especially at that very time when a peace-maker was so much wanting; and it was a pledge that God will withhold from you no manner of thing that is good. The words of our Lord Himself show us what we are to expect from 'those of our own household.' But all this likewise shall be for good. 'It is given to you to suffer' for Him; and all will turn to your profit, that you may be more largely a partaker of His holiness. Do you feel, when you are tried in a tender point, no temper contrary to love Grief there may be; but is there no resentment or anger Do you feel invariable calmness of spirit Do you perceive nothing but pity and tender goodwill both at the time and afterwards Write to me of the trials you meet with. You may always direct to London, and the letter will come safe. Expect more faith and love daily. Your affectionate brother.

To Thomas Rankin Date: LONDON, December 1, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Last year Mr. H.[See letter Of Nov. 24, 1767.] was much persuaded that by means of the Yearly Subscription our whole debt of above eleven thousand pounds would be paid within two years. Many of our brethren were more sanguine still. They were persuaded that, by generously exerting themselves and giving a large sum at once, it would be paid in one year. I did not expect this; but I would not contradict, because I would not discourage them. The event was as I foresaw. By the noble effort which many of our brethren made most of the pressing debts are already discharged, amounting in the whole to near five thousand pounds. But a debt of above seven thousand pounds remains upon us still; and what can be done with regard to this I will tell you what occurs to my mind. Many of our brethren chose to subscribe yearly ten, five, three, two guineas or less. I doubt not but these will cheerfully pay the residue of their subscription, and perhaps some of them will add a little thereto, as they see the great occasion there is for it. A few delayed subscribing or contributing, because they 'wanted to see the event,' supposing the design to be impracticable and that nothing 'would come of it.' As it now appears that great good has come of it, that many burthens are already removed, I cannot but earnestly exhort all these now at least to set their shoulders to the work. Now at least let them exert themselves for my sake, for the gospel's sake, and for the sake of their still afflicted brethren who groan under a load which they cannot well bear and yet cannot remove without our assistance. Several generously contributed at once in hopes of paying the whole debt; of them nothing more can be required but their prayers that others may be as open-hearted as themselves. Nevertheless, if of their own free goodwill they see good to add a little to their former benefaction, this as well as the former is lent unto the Lord, and what they lay out shall be paid them again.

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON, December 3, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Regard not custom, but reason.[Hopper was the preacher in the Birstall Circuit.] I wish you would (1) Nowhere begin preaching later than seven in the evening; (2) Preach nowhere unless they can and will procure you a tolerable lodging; (3) Change the stewards as soon as may be, whoever is pleased or displeased; (4) Execute our discipline in every point without fear or favour; (5) Expect no thanks from Richard Taylor nor any man else for doing him good.--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, December 4, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I cannot yet convince you of one thing (and it is a thing of importance), that you may make greater progress in valuable knowledge by reading those books (particularly if read in that order) than you can by reading any other books which are now extant in England. It follows that your friend B-- in this respect is not your friend. For he puts you out of your way; he retards you in the attainment of the most useful knowledge. He gratifies your curiosity (a bad principle too) at the expense of your improvement. It is better for you to read these books than his; which (if they are not hurtful or dangerous at least) do not lead directly to the end you propose. Choose the best way.--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bosanquet Date: LONDON, December 11, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I am afraid lest you should straiten yourself; and I was not in haste. Yet we have such a number round about us here that I have a ready call for what I have to spare. I am glad Brother Taylor's affair has been heard: it seems all parties are now pretty well satisfied. If we live till next autumn, the yearly Conference is to be at Leeds. It will be a little strange if you do not see me then, though it were twice three miles from Gildersome. You have no reason to fear, but as your day so your strength shall be. Hitherto the Lord has helped you. He has delivered; and you may be assured that He will yet deliver. He gave, and He took away: but still you can praise Him, since He does not take His Spirit from you. I hope you find no shyness in Brother Lee or Hopper. If there be, you are to overcome evil with good. I shall alw ays be glad to hear from you or Sally Crosby. I trust neither life nor death will part you from, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON, December 17, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--I thank you for your reproof; there is reason in what you say. If there was not evil, there was the appearance of evil. [Two hours on Tuesday and four hours on Thursday I listened with both my ears. John Downes, his wife, John Jones, and William Evans vehemently accused. William Garrat answered (though interrupted an hundred times keenly enough) point by point. When the hearing was over, the strongest thing of all was, we seemed all agreed in our verdict, --(1) that he had spoken several hot and improper things; (2) that he had done wrong in leaving his master [Mr. Dear.] on so short warning; and yet (3) that there had been no dishonesty, either on the one part or the other. ['How, then, came the man to break' Why--, (1) in four years' time he earned six hundred pounds; (2) within that time he expended (including a few bad debts) about seventeen hundred and fifty.] Matters have not been well carried out at Liverpool. But what can't be cured must be endured. Why, you simpleton, you are cutting me out a month's work. Nay, but I have neither leisure nor inclination to write a book. I intend only (1) to leave out what I most dislike; (2) to mark what I most approve of; (3) to prefix a short preface. And I shall run the hazard of printing it at Bristol. There you yourself can read the proof-sheets. You do well with regard to my sister Emily. What farther is wanting I will supply. I hear nothing from or of our friend [Mrs. Wesley] at Newcastle. I have no time for Handel or Avison now. Peace be with you and yours. Adieu. I am now a mere Fellow of a college again.

To Joseph Benson Date: SHOREHAM, December 22, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR JOSEPH,--You do not quite take my meaning yet. [See letter of Dec. 4.] When I recommend to any one a method or scheme of study, I do not barely consider this or that book separately but in conjunction with the rest. And what I recommend I know; I know both the style and sentiments of each author, and how he will confirm or illustrate what goes before and prepare for what comes after. Now, supposing Mr. Stonehouse, [Dr. James Stonehouse, lecturer of All Saints', Bristol. See Tyerman's Whitefield, ii. 195; and for James Rouquet, letter of March 30, 1761.] Rouquet, or any other to have ever so great learning and judgement, yet he does not enter into my plan. He does not comprehend my views nor keep his eye fixed on the same point. Therefore I must insist upon it, the interposing other books between these till you have read them through is not good husbandry. It is not making your time and pains go so far as they might go. If you want more books, let me recommend more, who best understand my own scheme. And do not ramble, however learned the persons may be that advise you so to do. This does indulge curiosity, but does not minister to real improvement, as a stricter method would do. No; you would gain more clearness and strength of judgement by reading those Latin and Greek books (compared with which most of the English are whipped syllabub) than by fourscore modern books. I have seen the proof, as none of your Bristol friends have done or can do. Therefore I advise you again, keep to your plan (though this implies continual self-denial) if you would improve your understanding to the highest degree of which it is capable.--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate brother.

To Jane Hilton Date: SHOREHAM, December 22, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I do not remember that I ever found a fault in you before. But I do now. I must blame you. Why are you so short You can tell me all that is in your heart. And what should hinder you Suppose I was now sitting by you, would you need to hide anything And sometimes we can write what we cannot speak. But, either in writing or speaking, there need be no reserve between us. You mention trials. But this is a general word. Would it not ease your mind to be more particular Are your trials mostly inward or outward Are they from those of your own household Can any one lay disobedience to your charge Or do they only say you are proud and stubborn Let them say everything they can. Still look unto Jesus! Commune with Him in your heart! Let your eye be singly fixed on Him; your whole soul shall be full of light!--I am, my dear Jenny, Your affectionate brother.

To Hannah Ball Date: LONDON, December 24, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- Nothing can be more certain than that God is willing to give always what He gives once, and that therefore, whatever you experience now, you may enjoy to your life's end. . . . Watch and pray, and you will not enter into temptation. . . . Be the success more or less, never be weary of well doing. In due time you shall reap if you faint not. . . .

To Mary Bosanquet Date: LONDON, December 28, 1768. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--To hear from you is always agreeable to me; and at present there is no hindrance. In this house we have no jarring string; all is peace and harmony. [Mrs. Wesley was away from the Foundery.] Right precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. And to hear particular accounts of this kind is exceedingly helpful to those they leave behind. Therefore I wanted as particular an account as Sally Crosby or you can give. [Of the death of Sarah Ryan. See letter of Dec. 11.] T. Lee is of a shy, backward, natural temper, as well as of a slow, cool speech and behaviour; but he is a sincere, upright man; and it will be worth all the pains to have a thorough good understanding with him. Peace be with your spirits!-- I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Dr. Brown Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1768) Author: John Wesley --- [1768.] SIR,--Since I had the pleasure of waiting upon you, I [have] been often reflecting on the account given us of the Indians in Paraguay. It is about four and twenty years since I read the first account of them, translated from a French author. It then made much the same impression on my mind, which I believe it has now made on yours. Permit me, Sir, to speak my free thoughts concerning it, which I shall be glad to alter, upon better information. I am throughly persuaded that true, genuine religion is capable of working all those happy effects which are said to be wrought there; and that, in the most ignorant and savage of the human-kind. I have seen instances of this: no Indians are more savage than were the colliers of Kingswood; many of whom are now an humane, hospitable people full of love to God and man; quiet, diligent in business; in every state content; every way adorning the Gospel of God their Saviour.

To Joseph Benson Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- [1] [LONDON], January 2, 1769. You forget John Jones, Mr. Sellon, and Mr. Rouquet were far better scholars than Mr. Parkinson; and T. Simpson, yea and P. Price [See letter of Nov. 7, 1768.] (when he was well) were very properly qualified. But change of masters it is impossible to prevent, unless we could bribe them with much money, which I neither can nor will. The case lies here: A master may be weary on other accounts, but he certainly will if he do not grow in grace. Again, the devil is more deeply concerned against this school than against any other in England. If I cannot get proper masters for the languages, I shall let the school drop at the Conference. I will have another kind of school than that at Trevecca or none at all. I would within this year but for want of two things--time and money. So we must creep till we can fly. Again, in another letter: Your grand point is, Bring the boys into exact order, and that without delay. Do this at all hazards. I think we have found another master. In the meantime let John Whitehead learn all he can. [Whitehead was then stationed as a preacher in Bristol. see letter of Jan. 27, 1770, to him.]

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON, January 5, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--If Joseph Cownley or you have a mind to step over to New York, I will not say you nay. I believe it would help your own health and help many precious souls. Tho. Taylor is very well at Alnwick. However, if you could raise a little money for his family I should be glad. Now let us see what you can do in the Grand Affair, the Lord being your Helper. I shall doubt whether your name be Christopher Hopper if Birstall Circuit does not subscribe more [Another hand has written above this in faded ink, 'Towards paying the General Debt.'] this year than the last. And take honest Tommy Lee and Daniel Bumstead by the hand. Go on in the name of the Lord. Speak, and speak again. Take no denial. Be as active as Sister Hopper would be if she was in your place. You love to do whatever contributes to the comfort of Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: January 12, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--That you have been exceedingly tempted is no bad sign. It puts you upon your guard. It makes you more sensible of your own weakness, and shows you where your strength lies. But take care of reasoning against yourself and against Him that loves you. See Him willing as well as able to save! Willing to save you now. Do not shrink back! Do not stagger at His promise, or fancy it to be far off. The word is nigh thee: look up, and take knowledge of His love. Believe, and thou shalt be saved. I believe Henry Tucker will call upon you in a few days, and, if it would be of use, will procure what he spoke of [Probably some medicine he had recommended.]. I was pleasing myself with the hopes of seeing you next week, and had laid out all my journey. But I had forgotten the day which we have desired all our brethren to observe as a day of thanksgiving. I must not be out of London then. So both you and I have need of patience. Your last visit [See letters of April 7, 1768, and Feb. 4, 1769, to her.] endeared you to me exceedingly. I hope it will not be the last. You say nothing about your health: so I am in hopes it rather grows better than worse. Pray do not stay a month before you write again to, my dear Nancy, Your affectionate brother. My dear Nancy, adieu!

To Ann Bolton Date: LONDON, February 4, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You may be assured it is not want of inclination which keeps me from calling at Witney. [He had been kept in London.] But my time falls short. On Monday, March 6, I am to leave London to preach at Bath on Tuesday evening; in the residue of the week to visit the classes at Bristol; and on the Monday following to set out for Ireland. So that my time is little enough for my work, though I go the shortest way I can. With regard to yourself, you make me say more than I intended to say. I could not but admire your behaviour in London [See letter of Jan. 12.]: so affectionate, and yet so prudent. If we live till the latter end of the year, I hope we shall spend a little more time together. And surely it will be useful, not hurtful. But in the meantime take care of your health. Colds [See letter of Feb. 12.] are dangerous things to you, particularly at this time of the year. Ride as much as possible. Drink the bran water, and follow the other advices I have given you from time to time. I hope your having a convenient place for preaching will be much for the furtherance of the gospel. A blessing is ready for many; for you in particular. I say still, Dare to believe! Believe, and feel Him near! Put forth your hand and touch Him! Is He not standing at the door of your heart And do not forget, my dear Nancy, Your affectionate brother. PS.--Don't think of sending me anything; your love is sufficient.

To Robert Costerdine Date: LONDON, February 6, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--By the former rule of Conference you must not undertake any building till two-thirds of the money it will cost are subscribed. Now, I doubt you would hardly with all your strength be able to procure one-third at Doncaster. If you read publicly on any Sunday that letter from New York, you may then receive what the hearers are willing to give. I am not at all sorry that our brother Southwell [Serjeant Southwell, of Kendal, with whom Wesley spent a comfortable evening on March 21, 1767. See Journal, v. 201.] purposes settling at New York. On the 6th of March I am to set out for Bristol and Ireland.--I am, dear Robert, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Edward Bolton Date: LONDON, February 12, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--A preaching-house can't be too light or too airy. Therefore your windows must be large. And let them be sashes, opening downward; otherwise the air coming in would give the people cold. I do not know but it might be best to have either a paved or a boarded floor. And see that whatever is done be done neat and strong. It is the Lord's work, and He will provide. I will give you ten pounds towards it; for which you may draw upon Mr. Franks when you please. [See Journal, v. 345.] I hope my dear Nancy is recovered from her cold. Don't let her omit riding. [See letters of Feb. 4, 1769, and Jan. 25, 1770.] And make the best use of both her advice and example; for you know not how soon she may be taken away.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Woodhouse Date: LONDON, February 15, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You are not incapable of speaking just what you feel, just what nature and grace dictate. And you need never think of any difference between us; for we love one another. And it is a true observation, Love, like death, makes all distinctions void. [Prior's Solomon, ii. 242. See letter of Aug. 9, 1772.] Think we are just sitting by each other as when I saw you last at Owston. And write just as you would speak to me-- as free, or, if you can, more freely. Meantime stand fast in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. Let temptations come as they will. Let them fly all round you. But they cannot enter unless you please. What temptations do you find the most troublesome Sometimes the most troublesome are not the most dangerous. But no danger can hurt you while you watch and pray: so long you are unconquerable. I know not why your name is not in the paper, if you are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. O be bold for a good Master!--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother. Mrs. Woodhouse, Owston, Lincolnshire.

To Philothea Briggs Date: LONDON, February 25, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR PHILLY,--You have no need to take thought for the morrow: as your day so your strength will be. With regard to little compliances, I should be of Miss March's mind; only, if we begin, we know not where we shall stop. If you plead your conscience for not complying with anything, you must use the most mild and respectful expressions you possibly can, and God will order all things well. You will want no help which is in the power of, dear Philly, Yours affectionately.

To Jane Hilton Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- LONDON, March I, 1769. MY DEAR SISTER,--I rejoice that I have confidence in you in all things. I believe you do not willingly lose any opportunity of speaking for a good Master. I apprehend you should particularly encourage the believers to give up all to God, and to expect the power whereby they will be enabled so to do every day and every moment. I hope none of your preachers speak against this, but rather press all the people forward. Do you now feel anything like anger, or pride, or selfwill, or any remains of the carnal mind Was your second deliverance wrought while I was at Beverley at the time of the sermon or after it You did not tell me in what manner you found the change, and whether it has continued without any intermission from that moment. Certainly there never need be any decay; there never will if you continue watching unto prayer. Continue to pray for Your affectionate brother.

To John Valton Date: LONDON, March 1, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Wherever you are I do not doubt but you will find something to do for God. But I think you are not always to stay at Purfleet; a larger field of action is prepared for you. Indeed, the time is not yet fully come. For the present, therefore, labour where you are. But be ready, that, whenever our Lord shall call, you may reply, 'Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.'--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Lady Maxwell Date: LONDON, March 3, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR LADY,--To be incapable of sympathizing with the distressed is not a desirable state. Nor would one wish to extirpate either sorrow or any other of our natural passions. And yet it is both possible and highly desirable to attain the same experience with the Marquis De Renty, who on occasion of his lady's illness told those who inquired how he could bear it, 'I cannot say but my nature is deeply affected with the apprehension of so great a loss. And yet I feel such a full acquiescence in the will of God, that, were it proper, I could dance and sing.' I have heard my mother say, 'I have frequently been as fully assured that my father's spirit was with me as if I had seen him with my eyes.' [Dr. Annesley died in 1696, just before his daughter moved from South Ormsby to Epworth.] But she did not explain herself any farther. I have myself many times found on a sudden so lively an apprehension of a deceased friend that I have sometimes turned about to look; at the same time I have felt an uncommon affection for them. But I never had anything of this kind with regard to any but those that died in faith. In dreams I have had exceeding lively conversations with them; and I doubt not but they were then very near. It gives me pleasure to hear that you did not neglect our own preaching in order to attend any other. The hearing Mr. F. at other times I do not know that any could blame; unless you found it unsettled your mind, or weakened your expectation of an entire deliverance from sin. And this, I apprehend, it did not. You never 'take up too much of my time.' To converse with you even in this imperfect way is both agreeable and useful to me. I love your spirit, and it does me good. I trust God will still give you that hunger and thirst after righteousness till you are satisfied therewith. And who knows how soon--I am, my dear Lady, Your ever affectionate servant.

To Mrs. Crosby Date: CHESTER, March 18, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--The westerly winds detain me here, I care not how long: good is the will of the Lord. When I am in Ireland, you have only to direct to Dublin and the letter will find me. I advise you, as I did Grace Walton [See letter of Sept. 8, 1761, to her.] formerly, (1) Pray in private or public as much as you can. (2) Even in public you may properly enough intermix short exhortations with prayer; but keep as far from what is called preaching as you can: therefore never take a text; never speak in a continued discourse without some break, about four or five minutes. Tell the people, 'We shall have another prayer-meeting at such a time and place.' If Hannah Harrison [See letters of Nov. 26, 1768, and March 31, 1781 (to Lancelot Harrison).] had followed these few directions, she might have been as useful now as ever. As soon as you have time, write more particularly and circumstantially; and let Sister Bosanquet do the same. There is now no hindrance in the way; nothing to hinder your speaking as freely as you please [His wife was not near to open his letters.] to, dear Sally, Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Barton (Jane Hilton) Date: LISBURN, April 9, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I thank Brother Barton [Miss Hilton had recently married William Barton, of Beverley. See letter of Sept. 30, 1768.] for his letter. Both of you have now more need than ever continually to watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. There will be a great danger of so cleaving to each other as to forget God, or of being so taken up with a creature as to abate your hunger and thirst after righteousness. There will be a danger likewise of whiling away time, of not improving it to the uttermost, of spending more of it than needs in good sort of talk with each other which yet does not quicken your souls. If you should once get into an habit of this, it will be exceeding hard to break it off. Therefore you should now attend to every step you take, that you may begin as you hope to hold on to the end. And beware you are not entangled with worldly care any more than worldly desire. Be careful for nothing, but in everything make your request known to God with thanksgiving. Your affectionate brother.

To Richard Steel Date: LONDONDERRY, April 24, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--I shall now tell you the things which have been more or less upon my mind ever since I have been in the North of Ireland. If you forget them, you will be a sufferer, and so will the people; if you observe them, it will be good for both. 1. To begin with little things. If you regard your health, touch no supper but a little milk or water gruel. This will entirely by the blessing of God secure you from nervous disorders; especially if you rise early every morning, whether you preach or no. 2. Be steadily serious. There is no country upon earth where this is more necessary than Ireland; as you are generally encompassed with those who with a little encouragement would laugh or trifle from morning to night. 3. In every town visit all you can from house to house. I say 'all you can,' for there will be some whom you cannot visit; and if you examine, instruct, reprove, exhort as need requires, you will have no time hanging on your hands. It is by this means that the Societies are increased wherever Thomas Ryan [Thomas Ryan was Assistant at Armagh in 1767. See Journal, iv. 500.] goes: he is preaching from morning to night; warning every one, that he may present every one perfect in Christ Jesus. 4. But on this and every other occasion avoid all familiarity with women. This is deadly poison both to them and you. You cannot be too wary in this respect; therefore begin from this hour. 5. The chief matter of your conversation as well as your preaching should doubtless be the weightier matters of the law. Yet there are several (comparatively) little things which you should earnestly inculcate from time to time; for 'he that despiseth small things shall fall by little and little.' Such are,-- (1) Be active, be diligent; avoid all laziness, sloth, indolence. Fly from every degree, every appearance of it; else you will never be more than half a Christian.

(2) Be cleanly. In this let the Methodists take pattern by the Quakers. Avoid all nastiness, dirt, slovenliness, both in your person, clothes, house, and all about you, Do not stink above ground. This is a bad fruit of laziness; use all diligence to be clean, as one says, Let thy mind's sweetness have its operation Upon thy person, clothes, and habitation.[George Herbert's The Temple, 'The Church Porch,' stanza 62.] (3) Whatever clothes you have, let them be whole; no rents, no tatters, no rags. These are a scandal to either man or woman, being another fruit of vile laziness. Mend your clothes, or I shall never expect you to mend your lives. Let none ever see a ragged Methodist. (4) Clean yourselves of lice. These are a proof both of uncleanness and laziness: take pains in this. Do not cut off your hair, but clean it, and keep it clean. (5) Cure yourself and your family of the itch: a spoonful of brimstone will cure you. To let this run from year to year proves both sloth and uncleanness. Away with it at once. Let not the North be any longer a proverb of reproach to all the nation. (6) Use no tobacco unless prescribed by a physician. It is an uncleanly and unwholesome self-indulgence; and the more customary it is the more resolutely should you break off from every degree of that evil custom. (7) Use no snuff unless prescribed by a physician. I suppose no other nation in Europe is in such vile bondage to this silly, nasty, dirty custom as the Irish are. But let Christians be in this bondage no longer. Assert your liberty, and that all at once: nothing will be done by degrees. But just now you may break loose through Christ strengthening you. (8) Touch no dram. It is liquid fire. It is a sure though slow poison. It saps the very springs of life. In Ireland, above all countries in the world, I would sacredly abstain from this, because the evil is so general; and to this and snuff and smoky cabins I impute the blindness which is so exceeding common throughout the nation.

To Lady Maxwell Date: LONDONDERRY, April 29; 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR LADY,--A while ago I was concerned at hearing from Edinburgh that you were unwell [Lady Maxwell had been confined to her house by sickness in March, but was now restored.]; although I could not doubt but it was ordered well by an unerring Providence as a means of keeping you dead to all below and of quickening your affections to things above. And, indeed, this is the rule whereby the inhabitants of a better world judge of good and evil. Whatever raises the mind to God is good, and in the same proportion as it does this. Whatever draws the heart from its centre is evil, and more or less so as it has more or less of this effect. You have accordingly found pain, sickness, bodily weakness to be real goods, as bringing you nearer and nearer to the fountain of all happiness and holiness. And yet it is certain nature shrinks from pain, and that without any blame. Only in the same moment that we say, 'If it be possible, let this cup pass from me,' the heart should add like our great Pattern, 'Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.' Lady Baird [See letter of Sept. 9, 1768.] I did not see before I left London; and Lady K. B. I did not understand. She was exceedingly civil, and I think affectionate; but perfectly shut up, so that I knew no more of her state of mind than if I had never seen her.--I am, my dear Lady, Your ever affectionate servant.

To Joseph Benson Date: CORK, May 27, 1769, Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--You have now (what you never had before) a clear, providential call to Oxford. [He entered at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, and kept some of his terms whilst Head Master at Trevecca.] If you keep a single eye and have courage and steadiness, you may be an instrument of much good. But you will tread on slippery ground, and the serious persons you mention may do you more hurt than many others. When I was at Oxford, I never was afraid of any but the almost Christians. If you give way to them and their prudence an hair's breadth, you will be removed from the hope of the gospel. If you are not moved, if you tread in the same steps which my brother and I did, you may be a means under God of raising another set of real Bible Christians. How long the world will suffer them (whether longer than they did us or not) is in God's hand. With regard to Kingswood School, I have one string more: if that breaks, I shall let it drop. I have borne the burthen one-and-twenty years; I have done what I could: now let someone else do more.--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: CORK, May 30, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER BENNIS,--Some years since, I was inclined to think that one who had once enjoyed and lost the pure love of God must never look to enjoy it again till they were just stepping into eternity. But experience has taught us better things. We have now numerous instances of those who had cast away that unspeakable blessing and now enjoy it in a larger measure than ever. And why should not this be your case Because you are unworthy So were they. Because you have been an unfaithful steward So they had been also; yet God healed them freely: and so He will you. Only do not reason against Him. Look for nothing in yourself but sin and unworthiness. Forget yourself. Worthy is the Lamb; and He has prevailed for you. You shall not die, but live-- live all the life of heaven on earth. You need nothing in order to this but faith. And who gives this He that standeth at the door. I hope to see you at Limerick on Monday evening; probably we shall be at Brough soon after one o'clock. [On Monday, June 5, Wesley writes: 'Having been much importuned to give them a day or two more, I rode to Limerick. . . . On Thursday, the 8th, I once more took my leave of this loving people.' See Journal, v. 319.] And I pray let there never more be any reserve between you and, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Howell Powell, Bandon Date: CORK, June 3, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--If Mr. Freeman [James Freeman of Dublin. See letter of June 7, 1762.] complies with your proposal, you cannot avoid removing to Castle Townsend, and it will be a clear providential token that God calls you to that place. I have sent you a few little tracts by the bearer. Wishing you all health of soul and body, I remain, Your affectionate brother. Brother Dillon will probably be in Bandon next week.

To John Furz () Date: ATHLONE, June 25, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Brother Langdon and you are not much mistaken concerning Thomas Wride. A great part of the accusation against Thomas Wride is owing to prejudice. But it is only his own zeal and activity and patiently blameless behaviour which can effectually speak for him. He may, if he has an horse, come to the Conference, and I will try him another year.--I am, my dear brethren, Your affectionate brother. To an Irish Lady [13] TULLAMORE, June 27, 1769. DEAR MADAM,--When I had the pleasure of conversing with you some years since, you had a regard both for me and the people called Methodists. If I am rightly informed, you are now of another mind. May I ask, When did that change begin Was it at your last journey to Dublin Whenever it was, suffer me to ask, What were the reasons of it I will tell you what I conjecture, and I do it in writing because I may not have an opportunity of talking with you; because I can write more freely than I could speak; because I can now say all I have to say at once; whereas, if we were talking together, I might probably forget some part; and because you may by this means have the better opportunity of calmly considering it.

To John Whitehead Date: COOLALOUGH, July 4, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--One from every circuit must be at Conference; but it may be either Brother Whitwell [William Whitwell was Whitehead's colleague at Bristol.] or you. I think the money need not be brought; only let us have exact accounts, and lists of the Societies. When you mentioned, first your apprehension that you could manage the Kingswood School, and then your thoughts concerning Nancy Smith, [Mr. Smith was an apothecary at Bristol (Journal, iii. 254). Did Whitehead marry his daughter] it seemed to me that there might be a providential connexion between the one and the other--though not to the exclusion of James Hindmarsh: that I never thought of. Good will follow from the disagreement of Brother Proctor and Palmer. I should be apt to believe a dying woman. Be zealous! Be watchful!--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: LEEDS, July 30, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You see, God gives you a token for good. But I doubt whether your sister will recover. It is probable He gives her this reprieve both that she may be ripe for glory and that she may bear a faithful testimony to Him before He calls her hence. So she has not a moment to lose. With regard to her paralytic disorder, I wonder they have not advised bathing; that often avails when nothing else will. After the Conference I have to traverse all Wales; so that I do not expect to see Bristol before September. I have then all the West of England to visit, which will take me up at least six weeks longer. In October, if it please God to prolong my life, I am in hope of seeing you at Witney. I was almost afraid you had forgotten me; but I think you will not soon. I think death itself will not separate you from, my dear Nancy, Your affectionate brother.

3. I take it for granted it cannot be preserved by any means between those who have not a single eye. Those who aim at anything but the glory of God and the salvation of men, who desire or seek any earthly thing, whether honour, profit, or ease, will not, cannot continue in the Connexion: it will not answer their design. Some of them, perhaps a fourth of the whole number, will secure preferment in the Church. Others will turn Independents, and get separate congregations, like John Edwards and Charles Skelton. [Edwards, an able Irishman, left Wesley about 1753, having adopted Calvinistic views, and settled at Leeds, where he attracted 'a very considerable and respectable congregation, who erected him a very large and commodious chapel.' He died about 1784. See letter of Nov. 20, 1755; and for Skelton, July 17, 1751.] Lay your accounts with this, and be not surprised if some you do not suspect be of this number. 4. But what method can be taken to preserve a firm union between those who choose to remain together Perhaps you might take some such steps as these:-- On notice of my death, let all the preachers in England and Ireland repair to London within six weeks. Let them seek God by solemn fasting and prayer. Let them draw up articles of agreement to be signed by those who choose to act in concert. Let those be dismissed who do not choose it in the most friendly manner possible. Let them choose by votes a committee of three, five, or seven, each of whom is to be Moderator in his turn. Let the Committee do what I do now; propose preachers to be tried, admitted, or excluded; fix the place of each preacher for the ensuing year and the time of the next Conference. 5. Can anything be done now in order to lay a foundation for this future union Would it not be well, for any that are willing, to sign some articles of agreement before God calls me hence Suppose something like these:-- 'We, whose names are under-written, being throughly convinced of the necessity of a close union between those whom God is pleased to use as instruments in this glorious work, in order to preserve this union between ourselves, are resolved, God being our Helper,--

To Robert Wilkinson Date: LEEDS, August 5, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I believe God calls you to labour in a quieter part of His vineyard--namely, in the North of Ireland, in the Augher Circuit, among a simple, earnest, loving people. Your best way is to carry your own horse over from Whitehaven, or rather Portpatrick, where you have a short and sure passage; then ride on to the widow Cumberland's in Lisburn, and any of our preachers whom you meet with will direct you to Charlemount or Augher. Be all in earnest!--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Woodhouse Date: BRADFORD, August 5, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--If the trials you have met with had only produced that effect, a free intercourse between you and Sister Hutton, I should think they had been of unspeakable service. For how valuable is a tried friend! If you find any hurt with regard to your health, there is a medicine in the Primitive Physick which I never remember to have failed in any single instance. But above all see that your soul receives no hurt. Beware of murmuring. David saw God's hand in Shimei's tongue, and therefore he was quiet. I send you John Ellis again, and I hope you will be free with him. Was John Shaw shy Then be not like him when you write or speak to, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Miss March Date: CARMARTHEN, August 12, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- At some times it is needful to say, 'I will pray with the Spirit and with the understanding also.' At other times the understanding has little to do, while the soul is poured forth in passive prayer. I believe we found the answer to many prayers at the Conference, particularly on the last two days. At the conclusion all the preachers were melted down while they were singing those lines for me,-- Thou who so long hast saved me here, A little longer save; Till, freed from sin and freed from fear, I sink into a grave. Till glad I lay my body down, Thy servant's steps attend; And, oh, my life of mercies crown With a triumphant end! Various scriptures show that we may pray with resignation for the life or ease of a friend: it is enough that every petition be closed with, 'Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.' It is true that a believer knows the devices of Satan to be many and various. But the Apostle means more than this--namely, that those who have the unction of the Holy One are thereby enabled to discern his devices whenever they occur, and to distinguish them from the influences of the good Spirit, how finely soever they are disguised. To answer for ourselves is often a cross; and we had much rather let people think and talk as they please: but it is a cross we must often take up; otherwise we 'walk not charitably ' if we do not 'reprove our brother '; if we 'suffer sin upon him ' we 'hate our brother in our heart.'

If Miss Thornton be arrived at London, I wish you would take the first opportunity of conversing with her. She will have more need of a faithful friend now than ever she had in her life. I expect she will hear reasons upon reasons why she ought as a point of duty to conform a little to the world, to have a few trifling acquaintance, and not to be so particular in her dress. Now, as you have heard all these things before, and have been enabled by the grace of God to discover Satan even with his angel's face, and to stand firm against all his assaults, you will be better able to assist and confirm her if you seek her before she is much shaken. It has a little surprised me that several who are, I believe, filled with love, yet do not desire to die. It seems as if God generally does not give this desire till the time of death approaches. Perhaps in many it would be of little use. First let them learn to live. Doubtless that rest was given 'to support you under your sickness.' Yet that is no reason why it should be ever taken away: it was certainly a degree of that rest which remaineth for the people of God. But it may be called by this or any other name; names are of little consequence: the thing you need never let go. You may live in and to Jesus; yea, and that continually, by simple faith and holy, humble love. Let Mary Thornton [Miss Thornton was now living with Miss March. See Methodist Magazine, 1805, p 37; and letter in May 1769, also July 6, 1770.] be as sensible as ever she will or can be of her own helplessness and poverty. But let her not cast away that confidence which hath great recompense of reward. She did experience the pure love of God; let none take advantage from her being tried by fire (if it should be so) to reason her out of it. That general promise, 'In blessing I will bless thee,' certainly contains all the promises, whether relating to this life or the next; and all are yours! Peace be multiplied upon you!

To Mary Yeoman, of Mousehole, Cornwall Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- [20] ST. Ives, September 2, 1769. MY DEAR SISTER,--Your case is not peculiar. I have known many who were just as you are now; and the same God who delivered them is as ready to deliver you. I advise you to continue in the way whether you find any benefit or not. Pray, as you can, though you are ever so cold or dead. Hear the preaching; keep to your class. The Lord is at hand; He will abundantly pardon.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Edward Spencer Date: FROME, September 13, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--I expect to be at Bradford on Tuesday and Wednesday next. In returning from thence to Bath to-morrow se'nnight, the 21st instant, I will preach if you please in your church. I remember preaching some years since at Combe Grove. [On Sept. 17 and 19 and Oct. 1, 1764. See Journal, v. 94-8.] Peace be with you and yours.-- I am, dear sir, Your affectionate brother and servant.

To Mr. -- Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- [22] BRISTOL, September, 17, 1769. MY DEAR BROTHER,--I hope you will not be disappointed any more. On Thursday se'nnight I propose with God's leave to preach at Pill at three o'clock.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Hannah Ball Date: November 5, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Need I tell you that I found a particular satisfaction in my late conversations with you Perhaps you observed such a freedom in my behaviour as I never showed to you before. Indeed, it seemed to me as if I had just recovered a dear friend whom I had been in fear of losing. But you sweetly relieved me from that fear and showed me that your heart is as my heart. Do you still find a clear deliverance from pride, from anger, from your own will, and from the love of earthly things Have you an uninterrupted sense of the presence of God as a loving and gracious Father Do you find your heart is continually ascending to Him And are you still enabled in everything to give thanks You must expect various trials. We know nature is variable as the wind. But go on. Be never weary of well doing; in due time you shall reap if you faint not.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: NORWICH, November 5, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--I heard that tale, and answered pointblank, 'It is mere invention.' However, I wrote to inquire at the school, so you did well to send a real account both to me and to Ireland. [See letter of Jan. 2.] 'This gives any one enough of Kingswood School.' [Benson had used these words in his letter to Wesley.] 'Ah! simple Master Shallow!' as Shakespeare has it, should not I then have enough of it long ago You put me in mind of Sir John Phillips's [Sir John was a devout Christian who attended the Religious Societies in London. He was a benefactor of the Holy Club and one of the Georgia Trustees. See Journal, i. 186, 297; viii. 278-82, 301.] exclamation when a puff of smoke came out of the chimney, 'Oh, Mr. Wesley, these are the trials which I meet with every day.'--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: IPSWICH, November 5, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MISS BISHOP,--When I was last in Bath, [About Sept. 21.] Mr. Hodsal told me Miss Bishop would be glad to see me. But as I did not know you at all, and I had not an hour to spare, I did not think of it any farther till yesterday, when I heard from Miss March, who gave me a particular account of your situation. We have had a Society in Bath for about thirty years, sometimes larger and sometimes smaller. [See Wes. Meth. Mag. 1846, pp.1088-1825. The chapel was then in Avon Street.] It was very small this autumn, consisting only of eleven or twelve persons, of whom Michael Hemmings was leader. I spoke to these one by one, added nine or ten more, divided them into two classes, and appointed half of them to meet with Joseph Harris. But if you are willing to cast in your lot with us, I had rather that those single women in both classes who desire it should meet with you and any others who are not afraid of the reproach of Christ. In that little tract A Plain Account of the People called Methodists you see our whole plan. [See letter in Dec. 1748 to Vincent Perronet.] We have but one point in view--to be altogether Christians, scriptural, rational Christians. For which we well know, not only the world, but the almost Christians, will never forgive us. From these, therefore, if you join heart and hand with us, you are to expect neither justice nor mercy. If you are determined, let me know. But consider what you do. Can you give up all for Christ the hope of improving your fortune, a fair reputation, and agreeable friends Can He make you amends for all these Is He alone a sufficient portion I think you will find Him so. And if you was as entirely devoted to God as my dear Jenny Cooper was, you would never have cause to repent of your choice either in time or in eternity.

I never had one thought of resigning up our room to any person on earth. What I wrote to Lady Huntingdon [See letter of Nov. 22.] was, 'I am willing your preachers should have as full and free use of it as our own.' I could not go any farther than this: I have no right so to do. I hope you will send me as particular an account as you can of all that has lately passed and of the present state of things. The more freely you write, the more agreeable it will be to Your affectionate brother. PS.--You may direct to London. To Miss Bishop, In the Vineyard, Bath.

To Professor John Liden, of Lund Date: LONDON, November 16, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- To answer those questions throughly would require a volume. It is partly done in the little tracts: on the points wherein they are defective I will add a few words as my time permits. 1. There are many thousand Methodists in Great Britain and Ireland which are not formed into Societies. Indeed, none are but those (or rather a part of those) who are under the care of Mr. Wesley. These at present contain a little less than thirty thousand persons. 2. The places at which there is constant preaching (three or four times a week at least) are the Foundery near Moorfields, the French Church [in West Street] near the Seven Dials (at these two places there is preaching every morning and evening), the French Church in Spitalfields, the Chapel in Snowsfields, Southwark, the Chapel in Wapping, and one not far from Smithfield. 3. They have many schools for teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic, but only one for teaching the higher parts of learning. This is kept in Kingswood, near Bristol, and contains about forty scholars. These are all boarders, and might be abundantly more, but the house will not contain them. The Rules of Kingswood School give an account of the books read and the method pursued therein. 4. I believe some of the best preachers are James Morgan, Peter Jaco, Jos. Cownley, T. Simpson, John Hilton, John Pawson, Alex. Mather, Tho. Olivers, Sam. Levick, Duncan Wright, Jacob Rowell, Christopher Hopper, Dan. Bumstead, Alexander M'Nab, and William Thompson. Each of these preachers has his food wherever he labours and twelve pounds a year for clothes and other expenses. If he is married, he has ten pounds a year for his wife. This money is raised by the voluntary contributions of the Societies. It is by these likewise that the poor are assisted where the allowance fixed by the laws of the land does not suffice. Accordingly the Stewards of the Societies in London distribute seven or eight pounds weekly among the poor.

To Peggy Dale Date: LONDON, November 17, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. That particular branch of wisdom, readiness of thought, he is as willing to give as any other; yea, and ready utterance whenever it will be for His glory and the furtherance of His kingdom. And if you want more courage and boldness in His cause, make your requests known to Him with thanksgiving. Perhaps He will first answer you by giving you a deeper sense of want, with an increase of desire and resignation together. And afterwards you shall have the petition which you asked of Him. But there is one rule which our Lord constantly observes,--'Unto him that hath shall be given.' 'Unto him that uses what he hash.' Speak, therefore, as you can; and by-and-by you shall speak as you would. Speak, though, with fear; and in a little time you shall speak without fear. Fear shall be swallowed up in love!--I am, my dear Peggy, Your affectionate brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, November 19, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- Indeed, Joseph, I am not well pleased at all. You seem quite ruffled and discomposed because a story was invented of you (if it was from invention; for your taking it so deeply makes me fear it was not). I thought it kindest to reprove you rather in jest than in earnest, and this very thing you take ill! What, are you seeking to pick a quarrel with me Well, if you require me to be serious, I will be serious. I am ashamed you should have it to learn still that if you are a Christian you are to expect men will say all manner of evil of you falsely. So they have done of me for at least these forty years. You was not of this spirit when you came into that House. [Wesley thought Kingswood was spoiling him.] Honour and power have done you no good; I am sorry for you, but I know not how to help you. If you will go, you must go.

To Various Friends Date: LONDON, November 20, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Two years ago many of our brethren, who considered the number of the people called Methodists and the circumstances which a great part of them were in, believed we should pay off the debt at once. I myself was fully persuaded that between twenty and thirty thousand people were well able to do this; but I was not at all persuaded that they were willing. However, I said little upon that head, being unwilling to weaken the hands of those who were of another mind. It was a good step which was made the first year. Upwards of 5,000 were contributed; by which means the most pressing debts were paid, and many of our brethren were firmly persuaded we should make an end of the whole the second year. I well knew the Methodists could do this; but I saw no reason to think they would. And when the collection was brought in, amounting to above 2,000, it was full as much as I expected. 'But what can be done this third year 5,000 remain unpaid. Are the Methodists able to clear this in one year' Yes; as well as they are able to clear 50. But are they willing That I cannot tell: I am sure a few of them are; even of those who have a large measure of worldly goods; yea, and of those who are lately increased in substance, who have twice, perhaps ten or twenty times, as much as when they saw me first. Are you one of them Whether you are or not, whether your substance is less or more, are you willing to give what assistance you can to do what you can without hurting your family 'But if I do so, I cannot lay out so much in such and such things as I intended.' That is true. But will this hurt you What if, instead of enlarging, you should for the present contract your expenses spend less, that you may be able to give more Would there be any harm in this

'But neither can I lay up so much.' This likewise is most true. But is it ill husbandry to lay up treasure in heaven Is that lost which is given to God Whether you go to Him soon, or whether He gives you a few years longer here--in either case is it not wise to lay up for yourself a good foundation, that you may attain eternal life 'But I thought we should have paid the debt in one year, and so need no farther collections.' I never thought so. I knew it might be paid in one year, but never expected it would. There is more likelihood of its being paid this year. It will, if our brethren exert themselves: do you, for one; let nothing be wanting on your part. Yet do not imagine 'we shall need no farther collections.' Indeed we shall, though we owed not one shilling. Do not you remember the original design of the Yearly Subscription [See Works, viii. 335-6.] Paying our debts is but one branch of the design. It answers several other valuable ends equally necessary. It enables us to carry the gospel through the three kingdoms. And as long as we pursue that glorious design, this subscription will be necessary; though it is true, when once this burthen is removed, a far smaller contribution will suffice. However, let the morrow take thought for the things of itself: to-day do what you can, for the love of God, of your brethren, of the cause of God, and of Your affectionate brother. PS.--This is the letter, a copy of which I intend sending this or next post to each of the chief persons in your circuit. You will second it in good earnest. Try what you can do, going on in the cheerfulness of faith. Probably you will take in subscriptions by Christmas, and receive what is subscribed between Easter and Midsummer. Be not weary in well doing; you shall reap if you faint not.

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON, November 20, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--If she will return of her own accord, I will receive her with open arms. But I will not hire her to return. I think that would be foolish, nay sinful. [Mrs. Wesley often left him and returned again in answer to his entreaties. She was with her daughter in Newcastle. See letters of Dec. 17, 1768, and Jan. 15, 1770.] Brother Fazzard was a good man, though for some years his head was a good deal wrong. I hope Brother Greenwood continues right, and is no longer puzzled by the smooth speakers. If you love the souls or bodies of men, recommend everywhere the Primitive Physick and the small tracts. It is true most of the Methodists are poor; but what then Nine in ten of them would be no poorer if they were to lay out an whole penny in buying a book every other week in the year. By this means the work of God is both widened and deepened in every place.--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: LONDON, November 22, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--It is exceedingly strange. I should really wonder (if I could wonder at any weakness of human nature) that so good a woman as Lady Huntingdon, and one who particularly piques herself on her catholic spirit, should be guilty of such narrowness of spirit. Let it teach us a better lesson! [Henry Venn was then preaching to crowded audiences in the Countess of Huntingdon's chapel at Bath. See letter of Dec. 26.] Let us not vary in thought or word from the old Methodist principle, 'Whosoever doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother.' We have other instances of persons who now enjoy the peace of God and yet do not know the time when they received it. And God is sovereign: He may make what exceptions He pleases to His general rule. So this objection is easily set aside; and so is that of your age. The Spirit of the Lord can give understanding either in a longer and shorter time. And I doubt not but He will give you favour in the eyes of your sisters. You have only to go on in simplicity, doing the will of God from the heart and trusting in the anointing of the Holy One to teach you of all things. I am glad you are acquainted with the Miss Owens. [Wesley says on Sept. 16, 1772: 'I went to Publow, which is now what Leytonstone was once. Here is a family indeed. Such mistresses, and such a company of children, as, I believe, all England cannot parallel!' See Journal v. 484; and letter of Aug. 22, 1772.] Encourage one another to be altogether Christians. Defy fashion and custom, and labour only To steer your useful lives below By reason and by grace. Let not the gentlewoman entrench upon the Christian; but be a simple follower of the Lamb. I expect to hear soon what has occurred since you wrote last. And I hope you will always speak without any reserve to, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Professor John Liden, of Lund Date: THE FOUNDERY, November 30, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--Though I hope shortly to have the pleasure of seeing you, yet I cannot but write a line to return you thanks for your favour of the 24th instant. If any other of the tracts which we have written or published would be acceptable to you, I will order them to be sent to Mr. Ley's, or any other place which you are pleased to appoint. Never was there anything which I less desired or expected some years since than virum volitare per ora, [Virgil's Georgics, iii. 9: 'To hover on the lips of men.'] having from my infancy loved silence and obscurity. But we came not into the world to do our own will. Happy are we if we are always ready to do and to suffer the will of Him that sent us! Desiring a remembrance in your prayers, I remain, dear sir, Your affectionate servant.

To Robert Bell Date: LONDON, December 2, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Upon the first moving of the thing, Mr. Ball seemed cold, saying he had just procured the same favour for another. But he added, 'Do you make a point of this' I told him I did. 'Then,' said he, 'I will do what I can.' So I hope there is little reason to doubt but the thing will soon be accomplished. You have cause to bless God upon many accounts; particularly for the friendliness of your collector and supervisor; above all, for His revealing His love in your heart and giving you a word to speak in His name.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To John Valton Date: LONDON, December 2, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Certainly you are not called to go out now. I believe you will be by-and-by. Your inabilities are no bar; for when you are sent you will not be sent a warfare at your own cost. Now improve the present hour where you are. [See letter of Nov. 21. 'This letter,' says Valton, 'was as pleasant as the grapes of Eshcol to my soul.' ]--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Barton Date: LONDON, December 24, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Some of the trials which you must frequently have are of a delicate nature. You will need much of the wisdom from above, or you would suffer loss under them. Those who are very near to you were (and probably are still) prejudiced against William Fallowfield beyond all sense and reason. And how extremely difficult it is for you not to drink in a little of their spirit! Only what is ill-will in them may in you be a simple error of judgement. Yet there is danger lest it should weaken your soul and insensibly lead you to some wrong temper. I believe you may speak without reserve to Brother Howard. [Robert Howard, Assistant at York, was received on trial as a preacher in 1768, and ceased to travel in 1770.] He is a cool, thinking man. But does he preach Christian perfection clearly and explicitly Which of your other preachers does Your affectionate brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, December 26, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--Every man of sense who reads the rules of the school may easily conclude that a school so conducted by men of piety and understanding will exceed any other school or academy in Great Britain or Ireland. In this sentiment you can never be altered. And if it was not so conducted since you was there, why was it not You had power enough. You have all the power which I have. You may do just what you please. Dirue, edifica; muta quadrata rotundis.[Horace's Epistles, i. 100: Diruit, aedificat, mutat quadrata rotundis ('He pulls down,he builds,he changes square things to round')] And I will second you to the uttermost. Trevecca is much more to Lady Huntingdon than Kingswood is to me. It mixes with everything. It is my college, my masters, my students. I do not speak so of this school. It is not mine, but the Lord's. I look for no more honour than money from it. But I assure you you must not even mutter before her anything of deliverance from all sin. Error errorum, as Count Zinzendorf says; 'heresy of heresies.' 'I will suffer no one in my Society that even thinks of perfection.' However, I trust you shall not only think of but enjoy it. I am glad you defer your journey.--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate brother.

To Walter Sellon Date: LONDON, December 30, 1769. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1769) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--It is not yet determined whether I should go to America or not. I have been importuned some time; but nil sat firmi video. ['I see nothing sufficiently strong.' See letter of Jan. 25, 1770.] I must have a clear call before I am at liberty to leave Europe. You should heat your milk, but never let it boil. Boiling robs it of the most nutritious particles. Take care to keep always your body moderately open, and your stomach will not often complain. Mr. Viner did you great honour. Do not make too much haste in dealing with Elisha Coles. I am afraid the treatise will be too short. And pray add a word to that lively coxcomb Mr. Toplady, not only with regard to Zanchius, but his slander on the Church of England. You would do well to give a reading to both his tracts. He does certainly believe himself to be the greatest genius in England. Pray take care, or notus sit pro suis virtutibus. ['Let him be known in proportion as he deserves.' ] Mr. Johnson [Thomas Johnson, the Assistant in Lincolnshire East. The Minutes for 1769 give details of the way in which 2,458 19s. 7d. was used in discharging debts.] was grievously short in not mentioning that 'other thing' at the Conference or not till all the money was gone. However, the matter is not much. I think we can procure you thirty pounds in February. I believe you strengthen the hands of our preachers all you can. You will find Billy Minethorp a right man. His resolution in the late affair was admirable. I have scarce ever seen such another instance in the kingdom.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Woodhouse Date: LONDON, January 1, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Indeed, there is no happiness without Him for any child of man. One would rather choose to be pained and restless whenever He withdraws His presence. He has permitted that difference which prevents your finding comfort even in a near relation, that you may seek it with a free and disengaged heart in Him who will never deceive your hope. This will endear and sweeten every cross, which is only a painful means of a closer union with Him. The neglect of others should incite you to double diligence in private prayer. And how knowest thou, O woman, but thou shalt gain thy husband? [Mr. Woodhouse was evidently not in sympathy with his wife's Methodism.] You have already many blessings. You are surrounded with them. And who can tell if He may not add this to the rest? I pray, tell me from time to time all that is in your heart. Use no reserve with, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bosanquet Date: LONDON, January 15, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--It is not strange if the leading of one soul be very different from that of another. The same Spirit worketh in every one; and yet worketh several ways, according to His own will. It concerns us to follow our own light, seeing we are not to be judged by another's conscience. A little time will show who hinders and who forwards the welfare of the family. And I hope you will have steadiness to pursue every measure which you judge will be to the glory of God. I am glad you find your temporal difficulties are lessened. Beware of increasing your expenses. I advise you not to take any other child till all these expenses are over. [See previous letter, and Moore's Mrs. Fletcher, p. go: 'I lessened my family all I could by putting out some of the bigger children to trades or servants' places; but much expense attended it.'] 'Tis pity but you had an electric machine. [Wesley procured an electric apparatus in Nov. 1756, and was greatly impressed with 'the virtue of this surprising medicine.' See Journal, iv. 49, 190.] It would prevent much pain in a family and supersede almost all other physic. I cure all vomiting and purging by warm lemonade. She is there still [His wife, who was in Newcastle. See letter of Nov. 20, 1769, to Christopher Hopper.]; and likely so to be, unless I would hire her to return, which I dare not do. I will not buy a cross, though I can bear it. Many are much stirred up here and are greatly athirst for pure love. I am sure you tasted it once, though you was reasoned out of it. How soon may you find it again! Simple faith is all we want. Peace be with your spirit!--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON, January 16, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--There is reason to believe that this has been indeed a festival time all over the kingdom. While a Sacheverell madness has spread far and wide, God gives us the spirit of love and of a sound mind. I think verily, if we could procure those premises upon reasonable terms, together with such a servitude or security (are these synonymous terms?) as you mention, it would be a noble acquisition, and might tend much to the furtherance of the work of God in Edinburgh. If all the Assistants would exert themselves with regard to the Yearly Collection as heartily as Christopher Hopper, a great deal might be done. We must have farther proof of William.--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: LEWISHAM, January 25, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- Nancy, Nancy! I had almost said, I wish I could be angry at you; but that would not be an easy thing. I was wondering that you never wrote. I doubt your love is grown cold. Let it not be six weeks before I hear from you again. You find I can chide if you provoke me. You surprise me with regard to the books. I have spoke to Mr. Franks twice; and twice he told me he had sent them. I doubt he sent them among the other books without directing them particularly to you. I shall see that matter set right. You must not leave off riding [See letter of Feb. 12, 1769.] if you would have tolerable health. Nothing is so good for you as exercise and change of air. It was upon that as well as other accounts that I wanted you to come up to London. I do not know whether the objection of 'giving offence' need to affright you from it. I wish you had a week to spare before I go out of town. [She had once before come up to London to meet him. See letter of April 7, 1768.] If I should be called to America [See letters of Dec. 30, 1769, and See Feb. 17, 1770.] (though I determine nothing yet), it might be a long time before we meet again. In every temptation there will be a way made to escape that you may be able to bear it. Do not stay a month longer before you write to, my dear Nancy, Your affectionate brother. I have a room or two to spare now.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, January 27, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--All is well. We have no need to 'dispute about a dead horse.' If the school at Trevecca is the best that ever was since the world began, I am glad of it, and wish it may be better still. But do not run away with any of my young men from Kingswood: that I should blame you for. I have wrote already to T. Simpson, [The Head Master. see letter of Jan. 2, 1769.] and will write again. Do all the good you can in every place.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Dr. Wrangel Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- [LONDON, January 30, 1770.] The last time, the last words however important, are commonly remembered. Notwithstanding your intentions of revisiting this country, I consider it as very unlikely. The distracted state of your own, the various events which may take place, the thousand circumstances which may happen, lead me to regard this opportunity as the last I may ever have of addressing you--at least of seeing you; and I wish it to be worthy of recollection. The length of our acquaintance, indeed, will not authorize the subject of this letter or the recommendation of the enclosed book. Let the interest I take in your welfare excuse it. Or should you ascribe this interest to the weakness of superstition or the folly of enthusiasm, deem it not the impertinence of zeal. I have often thought of you--thought of you as possessing everything which the world calls enviable or delightful: health, friends, leisure. Permit me with the solicitude more properly belonging to a matron than to myself--permit me to entreat you to look beyond all these for happiness. The dangers of prosperity are great; and you seem aware of them. If poverty contracts and depresses the mind, riches sap its fortitude, destroy its vigour, and nourish its caprices. But the chief disadvantage of an elevated situation is this: it removes us from scenes of misery and indigence; we are apt to charge the great with want of feeling, but it is rather want of consideration. The wretched are taught to avoid, and the poor fear to accost them; and in the circles of perpetual gaiety they forget that these exist. You need not be reminded that there is no rank in life which exempts us from disappointment and sorrow in some kind or degree; but I must remind you there is but one belief which can support us under it. Neither hypocrisy nor bigotry, neither the subtle arguments of infidels nor the shameful lives of Christians have yet been able to overturn the truths of Revealed Religion. They contain all that is cheering--all that is consoling to the mind of man--that is congenial to the heart and adapted to his nature. You admit their importance; you reverence their mysteries: cherish their influences.

The book which I have taken the liberty to enclose was written by a gentleman as much distinguished for literature and taste as for piety. The style alone might recommend it: you will find none of the cant and narrowmindness of sects and parties in any of its pages. Give it one serious perusal.

To Lady Maxwell Date: LONDON, February 17, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR LADY,--To us it may seem that uninterrupted health would be a greater help to us than pain or sickness. But herein we certainly are mistaken; we are not such good judges in our own cause. You may truly say, 'Health I shall have if health be best.' But in this and all things you may trust Him that loves you. Indeed, nervous disorders are, of all others, as one observes, enemies to the joy of faith. But the essence of it, that confidence in a loving, pardoning God, they can neither destroy nor impair. Nay, as they keep you dead to all below, they may forward you therein, and they may increase your earnestness after that pure love which turns earth into paradise. It will be by much pains and patience that you will keep one in high life steadfast in the plain, old way. I should wish you to converse with her as frequently as possible. Then I trust God will use you to keep alive the fire which He has kindled. I am in great hopes that chapel will be of use; but it will not be easy to procure a converted clergyman. A schoolmaster will be more easily found; although many here are frighted at the name of Scotland. A diligent master may manage twenty or perhaps thirty children. If one whom I lately saw is willing to come, I believe he will answer your design. I have some thoughts of going to America [See letters of Jan. 25 and Feb. 21 (to George Whitefield).]; but the way is not yet plain. I wait till Providence shall speak more clearly on one side or the other. In April I hope to reach Inverness and to take Edinburgh in my way back to England. But let us live to-day! What a blessing may you receive now! Now let your heart with love o'erflow, And all your life His glory show! --I am, my dear Lady, Your ever affectionate servant.

To Walter Sellon Date: LEWISHAM, February 21, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Do not make too much haste. Give everything the last touch. It will be enough if the papers meet me at Manchester before the end of March. I believe it will be the best way to bestow a distinct pamphlet on that exquisite coxcomb. [Toplady. See letters of Dec. 30, 1769, and June 24, 1770] Surely wisdom will die with him! I believe we can easily get his other tract, which it would be well to sift to the very foundation, in order to stop the mouth of that vain boaster. I am to set out for Bristol March 5, and from Bristol March 12.--I am Your affectionate brother.

Some time ago, since you went hence, I heard a circumstance which gave me a good deal of concern--namely, that the College or Academy in Georgia had swallowed up the Orphan House. Shall I give my judgement without being asked? Methinks friendship requires I should. Are there not, then, two points which come in view--a point of mercy and a point of justice? With regard to the former, may it not be inquired, Can anything on earth be a greater charity than to bring up orphans? What is a college or an academy compared to this? unless you could have such a college as perhaps is not upon earth. I know the value of learning, and am more in danger of prizing it too much than too little. But still, I cannot place the giving it to five hundred students, on a level with saving the bodies, if not the souls too, of five hundred orphans. But let us pass on from the point of mercy to that of justice. You had land given and collected money for an Orphan House; are you at liberty to apply this to any other purpose--at least, while there are any orphans in Georgia left? I just touch upon this, though it is an important point, and leave it to your own consideration whether part of it at least might not properly be applied to carry on the original design. In speaking thus freely on so tender a subject, I have given you a fresh proof of the sincerity with which I am Your ever affectionate friend and brother.

To Matthew Lowes Date: LONDON, March 2, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MATTHEW,--The way you propose for clearing the circuit [Lowes was Assistant in the Dales Circuit.] is, I think, the very best which can be devised. Only let your fellow labourers second you heartily, and the thing will be done. Four or five circuits exerted themselves nobly. Had all the rest done the same our burthen would have been quite removed. Well, we will fight till we die.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Barton Date: TEWKESBURY, March 15, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I rejoice to hear that you stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free; and the more because, although many taste of that heavenly gift, deliverance from inbred sin, yet so few, so exceeding few, retain it one year, hardly one in ten, nay one in thirty. Many hundreds in London were made partakers of it within sixteen or eighteen months; but I doubt whether twenty of them are now as holy and as happy as they were. And hence others had doubted whether God intended that salvation to be enjoyed long. That many have it for a season, that they allow, but are not satisfied that any retain it always. Shall not you for one? You will, if you watch and pray and continue hanging upon Him. Then you will always give matter of rejoicing to, dear Jenny, Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bosanquet Date: MACCLESFIELD, March 26, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I am now moving northward. In about a fortnight I expect to be at Whitehaven, and a week after at Glasgow, in the beginning of May at Aberdeen, and May 11 at Edinburgh. To exert your faith is the very thing you want. Believe, and enter in. The experience of Eliz. Jackson has animated many. It is the very marrow of Christianity; and if it be diligently spread among our believers it may be of unspeakable use. It is certainly right to pray whether we can pray or no. God hears even when we hardly hear ourselves. She saw it so through the advice and importunity of Clayton Carthy. [See letter of June 12, 1759.] And God permitted it. So all is well. With regard to us, I do not at present see any danger either on one side or the other. You have need of a steady guide, and one that knows you well. If my brother had not given Mrs. Gaussen that fatal advice, 'to keep from me,' she would not have fallen into the hands of others. [See letter of Sept. 25, 1757.] I am glad Richd. Taylor is of use. [Manager of Miss Bosanquet's estate in Yorkshire.] He will be more and more so, if he continues simple of heart, speaks explicitly of full redemption, and exhorts believers to accept it now. The same rule it will be well for you to observe in conversation with all that are in earnest! Peace be with your spirit! My dear sister, adieu!

To Mrs. Marston Date: CHESTER, April 1, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--As I had not time to converse with you as I would at Worcester, I was exceedingly glad to see you at Wednesbury. [Wesley had been at Worcester on March 14 and 15, and at Wednesbury on the 21st. See letters of March 16 and Aug. 11.] It was the very thing I desired. And surely our Lord will withhold from us no manner of thing that is good. I am glad that you can both speak and write to me freely; it may often be of service to you, especially if God should suffer you to be assaulted by strong and uncommon temptations. I should not wonder if this were to be the case: though perhaps it never will; especially if you continue simple --if, when you are assaulted by that wicked one, you do not reason with him, but just look up for help, hanging upon Him that has washed you in His own blood. Do you now find power to 'rejoice evermore'? Can you 'pray without ceasing'? Is your heart to Him, though without a voice? And do you 'in everything give thanks'? Is your whole desire to Him? And do you still find an inward witness that He has cleansed your heart? Stand fast, then, in that glorious liberty wherewith Christ has made you free!--I am, dear Molly, Your affectionate brother. I expect to be in Glasgow about the 17th of this month.

To Richard Bourke Date: EDINBURGH, May 12, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I doubt not your going into Waterford Circuit was for good. It is well the house at Kilkenny is at length getting forward. But the General Collection, out of which I propose to assist our brethren, is not brought in until the Conference; and I myself seldom have any money beforehand. I live, as I may say, from hand to mouth. As to the preachers, I think it very hard if Ireland cannot allow a maintenance to the preachers in Ireland. But, indeed, your case is peculiar. Exclusive of what they are to allow for your wife, I will allot her five pounds (English) for you.--I am Yours affectionately. Endorsed in another hand: Received the contents from Miss Mary Holland, June 11, 1771.

To Thomas Robinson Date: NEWCASTLE, May 22, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I hope to be at Scarborough on Monday, June 18, and on Wednesday the 20th at Hull. If you can show me how to take Burlington [Bridlington.] in my way to Hull on the 20th, I shall be glad to call upon you. Perhaps one of you will meet me at Scarborough.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: YARM, June 13, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Just now we have many persons all over England that are exactly in the state you describe. They were some time since renewed in love, and did then rejoice evermore; but after a few years, months, or weeks, they were moved from their steadfastness; yet several of these have within a few months recovered all they had lost, and some with increase, being far more established than ever they were before. And why may it not be so with you? The rather because you do not deny or doubt of the work which God did work in you, and that by simple faith. Surely you should be every day expecting the same free gift; and He will not deceive your hope. But how is this with respect to Waterford? [See letter of July 27.] They would, and they would not: I sent two preachers to that circuit; why did they not keep them? W. L--wrote word that there was neither employment nor maintenance for two, and therefore wished leave to return to England. Let me hear more from you on this matter. If you can guard Brother Saunderson against pride and the applause of well-meaning people, he will be a happy man and an useful labourer. I hope Brother M--- has not grown cold. Stir up the gift of God which is in you!--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: LONDON, June 20, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MISS BISHOP,--At present you are exactly in your place; and I trust no temptation, inward or outward, shall ever induce you to depart from the work, to which God has called you. You must expect to be pushed to both extremes by turns--self-confidence and too much diffidence. But it is certain the former is the more dangerous of the two; and you need all the power of God to save you from it. And He will save you to the uttermost, provided you still retain the sense of your poverty and helplessness. It is a good prayer, Show me, as my soul can bear, The depth of inbred sin! And just so He will deal with you; for He remembers that you are but dust. But you should not wait to be thus and thus convinced in order to be renewed in love. No: pray now for all the mind which was in Christ; and you shall have more and more conviction as it pleases Him. Mr. Spencer [See letters of Sept. 13, 1769, and Oct. 12, 1771.] and Glynne are of excellent spirits, notwithstanding their opinion. I hardly know their fellows. Love is all we want; let this fill our hearts, and it is enough. Peace be with your spirit,--I am Your affectionate brother.

To George Merryweather Date: YORK, June 24, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Mr. Augustus Toplady I know well. But I do not fight with chimney-sweepers. He is too dirty a writer for me to meddle with. I should only foul my fingers. I read his title-page, and troubled myself no farther. I leave him to Mr. Sellon. He cannot be in better hands. [See letter of Feb. 21 to Walter Sellon.] As long as you are seeking and expecting to love God with all your heart, so long your soul will live.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: ASHBY, July 27, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SISTER,--Will you ever find in yourself anything but unfitness? Otherwise your salvation would be of works, not of grace. But you are frequently sick of a bad disease--evil reasoning; which hinders both your holiness and happiness. You want the true Christian simplicity, which is indeed the highest wisdom. Nothing is more clear, according to the plain Bible account, than sanctification, pure love reigning in the heart and life. And nothing is more plain than the necessity of this in order to feel happiness here and hereafter. Check all reasoning concerning these first principles, else you will exceedingly darken your soul; and go on denying yourself, and taking up your cross, until you Sink into perfection's height, The depth of humble love. If the preachers on Waterford Circuit had punctually adhered to the plan which I fixed, the horse would have been no burthen; but the misfortune is every dunce is wiser than me. However, at your desire I will send a second preacher into the circuit after Conference; but the preachers must change regularly. It would never do to let one man sit down for six months with a small Society; he would soon preach himself and them as lifeless as stones. Your alteration of the circuit so as to take in poor, dead Clonmel I much approve, and hope Sister L-- [See letter of June 13] will be made a blessing to the few there. I rejoice at Sisters P and B--'s happy release. [Mrs. Bennis had told him that both died triumphantly.] Is not this worth living for? Still draw near to the fountain by simple faith, and take all you want; but be not slothful in your Lord's vineyard.--My dear sister, Yours affectionately.

To Rebecca Yeoman Date: LONDON, August 4, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I was glad to hear from you; and especially to hear that you are still athirst for God. O beware of setting up any idol in your heart! Give all to Him; for He is worthy. You did exceeding right in going to Jane Johnson. There is no end of shyness if we stand aloof from each other. In this case we have only to overcome evil with good; and they are wisest that yield first. Promises of that kind are of no force. The sooner they are broken the better. You should take Molly Strologer in to board. Oh self-will! How few have conquered it! I believe it is a good providence for your account: she can pay but few visits. She fears God and wishes to save her soul; and the visiting those that are Otherwise-minded will not profit her: she wants nothin but Christ. Surely you may tell anything to, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To George Merryweather Date: LONDON, August 7, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I have the credit of stationing the preachers. But many of them go where they will go for all me. For instance, I have marked down James Oddie and John Nelson for Yarm Circuit the ensuing year. Yet I am not certain that either of them will come. They can give twenty reasons for going elsewhere. Mr. Murlin says he must be in London. 'Tis certain he has a mind to be there. Therefore so it must be: for you know a man of fortune is master of his own notions.--I am, with love to Sister Merryweather and Mr. Waldy, [See letter of Jan. 24, 1760.] Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Marston Date: LONDON, August 11, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I thought it long since I heard from you, and wanted to know how your soul prospered. Undoubtedly as long as you are in the body you will come short of what you would be, and you will see more and more of your numberless defects and the imperfection of your best actions and tempers. Yet all this need not hinder your rejoicing evermore and in everything giving thanks. Heaviness you may sometimes feel; but you never need come into darkness. Beware of supposing darkness, that is unbelief, to be better than the light of faith. To suppose this is one of the gross errors of Popery. 'He that followeth me,' says our Lord, 'shall not walk in darkness.' That you are tempted a thousand ways will do you no hurt. In all these things you shall be more than conqueror. I hope the select society [For the origin of the select society, see the letter to Vincent Perronet in Dec. 1748, sect. VIII.1-4.] meets constantly and that you speak freely to each other. Go on humbly and steadily, denying yourselves and taking up your cross daily. Walk in the light as He is in the light, in lowliness, in meekness, in resignation. Then He will surely sanctify you throughout in spirit, soul, and body. To hear from you is always a pleasure to, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother. I am going to Bristol.

To James Freeman Date: BRISTOL, August 19, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JEMMY,--It is lost labour. It will not do. It is vain for any man to attempt it, to make me think any ill of James Freeman [See letter of June 7, 1762.] or Tho. Garrett. [Thomas Garrett, a native of Holland, was one of the oldest members in Dublin. He died in 1776. See Crookshank's Methodism in Ireland, i. 123, 303.] I know them too well. I did hear reports of that kind; but I regarded them not. I would fain hope that Mr. Townsend [Rector of Pewsey. See letter of Aug. 1-3, 1767. He preached against Arminianism.] will behave better in Dublin than he did in Edinburgh. However, he will do little hurt, if you stand fast in one mind, striving together for the hope of the gospel.--I am, dear Jemmy, Your affectionate brother. Letter addressed to Mrs. Jane Freeman, Near the Linen Hall, In Lisburn, Ireland.

To Mrs. Marston Date: ST. IVES, August 26, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Your last gave me a particular satisfaction, because I was jealous over you. I was afraid lest you, like some others, should have received that dangerous opinion that we must sometimes be in darkness. Wherever you are, oppose this, and encourage all who now walk in the light to expect not only the continuance but the increase of it unto the perfect day. Certain it is that, unless we grieve the Holy Spirit, He will never take away what He has given. On the contrary, He will add to it continually, till we come to the measure of the full stature of Christ. I am glad the select society meets constantly. See that you speak freely to each other. And do not speak of your joys and comforts only; this is well-pleasing to flesh and blood: but speak also of your sorrows and weaknesses and temptations; this is well-pleasing to God, and will be a means of knitting you together by a bond that shall never be broken. I hope you lose no opportunity of speaking a word for God, either to them that know Him or them that do not. Why should you lose any time? Time is short. Work your work betimes! To-day receive more grace and use it! Peace be with your spirit!--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Richard Locke Date: BRISTOL, September 14, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- Milton justly supposes that if ever angelic minds reasoned on 'freewill entire, foreknowledge absolute,' they would 'find no end, in wandering mazes lost.' [Paradise Lost, ii. 560-1.] How much less can an human mind reconcile them! Men have no line to fathom such a depth. We may, however, rest in this: Yet my foreknowledge causes not their fault, Which had no less been certain unforeknown. [Ibid., iii. 118-19: 'Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.'] I believe you will find some light on the head by reading that little tract Predestination Calmly Considered. [Published by Wesley in 1752. See Works, x. 204-59.] The illustrators, Mr. Harwood, [Edward Harwood, D.D. (1729-94), Presbyterian minister at Bristol 1765. His Introduction to New Testament Studies gained him his degree in 1768.] Leibnitz, Clark, Montesquieu, and above all that wretched man Voltaire, would only unhinge and perplex your mind. Hall, Scot, Sharp, Whitby, [Daniel Whitby, D.D. (1638-1726), Prebendary of Salisbury; a voluminous theological writer.] and Fleetwood are good writers; so are Locke, Hooper, and Mosheim in their several ways, but far less useful than Baxter and Law. Dr. South, Knight, and Taylor are some of the finest writers in the English tongue--if you mean Dr. James Knight of St. Sepulchre's. But I believe the best way for you would be to read only a few select authors. Then (mixing reading with prayer) you would not only find good desires, but they would be brought to good effect.--I am Your servant for Christ's sake.

What is the difference between 'the frame of my mind and the state of my soul'? Is there the difference of an hair's breadth? I will not affirm it. If there be any at all, perhaps it is this: the frame may mean a single, transient sensation; the state, a more complicated and lasting sensation, something which we habitually feel. By frame some may mean fleeting passions; by state, rooted tempers. But I do not know that we have any authority to use the terms thus or to distinguish one from the other. He whose mind is in a good frame is certainly a good man as long as it so continues. I would therefore no more require you to cease from judging of your state by your frame of mind than I would require you to cease from breathing. Unless you deal very closely with those committed to your care, you will not give an account of them with joy. Advices and admonitions at a distance will do little harm or good. To those who give in to dress you might read or recommend the Advice to the Methodists on that head. It would be proper to go to the root of the matter once or twice; then to let it sleep, and after a few weeks try again. A Methodist using fine or gay apparel must suffer loss in her soul, although she may retain a little life; but she never will attain an high degree either of holiness or happiness. [See Works, xi. 466-77; and letter of Feb. 26, 1776.]

To Richard Locke Date: BRISTOL, October 4, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- Your last gave me a good deal of satisfaction. I am glad your mind is more settled, [See letter of Sept. 14.] and hope you will not rest till you are not only almost but altogether a Christian. I have always observed that where there is a cheerful, clean, convenient house for preaching, there will not want hearers. It would therefore be well if such an one could be built at Highbridge. What you purpose giving towards it is considerable. If Mr. Mason [John Mason, Assistant in Devonshire. He was extensively read, especially in botany, and natural history in general. He died on March 27, 1810.] judges the rest of the money could be raised in the neighbourhood, the sooner it were done the better. I wish you all happiness; and am Your affectionate brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: BRISTOL, October 5, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--You need no apology for your writing; the more frequently and freely you write, the better. I cannot doubt but your neighbour means well; but he is a thorough enthusiast, and has hardly one clear conception of anything, natural or spiritual. Mr. Keard, from Aberdeen, and Mr. Wootton (our new writing-master, a man of an excellent spirit) are at Kingswood. But does Mr. J-- know the price?-- sixteen pounds a year. Does he know the rules of the school? Again: of what age are the children? I will take none that is above nine years old: now especially, because I will not have our children corrupted; nine of whom, together with our three maid servants, have just now experienced a gracious visitation, and are rejoicing in a pardoning God. [Wesley says, 'Fifteen of the boys gave me their names; being resolved, they said, to serve God.' see Journal, v. 388-92.] I am glad you had the courage to speak your mind on so critical an occasion. At all hazards do so still, only with all possible tenderness and respect. She is much devoted to God and has a thousand valuable and amiable qualities. There is no great fear that I should be prejudiced against one whom I have intimately known for these thirty years. [The countess of Huntingdon.] And I know what is in man; therefore I make large allowance for human weaknesses. But what you say is exactly the state of the case. They are 'jealous of their authority.' Truly there is no cause: Longe mea discrepat illi et vox et ratio. [Horace's Satires, 1. vi. 92-3: 'My language and judgement are far different from that.'] I fear and shun, not desire, authority of any kind. Only when God lays that burthen upon me, I bear it for His and the people's sake. 'Child,' said my father to me when I was young, 'you think to carry everything by dint of argument. But you will find by-and-by how very little is ever done in the world by clear reason.' [See Clarke's Wesley Family, ii. 321.] Very little indeed! It is true of almost all men, except so far as we are taught of God,-- Against experience we believe, We argue against demonstration; Pleased while our reason we deceive,

And set our judgement by our passion. Passion and prejudice govern the world, only under the name of reason. It is our part, by religion and reason joined, to counteract them all we can. It is yours in particular to do all that in you lies to soften the prejudices of those that are round about you and to calm the passions from which they spring. Blessed are the peace-makers! You judge rightly: perfect love and Christian liberty are the very same thing; and those two expressions are equally proper, being equally scriptural. 'Nay, how can they and you mean the same thing? They say you insist on holiness in the creature, on good tempers, and sin destroyed.' Most surely. And what is Christian liberty but another word for holiness? And where is this liberty or holiness if it is not in the creature? Holiness is the love of God and man, or the mind which was in Christ. Now, I trust, the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto you. And if you are holy, is not that mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus?

And are not the love of God and our neighbour good tempers? And, so far as these reign in the soul, are not the opposite tempers, worldly-mindedness, malice, cruelty, revengefulness, destroyed? Indeed, the unclean spirit, though driven out, may return and enter again; nevertheless he was driven out. I use the word 'destroyed' because St. Paul does; 'suspended' I cannot find in my Bible. 'But they say you do not consider this as the consequence of the power of Christ dwelling in us.' Then what will they not say? My very words are: 'None feel their need of Christ like these; none so entirely depend upon Him. For Christ does not give light to the soul separate from, but in and with, Himself. Hence His words are equally true of all men in whatever state of grace they are: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me: without" (or separate from) "Me ye can do nothing." For our perfection is not like that of a tree, which flourishes by the sap derived from its own root; but like that of a branch, which, united to the vine, bears fruit, but severed from it is "dried up and withered."' At length veris vincor ['I am conquered by the truth.']: I am constrained to believe (what I would not for a long time) these are not the objections of judgement, but of passion; they do not spring from the head, but the heart. Whatever I say, it will be all one. They will find fault because I say it. There is implicit envy at my power (so called), and a jealousy rising therefrom. Hence prejudice in a thousand forms; hence objections springing up like mushrooms. And, while those causes remain, they will spring up, whatever I can do or say. However, keep thyself pure; and then there need be no strangeness between you and, dear Joseph, Your affectionate brother.

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON, October 13, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--You are quite right. If a man preach like an angel, he will do little good without exact discipline. I am glad honest William Hodgson has been of use; and hope you have made him and his brother friends. I will trust you for letting any place be six or eight weeks without preaching. Let this evil be removed, and the congregations will increase on Wednesdays as well as Sundays. Pray warn your young man continually (and yourself), 'Not too long or too loud!' I am right glad honest R. Roberts has preached at the Cross. 'Go thou and do likewise.' I leave both the vicar and the curate in your hands. I have no concern with them. I let them drop. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Matthew Lowes Date: LONDON, October 13, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Health you shall have, if health be best: if not, sickness will be a greater blessing. I am glad you have Dr. Wilson near. A more skilful man, I suppose, is not in England. If you should continue weak (as I did from November to March), good is the will of the Lord. You are not a superannuated preacher; but you are a supernumerary. I believe one of your boys is rejoicing in the love of God.--I am, with love to Sister Lowes, dear Matthew, Your affectionate brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: LONDON, November 16, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--To see even the superscription of a letter from you always gives me pleasure. I am glad you are still waiting for the kingdom of God: although as yet you are rather in the state of a servant than of a child. But it is a blessed thing to be even a servant of God! You shall never have cause to be ashamed of His service. What I peculiarly advise is, that you will never omit private duties, whatever hurry you may be in, and however dull and dry your soul may be: still they shall not be without a blessing. And therein you will receive power against that temptation, which to your tender spirit may be the most dangerous of any. On Sunday I am to preach a funeral sermon for that blessed man Mr. Whitefield at the Tabernacle and at Tottenham Court Chapel. [See next letter.] If it is an help or comfort to you, write often to, my dear Nancy, Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Woodhouse Date: LONDON, November 18, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--It always gives me pleasure to hear from you, and to know that your soul prospers; so does the work of God in various places, and I hope in Lincolnshire. It certainly will if Mr. Ellis is exact in discipline. It is sure none is a member of a Methodist Society that has not a ticket. This is a necessary thing; but it is only a small one. The great point is to conform to the Bible method of salvation--to have the mind which was in Christ, and to walk as Christ walked. I hope all your three preachers insist upon this, which is the very essence of Christian perfection. And why should note my dear friend, in spite of a thousand temptations, experience this every day? This morning I am to preach Mr. Whitefield's funeral sermon at the chapel in Tottenham Court Road and at the Tabernacle in the evening. It is true it will be impossible, humanly speaking, for my voice to fill either of those places; especially if it is as full as a beehive, and consequently as hot as an oven. But nothing is impossible with God. Let us trust Him, and He will do all things well!--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Walter Churchey Date: LONDON, November 29, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--You have done well in showing your respect to the memory of that blessed man. His works shall follow him, and his name will be had in remembrance unto many generations, were it only for that excellent institution the Orphan House in Georgia. I understand from our common friend, Mr. Bold, [See letter of May 6, 1774, to Charles Wesley.] that your situation is critical indeed. But what have Mr. Thomas and you to do but to continue instant in prayer? Then, suppose that your eye is single, that you simply pursue the glory of God in the good of souls, He will from time to time clear up all difficulties and make plain the way before your face.--I am Your affectionate brother.

I find no such sin as legality in the Bible: the very use of the term speaks an Antinomian. I defy all liberty but liberty to love and serve God, and fear no bondage but bondage to sin. Sift that text to the bottom, and it will do the business of poor H--and all his disciples: 'God sent His own Son in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.' Justitia legis, justitia legalis! ['The righteousness of the law is legal righteousness.'] Here is legality indeed! I am glad you come a little nearer the good old Emperor's advice, Thn twn bibliwn diyan ripte. [Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, II. sect. 3: 'Throw away that thirst for books.' See letter of March 14, 1756] That thirst is the symptom of an evil disease; and crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops. [Horace's Odes, II. ii. 13; 'His own indulgence makes the dreadful dropsy grow.'] What is the real value of a thing but the price it will bear in eternity? Let no study swallow up or entrench upon the hours of private prayer. Nil tanti. ['Nothing is of so much importance.'] Simplify both religion and every part of learning as much as possible. Be all alive to God, and you will be useful to men!--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, January 7, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--I am surprised at nothing. When persons are governed by passion rather than reason, we can expect little good. I cannot see that there was anything blameable in your behaviour. You could not do or say less with a clear conscience. I suppose you have: given Mr. Fletcher a plain account of what has passed; although he will hardly be able to set things right. Which way do you think to steer your course now You are welcome to stay at Kingswood till you are better provided for. I shall write for Mr. Mather [Alexander Mather, then Assistant in the Bristol Circuit. See Wesley's veterans, ii. 107.] to go into Brecknockshire. You may always be sure of any service which is in the power of, dear Joseph, Your affectionate brother.

You will shortly have a trial of another kind. Mr. De Courcy purposes to set out for Edinburgh in a few days. He was from a child a member of one of our Societies in the South of Ireland. There he received remission of sins, and was for some time groaning for full redemption. But when he came to Dublin, [Passing through Trinity College.] the Philistines were upon him and soon prevailed over him. Quickly he was convinced that 'there is no perfection,' and that 'all things depend on absolute, unchangeable decrees.' At first he was exceedingly warm upon these heads; now he is far more calm. His natural temper, I think, is good: he is open, friendly, and generous. He has also a good understanding, and is not unacquainted with learning, though not deeply versed therein. He has no disagreeable person, a pleasing address, and is a lively as well as a sensible preacher. Now, when you add to this that he is quite new and very young, you may judge how he will be admired and caressed! 'Surely such a preacher as this never was in Edinburgh before! Mr. Whitefield himself was not to compare with him! What an angel of a man!' Now, how will a raw, inexperienced youth be able to encounter this If there be not the greatest of miracles to preserve him, will it not turn his brain And may he not then do far more hurt than either Mr. Whitefield or Mr. Townsend [See letters of Aug. 1-3, 1767, and Aug. 19, 1770.] did Will he not prevent your friend from 'going on to perfection,' or thinking of any such thing Nay, may he not shake you also He would, but that the God whom you serve is able to deliver you. At present, indeed, he is in an exceedingly loving spirit. But will that continue long There will be danger on the one hand if it does; there will be danger on the other if it does not. It does not appear that any great change has been wrought in our neighbours by Mr. Whitefield's death. He had fixed the prejudice so deep that even he himself was not able to remove it; yet our congregations have increased exceedingly and the work of God increases on every side. I am glad you use more exercise.

I am glad you use more exercise. It is good for both body and soul. As soon as Mr. De Courcy is come, I shall be glad to hear how the prospect opens. [See letter of Feb. 26 to her.] You will then need a larger share of the wisdom from above; and I trust you will write with all openness to, my dear Lady, Your ever affectionate servant.

To Philothea Briggs Date: LONDON, January 25, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR PHILLY,--As you desire a few directions with regard to the improvement of your mind, I will set down just what occur to me at present. Only, as my business is great and my time is short, I cannot stay to explain them at large. All the knowledge you want is comprised in one book--the Bible. When you understand this, you will know enough. I advise you, therefore, to begin every day (before or after private prayer) with reading a portion more or less of the Old or New Testament, or of both if you have time, together with the Notes, which may lead you by the hand into suitable meditation. After breakfast you may read in order the volumes of Sermons and the other practical books which we have published, more or less at a time (as other business permits) with meditation and prayer. Young, Milton, and the Moral and Sacred Poems you may read chiefly in the afternoons. Whatever you write, you should write in the forenoons. But learn to write sloping, not leaning upon your breast. Take care never to read or write too long a time. That is not conducive either to bodily or spiritual health. If I can be of use to you in anything else, tell me; you know you may speak freely to, my dear Philly, Yours affectionately.

To the Editor of 'Lloyd's Evening Post' Date: LONDON, February 26, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- SIR,--The editor of a monthly publication pompously called the Gospel Magazine, Mr. Romaine, has violently fallen upon one and another who did not knowingly give him any provocation. And whereas in other magazines the accused has liberty to answer for himself, it is not so here: this gentleman will publish only the charge, but not the defence. What can a person thus injuriously treated do To publish pamphlets on every head would not answer the end; for the answer would not come into near so many hands as the objections. Is there, then, a better way than to appeal to candid men in one of the public papers By which means the antidote will operate both as widely and as speedily as the poison. This method, therefore, I take at last, after delaying as long as I could with innocence. In that magazine for last month there is a warm attack upon my sermon on the death of Mr. Whitefield. The first charge is against the text: 'Let me die the death of the righteous.' 'How improper,' says Mr. Romaine, 'to apply the words of a mad prophet to so holy a man as Mr. Whitefield!' 'Improper'! See how doctors differ! I conceive nothing can possibly be more proper. If Mr. Romaine did indeed tell his congregation, some of whom disliking his attacking my poor text before, 'Let who will be vexed, I do not care; I will not justify Balaam while I live'; yet others imagine nothing could be more suitable than for Balaam junior to use the words of his forefather; especially as he did not apply them to Mr. Whitefield, but to himself. Surely a poor reprobate may without offence wish to die like one of the elect. I dare say every one understood me to mean this the moment he heard the text; if not, the very hymn I sung showed to whom I applied the words,-- O that without a lingering groan I might the welcome word receive, My body with my charge lay down, And cease at once to work and live!

To Mary Bishop Date: BRISTOL, March 8, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MISS BISHOP,--The advice which Mr. Mather gave you was good; and, indeed, the very best that could be given. Bear your cross, and it will bear you; but still deal faithfully with your sisters. And warn them all, both together and singly, of that snare into which they have so often fallen. If need be, Mr. Mather too must speak to them and enlarge upon the same head. In praying with the children, you have only to ask for those things which you are sensible they most want, and that in the most plain, artless, and simple language which you can devise. You will have other trials when that well-meaning (though not always well-judging) woman [See letters of Nov. 27, 1770, and May 27, 1771.] comes to Bath. If she continues to show scraps of my letters, I shall be obliged to give you a copy of the whole. Be humble, zealous, active.-- I am, my dear Miss Bishop, Your affectionate brother. PS.--On Monday I am to set out towards Dublin. A letter directed thither will be sent to me in any part of the kingdom.

To Mary Stokes Date: CHESTER, March 17, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MISS STOKES,--I almost wonder, Have I found another Jenny Cooper [See letter of Sept. 11, 1765.] I take knowledge of her spirit in you. I doubt not God has begun a good work in your heart. He has given you a taste of the powers of the world to come. He has delivered you from the vain expectation of finding happiness in the things of earth; and I trust you will be entangled no more in that snare. You know where true joys are to be found. Now stand fast in that beginning of liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. Yet do not stand still. This is only the dawn of day: the Sun of Righteousness will rise upon you in quite another manner than you have hitherto experienced. And who knows how soon Is He not near Are not all things now ready What hinders you from receiving Him now If thou canst believe.' Here is all the bar: only unbelief keeps out the mighty blessing! How many things have you been enabled to overcome since I saw you in the great garden But do not leave my poor Molly Jones behind,-- not that you can stay for her,--but bring her on with you. I have much hopes that nothing will stop Sally James or Miss Flower. [Mr. Stokes and Captain and Mrs. James were intimate friends of Charles Wesley. See letters of Feb. 11, 1772, and Nov. 29, 1774.] O bear one another's burthens! Then shall you be not almost but altogether Christians! Then shall you fulfil the joy of, my dear Miss Stokes, Yours affectionately. While I am in Ireland you need only direct to Dublin.

To Damaris Perronet Date: DUBLIN, March 30, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- I do not wonder you should find such a nearness to Miss Bolton. She is an amiable young woman. When she was with us last, I marked her every word and almost every meaning; but I could find nothing to reprove. There was in all her actions sanctity and love. God sent her to you in an acceptable time. She came with a good message, and blessed is she that believed; for there shall be a performance of those things which were spoken unto her. He will water you every moment, and on this depends the continuance of the great salvation. It will surely continue if you watch and pray; and yet not without temptation. I expect temptations will come about you Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the vales, But what are temptations to you He giveth occasions of fighting that you may conquer. If there is no fight, there is no victory. There is no general rule whereby we can always determine whether a thought come from a good or an evil spirit; but on all particular occasions we may plead that promise, If a man be willing to do My will, he shall know of the doctrine,' or suggestion, by the light then given, whether it be of God.' Your affectionate brother. The following three undated letters to Miss Perronet may here be inserted:-- I am sensible you have many trials, not only such as are grievous to flesh and blood, but such as oppose those desires which are not from nature but the Spirit of God; and if you chose for yourself, you ought not to choose the situation you are now in. If you did, it would be a great hurt to your soul. It would hinder the work of God in you. But you do not choose for yourself; God chooses for you: and He cannot err; so that you may safely say,-- I'll trust my great Physician's skill: What He prescribes can ne'er be ill.

That remarkable sinking of spirits did not necessarily imply any preceding unfaithfulness. It might possibly be owing to the body. At such a season you have nothing to do but simply to give yourself up into the hands of God. Tell Him, Lord, I am Thine. I will be Thine. I desire to be Thine alone for ever. Thou shalt answer for me. Keep Thou Thine own; and let me do or suffer just as seemeth Thee good.' What can hurt us if our eye be single Look forward! Holiness and heaven are before you. You have no need to determine whether your heart is or is not made new till the witness speaks within you and puts it beyond all doubt. You are led in a rough way: it is a safe one. A more smooth way would be more dangerous. Your earnestly desiring the most excellent means of grace is neither sin nor infirmity. It is right to say, My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the courts of the house of my God.' Read the 84th Psalm, and try if your heart answers to it. At present exercise all the faith you have, and it will be increased day by day. Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Stokes Date: DUBLIN, April 4, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR MISS STOKES,--There is a sweetness and friendliness in your spirit which is exceeding agreeable to me. And you have an openness withal which makes it the more pleasing. Let nothing rob you of this;--although you cannot retain it without a good deal of resolution; for the example of all the world is against you, even of the religious world, which is full of closeness and reserve, if not of disguise also. How will you do then to retain that artless simplicity which almost every one disclaims Nay, this is not all; you must likewise expect to be yourself deceived more or less. You will believe persons to be sincere who will abuse your confidence, who will say much and mean nothing. But let not my dear maid copy after them; let them have all the artifice to themselves. Still let not mercy or truth forsake you, but write them upon the table of your heart. Only know to whom you speak, and then you cannot be too free. Open the window in your breast. I pray never be afraid of writing too large letters: you must not measure yours by mine; for I have a little more business than you. Your weakness and tenderness of constitution, without great care, may prove a snare to you. Some allowance must be made on that account; but the danger is of making too much. Steer the middle way. So far as you are able, rejoice to endure hardship, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ; and deny yourself every pleasure which you are not divinely conscious prepares you for taking pleasure in God. I am glad you can converse freely with Sally Flower. Let her not lose her rising in the morning. Surely she and you together might overrule Molly Jones's Irish reason for not meeting, I said I would not.' I feel much for poor Sally James. Perhaps she will outrun many of you by-and-by.-- My dear Miss Stokes, Your affectionate brother.

To Elizabeth Briggs Date: ATHLONE, April 14, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--You may be assured that I am always well pleased to hear from you and that I shall never think your letters too long. Always tell me whatever is in your heart, and the more freely the better. Otherwise it would be hardly possible to give you the advice you may want from time to time. As soon as you had your armour on, it was fit that it should be proved; so God prepared for you the occasions of fighting, that you might conquer and might know both your own weakness and His strength. Each day will bring just temptation enough and power enough to conquer it; and, as one says, temptations, with distinct deliverances from them, avail much.' The unction of the Holy One is given to believers for this very end--to enable them to distinguish (which otherwise would be impossible) between sin and temptation. And this you will do, not by any general rule, but by listening to Him on all particular occasions and by your consulting with those that have experience in the ways of God. Undoubtedly both you and Philothea and my dear Miss Perronet are now more particularly called to speak for God. In so doing you must expect to meet with many things which are not pleasing to flesh and blood. But all is well. So much the more will you be conformed to the death of Christ. Go on in His name and in the power of His might. Suffer and conquer all things.--I am, my dear Betsy, Yours affectionately.

To Ann Bolton Date: TULLAMORE, April 15, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You are a little unkind. Why do you not send me, as I desired, a particular account of all that concerns you Where you are How you are in soul and in body Do you stand fast in that glorious liberty wherewith Christ has made you free Has He bruised the reasoning devil under your feet and taught you simply to hang upon Him Are you not ashamed to confess Him before men Are you bold, are you active in His cause Where have you been and what have you done since you left that lovely family at Shoreham [The Perronets. See letter of March 30 to Damaris Perronet] You did love me a little. Do you still Do you think of me sometimes If so, do not delay writing. Let me be an helper of your joy. And I pray take care of your health. In this respect I am often jealous over you. I think you never will neglect your soul; but I am afraid lest you should neglect your body. And you know not how great pain anything befalling you gives to, my dear Nancy, Your ever affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Pywell Date: KILKENNY, April 23, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I hardly knew whether you were dead or alive, having not heard from you for so long a season. Yesterday I received yours of March 28, and am glad to hear you are not moved from your steadfastness. Certainly it is not the will of our Lord that you should; His gifts are without repentance. Do you find no decay in faith Do you as clearly as ever see Him who is invisible Is your hope as lively as at first Do you still taste of the powers of the world to come And can you say in as strong a sense as ever, I nothing want beneath, above, Happy in a Saviour's love Do you feel no anger at any time no pride no will but what is subordinate to the will of God And have you the witness in yourself that all your ways please Him Then expect to see greater things than these, for there is no end of His goodness; and do not forget, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: BANDON, May 2, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I wanted much to know how your soul prospered. I could not doubt but the god of this world, the enemy of all righteousness, would use every means to move you from your steadfastness. Blessed be God, you are not moved! that all his labour has been in vain! Hitherto hath God helped you; and, fear not, He will help you to the end. He gives you health as a token for good; He can trust you with it while you give Him your heart. And O stand fast in the glorious liberty wherewith He has made you free! You are not called to desire suffering. Innocent nature is averse from pain; only, as soon as His will appears, yours is to sink down before it. Hark! what does He say to you now Lovest thou Me more than these' more than these,-- Wealth, honour, pleasure, or what else This short-enduring world can give Then feed My lambs,' carry the little ones in thy bosom, gently lead those that are great with young. Be not weary of well doing; in due time thou shalt reap if thou faint not, &c. &c. Yours most affectionately.

The general rule, not to correspond but with those who have both grace and understanding,' admits of several exceptions, in favour of a few who want one of them or the other or both. [See letter of May 28.] While I am in Ireland you may direct to me at Dublin. Be not afraid of writing too long letters. The longer the more agreeable to, my dear Philly, Yours affectionately.

To Christopher Hopper Date: CORK, May 5, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--The work is to be delivered in weekly and monthly numbers; but it is of most use to have portable volumes. [The first collected edition of Wesley's Works, published in thirty-two 12mo vols. 1771-4. see Green's Bibliography, No. 276.] I have corrected as much as will make nine or ten out of the thirty volumes. All the verse works I have corrected in conjunction with the preachers, and left the corrected copy at London. If I live to finish the correction of my own works, I shall then revise the Christian Library. If ever you should spend a twelvemonth in this kingdom, you would not repent of your labour. Here is a people ready prepared for the Lord.--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Marston Date: CORK, May 6, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I am always pleased to hear from you, and expect to hear nothing but good. Conflicts and various exercises of soul are permitted; these also are for good. If Satan has desired to have you to sift you as wheat, this likewise is for your profit; you will be purified in the fire, not consumed, and strengthened unto all longsuffering with joyfulness. Does Mr. Clough [James Clough was then stationed in the Staffordshire Circuit. He began to travel in 1760, and after ten or twelve years settled at Leicester, where he died about 1795.] or any other of the preachers speak against perfection or give occasion to them that trouble you You would do well to speak to any one that does, that you may come to a better understanding. So far as in you lies, let not the good that is in you be evil spoken of. But beware lest the unkind usage of your brethren betray you into any kind of guile or false prudence. Still let all your conversation be in simplicity and godly sincerity. Be plain, open, downright, without disguise. Do you always see God and feel His love Do you pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks I hope you do not forget to pray for, my dear Molly, Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: LIMERICK, May 15, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Whenever there is a dependence, though frequently secret and unobserved, on any outward thing, it is the mercy of God which disappoints us of our hope, that we may be more sensibly convinced, Neither is he that planteth anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.' From time to time you must find many difficulties and perplexities that none but God can clear. But can He clear them That is enough. Then He surely will. This is the very use of that anointing which we have from God. It is to teach us of all things, to clear up a thousand doubts and perplexities which no human wisdom could do. This was given you in the case of your child; and when that came, temptation spake not again. This is never more needful than with regard to anger; because there is an anger which is not sinful, a disgust at sin which is often attended with much commotion of the animal spirits: and I doubt whether we can well distinguish this from sinful anger but by that light from heaven. I really hope John Christian will do well: within these two years he is improved exceedingly. If our sisters miss you any more, there is but one way-- you must go or send after them. Be not idle; neither give way to voluntary humility. You were not sent to Waterford for nothing, but to strengthen the things that remain.' It would be a strange thing if I should pass a day without praying for you. By this means at least we may reach each other; and there may be a still increasing union between you and Your affectionate brother.

11. But why do you not prove your mission by miracles' This likewise you repeat over and over. But I have not leisure to answer the same stale objection an hundred times. I therefore give this also the same answer which I gave many years ago: 12. What is it you would have us prove by miracles that the doctrines we preach are true This is not the way to prove that. We prove the doctrines we preach by Scripture and reason. Is it (1) That A B was for many years without God in the world, a common swearer, a drunkard, a Sabbath-breaker Or (2) That he is not so now Or (3) That he continued so till he heard us preach, and from that time was another man Not so. The proper way to prove these facts is by the testimony of competent witnesses; and these witnesses are ready whenever required to give full evidence of them. Or would you have it proved by miracles (4) That this was not done by our own power or holiness that God only is able to raise the dead, those who are dead in trespasses and sins Nay, if you "hear not Moses and the Prophets" and Apostles on this head, neither will you believe "though one rose from the dead." It is therefore utterly unreasonable and absurd to require or expect the proof of miracles in questions of such a kind as are always decided by proofs of quite another nature.' [A Farther Appeal, Part III. See Works, Viii. 233-4.] If you will take the trouble of reading that little tract, you will find more upon the same head. 13. If you say, But those who lay claim to extraordinary inspiration and revelation ought to prove that claim by miracles,' we allow it. But this is not our case. We lay claim to no such thing. The Apostles did lay claim to extraordinary inspiration, and accordingly proved their claim by miracles. And their blessed Master claimed to be Lord of all, the eternal Son of God. Well, therefore, might He be expected to do the works which no other man did,' especially as He came to put an end to that dispensation which all men knew to be of God. See, then, how idly and impertinently you require the Methodists to work miracles because Christ and His Apostles did.'

20. 'Do not credit those who tell you that we must judge of our regeneration by sensible impulses, impressions, ardours, and ecstasies' (page 19). Who tells them so Not I; not Mr. Bourke; not any in connexion with me. Sir, you yourself either do or ought to know the contrary. Whether, therefore, these are or are not 'signs of the Spirit' (page 20) see you to it; it is nothing to me, any more than whether the Spirit does or does not 'show itself in groanings and sighings, in fits and starts.' I never affirmed it did; and when you represent me as so doing, you are a sinner against God and me and your own soul. 21. If you should see good to write anything more about the Methodists, I beg you would first learn who and what they are. Be so kind as at least to read over my Journals, and the Appeals to Men of Reason and Religion. Then you will no longer 'run' thus 'uncertainly,' or 'fight as one that beateth the air.' But I would rather hope you will not fight at all. For whom would you fight with If you will fight, it must be with your friends; for such we really are. We wish all the same happiness to you which we wish to our own souls. We desire no worse for you than that you may 'present' yourself 'a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God'; that you may watch over the souls committed to your charge as he 'that must give account'; and that in the end you may receive 'the crown which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to all that love His appearing!'--So prays, reverend sir, Your affectionate brother.

To Elizabeth Briggs Date: CASTLEBAR, May 31, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--You judge exceeding right: as yet you are but a little child, just a babe in the pure love of Christ. As a little child, hang upon Him, and simply expect a supply of all your wants. In this respect reasoning profits you nothing; indeed, it is just opposite to believing, whereby you hearken to the inward voice, which says, 'Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.' Undoubtedly it would be a cross to you to declare what God has done for your soul; nay, and afterwards Satan would accuse you on the account, telling you, 'You did it out of pride.' Yea, and some of your sisters would blame you, and perhaps put the same construction upon it. Nevertheless, if you do it with a single eye, it will be well pleasing to God. Your letters will be always agreeable to, my dear Betsy, Yours affectionately.

What you feel is certainly a degree of anger, but not of sinful anger. There ought to be in us (as there was in our Lord) not barely a perception in the understanding that this or that is evil, but also an emotion of mind, a sensation or passion suitable thereto. This anger at sin, accompanied with love and compassion to the sinner, is so far from being itself a sin, that it is rather a duty. St. Paul's word is, 'not easily provoked' to any paroxysm of anger: neither are you; nevertheless, I suppose there is in you, when you feel a proper anger at sin, an hurrying motion of the blood and spirits, which is an imperfection, and will be done away.

To Mrs. Crosby Date: LONDONDERRY, June 13, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Reading a chapter or part of one and making short observations may be as useful as any way of speaking. I doubt whether at that particular time it was advisable for you to go to Huddersfield. But it is past. All that you can do now (if you have not done it already) is to write lovingly to Mr. A-- [John Atlay was stationed at Birstall.] and simply inform him of those facts, concerning which he was misinformed before. It is not improbable he may then see things clearer; but if he do not, you will have delivered your own soul. And whatever farther is said of you is your cross. Bear it, and it will bear you.-- I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Ann Bolton Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- LONDON, [Wesley was in Londonderry when he wrote this and the next letter. See Journal, v. 419n.] June 15, 1771. MY DEAR SISTER,--A letter from you is always welcome; but never more so than now, as this is the time wherein it seems good to our Lord to try you as by fire. Fear nothing; only believe. He is with you in the fire so that the flames shall not kindle upon you. O how will you praise Him by-and-by for His wise and gracious visitation! He is purging away all your dross, that you may be a vessel meet for the Master's use. Happy are they that do His will, and happier still they that suffer it. But, whatever you suffer, cast not away that confidence which hath great recompense of reward. In order to keep it, do not reason, but simply look up to Him that loves you. Tell Him as a little child all your wants. Look up, and your suit is made: He hears the cry of your heart. And tell all that troubles you to Yours affectionately.

By that interpret those ten lines, and you will understand them better; although I should think that any one might see even without this help that the lines in question do not refer to the condition of obtaining, but of continuing in, the favour of God. But whether the sentiment contained in those lines be right or wrong, and whether it be well or ill expressed, the gospel which I now preach God does still confirm by new witnesses in every place; perhaps never so much in this kingdom as within these last three months. Now, I argue from glaring, undeniable fact; God cannot bear witness to a lie. The gospel, therefore, which He confirms must be true in substance. There may be opinions maintained at the same time which are not exactly true; and who can be secure from these Perhaps I thought myself so once: when I was much younger than I am now, I thought myself almost infallible; but I bless God I know myself better now. To be short: such as I am, I love you well. You have one of the first places in my esteem and affection. And you once had some regard for me. But it cannot continue if it depends upon my seeing with your eyes or on my being in no mistake. What, if I was in as many as Mr. Law himself If you were, I should love you still, provided your heart was still right with God. My dear friend, you seem not to have well learned yet the meaning of those words, which I desire to have continually written on my heart, 'Whosoever doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother and sister and mother.'--I am, my dear Lady, Your affectionate.

To Thomas Wride Date: ARMAGH, June 23, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--I said before, we will pay the five pounds to Brother Littledale at the Conference. If T. Colbeck had done as I ordered, it would have been paid long ago. Then also we will make up what Brother Garnet wants. If he desires it, he may come to the Conference in your stead. If not, send your account of things by R. Seed. Will not the Yearly Subscription pay both those debts If there be an overplus, it may lessen the debt on Whitehaven house. I desire that neither any preacher of ours nor any member of our Society would on any presence go to an Anabaptist meeting. It is the way to destroy the Society. This we have experienced over and over. Let all that were of the Church keep to the Church.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Hall Date: CLONMAIN, June 24, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR PATTY,--You may boldly say, 'Health I shall have if health be best'; although in a natural way we are not to expect much of it when we are got on the wrong side sixty. So much the more surprising is it that I find more health at sixty-eight than I did at eight-and-twenty. I have far less pain, less sickness at stomach, and fewer bodily infirmities. So that I have a good hope I shall not live to be useless, but rather My body with my charge lay down, And cease at once to work and live. It signifies very little whether the time we creep about upon the earth be a little longer or shorter. Only let us see to that,-- Be they many or few, My days are His due, And they all are devoted to Him! It seems my sister Harper [Mrs. Harper died this year in her eightieth year. See letter of June 30, 1743.] will go out just as a lamp for want of oil. Well, let you and I live to-day.--I am, dear Patty, Your ever affectionate friend and Brother.

I follow after truth; and wherever I find it, I not only embrace it, but own it in the face of the sun. If any will show me this is not the truth, I will retract it. But let us consider it part by part. (1) 'We were dreadfully afraid of the word merit.' None can deny this. (2) 'We are rewarded (at the Last Day) according to our works.' Neither can this be denied. (3) 'Yea, because of our works.' Witness Abraham, the grand pattern of believers: 'Because thou hast done this thing, . . . in blessing I will bless thee' (Gen. xxii. 16-17). (4) 'How differs this from secundum merita operum as our works deserve ' I say again, I cannot split this hair. Whoever can has my free leave. And afterwards let him split his throat with crying out, 'Oh dreadful heresy!' '7. The grand objection to one of the preceding propositions is drawn from matter of fact. God does in fact justify those who by their own confession neither feared God nor wrought righteousness. Is not this an exception to the general rule It is a doubt if God makes any exception at all.' But methinks I would rather answer, We are sliding away from our question, which is not, how we gain, but how retain the favour of God. '8. Does not talking of a justified or a sanctified state tend to mislead men almost naturally leading them to trust in what was done in one moment Whereas we are every hour and every moment pleasing or displeasing to God according to our works, according to the whole of our inward tempers and our outward behaviour.' Perhaps the former part of this sentence is a little too strong. Instead of almost naturally I would say very frequently. But the latter contains a truth of the deepest importance, and one that cannot be too much inculcated. Every hour God is more or less pleased with us according to the whole of our inward and outward behaviour. If any candid person desires it, I am ready to explain myself more largely on any of the preceding heads.--I am Your affectionate servant.

To Robert Costerdine Date: DUBLIN, July 11, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--If you send the accounts of the money, number of people, and other circumstances, it will be sufficient for Brother Linnell to come; for the circuit should not be left vacant. If you judge it best, divide the money in the manner you mention. I believe you will be either in Chester or Liverpool Circuit. Be all alive, and do all you can for a good Master.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Miss March Date: DUBLIN, July 13, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- As long as we dwell in an house of clay it is liable to affect the mind; sometimes by dulling or darkening the understanding, and sometimes more directly by damping and depressing the soul and sinking it into distress and heaviness. In this state doubt or fear of one kind or another will naturally arise. And the prince of this world, who well knows whereof we are made, will not fail to improve the occasion, in order to disturb, though he cannot pollute, the heart which God hath cleansed from all unrighteousness. I rejoice with you concerning poor Martin Madan. [See reference to his mother in Tyerman's Wesley, ii. 284.] Persons who are eminently dutiful to their parents hardly ever fail of receiving a reward even in the present world. My call to America is not yet clear. [See letters of Dec. 14, 1770, and Aug. 14, 1771 (to Philothea Briggs).] I have no business there as long as they can do without me. At present I am a debtor to the people of England and Ireland, and especially to them that believe. You have a delicate part to act with regard to Philly. [See previous letter and that of Sept. 13.] There are so many great defects in her natural temper that a deal of grace will be required to make her altogether a Christian; neither will grace shine in her as it would in others. You have need carefully to encourage what is of God in her and tenderly to reprove what is of nature. I am afraid for P--D-- , [Damaris Perronet.] lest she should be less zealous of good works than she was formerly. I doubt she has at present little encouragement thereto.

In the 13th of [the First of] Corinthians you have the height and depth of genuine perfection; and it is observable St. Paul speaks all along of the love of our neighbour, flowing indeed from the love of God. Mr. De Renty is an excellent pattern of this. But many things in his fellowship with God will not be explained till the Holy Spirit explains them by writing them on your heart. That darkness which often clouds your understanding I take to be quite preternatural. I believe the spirit of darkness spreads a mist over your mind, so far as he is permitted; and that the best remedy is simply to look up to God, and the cloud will flee away at His presence.--I am, &c.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: DUBLIN, July 20, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I am much pleased to hear so good an account of John Christian. If I was resolved to understand all God's dispensations, I should embrace his opinion; because it in a manner accounts for some things which otherwise are unaccountable. But this I do not expect; I am content to understand exceeding little while I am in the body. What He does I know not now; it is enough that I shall know hereafter. Our business now is to love and obey; knowledge is reserved for eternity. My chief objection to Milton's doctrine of Election is that I cannot reconcile it to the words of St. Peter, which manifestly refer to the eternal state of men: 'God is no respecter of persons.' Now, how can we allow this, if we believe He places one man, as it were, suspended between heaven and hell, while He fixes another, ere ever he is born, under an absolute impossibility of missing heaven I am well pleased you see some reason to hope well of Mr. Thompson. Speak closely to him. He has a strong, cultivated understanding, and would make a shining Christian. If he continues serious, he will not long be pleased with his former company; they will grow tasteless, nay irksome. It is not material whether this or that infirmity or defect be consistent with this or that gift of God. Without reasoning about this, it is your part simply to spread all your wants before Him who loves you; and He will richly supply them all! Your ever affectionate brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: DUBLIN, July 20, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--For your own satisfaction I send you this [See letter of July 10.]; but I wish you would not show it before the Conference. If the Calvinists do not or will not understand me, I understand myself. And I do not contradict anything which I have written within these thirty years. You understand me right, and express more at large the very thing I mean. I know not that any one could express it more justly in the same number of words. Poor Mr. Shirley's triumph will be short. Peace be with your spirit!--My dear sister, adieu!

To Samuel Bardsley Date: BRISTOL, August 5, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY,--I had intended you for a more distant circuit, where I believe you would have been exceeding useful. But we can hardly show tenderness enough to an aged parent. Therefore, for your mother's sake, I will alter my design, and appoint you for the Derbyshire Circuit, which you know borders on that of Manchester. Take care to walk closely with God and to exhort others so to do. Be instant in season and out of season. Encourage all to expect salvation now!--I am Your affectionate brother.

To John Hallam Date: BRISTOL, August 10, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Mr. Olivers [Thomas Olivers was Assistant in Derbyshire.] is able and willing to instruct you more particularly as to any doubts than I can do by letter. I advise you do not on any account stay from those that love God. Meantime you may see many who neither love nor fear Him in their own houses, either single or more of them together. If any refrain from our preaching because you do not go to it, it is a good reason why you should. Meantime do all the good you can to all. Any of the practical books which we have published might be of use to yourself and give you a farther opportunity of being useful to others. [See letter to Samuel Bardsley on Jan. 29, 1773: 'John Hallam is a good man, though a queer one; I am in hopes he will do good.'] Perhaps it might answer your design if you taught school six or seven hours a day.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: PEYBROKE, August 25, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Now you make me amends. Your affectionate letter gave me unspeakable satisfaction. I am glad you have been with Sister Iles. She is a jewel. Is she going to be married or not I am glad likewise that you have better health; surely He will withhold from you no good thing! But I cannot tell you how glad I am that your love is not grown cold. Perhaps our wise Lord may sometimes make that love a balance against the temptations you speak of. You certainly have need to watch in all things; otherwise you would suffer loss. And you have need to be always active and zealous for God, forgetting yourself and simply following Him. But one caution I would give my dear friend. Do not spend too much time at once in any company. An hour at a time is generally enough; and if we spend more, it is less useful. O how I long for patience to have its perfect work in you, that you may be perfect in Him, and lacking nothing! I will pardon your past delay only on one condition, that you quickly write again. Let not your works of mercy rob you of time for private prayer; and fail not then especially to remember, my dear Nancy, Yours affectionately.

To Thomas Wride Date: BRISTOL, September 7, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--The preachers appointed [The Conference met at Bristol on Aug. 6, when these appointments were made.] for Whitehaven Circuit are John Mason and William Linnell. Jos. Garnet is appointed for Sheffield; and Thomas Wride Assistant in the Armagh Circuit. Many of the people there are much alive. Probably you may cross over to Newry, which brings you just to the spot. Let Brother Mason and Linnell follow the blow at Keswick. I am glad to hear so good an account of John M'Combe. [For John M'Combe's escape from a pit on fire, near Whitehaven in 1759, 'burned from head to foot, but rejoicing and praising God,' see Journal, iv. 314.] Be zealous, serious, active! Then you will save your own soul and them that hear you!--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Philothea Briggs Date: KINGSWOOD, September 13, 1771 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR PHILLY,--Your present weakness will, I hope, be an unspeakable blessing. You was in danger of having more sail than ballast, more liveliness of imagination than solid wisdom. But it seems God is correcting this defect, and giving you more steadiness of mind. [See letters of July 13, 1771, and April 12, 1772, to her.] You now see and feel what is the real worth of this poor, perishable world, and how little real happiness is to be found in all things under the sun. Meantime you are to use all probable means of recovering and confirming your health. Taking many medicines, indeed, is not a probable means: I would in no wise advise this. [See letter of Oct. 6.] But what complaint have you I always thought you had firm and vigorous health. Perhaps I may direct you to some little rules of common sense which will be of service to you. It is right to pour out our whole soul before Him that careth for us. But it is good likewise to unbosom ourselves to a friend in whom we can confide. This also is an appointed means which it generally pleases God to bless. Whenever, therefore, you have opportunity, speak all that is in your heart to, my dear Philly, Yours affectionately.

To Ann Bolton Date: BRISTOL, September 16, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- Nancy, Nancy! Why do you forget your friends Why do you tempt me to be angry I tell you again you will lose your labour: I can't be angry at you. You are marvellously slow in writing. Come, I hope you will make me amends (if you are well) by a long letter. I purpose, if God permit, to be at Wallingford on Monday, October 14; at Witney on Wednesday and Thursday; at High Wycombe on Friday; and at London on Saturday. Do not delay to write. I want to hear how you are and what you are doing, as well as how the work of God goes on at Witney and elsewhere And how go on Brother Jaquis and his wife Peace be multiplied upon you!--My dear Nancy, adieu!

To Hannah Ball Date: PORTSMOUTH, October 4, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--The being 'sealed by the Spirit' in the full sense of the word I take to imply two things: first, the receiving the whole image of God, the whole mind which was in Christ, as the wax receives the whole impression of the seal when it is strongly and properly applied; secondly, the full assurance of hope, or a clear and permanent confidence of being with God in glory. Either of these may be given (and sometimes is, though not frequently) separate from the other. When both are joined together, then I believe they constitute that seal of the Spirit. But even this admits of various degrees. A degree of it, I trust, you have. Watch and pray! Do and suffer the whole will of Him that calleth you; and He will supply whatever is wanting.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Philothea Briggs Date: LONDON, October 6, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR PHILLY,--I commend you for not meddling with medicines, [See letter of Sept. 13.] except some of those simple ones in the Primitive Physick. Perhaps youth, with abstinence from tea and whatever else you feel hurts you, may restore your health. And, while it continues, this weakness may be of excellent use by weaning you from the love of present things. The first Appeal is a complete treatise of itself independent on the rest. This, therefore, may be given to any one without the others, which makes the expense easy. But to your friend you might give or lend them all. And if she has sense enough to read them impartially, she will learn to speak and write without ambiguity, just according to common sense. You may tell her, 'If you was doing those works, thinking to merit salvation thereby, you was quite wrong. But if you was doing them because they are the appointed way wherein we wait for free salvation, you was quite right.' But you need only send her Mr. Fletcher's Letters, and they will clear up the point sufficiently.--I always am, dear Philly, Yours affectionately.

To John Fletcher Date: LONDON, October 12, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--Returning from Bedfordshire this evening, I received your two letters and the bill. I do not propose saying anything to Mr. Shirley, at least not for the present. I am glad mine came too late to prevent your writing me the Sixth Letter, which I trust will be as useful as the others have been. Certainly it is possible to reconcile meekness, yea and kindness, with the utmost plainness of speech. But this will infallibly be termed bitterness by those who do not receive it in love. Their returning us hatred for goodwill is the cross we are called to bear. I can hardly believe what he says of Mr. Spencer, [See letter of June 20, 1770.] whose love, I verily think, is without dissimulation. But Calvinism I know to be a deadly enemy to all Christian tempers. Peace be with your spirit!--I am, dear sir, Ever yours.

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON, October 13, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Methodist preachers cannot have always accommodations fit for gentlemen. But let us look upon David Brainerd, and praise God for what we have. In the general, Yarm Circuit is one of the best in England. [See letter of Sept. 22.] The living souls make us ample amends for the inconvenient houses. I am persuaded, wherever the Assistant is earnest in the matter and has a little address and patience, the weekly contribution will answer the end. Difficulties we must expect; but by the help of God you will conquer them. If Tommy Hanson and you live till May, you may change again.--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Philothea Briggs Date: WITNEY, October 16, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR PHILLY,--It is no fault to be grieved at the unkindness of those we love: only it may go to an excess; so that we have need to watch in this, as in all things, seeing the life of man is a temptation upon earth. And it is no fault not to grieve for the censure we must often meet with for following our own conscience. Of those little ones you cannot be too tender or too careful; and as you are frequently with them alone, you may teach them many important lessons as they are able to bear them. But it requires immense patience; for you must tell them the same thing ten times over, or you do nothing. [Compare his mother's patience. See Stevenson's Wesley Family, p. 169.] An higher degree of that peace which may well be said to pass all understanding will keep, not only your heart, but all the workings of your mind (as the word properly signifies), both of your reason and imagination, from all irregular sallies. This peace will increase as your faith increases; one always keeps pace with the other. So that on this account also your continual prayer should be, 'Lord, increase my faith!' A continual desire is a continual prayer--that is, in a low sense of the word; for there is a far higher sense, such an open intercourse with God, such a close, uninterrupted communion with Him, as Gregory Lopez experienced, and not a few of our brethren and sisters now alive. One of them (a daughter of sorrow for a long time) was talking with me this morning. This you also should aspire after; as you know, He with whom we have to do is no respecter of persons. If you are writing any verses, I will give you a subject. Give me a picture of yourself: what you are at present (as you have already told me in prose), and what you wish to be. You may write in four-lined stanzas, such as those of the 'Elegy wrote in the Churchyard.' The more free you are with me the more welcome. You never yet was troublesome (and I am persuaded you never will be) to, my dear Philly, Yours affectionately.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: RYE, October 28, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--It is no wonder that finite cannot measure infinite, that man cannot comprehend the ways of God. There always will be something incomprehensible, something like Himself, in all His dispensations. We must therefore be content to be ignorant until eternity opens our understanding, particularly with regard to the reasons of His acting thus or thus. These we shall be acquainted with when in Abraham's bosom. As thinking is the act of an embodied spirit, playing upon a set of material keys, it is not strange that the soul can make but ill music when her instrument is out of tune. This is frequently the case with you; and the trouble and anxiety you then feel are a natural effect of the disordered machine, which proportionately disorders the mind. But this is not all: as long as you have to wrestle, not only with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers, wise as well as powerful, will they not serve themselves of every bodily weakness to increase the distress of the soul But let them do as they may; let our frail bodies concur with subtle and malicious spirits: yet see that you cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. 'Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.' Whereunto you have attained hold fast; and when you feel the roughest and strongest assault, when the enemy comes in like a flood, do not reason, do not (in one sense) fight with him, but sink down in the presence of your Lord, and simply look up, telling Him, 'Lord, I cannot help myself; I have neither wisdom nor strength for this war; but I am Thine, I am all Thine: undertake for me; let none pluck me out of Thine hands. Keep that safe which is committed to Thee, and preserve it unto that day.'

I am in great hopes, if we live until another Conference, John Christian will be useful as a travelling preacher: so would J-- M-- [Evidently a local preacher in Limerick.] if he had courage to break through. However, I am pleased he exercises himself a little: encourage him. I wish you would lend Mrs. Dawson [See letter of March 31, 1772.] the Appeals: take them from the book-room, and present them to her in my name. Go yourself; for I wish you to be acquainted with her. I believe they will satisfy her about the Church. She halts just as I did many years ago. Be not shy towards Brother Collins: he is an upright man. Sister L-- is already doing good in Clonmel. [See letter of July 27, 1770.] Do you correspond with her Your affectionate.

To Isaac Twycross Date: RYE, October 29, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR ISAAC,--Nothing is fixed as yet. But whatever God calls you to He will fit you for. Not, indeed, without a good measure of reproach; but so much the better. Reproach for doing our duty is an unspeakable blessing.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Philothea Briggs Date: LONDON, November 3, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR PHILLY,--I am always well pleased to see and hear from you. I answer you, more or less fully, as I have time. Neither do I know how to advise Nancy Greenwood; although I think he is free to marry. Rollin was a pious man and a fine historian. If you read one volume, you would feel whether it enlivened or deadened your soul. The same trial you may make as to serious poetry. Very probably this would enliven your soul; and certainly the volumes of Philosophy may, as Galen entitles his description of the human body, 'An Hymn to the Creator.' Temporal business need not interrupt your communion with God, though it varies the manner of it. It is certain every promise has a condition; yet that does not make the promise of none effect, but by the promise you are encouraged and enabled to fulfil the condition. You might like it better were there no condition; but that would not answer the design of Him that makes it. It is certain there are times of nearer access to God, and that it nearly imports us to improve those precious seasons. But we may find plausible objections against this, and indeed against anything. The more free you are with me, the more you oblige, my dear Philly, Yours affectionately.

To Matthew Lowes Date: NORWICH, November 10, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MATTHEW,--I am glad you was able to do so much. You should do all you can, otherwise want of exercise will not lessen but increase your disorder. It may be travelling a little may restore your strength, though as yet you are not able to travel much. Certainly there is no objection to your making balsam while you are not considered as a travelling preacher. --I am, with love to Sister Lowes, Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: CANTERBURY, December 3, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I did believe Brother Collins [See letter of Oct. 28.] would be of use to you and you may be of use to him: speak to each other without reserve, and then you will seldom meet in vain. Thrust him out to visit the whole Society (not only those that can give him meat and drink) from house to house, according to the plan laid down in the Minutes of Conference: then he will soon see the fruit of his labour. I hope he is not ashamed to preach full salvation receivable now by faith. This is the word which God will always bless, and which the devil peculiarly hates; therefore he is constantly stirring up both his own children and the weak children of God against it. All that God has already given you hold fast. But expect to see greater things than these. Your affectionate brother.

To Thomas Simpson Date: CHATHAM, December 12, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--I make no doubt at all but God will give you strength according to your day. I found John Glascock [Is this John Glascott who was converted at the school in April 1768, and became a preacher in 1782-3 He may have come from Cardiff. See letter of May 13, 1764.] in want of everything; I sent him to Kingswood, that he might want nothing. But, since he is neither thankful to God nor man, send him back again as soon as you please. Whenever we can find a young man that can and will conscientiously observe the rules of the house, you shall have him directly. Is the young man of Coleford such an one If so, take him without delay.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate brother.

But if you had made that promise ten times, still I ask, Would it not be 'more honoured in the breach than in the observance' For what was it you promised To wait for dead men's shoes Was not this a foolish promise To bury your talent in the earth Was not this a sinful promise To incur the woe of not preaching the gospel Is not this both foolish and sinful 'But you do not intend to stand in the vineyard all the day idle. You will but wait a while longer.' Well, how long will you be as a dumb dog twenty years or ten or one and a half If you have a lease of your life, well. But what if you are called in one year to give an account of your stewardship O live to-day! Do all the good you can while it is called to-day! Now stir up the gift of God which is in you! Now save as many souls as you can; and do all you can to ease the labour and prolong the life of Your affectionate friend and brother.

To James Hutton Date: December 26, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JAMES,--It really seems the time is come when our Lord will roll away our reproach, and Ephraim shall no more vex Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim. Frank Okeley and you, with my brother and me, so many at least, are lovers of peace. After having seen above half a century of years, we are sick of strife and contention. If we do not yet think alike, we may at least love alike. And, indeed, unity of affection is a good step forward toward unity of judgement. We need not despair of getting farther by-and-by: the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass. Nothing will be wanting that is in the power of, dear James, Your old friend and brother.

To Mary Stokes Date: LONDON, December 26, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Sanctified crosses are blessings indeed; and when it is best, our Lord will remove them. A peculiar kind of watching, to which you are now called, is against the suggestions of that wicked one who would persuade you to deny or undervalue the grace of God which is in you. Beware of mistaking his voice for the voice of the Holy One. Do justice to Him that lives and reigns in you, and acknowledge His work with thankfulness. There is no pride in doing this: it is only giving Him His due, rendering Him the glory of His own graces. But in order to this you stand in continual need of the unction, to abide with you and teach you of all things. So shall you never lose anything of what God has given; neither the blessing itself nor the witness of it. Nay, rather you shall sink deeper and deeper into His love; you shall go on from faith to faith; and patience shall have its perfect work, until you are perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Cannot poor Molly Jones discern the difference between John Pawson and T. Janes [See letter in Jan. 1772 to Miss Stokes.] In Tommy's conversation there is nothing solid or weighty, as neither was there in his preaching. Therefore neither religion nor sound reason would lead one to admit either one or the other. It is only free, open love, however shy she may be, whereby you can make any impression upon her. And love, seconded with prayer, will persuade. Do you not find as much life in your soul as ever Can you still give God all your heart Do you find as much of the spirit of prayer and the same zeal for God Go on, in His name and in the power of His might, trampling yours and His enemies under your feet.--My dear Molly, Your affectionate brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: LONDON, December 28, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- I hope this affliction will be a great blessing to your brother. Lose no time in encouraging him to turn to God in earnest. Do you feel as much life in your soul as ever Are you as happy as you were Do you find as much of the spirit of prayer And are you as active for God as when I saw you Is your heart whole with Him, free from idols I am jealous over you. I was in many fears, occasioned by your long silence. I want you to be gaining ground every hour. I love Mr. Hallward [See letter of March 9, 1771]; but do not let him proselyte you to his opinion. Write soon to Your affectionate brother.

To Robert Costerdine Date: LONDON, January 18, 1772 Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad you see the fruit of your labour. As to Bilston, [Costerdine was now Assistant in Staffordshire.] if you can do no good there, you will do well to bestow the time elsewhere. I hope (if God prolong my life and health) to be at Broadmarston [He did not get to Broadmarston till the 14th, and Birmingham on the 16th. See Journal, v. 448.] on Friday, March 13; on Saturday at Birmingham; on Sunday at Wednesbury; on Monday, 16th where you please; on Tuesday, at five or six in the evening, at Wolverhampton; and on Wednesday, the 18th, at Newcastle (noon); Burslem, six in the evening.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To John Mason Date: LONDON, January 26, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Two old members recovered I make more account of than three new ones. I love to see backsliders return. I was afraid there was no more place for us in Workington.[Mason was now Assistant at Whitehaven, which Circuit included Workington, Cockermouth and Carlisle.] scarce any one came to hear. It is well the people are now of a better mind. You cannot expect to do good at Carlisle till you either procure a more comfortable place or preach in the open air. For many years Cockermouth has been the same, and will be till you can preach abroad. You will observe the letter which I desired Brother Mather [Alexander Mather was in London. See letter of Feb. 27, 1773.] to write to you concerning the books; and make all the haste which the nature of the thing will admit. I shall endeavour to see you in summer; and am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mary Stokes Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- [About January 1772.] MY DEAR SISTER,--In order to speak for God, you must not confer with flesh and blood, or you will never begin. You should vehemently resist the reasoning devil, who will never want arguments for your silence. Indeed, naturally all the passions justify themselves: so do fear and shame in particular. In this case, therefore, the simple, child-like boldness of faith is peculiarly necessary. And when you have broke through and made the beginning, then prudence has its office--that is, Christian (not worldly) prudence, springing from the unction of the Holy One, and teaching you how far and in what manner to speak, according to a thousand various circumstances. You do not yet see the day dawn with regard to those who are near and dear to you. But you must not hence infer that it never will. The prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips will not fall to the ground; but 'though it seem to tarry long, true and faithful is His word.' I am glad Miss Williams comes a little nearer to us. Do the same good office to Molly Jones. [See letter of Dec. 26, 1771, to Miss Stokes.] She professes to love you; if she really does, press on, and you will prevail. Does not Tommy Janes hurt her He is lively and good-natured, but has no liking either to the doctrine or discipline of the Methodists. Such a person is just calculated for weakening all that is right and strengthening all that is wrong in her. If you speak to Mr. Pawson concerning the preaching at the Hall on Sunday evening, I believe it may be continued. Only it could not be by the travelling preachers; they are otherwise engaged. Yours affectionately.

To Walter Sellon Date: LONDON, February 1, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR WALTER,--You do not understand your information right. Observe, 'I am going to America to turn bishop.' [See letter of Aug. 14, 1771, to Philothea Briggs.] You are to understand it in sensu composito. ['In the sense agreed.'] I am not to be a bishop till I am in America. While I am in Europe, therefore, you have nothing to fear. But as soon as ever you hear of my being landed at Philadelphia, it will be time for your apprehensions to revive. It is true some of our preachers would not have me stay so long; but I keep my old rule, Festina lente. ['Make haste slowly.']--I am, dear Walter, Your affectionate brother.

To Rebecca Yeoman Date: LONDON, February 5, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--As far as I understand, you are now properly in the wilderness state. I advise you to read over that sermon in the fourth volume, [See Works, vi. 77-91] and examine yourself thereby. If you find out the cause of heaviness or darkness, you are more than half-way to the cure. If Jenny Johnson [See letter of Aug. 4, 1770.] is throughly sensible of her fault, you may trust her; if not, she should not meet in band. As your mind is tender and easily moved, you may readily fall into inordinate affection; if you do, that will quickly darken your soul. But watch and pray, and you shall not enter into temptation. If it please God to continue my life and strength, I expect to come through Scotland in April and May, so as to reach Newcastle about the beginning of June [He arrived on May 25.]; but who knows whether we may not before then take a longer journey Our wisdom is to live to-day.--I am, dear Becky, Your affectionate brother.

To Hannah Ball Date: LONDON, February 21, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You have indeed reason to be thankful that God has at length turned the captivity of His people; and your preachers [Samuel Wells and William Barker.] have good encouragement to be zealous for God, since they see the fruit of their labours. On Monday se'nnight I expect one of them at least will meet me at Newbury. How happy you are who have none of those dissensions which have torn that poor Society in pieces! Pray that you may all continue of one mind, striving together for the hope of the gospel, and inviting all to press after full salvation.--My dear sister, Your ever affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Barton Date: LONDON, February 21, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I believe you will never willingly give me pain. You will give me pleasure as long as you are pressing on to the mark, ready to do and patient to suffer the whole will of God. You cannot be separated from the people till you are removed into Abraham's bosom. In order to make your continuance with them the easier, I hope Mr. Thompson has now fixed the class as I directed. He is a good preacher and a good man; though liable to mistake, or he would be more than man. [Joseph Thompson was Assistant at Hull.] Can you still give God your whole heart Is He always present with you Have these trials weakened or strengthened your faith Have you a clear evidence that you are saved from sin See that you strengthen each other's hands and press on to the mark together!--I am, my dear Jenny, Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Woodhouse Date: LONDON, February 25, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I do not understand how it should be that your Society decreases. If only two or three of you are zealous for God, certainly it will increase. Thomas Rankin and William Ellis go on well. [Then in Cornwall West.] I trust William has recovered his ground. John Ellis called the family at Worcester to prayer, went up into his chamber, and died. [Ellis was Assistant in Gloucestershire. While reading at Worcester he fell from his chair, 'and expired without the pomp of dying' on Jan. 5, 1772. See Atmore's Memorial,p. 119.] So he has his desire; he was troublesome to no one, and went home in the height of his usefulness. If you should hear that I was gone after him, you would: be enabled to say, 'Good is the will of the Lord!' Press forward to the mark! All things then will 'work together for good.'--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: LONDON, March 1, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR MISS BISHOP,--That your every hour is crowded with employment I account no common blessing. The more employment the better, since you are not doing your own will, but the will of Him that sent you. I cannot see that it is by any means His will for you to quit your present situation. But I observe one sentence in your letter on which you and I may explain a little. On Tuesday morning at ten I am (if God permit) to preach at The Devizes. About two I have appointed T. Lewis from Bristol to meet me at the Pelican in Bath, where I should be glad to see you, were it only for two or three minutes.--I am, my dear Miss Bishop, Your affectionate brother.

To Penelope Newman Date: NEAR BRISTOL, March 6, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You are called to do all you can for God. How little is that all! Therefore by all means meet that other class, and it will be a blessing to your own soul. When I talked with you last, God had given you to enjoy a clear deliverance from inbred sin. I hope you do not find any return of that dead[ness], though doubtless you will find numberless temptations. Yet beware you cast not away that confidence which hath great recompense of reward. You need never more feel pride, anger, or any other evil temper. The Lord loveth you, and His grace is sufficient for you. Ask, and receive, that your joy may be full.--I am, my dear sister, Yours affectionately.

To his Brother Charles Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- BlRMINGHAM, March 17, 1772, DEAR BROTHER,--The more you are at the Foundery the better. It is a good spirit which rules in that Society. [Charles Wesley came to live in Marylebone in May 1771.] You have done exactly right with regard to T. Maxfield. For the present my hope of him is lost. [He had had a disappointing interview with Maxfield on Feb. 25.] I am to-day to meet Mr. Fletcher at Bilbrook.[Wesley writes in the Journal, v. 449: 'Partly in a chaise, partly on horseback, I made a shift to get to Bilbrook; and, after preaching, to Wolverhampton.' Fletcher told the Dublin Society in March that he had sent his Third Check to press. See Wesley's Designated Successor, p. 222.] Part of the Third Check is printing. The rest I have ready. In this he draws the sword and throws away the scabbard. Yet I doubt not they will forgive him all if he will but promise --to write no more. J. Rouquet helped me at Bristol. [From March 3 to 9 Wesley had spent a 'few comfortable days' in Bristol. Mrs. Jenkins was one of the members there. It was probably Mrs. Reeves's husband, who died on Sept. 21, 1778. See C. Wesley's Journal, ii. 270, 275.] I neither saw nor heard anything of G. Stonehouse. Jane Jenkins is in a right spirit; affliction has done her good. Mrs. Reeves I had no time for. I feared Sister Marriott would not recover. [Mrs. Marriott was among the first twelve to join the Foundery Society in 1739, and her husband was one of its earliest members.] Mr. Blackwell's heart is truly softened; but why is she afraid to receive the Lord's supper [Wesley visited Mrs. Blackwell at Lewisham on Feb. 26. She died the following month. See letter of April 26.] If Mr. F-- does come, it will be for good. It does not follow, 'You felt nothing; therefore neither did your hearers.' In haste. Adieu.

To John Mason Date: LONDON, March 22, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I hope Mr. Wagner [Wagner writes to him about a packet from Liverpool to Dublin in March 1778, and Wesley seems to have stayed with him at Liverpool in 1786. See Journal, vi. 182, vii. 154d.] and you are upon good terms. He is an amiable man, and would be exceeding useful were it not for ill advisers. When there is occasion, talk to him freely. He has a friendly heart. It is of great use to meet the leaders of the bands in Liverpool. [Mason had evidently moved from Whitehaven to Liverpool.] This should never be neglected. I am inclined to think the best time for it would be from two to three on Sunday in the afternoon. Then you might set an example to the Society by going to church immediately after. This is of no small importance. For whoever leaves the Church will leave the Methodists. Everywhere strongly and explicitly preach perfection. Then your word will profit.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: LIVERPOOL, March 31, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You did well to break through and converse with Mrs. Dawson. There is no doubt but she has living faith; but, not having opportunity to converse with believers, she cannot express herself with that clearness that our friends do: cultivate the acquaintance. Now, lay before her by way of promise the whole Christian salvation; she will quickly see the desirableness of it. You may then lend her the Plain Account of Christian Perfection. She will not be frightened but rather encouraged at hearing it is possible to attain what her heart longs for. While you are thus feeding God's lambs, He will lead you into rich pastures. I do not wonder you should meet with trials: it is by these your faith is made perfect. You will find many things both in your heart and in your life contrary to the perfection of the Adamic law; but it does not follow that they are contrary to the law of love. Let this fill your heart, and it is enough. Still continue active for God. Remember, a talent is entrusted to you; see that you improve it. He does not like a slothful steward. Your affectionate brother.

To Alexander Clark Date: EDINBURGH, May 19, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Brother Kidd is not only an honest, upright man, but I think a diligent one too. I am glad he is willing to share with you the trouble of being Book Steward. It is a good thought. But by all means print catalogues and send them all over the kingdom. I do not see any impropriety in allowing the nine pounds; the Assistant may pay you this out of the weekly subscription. The Rules of Stewards you have in the Plain Account of the People called Methodists. [See letter in Dec. 1748, sect. IX. 3, to Vincent Perronet.] Remember one of them is, 'Expect no thanks from man.' If ever you forget this, you will be apt to grow weary and faint in your mind. Remember likewise that a steward is to tell the preacher of anything he thinks wrong. In my private judgement I think one preacher enough for the New Room and the Gravel Walk too. I should dance and sing if I had no more labour than that. But I have letter upon letter to the contrary. However, let our brethren meet and consult together, and I presume I shall hardly object to whatever they shall agree upon. Whenever the Gravel Walk house is settled like our other houses, I shall be willing that all the weekly subscription be given toward clearing it of debt. Have patience, and all will be well.--I am, dear Alleck, Your affectionate brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: LONDONDERRY, May 27, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- Do you find as much inward life as ever as close and steady communion with God Do you rejoice evermore In what sense do you pray without ceasing Is your peace constant and unshaken Does nothing ruffle you Do you feel no anger no pride no will of your own contrary to the will of God Do you feel no bent to backsliding in your heart You may find and indeed expect temptations innumerable, even to seek happiness in this or that creature. But is every fiery dart repelled, so as to have no place in you With regard to your question, it is only (in other words), Is there any sin in a believer or, Are we not sanctified throughout when we are justified You have a full answer to this question, which has perplexed so many upright souls, in those two sermons wrote expressly on the head, The Repentance of Believers and Sin in Believers. [See Works, v. 144-70.] Read them carefully, and I believe you will want nothing more to confirm you in the truth. Nevertheless you do well in exhorting all that are justified to hold fast all they have received. And it is certain they need never lose either their love or peace or power till they are fully sanctified. Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: YARM, June 16, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--As often as you can I hope you will converse with Mrs. Dawson, as her heart is much united to you; and when you are at a distance from each other, you may converse by letters. And I believe you are particularly called to be useful to those whom the riches or the grandeur of this world keep at a distance from the pure word of God. When you are at Waterford, see that you be not idle there. You should gather up and meet a band immediately. If you would meet a class too, it would be so much the better: you know, the more labour the more blessing. You did well to send me the last enclosure; it is absolutely needful that I should be acquainted with all such matters; the contrary would be false delicacy. Mr. Goodwin is a valuable young man; he has much grace and a good understanding. I have wrote to Mr. Glassbrook and the leaders, if James Deaves should come to Limerick in the same spirit wherein he has been for some time, to take care that he do no mischief. If he should proceed in that impetuous manner, we shall be obliged to take harsher measures. This I should be sorry for; one would not cut off a limb while there is any hope of recovering it. I expect John Christian will be an useful labourer; he has a zeal according to knowledge. Nothing is sin, strictly speaking, but a voluntary transgression of a known law of God. Therefore every voluntary breach of the law of love is sin; and nothing else, if we speak properly. To strain the matter farther is only to make way for Calvinism. There may be ten thousand wandering thoughts and forgetful intervals without any breach of love, though not without transgressing the Adamic law. But Calvinists would fain confound these together. Let love fill your heart, and it is enough!--I am, dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Stokes Date: YARM, June 16, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--That remedy mentioned in the Primitive Physick (the manna dissolved in a decoction of senna) hardly ever fails to relieve in the severest bilious colic within twelve or fourteen minutes. Warm lemonade (so stupid are they who forbid acids in these cases) frequently gives ease in half a minute. And I have known this to take place in such inveterate complaints as would yield to no other remedy. We are sure the means which our blessed Lord uses to conform us to His image are (all circumstances considered) the very best; for He cannot but do all things well: therefore, whenever it pleases Him to send affliction, then affliction is best. Yet we must not imagine He is tied down to this, or that He cannot give any degree of holiness without it. We have reason to believe from the earliest records that St. Paul suffered a thousand times more than St. John. And yet one can hardly doubt but St. John was as holy as he or any of the Apostles. Therefore stand ready for whatsoever our Lord shall send; but do not require Him to send you affliction. Perhaps He will take another way; He will overpower your whole soul with peace and joy and love; and thereby work in you a fuller conformity to Himself than you ever experienced yet. You have; hold fast there. All's alike to me, so I In my Lord may live and die. --I am Yours affectionately

Instead of giving a caution once, as to a grown person, you must give it to a child ten times. By this means you may keep a sensible child from an improper familiarity with servants. Cautions should also be given frequently and earnestly to the servants themselves [See letter of Oct. 16, 1771.]; and they will not always be thrown away if they have either grace or sense.

To Samuel Sparrow Date: NEAR LORDS, July 2, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--I have delayed answering your favour from time to time, hoping for leisure to answer it at large. But when that leisure will come I cannot tell; for in the summer months I am almost continually in motion. So I will delay no longer, but write a little as I can, though not as I would. I incline to think that when you engaged in business, though you had no leisure for reading polemical writers, you had leisure to converse with those who ridiculed the doctrines which you till then believed, and perhaps of hearing a preacher who disbelieved them, and talked largely against human authority, bodies of divinity, systems of doctrine, and compiling of creeds. These declamations would certainly make an impression upon an unexperienced mind, especially when confirmed by frequent descants upon the errors of translators; although I really believe our English translation, with all its faults, is the best translation of the Bible now in the world. When you had heard a good deal of this kind, then was the time to offer you such arguments as the cause afforded; which, to a mind so prepared, would naturally appear as so many demonstrations. And it is no wonder at all that, by lending you a few books and properly commenting upon them, those new apostles should confirm you in the sentiments which they had so artfully infused. To the questions which you propose, I answer:-- 1. I really think that if an hundred or an hundred thousand sincere, honest (I add humble, modest, self-diffident) men were with attention and care to read over the New Testament, uninfluenced by any but the Holy Spirit, nine in ten of them at least, if not every one, would discover that the Son of God was 'adorable' and one God with the Father; and would be immediately led to 'honour Him, even as they honoured the Father'; which would be gross, undeniable idolatry, unless He and the Father are one.

To John Bredin Date: DEWSBURY, July 10, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--If Brother Taylor speaks for you at the Conference, it will be the same as if you was present yourself. If I can I will contrive that you may be in a circuit which will give you convenience for bathing in the sea, though a river is as good.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To his Brother Charles Date: DEWSBURY, July 10, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--If I can meet with Mr. Hill's book at Leeds to-morrow, perhaps I may write a little before the Conference. I am glad Mr. Davis [Charles Wesley wrote from Bristol to Joseph Benson, 'I have lately escaped death or maiming by a fall.... Mr. Davis has been useful here' (Manuscript Life of Benson, i. 281).] has been with you; but he must not assist you for nothing. If he joins heart and hand, he should have seventy pounds a year. My journeys lie thus, if God permit: Mon. Aug. 10, Sheffield; Tuesd. Burslem; Wedn. Salop; Friday, The Hay; Sat. 15, Brecon; Tues. 18, Haverfordwest; Tues. 25, Swansea; Sat. Aug. 30, Bristol; Mon. Sept. 1, Cullompton; Sat. 13, at Bristol again. I am able to stir a little still. Indeed, I find myself no worse in any respect. In these fifty years I do not remember to have seen such a change. She is now xaritwn mia, tota merum mel [Probably his wife: 'One full of graces, honey quite unmixed.'] Finding fault with nobody, but well pleased with every person and thing! I believe, if you had applied warm treacle to the bruised parts, you would have been well in eight-and-forty hours. Let us work to-day! The night cometh! A little you will pick out of Dr. Boyce's fine music for the use of our plain people. My sister Kezzy was born about March 1710; therefore you could not be born later than December 1708: consequently, if you live till December 1772, you will enter your sixty-fifth year. ['Or, according to Sister Pat's account, my sixty-second.--C.W,' Sister Pat (Mrs. Hall) was wrong. The real date was December 1707. See Telford's Charles Wesley, pp. 18-20.] Peace be with you and yours! Adieu!

To Philothea Briggs Date: LEWISHAM, July 23, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- At many times our advances in the race that is set before us are clear and perceptible; at other times they are no more perceptible (at least to ourselves) than the growth of a tree. At any time you may pray Strength and comfort from Thy word Imperceptibly supply. And when you perceive nothing, it does not follow that the work of God stands still in your soul; especially while your desire is unto Him, and while you choose Him for your portion. He does not leave you to yourself, though it may seem so to your apprehension.

To Alexander Clark Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- WAKEFIELD, August I, 1772. MY DEAR BROTHER,--The five pounds which I am willing to add to poor Grace Ellis's legacy (provided it will do her good) I do not charge to the Conference: I give it her myself. Whatever Brother Hall [William Hall was a trustee of Whitefriar Street Chapel, Dublin. Grace Ellis was probably an in mate of the Widows' Alms Houses there.] advances will be repaid. You may be assured we shall take no money from Ireland. With faith and patience we shall do well!--I am Your affectionate brother.

To John Mason Date: LEEDS, August 8, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--A blessing will always attend preaching abroad. In Liverpool Circuit, practice it as much as possible. Mr. Robertshaw is both a sound and a lively man. Wherever he is, they want to have him stay longer. Be all-alive and all in earnest!--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Alexander Clark Date: SHEFFIELD, August 10, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Now the hurry of Conference is over, I get a little time to write. When I chose you to be Steward in Dublin, you both loved and esteemed your preachers; but I find you have now drunk in the whole spirit of Pat. Geoghegan. O beware! You are exceedingly deceived. By this time I should be some judge of man; and if I am, all England and Ireland cannot afford such a body of men, number for number, for sense and true experience both of men and things, as the body of Methodist preachers. Our leaders in London, Bristol, and Dublin are by no means weak men. I would not be ashamed to compare them with a like number of tradesmen in every part of the three kingdoms. But I assure you they are no more than children compared to the preachers in Conference, as you would be throughly convinced could you but have the opportunity of spending one day among them. Mr. Jaco will make a fair trial whether he can supply Dublin alone; if he cannot, he shall have another to help, for he must not kill himself to save charges. But I dare not stint him to 20 a year. He will waste nothing; but he must want nothing. You will make his stay among you in every respect as comfortable as you can.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: PEMBROKE, August 22, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MISS BISHOP,--Such a degree of sickness or pain as does not affect the understanding I have often found to be a great help. It is an admirable help against levity as well as against foolish desires; and nothing more directly tends to teach us that great lesson, to write upon our heart, 'Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.' Mr. Baxter well observes (or, indeed, Archbishop Usher, to whom he refers, had done before him), 'that whoever attempt to profit children will find need of all the understanding God has given them.' But, indeed, natural understanding will go but a little way. It is a peculiar gift of God. I believe He has given you a measure of it already, and you may ask and expect an increase of it. Our dear sisters at Publow [Mrs. Owen and her daughters. See letter of Nov. 22, 1769.] enjoy it in as high a degree as any young women I know. It certainly must be an inordinate affection which creates so many jealousies and misunderstandings. I should think it would be absolutely needful, the very next time that you observe anything of that kind, to come to a full explanation with the parties concerned; to tell them calmly and roundly, 'I must and I will choose for myself whom I will converse with, and when and how; and if any one of you take upon you to be offended at me on this account, you will make it necessary for me to be more shy and reserved to you than ever I was before.' If you steadily take up this cross, if you speak thus once or twice in the band or class in a cool but peremptory manner, I am much inclined to think it will save both you and others a good deal of uneasiness. When you see those ladies (with whom I have no acquaintance), you would do well to speak exceeding plain. I am afraid they are still entire strangers to the religion of the heart. On Saturday, the 29th instant, I hope to be at Bristol, and on the Wednesday evening following at Bath. Let notice be given of this.--I am, dear Miss Bishop, Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: BRISTOL, August 31, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--MY health is not worse, but rather better. Your account of the Society in Waterford is pleasing. Continue to exercise your talent amongst them, and you will be a gainer by it. You need not dispute or reason about the name which belongs to the state you are in. You know what you have; be thankful for it. You know what you want-- zeal, liveliness, stability, deliverance from wandering imaginations; well, then, ask, and they shall be given. The way into the holiest is open through the blood of Jesus. You have free access through Him.

And he will perplex you more than enough if you listen to his sallies of imagination: 'Every one has some pursuit; therefore a man cannot be always in communion with God.' I deny the consequence. While Mr. De Renty was serving the poor he was in constant communion with God. So was Gregory Lopez while he was writing books. 'At first, indeed,' as Lopez observed, 'large manifestations from God were apt to suspend the exercise of his senses as well as of his understanding. But after some time they made no difference at all, but left him the full exercise both of his understanding and senses.' I remember a much later instance of the same kind: an old clergyman [Mr. Fraser, Chaplain to St. George's Hospital. Wesley read the Life of Boehm in Georgia, and his Sermons in 1776. See Journal, i. 175d, vi. 98; and letter of Dec. 10, 1777. ] told me, some years since, 'I asked Mr. Boehm (Chaplain to Prince George of Denmark), "Sir, when you are in such an hurry of business, surrounded with a crowd of people, hearing one and dictating to another at the same time, does it not interrupt your mental prayer" He answered immediately, "All that hurry no more hinders my communion with God than if I was all the time sitting alone in my study or kneeling at the altar."' No business, therefore, of any kind, no conversation, need hinder one that is strong in faith from rejoicing evermore, praying without ceasing, and in everything giving thanks. Follow after this, and you will surely attain it.--I am, my dear Philly, Yours affectionately.

Many years ago, when my son (as he styled himself for several years) Mr. Whitefield declared war against me, several asked, and that over and over, 'When will you answer Mr. Whitefield's book' I answered, 'Never. You have heard the cry, Whitefield against Wesley; but you shall never hear, Wesley against Whitefield.' I have been ever since a follower after peace; and when Mr. Hill so violently attacked me in the famous Paris Conversation, [A Conversation between Richard Hill, Esq., the Rev. Mr. Madan, and Father Walsh, Superior of a Convent of Benedictine Monks at Paris, held in the said Convent, July 13, 1771. . . . Relative to some Doctrinal Minutes advanced by the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, &c. 1772. See Green's Anti-Methodist Publications, No. 437.] I was as a man that heard not and in whose mouth were no reproofs. When he fell upon me again in his Five Letters, [Five Letters to Rev. Mr. Fletcher, 1771.] I still made no reply; nay, I chose not to read it, for fear I should be tempted to return evil for evil. When he assaulted me a third time more vehemently than ever in his Review, [Fletcher's Second Check to Antinomianism called forth Hill's A Review of all the doctrines taught by the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, 1772. See Green's Bibliography, No. 283; and letter of July 10 to his brother.] I still determined to answer nothing. But it was not long before one of my friends sent me word that I could no longer be silent and be innocent; it being my bounder duty as a public person not to let the good that was in me be evil spoken of, but, according to the direction of the Apostle, to give a reason of the hope that is in me, only with meekness and fear. I was convinced. I did not dare to be silent any longer, and I have accordingly answered the questions he proposed to me and removed those objections which otherwise would have turned the lame out of the way. [Some Remarks on Mr. Hill's 'Review of all the Doctrines taught by Mr. Wesley,' which is dated Sept. 9, 1772.] I wish I may have done it with the inimitable sweetness and gentleness that Mr. Fletcher has done. His letters (as vilely as they have been misrepresented) breathe the very spirit of the gospel.

To Ann Bolton Date: BRISTOL, September 20, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You have no time to lose, unless you would throw away your life, which you have no authority to do. You should have had no blister [See letter of July 1 to her.] had I been near you. I judge your case to be chiefly rheumatical. Change of air is likely to do you more good than an hundred medicines. Come away, come away. Set out the very day after you receive this. You may come first to me in the Horsefair; and if need be, I can show you to Sally James. [ See letters of May 1, 1772, and Nov. 29, 1774 (to Sarah James).] I need not tell you how welcome you will be to, my dear Nancy, Yours affectionately.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: COLCHESTER, November 3, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SISTER,--Your time was well bestowed at Waterford. Many, I doubt not, will remember it with thankfulness. But why this want of discipline in Limerick Whenever this is dropped, all is confusion: see that it be immediately restored. I should have been glad if you had prevailed on Captain Webb to pay me a visit in Limerick: he is a man of fire, and the power of God constantly accompanies his word. Poor Sister Harrison! I did not expect her to die in triumph. But we must leave her to her own Master. It seems to me that Mrs. Dawson gains ground. And I [love] her two lovely children. At every opportunity you would do well to speak a little to all three. Speak a little to as many as you can; go among them, to their houses; speak in love, and discord will vanish. It is hardly possible for you to comfort or strengthen others without some comfort returning into your own bosom. It is highly probable I shall visit Ireland in the spring, though I am almost a disabled soldier. I am forbid to ride, and am obliged to travel mostly in a carriage. [See letter of Aug. 31 to her.] Whom do you think proper to succeed the present preachers at Limerick and Waterford [Wrigley were at Waterford; John 2 Edward Slater was at Limerick. Jonathan Hern from Cork succeeded him. James Glassbrook and Francis Murray and Michael M'Donald followed them.] You have need to stir up the gift of God that is in you. Light will spring up. Why not now Is not the Lord at hand--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: COLCHESTER, November 4, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I see more and more clearly there is no other way of preserving peace with our contentious brethren but by war--nay, by 'carrying the war into Italy,' into their own quarters. We do nothing, we spend our strength in vain, while we are acting only on the defensive. So long they will never be afraid of us; for they have nothing to lose. But when with gentleness and yet with vigour and firmness we show all the horror of their opinions, while with calmness and yet with all earnestness we paint the whole absurdity and blasphemy of Reprobation, pinning them down, whether they will or no, to that point, they will soon be sick of the war. They will themselves desire peace, and count it a favour when it is granted them. But we must build with one hand while we fight with the other. And this is the great work: not only to bring souls to believe in Christ, but to build them up in our most holy faith. How grievously are they mistaken (as are well-nigh the whole body of modern Calvinists) who imagine that as soon as the children are born they need take no more care of them! We do not find it so. The chief care then begins. And if we see this in a true light, we may well cry out, even the wisest men on earth, 'Who is sufficient for these things' In a thousand circumstances general rules avail little and our natural light is quickly at an end. So that we have nothing to depend upon but the anointing of the Holy One; and this will indeed teach us of all things. The same you need with regard to your little ones, that you may train them up in the way wherein they should go. And herein you have continual need of patience; for you will frequently see little fruit of all your labour. But leave that with Him. The success is His. The work only is yours. Your point is this, --Work your work betimes, and in His time He will give you a full reward.--I am, my dear sister, Yours affectionately.

To Thomas Wride Date: COLCHESTER, November 5, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--You was in the right. Let the allotment for the wives of the preachers (at least for the present) stand as it did before. It seems to me that the alteration made in the travelling-plan by Brother M'Nab is wise and well grounded. I advise you to adhere thereto till you see some good reason to the contrary. You are the Assistant, [Wride was at Newry, with John Murray as one of his colleagues. Alexander M'Nab was at Londonderry. See letter of Dec. 16 to Wride.] not Brother Pepper: you need suffer none to ride over your head. Only be mild! I require John Murray to follow the same plan. If he does not, I will let him drop at once. I suspect the hives to be what we call the nettle rash. I know nothing that helps it but rubbing the part with parsley. --I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: LONDON, November 28, 1772. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1772) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I have some business too; but I know not what business would be able to hinder my writing to you. But, whether you think of me or no, I shall hardly be angry at you. Too much attention to business (with the natural consequence of it), too little exercise in the open air, you may expect will always bring back your headache. Therefore you should never intermit your riding. It is not even worldly prudence; for one fit of sickness would take up more time than an hundred little rides. If, therefore, you would preserve yourself fit for business, to waive all other considerations, in every fair day which this season of the year affords you should snatch an hour for riding. Sammy Wells will always be useful, for he can take advice. But how is it with Billy Brammah [Samuel Wells and William Brammah were the preachers in Oxfordshire. See letter of Feb. 18, 1773.] Does he follow the advice I gave him concerning screaming and the use of spirituous liquors If not, he will grow old before his time, he will both lessen and shorten his own usefulness. Drop a word whenever you find an opportunity. He is upright of heart. He enjoys a good deal of the grace of God, but with a touch of enthusiasm.

3. But to descend from generals to particulars. Why is breadcorn so dear Because such immense quantities of it are continually consumed by distilling. Indeed, an eminent distiller near London hearing this, warmly replied, Nay, my partner and I generally distil but a thousand quarters of corn a week.' Perhaps so. Suppose five-and-twenty distillers in and near the town consume each only the same quantity. Here are five-and-twenty thousand quarters a week --that is, above twelve hundred and fifty thousand quarters a year--consumed in and about London! Add the distillers throughout England, and have we not reason to believe that half of the wheat produced in the kingdom is every year consumed, not by so harmless a way as throwing it into the sea, but by converting it into deadly poison--poison that naturally destroys, not only the strength and life, but also the morals of our countrymen! Well, but this brings in a large revenue to the King.' Is this an equivalent for the lives of his subjects Would His Majesty sell an hundred thousand of his subjects yearly to Algiers for four hundred thousand pounds Surely no. Will he, then, sell them for that sum to be butchered by their own countrymen But otherwise the swine for the Navy cannot be fed.' Not unless they are fed with human flesh not unless they are fatted with human blood O tell it not in Constantinople that the English raise the royal revenue by selling the blood and flesh of their countrymen! 4. But why are oats so dear Because there are four times the horses kept (to speak within compass), for coaches and chaises in particular, than were some years ago. Unless, therefore, four times the oats grew now as grew then, they cannot be at the same price. If only twice as much is produced (which perhaps is near the truth), the price will naturally be double to what it was. As the dearness of grain of one kind will naturally raise the price of another, so whatever causes the dearness of wheat and oats must raise the price of barley too. To account, therefore, for the dearness of this we need only remember what has been observed above, although some particular causes may concur in producing the same effect.

Will it not waste and destroy all that nature and art can produce If a person of quality will boil down three dozen of neat's tongues to make two or three quarts of soup (and so proportionately in other things), what wonder if provisions fail Only look into the kitchens of the great, the nobility, and gentry, almost without exception (considering withal that the toe of the peasant treads upon the heel of the courtier), and when you have observed the amazing waste which is made there, you will no longer wonder at the scarcity, and consequently dearness, of the things which they use so much art to destroy. 7. But why is land so dear Because on all these accounts gentlemen cannot live as they have been accustomed to do, without increasing their income, which most of them cannot do but by raising their rents. The farmer, paying an higher rent for his land, must have an higher price for the produce of it. This again tends to raise the price of land. And so the wheel goes round. 8. But why is it that not only provisions and land but well-nigh everything else is so dear Because of the enormous taxes which are laid on almost everything that can be named. Not only abundant taxes are raised from earth and fire and water, but in England the ingenious statesmen have found a way to tax the very light! Only one element remains, and surely some man of honour will ere long contrive to tax this also. For how long shall the saucy air blow in the face of a gentleman, nay a lord, without paying for it 9. But why are the taxes so high Because of the national debt. They must be while this continues. I have heard that the national expense in the time of peace was sixty years ago three millions a year. Now the bare interest of the public debt amounts to above four millions. To raise which, with the other expenses of government, those taxes are absolutely necessary. II. Here is the evil. But where is the remedy Perhaps it exceeds all the wisdom of man to tell. But it may not be amiss to offer a few hints even on this delicate subject.

1. What remedy is there for this sore evil Many thousand poor people are starving. Find them work, and you will find them meat. They will then earn and eat their own bread. 2. But how shall their masters give them work without ruining themselves Procure vent for it, and it will not hurt their masters to give them as much work as they can do; and this will be done by sinking the price of provisions, for then people will have money to buy other things too. 3. But how can the price of wheat be reduced By prohibiting for ever that bane of health, that destroyer of strength, of life, and of virtue, distilling. Perhaps this alone will answer the whole design. If anything more be needful, may not all starch be made of rice, and the importation of this as well as of wheat be encouraged 4. How can the price of oats be reduced By reducing the number of horses. And may not this be effectually done (1) by laying a tax of ten pounds on every horse exported to France, (2) by laying an additional tax on gentlemen's carriages. Not so much for every wheel (barefaced, shameless partiality!), but ten pounds yearly for every horse. And these two taxes alone would nearly supply as much as is now given for leave to poison His Majesty's liege subjects. 5. How can the price of beef and mutton be reduced By increasing the breed of sheep and horned cattle. And this would be increased sevenfold if the price of horses was reduced, which it surely would be half in half by the method above mentioned. 6. How can the price of pork and poultry be reduced First, by letting no farms of above an hundred pounds a year. Secondly, by repressing luxury, either by example, by laws, or both. 7. How may the price of land be reduced By all the methods above named, all which tend to lessen the expense of housekeeping; but especially the last, restraining luxury, which is the grand source of poverty. 8. How may the taxes be reduced By discharging half the national debt, and so saving at least two millions a year. How this can be done the wisdom of the great council of the land can best determine.--I am, sir, Your humble servant.

To Mary Bishop Date: LONDON, January 12, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MISS BISHOP--I agree with you in your judgement of poor Nancy Dodd. But I would give her (as we say) a chance for life. Captain Webb is not sent to you as to the unawakened world. And perhaps he may do good to Rowland Hill by being abundantly more popular than him. The Fourth Check has done abundance of good. It has confirmed many in the truth. It has settled many that were wavering, and convinced not a few who were just fallen into the strong delusion. But you must not think anything will convince a warm Calvinist--no, not an angel coming down from heaven. In two or three hours I could teach you so much of grammar that you might go on without difficulty. ‘ True simplicity,’ Fenelon says, ‘ is that grace whereby the soul is delivered from all unprofitable reflections upon itself.’ I add, ‘ and upon all other persons and things.’ This is an unspeakable blessing; and it is the mere gift of God, not naturally annexed either to greatness or littleness of understanding. A single eye is a great help to this. Seek one thing, and you will be far less troubled with unprofitable reasonings.--My dear Miss Bishop, Your affectionate brother.

To John Murray Date: LONDON, January 15, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Now that you labor in Dublin, the conversation and advice of Mr. Jaco may be of great service to you. And it will be your wisdom to pick out the most serious and solid persons in the Society for your acquaintance. Now give yourself to prayer and reading and meditation, that your profiting may appear to all men.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To John Fletcher Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- SHOREHAM, January, [15], 1773. DEAR SIR,--What an amazing work has God wrought in these kingdoms in less than forty years! And it not only continues but increases throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland; nay, it has lately spread into New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina. But the wise men of the world say, ‘ When Mr. Wesley drops, then all this is at an end!’ And so it surely will unless, before God calls him hence, one is found to stand in his place. For * [Homer’s Iliad, ii. 204: ‘ The rule of many is not good; let there be one ruler.’]. I see more and more, unless there be one * [leader], the work can never be carried on. The body of the preachers are not united; nor will any part of them submit to the rest: so that either there must be one to preside over all or the work will indeed come to an end. But who is sufficient for these things qualified to preside both over the preachers and people He must be a man of faith and love and one that has a single eye to the advancement of the kingdom of God. He must have a dear understanding; a knowledge of men and things, particularly of the Methodist doctrine and discipline; a ready utterance; diligence and activity, with a tolerable share of health. There must be added to these, favor with the people, with the Methodists in general. For unless God turn their eyes and their hearts towards him, he will be quite incapable of the work. He must likewise have some degree of learning; because there are many adversaries, learned as well as unearned, whose mouths must be stopped. But this cannot be done unless he be able to meet them on their own ground.

But has God provided one so qualified Who is he Thou art the man! God has given you a measure of loving faith and a single eye to His glory. He has given you some knowledge of men and things, particularly of the whole plan of Methodism. You are blessed with some health, activity, and diligence, together with a degree of learning. And to all these He has lately added, by a way none could have foreseen, favor both with the preachers and the whole people. Come out in the name of God! Come to the help of the Lord against the mighty! Come while I am alive and capable of labor! Dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat, et pedibus me Porto meis, nullo dextram subeunte bacillo. [Juvenal’s Satires, iii. 27-8: ‘ While Lachesis has some thread of life to spin, And I walk on my own feet, without the help of a staff’]. Come while I am able, God assisting to build you up in faith, to ripen your gifts, and to introduce you to the people. Nil tanti. What possible employment can you have which is of so great importance But you will naturally say, ‘ I am not equal to the task; I have neither grace nor gifts for such an employment.’ You say true; it is certain you have not. And who has But do you not know Him who is able to give them perhaps not at once, but rather day by day: as each is, so shall your strength be. ‘But this implies,’ you may say, ‘ a thousand crosses, such as I feel I am not able to bear.’ You are not able to bear them now; and they are not now come. Whenever they do come, will He not send them in due number, weight, and measure And will they not all be for your profit, that you may be a partaker of His holiness Without conferring, therefore, with flesh and blood, come and strengthen the hands, comfort the heart, and share the labor of Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Martha Chapman Date: LEWISHAM, January 19, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER, --If nothing unforeseen prevent, I shall be at Newbury on Monday, March 8. You should not be content with coming yourself, but bring Mr. and Mrs. Jacques with you. I doubt not but you will see a still greater increase of the work of God at Watlington: only lose no time! Be instant in season, out of season! In due time you will reap if you faint not. God gives the full assurance of hope sooner or later as it seemeth Him good. But the main point is, let your heart be whole with Him. Let no false rival claim a part, Nor sin disseize Him of His own! --I am, dear Patty, Yours affectionately.

To Mrs. Pywell () Date: LONDON, January 26, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--When the providence of God sent you to Salisbury, I was in hopes it would be of use to that poor widower. But let him now remember he cannot serve God by halves. Let him not think of being almost a Christian. If he would do anything to purpose, let him instantly throw off every weight and uniformly and steadily run the race that is set before him. Now let him be thoroughly obedient to the heavenly calling. Probably he will not have another call. Your own soul will be quickened if you earnestly exhort believers without fear or shame to press after full salvation as receivable now, and that by simple faith. At all opportunities encourage Mr. Asbury to do this with all plainness Then the Lord will be with him wherever he goes, and he will see the fruit of his labor. I hope he gives you employment, that you have a band or two, if not a class also. A few hours you may likewise employ very profitably in visiting the sick. Redeem the time, be zealous! be active, and you will be more and more near to, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Samuel Bardsley Date: LONDON, January 29, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY,--If David Evans [The preacher at Macclesfield] is satisfied, all is well. You will not want work, nor a blessing upon it, if you are zealous and active. John Hallam is a good man, though a queer one; I am in hopes he will do good. There is a surprising willingness in almost every one that has answered the Circular Letter [See letters of Dec. 12, 1772, and Feb. 6, 1773.], which I hope is a token for good. Some of our preachers have asked ‘ Why will you refuse the help of the poorer members ‘ I answer, I do not refuse; though neither do I require it, for fear of distressing any. The little draft on the other side is for your mother [His mother was dependent on him. Wesley’s care for his preachers was unceasing. See letter of Aug. 5, 1771].--I am, dear Sammy, Your affectionate brother.

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON, February 6, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I agreed last year (though contrary to my judgement that we would have no more weekly subscriptions. I purposed likewise in my own mind to concern myself with the debt no more. But upon reflection it seemed to me there was one way still -- namely, not to apply to the poor at all (though I would not reject any that offered), but to take the burthen on myself and try my personal interest with the rich. I began at London, where about five hundred pounds are subscribed. Afterwards I wrote to many in the country. Liverpool Circuit has subscribed about an hundred pounds; Bradford Circuit an hundred and thirty. It must be now or never. I do not know that I shall concern myself with this matter any more. Till now we have never had a rational prospect of clearing the whole debt in one year [See letter of Jan. 29 to Samuel Bardsley]. Now it may be done. It certainly will if our brethren in other circuits do as those above mentioned have done. What I desire of you is to second the letters I have wrote, encouraging each man of property in your circuit to exert himself--at least, to send me an answer; this, you know, is but common civility. Now do what you can; and show that you, my old friend are not last and least in love towards Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Bennis Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- LOND0N, February 12, 1773. MY DEAR SISTER,--When we draw near to God in His appointed ways, He will surely draw near to us. Pray remind Mr. Glassbrook of using the same means; then he and you will find the same blessing. Write to Waterford to Brother Slater, and encourage him to do there as he did at Limerick. I can observe, by Mrs. Dawson’s manner of writing, a very considerable change in her spirit, more acquaintance with God, more humility, and more artless, simple love. I am much pleased that you visit so frequently. Continue to lead the simple, and God will give you more wisdom. As long as you trust not in yourself, but in Him that has all power in heaven and in earth, you will find His grace sufficient for you and His strength made perfect in your weakness. Look to Him continually, and trust in Him, that you may increase with all the increase of God.--I am, my dear sister, Your ever affectionate brother.

To Ann Boron Date: LONDON, February 18, 1773. MY DEAR SISTER,-- Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- In doing and bearing The will of our Lord, We still are preparing To meet our reward. It is very possible you may be ‘as sorrowful yet always rejoicing’; you may ‘suffer with Him,’ and yet in everything give thanks. You will as long as your whole heart and your whole life are devoted to God. I am concerned on account of poor William Brammah [See letter of Nov. 28, 1772]. He cannot, he will not take advice. Spirituous liquors in all dropsical disorders are deadly poison. Indeed, they give a little present ease; but they lay the foundations for ten times more pain than that which they remove. I say once more (1) let him wholly abstain from these; (2) let him never scream, or preach too long; (3) let him eat early and light suppers; (4) let him never sit up till ten: and he will be as well able to preach in the morning as I am. On Monday, March 8, I hope to be at Newbury; on Monday, 15th, at Stroud; on Tuesday, the 16th, at Worcester. You will contrive to be with me where you can. I do not find any fault with you at present; only I am afraid you are not careful enough of your health. Otherwise I rejoice that I have confidence in you in all things.--I am, my dear Nancy, Your ever affectionate brother.

To Thomas Ball and Alexander Mather Date: LEWISHAM, February 27, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- The thing which I desire you to do is this, to see that an exact account be kept of all the books in Great Britain and Ireland printed and sold on my account. You comprehend how many particulars are contained under this general. To do this accurately will require much thought. But you will bear that burthen for God's sake and for the sake of Your affectionate brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, March 2, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--Certainly you cannot stir unless you are clearly satisfied of your call from God. An impression on the mind of another man is no rule of action to you. The reasons you give on the other side are weighty, and will not early be answered. At present you do seem to be in your place, and your labor will not be in vain. If you could transfer a night in a week from Newcastle to some new place, I think it might do well.--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Moon Date: LONDON, March 2, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--He that governs all things wen for His own glory and for the good of them that love Him sees that it is best for you to be led in a strait and thorny way, and therefore permits it by His adorable providence. And you experimentally find that all these things are for your profit, that you may be a partaker of His holiness. Now, if hereby you attain but one degree more of the mind which was in Christ Jesus, what an immense gainer will you be in that day when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed! Beside that, there is a reward for bearing as well as for doing His will; so that these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. I hope you have not lost any of the little number that used to meet with you; and that the select society meets still and encourage one another to hold fast their confidence. Look up, and receive a fresh supply of grace!--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Christopher Hopper Date: LIVERPOOL, March 21, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--You have saved us an hundred pounds with regard to the house at Bradford. An hundred pounds less shall serve there, which may be applied to better purposes. So you may use your free thoughts on any other head (directing to Dublin) when you please. It is certain there has been little management at the Orphan House, or you would not have been a penny in debt. However, do all you can in your own way toward discharging the General Debt. I do not know where Peggy Dale could have made a better choice [She was married March 4 to Edward Avison. See heading to letter of June 1, 1765]. Peace be with your spirits!--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Barton, Hull Date: LIVERPOOL, March 22, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I am glad you are removed to Hull [See letter of Jan. 21.]. Probably Brother Barton and you will have an advantage with regard to business. Certainly you have the advantage of such fellow travelers in the way to heaven as you could not find at Beverley. Yet I do not doubt a few names are left there that will not easily be moved from their steadfastness. And when two or three such are gathered together, we know our Lord is in the midst of them. Now make full use of the advantages you enjoy. And expect all the residue of the promises He has given you to taste of His pure love. What remains but that you should be filled therewith--I am, with love to Brother Barton, dear Jenny, Your affectionate brother.

To George Shadford Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- [End of March] 1773. DEAR GEORGE,--The time is arrived for you to embark for America. You must go down to Bristol, where you will meet with Thomas Rankin, Captain Webb, and his wife. I let you choose, George, on the great continent of America. Publish your message in the open face of the sun, and do all the good you can.--I am, dear George, Yours affectionately.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: DUBLIN, April 1, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- I fear you are too idle: this will certainly bring condemnation. Up, and be doing! Do not loiter. See that your talent rust not: rather let it gain ten more; and it will, if you use it [On March 16 she had written of herself as ‘the same poor, tottering, feeble creature’]. You are permitted to be in heaviness to humble and prove you yet more. Then you shall come forth as gold. If you love me, you will both write and speak freely to, my dear sister, Your affectionate.

To Philothea Briggs Date: SLIGO, May 20 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- With regard to you, I see an adorable providence You will reap huge profit from this affliction. True, at present it is not joyous but grievous; but it will bring forth glorious fruit. Your part is to be still. Know that the Lord reigneth, that all is under His wise disposal. Without His leave none can speak and none can hear. Trust Him farther than you can see Him. The waves cannot come an hair’s breadth farther than His sovereign wisdom wills. Keep one point in view, to do and suffer His will; then nothing can hurt you.

To Richard Locke Date: LONDONDERRY, May 28, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Your letter reached me yesterday. I am sorry for William Sparks; but pride must have a fall. T. Johnson has better work. He never sent down John Pawson [Pawson was at Bristol] (nor would he have been sent) on any such errand. They are two pious men. I am not without hope that Joseph Jones will recover, if he is at present a little out of the way. Sam. Stevens is a poor man indeed! 'Tis well if he has not fallen to rise no more. Mr. Furz [John Furz, Assistant at Brecon. See heading to letter of Oct. 23, 1759] is a man of an unblameable behavior; but he must not look to escape slander more than his neighbors. It is your part to go straight forward, neither looking to the right hand nor to the left. Possibly, if I live till autumn, I may call upon you at Burnham! Press on for the whole image of God.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To his Brother Charles LONDONDERRY, May 30, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--I have had no letter from any of our preachers to stop Mr. Davis coming to help us [See letter of July 10, 1772, to his brother]. But I easily foresaw there would be objections to the largeness of the salary. If a few of our brethren would asset herein, that matter will be quite easy. I really believe his heart is with us and that God will make him useful to the people. He is given to us, and we should take care to be as useful to him as we can. Nay, but you have intended again and again to stand by me at this and that Conference, and then left me to stand by myself [Charles Wesley was keeping aloof from the work of Methodism, to his own loss and his brother’s. See letter of Dec. 15, 1772]. It is certain we two can turn the tide. I alone can only stem it. I have been in two mobs since I came into Ireland, one in the South and one in the North. The Protestant mob was far the worst. But I am still in an whole skin [For the riot at Waterford on April 25, and the more serious one at Enniskillen on May 24-5, see Journal, v. 503-4, 507-9]. Durn vivimus vivamus [‘Whilst we live let us live’]. Peace be with you and yours. Adieu.

To Ann Bolton Date: LIVERPOOL, July 7, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You will not be sorry to hear that God has once more brought me safe to England, and that I hope to be with you at Witney (coming from Birmingham) on Thursday, the 15th instant. Probably I shall preach abroad at half-hour after six. You know I am, my dear Nancy, Your ever affectionate brother.

To Mary Bosanquet Date: LONDON, July 17, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--By the blessing of God I reached this place an hour ago in nearly as good health as I left it. I am glad my friend [His wife] was at your house; she would receive no hurt, and possibly a little good. I think Tho. Mitchell [The three preachers at Birstall in 1772 were Thomas Taylor, Thomas Mitchell, and John Nelson. In 1773 Mitchell remained. See letter of Aug. 15, 1751, about the riotous mob at Wrangle, where he was thrown into a pond] at least may spend another year in Birstall Circuit. There did seem to be a providential call for what was done at Harrogate! I am glad you find your soul unencumbered. You are just in your place. Stand fast in glorious liberty!--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To John Fletcher Date: LEWISHAM, July 21, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--It was a great satisfaction to me that I had the opportunity which I so long desired of spending a little time with you [Wesley got to Madeley on Friday, the 9th, preached twice in the church on Sunday, and left on Monday. See Journal, v. 517], and I really think it would answer many gracious designs of Providence were we to spend a little more time together. It might be of great advantage both to ourselves and to the people who may otherwise soon be as sheep without a shepherd. You say, indeed, ‘Whenever it pleases God to call me away, you will do all you can to help them.’[See letter on Jan. 15 to him.] But will it not then be too late You may then expect grievous wolves to break in on every side, and many to arise from among themselves speaking perverse things. Both the one and the other stand in awe of me, and do not care to encounter me. So that I am able, whether they will or no, to deliver the flock into your hands. But no one else is. And it seems this is the very time when it may be done with the least difficulty. Just now the minds of the people in general are on account of the Checks greatly prejudiced in your favor. Should we not discern the providential time Should we stay till this impression is worn away Just now we have an opportunity of breaking the ice, of making a little trial. Mr. Richardson [John Richardson, Wesley’s clerical assistant. Conference met on Aug. 3 in London] is desirous of making an exchange with you and spending two or more weeks at Madeley. This might be done either now or in October, when I hope to return from Bristol. And till something of this kind is done you will not have that * [Affection] for the people which alone can make your labor light in spending and being spent for them. Methinks ‘tis pitty we should lose any time. For what a vapor is life! Could not you spare a few days to be with us at the Conference Probably it would be a means of strengthening you.--I am, dear sister, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: LEWISHAM, July 31, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--I am glad you have preached so much abroad: this will everywhere do most execution. Some time since, I promised you to Billy Thompson for his fellow laborer the ensuing year; and you will have no cause to repent of it, for his heart (as well as yours) is in the work. Mr. Hopper desires to spend another year in the Newcastle Circuit. I refer it to him whether it would not suffice to have preaching at Newcastle five nights in a week. ‘God has made practical divinity necessary, and the devil controversially.’ [See heading to letter in Dec. 1751 to Bishop Lavington]. Sometimes we must write and preach controversially, but the less the better. I think we have few if any of our travelling preachers that love controversy. But there will always be men de pste [Titus i. 11:’whose mouths must be stopped.’]--Antinomians and Calvinists in particular. By our long silence we have done much hurt both to them and the cause of God.--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate brother.

To Christopher Hopper, Date: LEWISHAM, July 31, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I believe what you desire is for the glory of God, and have therefore no objection to your spending! another year in the Newcastle Circuit. I am glad you have preached on the Ballast Hills. Follow the blow, and you will soon see the fruit. Billy Smith [Hopper stayed at Newcastle in 1773. William Smith married Mrs. Wesley’s daughter, and was a leading Methodist layman in Newcastle] will nearly supply your place at the Conference, and you will find full employment where you are. We have money in hand both for Dundee and Edinburgh [See letter of Aug. 7]; but I do not think right that a shilling more should be given to either till the houses are settled in another manner. I am sorry so much has been given already.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Savage, Date: LEWISHAM, July 31, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I did receive a letter from you while I was in Ireland; but whether I answered it or no I cannot tell. It gives me pleasure to hear that you still stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, and that His blessed work still continues to widen and deepen among you. It will do so as long as you walk in love and strive together for the hope of the gospel. As God has made Mr. Wolfe an instrument of promoting this among you, I think it will be well for him to stay another year [Francis Wolfe and Richard Seed were the preachers in Gloucestershire. Wolfe was appointed to Bristol by the Conference of 1773, and Seed to Derryshire]. When I was at Worcester [He was there on March 16], a young woman had just joined the Society who had her fortune in her own hands. Is she with you still And is she married or single I have a particular reason for asking. How has Mr. Seed behaved Is he serious, zealous, active And has God prospered his word--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Hannah Ball Date: BRISTOL, September 1, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I was glad you had an opportunity of spending a few days in London, and also that you was not ashamed to declare what God had done for your soul This is the way, not only to receive an increase of grace yourself, but likewise to impart it to others. Even this kind of simplicity, the speaking artlessly, as little children, just what we feel in our hearts, without any reasoning what people will think or say, is of great use to the soul. I hope you will be able to speak to Mr. Saunderson [Hugh Saunderson, Assistant of the Oxford Circuit] without the least reserve. He has tasted of the pure love of God, and should be encouraged to hold it fast. But I wonder a little how some of our friends at Witney come to take exception at honest John Wittam [Wittam, who had come from Armagh, was second preacher]. He is an Israelite indeed; not much polished but serious, solid, and sensible. I preferred him before two or three young men (who offered for Oxfordshire), because I have seen the proof of him.--I am, my dear sister, Yours affectionately.

To Joseph Benson Date: BRISTOL, September 10, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--If Mr. Thompson [The Assistant in Edinburgh. See letters of July 31 and Oct. 23 to Benson] consents, all is well. The more you preach abroad, both in England and Scotland, the better. Only take care not to do more than you can do, not to go beyond your strength. And keep to the plain, old Methodist doctrine laid down in the Minutes of the Conference. At Trevecca you were a little warped from this; but it was a right-hand error. You will be buried in Scotland if you sell your mare and sit still. Keep her, and ride continually. Contrive (you and Mr. Thompson) how this may be. Sit not still at the peril of your soul and body! Mr. Fletcher [John Fletcher] ought to have received their thanks.--Dear Joseph, adieu! Do all you can for poor Scotland, and write how things are there.

To the Countess of Huntingdon Date: BRISTOL, September 16, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR LADY,--Your last favor gave me unspeakable satisfaction and occasioned much thankfulness to God. Indeed, I could not look upon it in any other view than as an answer to many prayers which I have been led to offer up from time to time, particularly when I have heard of your Ladyship’s meeting with any difficulty or affective providence of any kind. I have then let my heart melt within me, and have longed to tell your Ladyship either by word or writing what part I have in your sufferings. This lay the weightier upon me when I considered how few are now left below of those who many years ago rejoiced to see the undaunted fervor with which your Ladyship left the quiet pleasant shades to come abroad and espouse in open day the cause of a despised Saviour. What a blessing is it that His love and guardian care have preserved you from those early days in known and unknown dangers, and carried you through honor and dishonor, evil report and good report! O may you still (like that man of God that is gone before us into Abraham’s bosom) Stand like an iron pillar strong And steadfast as a wall of brass! It is extremely remarkable that the gentleman of the province should undertake to build the Orphan House. Surely this is the Lord’s doing! Will your Ladyship permit me just to mention a thought which has passed through my mind: might it not be for the glory of God to adhere in part to the original design --to have some orphans there (a glorious charity) as well as an academy I just take the liberty to mention this, and leave it to your Ladyship’s mature consideration. Wishing your Ladyship a continual increase of faith and loving zeal, I remain, my dear Lady, Your Ladyship’s most affectionate servant.

To Mary Bishop Date: BRISTOL, September 19, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--It is certainly most profitable for us to have a variety of seasons. We could not bear either to be constantly in storms or constantly in a calm; but we are not certain, we cannot judge what proportion of one or the other is best for us. So it is well we are not left to our own wisdom, that we do not choose for ourselves. We should make strange work; but we know He that chooses for us orders all things well. There are excellent things in most of the Mystic writers. As almost all of them lived in the Romish Church, they were lights whom the gracious providence of God raised up to shine in a dark place. But they do not give a dear, a steady, or an uniform light. That wise and good man Professor Francke [August Hermann Francke (1663-1727) was professor at Halle 1692, and founded his famous Orphanage there in 1695] used to say of them, ‘ They do not describe our common Christianity, but every one has a religion of his own.’ It is very true: so that if you study the Mystic writers, you will find as many religions as books; and for this plain reason, each of them makes his own experience the standard of religion. Madame Guyon was a good woman and is a fine writer, but very far from judicious. Her writings will lead any one who is fond of them into unscriptural Quietism. They strike at the root, and tend to make us rest contented without either faith or works. It is certain the Scripture by ‘ prayer’ almost always means vocal prayer. And whosoever intermits this for any time will neither pray with the voice nor the heart. It is therefore our wisdom to force ourselves to prayer-- to pray whether we can pray or no. And many times while we are so doing the fire will fall from heaven, and we shall know our labor was not in vain.--I am, my dear Miss Bishop, Yours affectionately. PS.--It is on Wednesday sennight (the 29th inst.) that I purpose to preach at Bath (in my return from Bradford) at twelve o’clock.

To John Valton Date: BRISTOL, September 20, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--My first advice to you was, Preach the gospel everywhere. But you shrank back. I have now another proposal to make to you, which requires one that has an honest heart and much industry. Come and take charge of the books at London. I think it would take you up six or seven hours a day. And you would have opportunity of preaching every Sunday and (if you chose it) frequently on weekdays. I would give you either five-and-twenty pounds a year with your board and a room in the Foundery, or fifty pounds without it. If you incline to accept of it, send me word immediately, and we can talk father. I will speak to no one else till I hear from you.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Philothea Briggs Date: BRISTOL, September 29, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR PHILLY,--Your own experience may give an answer to your question. You did yourself enjoy a foretaste of that constant communion with God, though it did not continue long [See letter of May 8, 1780]. And you know it was given you in a moment. It was the same case with Sally Ryan, with Nancy Bolton, and with all those whom I have known that are now enabled to pray without ceasing. To every one of them that blessing was given in an instant. So it will be given to you again; although probably you will find a strong hope first which will incite you to cry out, Big with earnest expectation, See me sit at Thy feet, Longing for salvation. Grace in one sense will make an things new. And I have sometimes known this done to such a degree that there has been no trace of the natural temper remaining. But generally the innocent natural temper does remain, only refined, softened, and cast into the mould of love. I make no doubt but Charles Perronet would be as well as me in six months if he would punctually follow Dr. Cadogan’s rule [William Cadogan (1711-97), physician to London Founding Hospital 1754]. But without steady, unintermitted exercise he never can have health. On Saturday se'nnight I hope to be in London.--I am, my dear Philly, Yours affectionately.

To James Barry Date: BRISTOL, October 1, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JAMES,--Sister Haughton is an upright woman and desires to please God. I advise her rather to throw her high head into the fire than to pain one of the little ones. She will have no fewer scholars. God will make her amends. My mother never would suffer one of her children to 'go to a dancing-school.' But she had a dancing-master to come to her house who taught all of us what was sufficient in her presence. To this I have no objection. If I had convenience, I would be glad to have all our preachers taught, even by a dancing-master, to make a bow and to go in and out of a room.--I am, with love to Sister Barry, dear James, Your affectionate friend and brother

To Hannah Ball Date: LONDON, October 4, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--The being sealed by the Spirit in the full sense of the word I take to imply two things: (1) The receiving the whole image of God, the whole mind which was in Christ, as the wax receives the whole impression of the seal when it is strongly and properly applied; (2) The full assurance of hope, or a clear and permanent confidence of living with God in glory. Either of these may be given (and sometimes is, though not frequently) separate from the other. When both are joined together, then I believe they constitute the Seal of the Spirit. But even this admits of various degrees: a degree of it I trust you have. Work and pray! Do and suffer the whom will of Him that calleth you! And He will supply whatever is wanting.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON, October 7, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I came hither last night. For two or three weeks I was not well, but am now recovering daily [See letter of Oct 17]. In town or country Brother Swan [Swan was two years at Haworth after leaving Newcastle. See letter of Oct. 7] must conclude in an hour, or else he cannot be a travelling preacher after this year. His daughter must go to service: you observe well, it will not be safe to keep her at the Orphan House. I am glad to hear that you have but one circuit; that will be most for the glory of God. The case of Brother Hilton [See letters of Oct 9, 1767, and Nov. 12, 1773, to Hopper] exceedingly delicate. Shall I tell you my thoughts freely They are the same with yours. I think he is pursuing what will never come to pass. But which of us can convince him of this How easily we believe what we desire! However, it is the part of a friend to try: you love him well, and you will give him still more cause to love you if you can persuade him to drop the whom affair and put it out of his head for ever. That is a good point carried, the persuading the classes to meet at their own houses. The fruit of this will soon appear both by the increase of their grace and their number. If I was in Joseph Benson’s place, I would not be buried at Dunbar--no, nor at Edinburgh, nor any one place whatever. Who hath required this at his hands The Lord go before him! Why should we not call sinners to repentance in every market town [See letter of Oct. 23]. Peter Jaco [Peter Jaco, now in Dublin, was tall and handsome. He dies in 1781. See letter of Sept. 3, 1756, n, to Samuel Walker] would willingly travel. But how Can you help us to an horse that will carry him and his wife What a pity we could not procure a camel or an elephant! I do not despair of the salvation of a lunatic.--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother. PS.--My wife sends her love; she has her old companion the gout.

To Mary Bosanquet Date: LONDON, October 17, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I was laid up for a week or two last month; but have now nearly recovered my strength [See letter of Oct. 7]. If I live till spring and am as well as I am now, I shall move northward as usual. I am glad you have begun that little meeting for prayer. It will not be without a blessing. T. Lee [Thomas Lee, the Assistant at Birstall] may have half a dozen of the Instructions for Children [See letter of Feb. 23] to give as he sees needful. If you undertake the care of the books, I shall be under no farther concern about them; for I know what you do you will do in earnest. I wish you would immediately cause all the books which are at Birstall to be removed to your house [See letter of Nov. 17]. You will then be so kind as to send me a catalogue of them and of the books which you would have sent down. All those who keep my books for the future I shall desire to state their accounts once a month. But I do not know what you send me the bills for.--I am, my dear Your affectionate brother.

To John Valton Date: WITNEY, October 20, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--When all circumstances are considered, I think you place the matter upon the right footing. If you are promoted, and if you recover your health (and in order to which you should ride every day), then it seems you will be called to marry [See letter of Sept. 18 to him].--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Woodhouse Date: LONDON, October 22, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Arthur Kershaw is exceedingly happy in God, and I believe he will be an useful preacher. Two months longer he must stay Northampton; then he may make a trial in Epworth Circuit. In the meantime William Thom may labor there, of whom Mr. Rhodes gives me a good account. I am afraid Lady Huntingdon’s preachers will do little good wherever they go. They are wholly swallowed up in that detestable doctrine of Predestination, and can talk of nothing else. I am glad to hear so good an account of Mr. Woodhouse. We have to do with a God that heareth prayer. If you seek Him with your whole heart, He cannot withhold any manner of thing that is good.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, October 23, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--I wish every one of our preachers who goes to Scotland were of the same mind with you. We are not called to sit still in one place; it is neither for the health of our souls nor bodies. Billy Thompson [See letter of Sept. 10] never satisfied me on this head, not in the least degree. I say still we will have traveling preachers in Scotland or none. The thing is fixed; the manner of effecting it is to be considered. Now set your wit to this: find out the t p [‘The manner’]. How shall this mater be accomplished You did not do well in selling your horse [See letter of Sept. 18, 1774],' and thereby laying another bar in the way. Though I am (by the exquisite negligence of my late bookkeeper [See letters of Sept. 20 and Nov. 6] ) a thousand pounds worse than nothing, I would have spared a few pounds to have eased that burthen. However, you must do as you can. Our preachers shall either travel there as in England, or else stay in England.--I am, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately.

To Mary Bishop Date: LONDON, October 31,1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I have laid your letter so carefully by that I cannot find it. But as I am going into Norfolk early in the morning, I will not stay till I come back before I write. There is upon the whole nothing new under the sun. But that violent jealousy among your young women is utterly a new thing among the Methodists; I have known nothing like it in the three kingdoms. And yet I do not know that they have either less sense or less grace than others of their age or sex. But this is one proof among a thousand that if God leave us for a moment to ourselves, there is no folly into which our subtle adversary may not drive the wisest of the human race. Yet I do not see that you are at liberty to give up your charge on this account. It seems you should simply lay the whole affair before Mr. Pawson and Allen [John Pawson was a Supernumerary in Bristol; John Allen, who became an itinerant in 1766 and died in 1810, was Wesley’s Assistant]. They are candid and impartial judges, prejudiced neither on one side nor the other; and I believe they will be able to judge on every emergence what steps are the most proper to be taken. One reason, it may be, why this was permitted, was to confound the pride of your understanding. You had been accounted a woman of sense and commended for it. And our nature readily receives such commendation. But see how little your sense avails! You can do no more herein than if you was an idiot. ' The help that is done upon earth He doeth it Himself,' whether with or without instruments. Let your whole soul be stayed upon Him for time and eternity. I am always wen pleased to hear from you. And you can speak freely to, my dear Miss Bishop, Yours affectionately.

To Hannah Ball Date: LONDON, November 18, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You never did anything to disoblige me yet, nor anything (that I remember) which I wished undone. At all hazards you should prevent any misunderstanding between Mr. Saunderson and Brother Westrup. The best way is for them to talk calmly and freely together and reason the matter over. Then I think both of them will agree to what shall appear best upon the whole. Those fears are not from Him that calleth you. Give no place to them any farther than as they stir you up to prayer. A trying time there may be, and yet a growing time: this we frequently find. You should in any wise speak freely to Mr. Saunderson and tell him whatever you think or fear. Discipline must be kept up; only I would make an exception with regard to that gentlewoman you mention. Be more and more zealous and active for God!--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: SHEERNESS, December 1, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Some time since, when I heard Brother Bennis had got very rich, I was in fear for you lest the world should again find a way into your heart and damp your noblest affections. I am not sorry that you have not that temptation. It is most desirable to have nether poverty nor riches; but still you cannot be without temptation unless you would go out of the world. How far that sudden emotion which you speak of is a preternatural dart from Satan and how far it springs from your own heart it is exceeding hard to judge. It is possible it may be nether one nor the other, but a mere effect of the natural mechanism of the body, which has no more of good or evil than blushing or turning pale. But whether it be natural or preternatural, it is grievous to one whose conscience is tender. We may therefore undoubtedly pray against it. And surely He can and will deliver us. Come, therefore, boldly to the throne of grace, and find grace to help in time of need. You will find full employment in Waterford: I believe that Society wants your exertions. See, therefore, that you be not weary of well doing.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Thomas Rankin Date: LONDON, December 4, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--Captain Webb does not willfully tell lies, but he speaks incautiously; so that we must make large allowance for this whenever he speaks, otherwise we shall be deceived. But where is he now, and what is he doing I fear his wife will have need of patience. If you suffer any one to remain a leader who does not stay at the Society, that will be your fault. Improper leaders are not to be suffered upon any account whatever. You must likewise deal honestly with the Societies, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. Only do not tell them continually 'You are dead,' for that will surely make them so. Endeavor to quicken their hope by speaking strongly and at the same time cheerfully. Exhort them to look for better days--yea, such as they have never seen yet. I judge George Shadford will do good at New York. So would Robert Williams for a little time. You have hurt yourself by giving way to reasoning, and if you don’t take care you will hurt others. There has been good, much good done in America, and would have been abundantly more had Brother Boardman and Pilmoor continued genuine Methodists both in doctrine and discipline. It is your part to supply what was wanting in them. Therefore are you sent. Let Brother Shadford, Asbury, and you go on hand in hand, and who can stand against you Why, you are enough, trusting in Him that loves you, to overturn America. Go on in His name and in the power of His might, and all your enemies shall be found liars. Read David Brainerd again, and see your pattern! He was a good soldier of Jesus. Ah! but he first suffered, and then saw the fruit of his labor. Go and do likewise! I have written to Robert Williams and given him leave to print the Notes on my account; nothing on his own. I never knew he did till afterward. Be of good courage! Strengthen yourself in the Lord, and you will see good days, and will send better news to, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Savage Date: LONDON, December 11, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Whatever was reported concerning Brother Wolfe [Francis Wolfe had removed from Gloucestershire to Bristol] it did not come to my ears. I never heard anything of him but good; nor do I know of anything laid to his charge. I advise you to speak very freely to Mr. Collins [William Collins, Assistant in Wiltshire South. See letter of May 6, 1774, to her]. He has much experience in the things of God, and has likewise seen so much of trouble and temptation that he knows how to sympathize with those that are tempted. By stirring up the gift of God that is in you, you will find a constant increase of inward life. Labor to be more and more active, more and more devoted to Him. Be ready to do and suffer His whole will; then will He Sink you to perfection’s height, The depth of humble love. --I am, dear Molly, Your affectionate brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: LONDON, December 12, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--How easily we believe those we love! I believe it was as you say, and that it was only business, not want of affection, which kept you so long from writing. And so long as that business is not your choice, but providentially laid upon you, it is certainly best for you as bring ordered by unerring Wisdom. But I am startled at what you speak of Laving Witney [See letter of Jan. 20, 1774]. I do not well understand it. Where can you have the same opportunities of personal improvement (Unless it were at London or Bristol.) Where can you have so large a field of action so many opportunities of improving others What advantages have you reason to expect which will countervail this loss A design of so important a kind should be long and thoroughly weighed. I can conjecture only one advantage--more leisure, more freedom from hurry of business. That you will have no living souls near you, that all are dark and dead, is surely no reasonable motive for going anywhere. I am afraid lest you should be too hasty, lest you should run before the Spirit. Remember our dear friend Ally Eden [See letters of Feb. 11, 1772, and March 27, 1781]. She took one step without consulting any friend (save those under her own roof), and how dearly has she repented it! But perhaps you may give me reasons I am yet unacquainted with, so I suspend my judgement. I want to find you exactly right in all things. I wish you to be wise and good as an angel! I cannot tell you how near you are to, my dear Nancy, Yours affectionately.

To Walter Churchly Date: LONDON, December 23, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--You and I love one another; therefore we speak freely. (1) 'They have thrown themselves on Providence.' Not at all. From a very low state most of them had thrown themselves into plenty and honor. (2) ' It is possible they may do good.' True; but it is probable they may do harm. They have everywhere done our Societies all the harm they could. (3) 'The place they now have is a cold place.' I see no good of their having any at Hay. The land is wide enough. (4) They have no inclination to peace. (5) 'Our neighbors will see our professions true.' I do not profess any coalition with Calvinism. I see the mischievousness of it more and more. (6) 'Their preaching would not lessen the number of our hearers.' Indeed it would if the people minded what they say. And besides, it would puzzle and perplex those that still hear us, and probably set many an one’s sword against his brother. (7) 'They do not intend Antinomianism.' But they preach it continually. (8) 'And our people will not hear Calvinists.' Indeed they will if they play with the fire. You forget my brother’s verses: What my soul does as hell-fire reject, A Pope--a Count--a leader of a sect. [Poetical Works of J. and C. Wesley, vi. 62]. I am of no sect, but the Church of England. If James Barry or Stephen Proctor [The preacher at Brecon] is faulty in the Article you mention, tell them of it, and I am persuaded they will mend. You will do well to remind them in particular of teaching the children and visiting the sick. I believe they will take it kindly.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To James Hutton Date: December 31, 1773. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1773) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JEMMY,--I am of the same mind still. I love you well; and I love to talk with you. But I have an awkward disorder, commonly called an hydrocele; on account of which I shall be next week in the surgeon’s hands [Dr. Samuel Wathen removed it on Jan. 4, 1774. See Journal, v. 474, vi. 8]. Any time after that I shall be glad to meet you either at John Folgham’s [Folgham was a member of the Foundery Society and one of the trustees of City Road Chapel. Wesley dined with him on Dec. 31, 1782, and at other times. See Journal Index] or anywhere.--I am, dear Jemmy, Yours affectionately.

To Joseph Benson, Edinburgh Date: LONDON January 8, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--Many persons are in danger of reading too little; you are in danger of reading too much. Wherever you are, take up your cross and visit all the Society from house to house. Do this according to Mr. Baxter’s plan, laid down in the Minutes of the Conference [See Minutes for 1766; works, viii. 302-3, 315]. The fruit which will ensure (perhaps in a short time), will abundantly reward your labor. Fruit also we shall have, even in those who have no outward connection with us. I am glad you ' press all believers ' to aspire after the full liberty of the children of God. They must not give up their faith in order to do this; herein you formerly seemed to be in some mistake. Let them go on from faith to faith--from weak faith to that strong faith which not only conquers but casts out sin. Meantime it is certain many call themselves believers who do not even conquer sin, who are strangers to the whole inward kingdom of God and void of the whole fruit of the Spirit. We must not go on at Dunbar in this manner. Rather we must quit the place. For who will pay that debt On Tuesday I was under the surgeon’s hands, but am now (blessed be God) quite recovered [See next letter].--I am, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately.

To James Hutton Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- LEWISHAM, January 8, 1774. DEAR JEMMY,--On Tuesday I was tapped by Mr. Wathen [See letter of Dec. 31, 1773], and now (blessed be God) I am well and easy. I hope yours is an hydrocele; because, if so, it admits of an easy remedy. The being tapped, if you have a skilful surgeon, is no more than being let blood. I expect dominucete’s fumes will do you neither harm nor good [Hutton wrote to the Moravian Society on Jan. 16 resigning his position as Chairman on account of his deafness. See Benham’s Hutton, p.496. Domine stekan a corruption of Dominus tecum]. If you can spare half an hour on Monday, I shall be glad of your company. I will endeavor to be at Mr. Atwood’s [Wesley dined with Atwood on various occasions, See Journal Index], house (one of the King’s musicians) by two o'clock on Monday. He lives at Pimlico, just behind the Queen’s Gardens. I suppose Mr. Rivington’s advertisement is only a puff, as the booksellers call it.--I am, dear Jemmy, Yours affectionately.

To John Mason Date: LONDON, January 10, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--It is nothing strange that those who love the world should not love to continue with us. Our road is too strait. Down the stream of nature driven, They seek a broader path to heaven. However, let us keep in the good old way; and we know it will bring us peace at the last. If you press all the believers to go on to perfection and to expect deliverance from sin every moment, they will grow in grace. But if ever they lose that expectation, they will grow flat and cold. Last week I was under the surgeon’s hands; but am now (blessed be God) better than I have been for some years.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: LONDON, January 18, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--A will steadily and uniformly devoted to God is essential to a state of sanctification, but not an uniformity of joy or peace or happy communion with God. These may rise and fall in various degrees; nay, and may be affected either by the body or by diabolical agency, in a manner which all our wisdom can neither understand nor prevent. As to wanderings, you would do right well to consider the sermon on Wandering Thoughts [See Works, vi. 23-32]: you might likewise profit by Elizabeth Harper’s Journal, whose experience much resembled yours, only she was more simple; and you may learn from her to go straight to God as a little child, and tell Him all your troubles and hindrances and doubts, and desire Him to turn them all to good. You are not sent to Waterford to be useless. Stir up the gift of God which is in you; gather together those that have been scattered abroad, and make up a band, if not a class or two. Your best way would be to visit from house to house. By this means you can judge of their conduct and dispositions in domestic life, and may have opportunity to speak to the young of the family. By motion you will contract warmth; by imparting fife you will increase it in yourself. As to the circumstance mentioned in the postscript of your last, I should think you would do well to exert yourself in that matter as much as possible [On Dec. 29, 1773, she wrote from Waterford, where she found the people very dead. There is no postscript to the printed letter]. It will be a cross: take up that cross, bear your cross, and it will bear you; and if you do it with a single eye, it will be no loss to your soul.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: LONDON, January 20, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You in your little station, as I in mine, have abundance of trouble and care and hurry. And I too have often thought, Had I not better throw off some part at least of the burthen But I think again, Is it my burthen Did I choose it for myself Is it not the cup which my Father hath given me And do I bear it for my own sake, or for the profit of many that they may be saved Let me not hurt my dear friend if upon such an occasion I speak with all plainness. You are now highly favored. I trust God has made you a partaker of His great salvation. He has given you a good understanding improved by experience and free conversation with many of His dearest children. He has placed you as a city set upon an hill in a situation wherein you have full exercise for all your talents. 'But there are many crosses therein.' There are--that is, many means of brightening all your graces. And is it a little thing that would induce my sister, my friend to quit such a situation as this If, indeed, you could enlarge the sphere of your action; if you could be more extensively useful; or if you could have a closer union than you ever had yet with a person of very eminent grace and understanding, I should instantly acknowledge the call of God and say, ' Go, and the Lord will be with thee!' But I can see nothing of this in your present case. All dark, I fear; evil is before you. When John Fletcher pressed Mary Bosanquet [They were married in 1781] much, she said (desiring my advice concerning it), 'If I change my situation, it must be with one I can not only love but highly reverence and esteem: one that is qualified to be my guide; one who is eminent not only in grace but likewise in understanding.' I would add, ' And one that will furnish you with full liberty of action that you may exercise your every grace.' Give me such an one for my beloved friend, and I will instantly wish you God speed!

To Thomas Wride Date: LONDON, January 22, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--John Hilton [See letters of Nov. 12, 1773 (to Christopher Hopper), and Aug. 18, 1775] is a pleasing preacher, but perhaps not so deep as some others. Yet I suppose he is and will be a popular one. He has a good person and an agreeable utterance. You did exactly right in not countenancing hymns [Wride said in a letter to Wesley that he refused to sing or sell certain fine new hymns made and printed by William Ramsden] not publicly received among us. Were we to encourage tittle poets, we should soon be overrun. But there is not the least pretence for using any new hymns at Christmas, as some of my brother's Christmas hymns are some of the finest compositions in the English tongue. Arthur Kershaw [See letter of Oct. 22, 1773] should have wrote to me before he left Northampton. Where is he or what is he doing Tommy, be mild, be gentle toward all men.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: LONDON, January 26, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--When I observe anything amiss in your temper or behavior, I shall hardly fail to tell you of it; for I am persuaded you would not only suffer it but profit by advice or reproof. I have been sometimes afraid you did not deal plainly enough with the young women under your care. There needs much courage and faithfulness, that you may do all that in you ties to present them faultless before the throne. I do not know whether there is any other outward employ which would be so proper for you as that you are now engaged in. You have scope to use all the talents which God has given you, and that is the most excellent way. You have likewise a most admirable exercise for your patience, either in the dullness or forwardness of your little ones. And some of these will learn from you, what is of the greatest importance, to know themselves and to know God. You must not, therefore, relinquish this station lightly--not without full and clear proof that God calls you so to do. Meantime bear your cross, and it will bear you. Seek an inward, not an outward change. What you want is only inward liberty, the glorious liberty of the children of God. And how soon may you enjoy this! Who knows what a day, an hour, a moment may bring forth How soon may you hear 'the voice that speaks Jehovah near'! Why should it not be to-day--I am, my dear sister, Yours affectionately. Miss Bishop, Near the Cross Bath, In Bath.

To Ann Bolton Date: LONDON, February 17, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--As our friends who write to me from Witney observe, Mr. Saunderson might be useful if he continued with you. But I have promised, not only to him but also to several at Edinburgh, that he should come with me when I came into Scotland [See letter of Feb. 27]. Joseph Bradford, who succeeds him for the present, is much devoted to God, and he is active and laborious. Tell him if you think anything wanting. I doubt not he will take it well. The manner wherein you receive advice encourages me to give it you freely [See letter of Jan. 20]. I am fully persuaded that is not the person. He has neither such a measure of understanding nor of spiritual experience as to advance you either in divine knowledge or in the life of God. Therefore yield to no importunity, and be as peremptory as you can consistent with civility. This is the wisest way with regard for you and the kindest with regard to him. I should have desired you to meet me at Stroud, March 14; but on this account [Probably the gentleman lived at Stroud] it seems not expedient. I have often examined myself (to speak without any reserve) with respect to you, and I find ' no fever’s heat, no fluttering spirits dance,' but a steady rational affection, ' calm as the warmth of life.’ [Probably based on Young’s Night Thoughts, viii.] March 2, 1774. I found the above (which I thought had been finished and sent) among my papers this morning. I hope you did not think you were forgotten by, my dear Nancy, Your ever affectionate brother.

To his Brother Charles Date: DEPTFORD, February 22, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--I have seen Mr. Leddiard [One of Charles Wesley’s Bristol friends, evidently visiting London. See his Journal, ii. 270, 275, 279]. Speak a few words in the congregation, and the remaining tracts will be sold in a quarter of an hour [Wesley published his Thoughts on Slavery in 1774. See Green’s Bibliography, No. 298]. Surely you should reprint the depositions; only leaving out the names both of captains and ships. Read on. The farther you read in Thomas’s [A Scourge to Calumny, by Thomas Olivers. See letter of Jan. 13] tract the better you will like it. I never saw it till it was printed. Miss March [See letters of March 4, 1760, and June 17, 1774, to her] is likely to recover; she rides out every day. Mrs. G---is not joined with the Germans. I believe Miss B----is. Miss F----is in town. To-day, Henry Hammond [In 1766 Charles Wesley persuaded Hammond, ‘a poor wandering sheep that did run well for years, but left us upon his marriage, and Christ too,’ to go to Spitalfields Chapel after twelve years’ interruption. He returned to the fold, and was a regular attendant. See C. Wesley’s Journal, ii. 216-17] and Jo. Bates pleading on the one side, Mr. Horton and Ley on the other, Mr. D[avis] [See letters of Jan. 13 and May 6 to Charles Wesley] had a full hearing. In the end he desired (not demanded) that some compensation might be made him for his losses. This is to be referred to the committee which meets to-morrow night. I shall not be there, but at Lewisham. We join in love to you and yours.

To Martha Chapman Date: NEAR LONDON, February 25, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I should have been glad to see you at Newbury [He was there on March 7]; but the will of our Lord is best. You can never speak too strongly or explicitly upon the head of Christian Perfection. If you speak only faintly and indirectly, none will be offended and none profited. But if you speak out, although some will probably be angry, yet others will soon find the power of God unto salvation. You have good encouragement from the experience of her whom God has lately taken to Himself [Bilhah Aspernell. See letter of Nov. 9, 1753, to Mr. Gillespie]. Speak to all, and spare not. Be instant in season, out of season; and pray always with all perseverance, particularly for Yours affectionately.

To Walter Churchey Date: NEAR LONDON, February 25, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--The deliverance of our two fellow travelers should certainly be matter of thankfulness, to grace prevailing over nature. And should it not be a means of stirring up those that remain to greater zeal and diligence in serving Him who will be our Guide even unto death Should not you labor to convince and stir up others, that they may supply the place of those that are called away And let us lose no time. Work while it is day; the night cometh, wherein no man can work.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To John Fletcher Date: LONDON, February 26, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--In going down, my route lies, Tuesday, March 8, Bristol; Wednesday, the 16th, Worcester; Saturday, the 19th, Birmingham; Monday, the 21st, and Tuesday, Wednesbury. I do not know that I shall come any nearer to Madeley then. But if I live to return, I hope to be at Salop on Thursday, July 28, and at Madeley on Saturday and Sunday. The prejudiced will say anything, everything of us; but it is enough that we stand or fall to our own Master. That expression 'the necessary union between faith and good works' must be taken with a grain of allowance; otherwise it would infer irresistible grace and infallible perseverance. You will please to send the Essays and Equal Check to London unstitched. I hope they will do good; but I doubt they will not shame the Calvinists. The young man did act by her instructions, which I never heard she had recalled. So at present what they do is her act and deed. 'Tis well He that is higher than the highest doth regard it. And what can hurt us while we cleave to Him with our whole heart--I am, dear sir, Ever yours.

To Mrs. Bennis Date: LONDON, March 1, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER.--Elizabeth Harper was frequently in clouds too; and in that case it is the best way to stand still: you can do nothing but simply tell all your wants to Him that is both able and willing to supply them. I enclose James Perfect's letter, on purpose that you may talk with him. He has both an honest heart and a good understanding; but you entirely mistake his doctrine. He preaches salvation by faith in the same manner that my brother and I have done, and as Mr. Fletcher (one of the finest writers of the age) has beautifully explained it. None of us talk of being accepted for our works; that is the Calvinist slander. But we all maintain we are not saved without works, that works are a condition (though not the meritorious cause) of final salvation. It is by faith in the righteousness and blood of Christ that we are enabled to do all good works; and it is for the sake of these that all who fear God and work righteousness are accepted of Him. It is far better for our people not to hear Mr. Hawksworth. Calvinism will do them no good. As to the rest, I refer to my enclosure to Mr. M'Donald, with whom I wish you to have some conversation. Be not discouraged: I really believe God will visit poor Waterford in love. Do you go on. Bear up the hands that hang down; by faith and prayer support the tottering knee; reprove, encourage. Have you appointed any days of fasting and prayer Storm the throne of grace, and persevere therein, and mercy will come down.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, March 4, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--I am glad you have been at Greenock, and think it highly expedient that you should follow the blow. Meantime let Brother Broadbent supply Glasgow and Billy Thompson Edinburgh. I think with you that it is no great matter if Dunbar be left for a season. When you have been three or four weeks at Greenock and Port Glasgow, Brother Broadbent should change with you. But I agree with you the harvest cannot be large till we can preach abroad. Before I settled my plan that thought occurred, 'It would be better to go a little later into Scotland.' Accordingly I have contrived not to be at Glasgow till Friday, the 6th of May, coming by way of Edinburgh. Probably it may then be practicable to take the field. I incline to think it will be of use for you to spend another year in that circuit.--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate brother.

To Thomas Stedman Date: BRISTOL, March 10, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--I thank you for your welcome present. It pleases God to carry on His work in every part of the nation, although at some places in a more especial manner, particularly in Yorkshire. The Works will be comprised in thirty volumes, two shillings and sixpence each. The twenty-eighth is now in the press. The Preface concludes thus: 'It may be needful to mention one thing more, because it is a little out of the common way. In the Extract from Milton's Paradise Lost and in that from Dr. Young’s Night Thoughts I placed a mark before those passages which I judged were most worthy of the reader’s notice. The same thing I have taken the liberty to do throughout the ensuing volumes.' Commending you to Him whose you are, and whom you serve, I am, dear sir, Your affectionate brother.

To Isaac Twycross Date: WORCESTER, March 17, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR ISSAC,--Because you desire it, I write again. You do well to follow after peace. Nothing is more desirable: one would give up anything for it but a good conscience. And the only way whereby you can secure it is to walk closely with God. So long as your ways please Him He will make even your enemies to be at peace with you. Be serious! Be earnest! Be little in your own eyes, and God will order all things well!--I am Your affectionate brother. At Trevecca, Near the Hay, Brecon.

To John Atlay Date: WHITEHAVEN, May 6, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Send no books till you have the accounts. I have desired T. Lewis to send you fifty pounds for Mr. Hawes to pay Mr. Nind the papermaker fifty, and (when he has his general accounts) two hundred pounds to Mr. Pine; so I hope you will soon be able to answer your other demands and to keep your head above water. I am not sorry that Robert Yates cannot come. It seems it might be well either to take in that little room or some other spot you agree upon. For the present you must not go out of town or be from the Foundery on Tuesday or Thursday evenings. But what think you Could you be my clerk for a twelvemonth (as much longer as you please). Instead of the f22 a year which you have for Sister Atlay and you, I would willingly give you fifty.--I am, with love to Sister Atlay, Yours affectionately.

To Ann Bolton Date: WHITEHAVEN, May 8, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Have you quite forgotten me It would not be strange if you had, but rather if you had not, considering the many things you have to think of, your much business, and your many correspondents. But it would be strange if I were to forget you. I could as soon forget myself. I know not how it is that you have for some time past seemed nearer to me than ever. I think ever since I saw you last I have indulged a pleasing expectation that there will be a more free and open intercourse between us than there has been yet. Is your heart as my heart Do you desire there should Or are you indifferent about it Nay, I think you are not, and I think I may judge of you by what I feel in myself. And if so, Who shall our souls disjoin Souls that Himself vouchsafed to unite In fellowship divine.

I want to hear how you go in your new way of life. Is it likely to answer your brother’s expectations with regard to temporal affairs In so short a time you cannot know much, but you may form some little conjecture. Do you give attention enough and not too much to the various businesses that lie upon you I know you will be diligent therein. But are you too diligent, so as to engage too much of your time and thoughts to entrench upon things of an higher nature To deprive yourself of sufficient time for exercises of a nobler kind If you should intermit these on account of any business whatever, I doubt you would suffer loss. There would be a danger that the tenor of your spirit should cool by imperceptible degrees, and that your mind should be too much engaged in the things of this world. For many years my mother was employed in abundance of temporal business while my father, who meddled with no temporals, had his living in his own hands. Yet she never suffered anything to break in upon her stated hours of retirement, which she sacredly observed from the age of seventeen or eighteen to seventy-two. Let my friend tread in the steps of my mother. Follow her as she followed Christ. Do not delay to write and tell me just how you are and what you do. Everything that concerns you very nearly concerns me, my dear Nancy, Your friend and brother. Any time this month direct to me at Edinburgh.

To Christopher Hopper Date: GLASGOW, May 14, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Ought such a man as John Horner to starve God forbid that we should suffer it. I beg of you to do these two things: (I) Procure a friend to call his creditors together and state his case. His integrity will easily be shown; and surely, when he has given up his all, they will be willing to clear him. (2) When he is clear, then set on foot a subscription for him. We must needs set him above want. Here are many people in North Britain that ask, Will Mr. Hopper never come to see us again In several places the work of God both widens and deepens. Oh for zealous and active laborers!--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Walter Churchey Date: GLASGOW, May 15, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I cannot but agree with you entirely in respect of John Prickard. Unless he has a clearer call than I apprehend, he ought not to go to America. The reason is plain: there is a greater call for him in Wales than in the Province of New York or Pennsylvania. And there is no call at all in the Northern or Southern Provinces. To go thither is stark, staring madness. But if John has a mind, he may come to the Conference at Bristol and talk with me about it. T. Judson, at No. 11, in Carey Court, Gray's Inn, is a Christian attorney. I ordered the third epistle to be sent to your sister, and I suppose it was. Your friend Joseph Benson sits at my elbow and is much at your service.--I am, with love to Sister Churchey, Your affectionate brother. PS.--I have seen an exceeding well-wrote book, an Introduction to the Study of the Law, published eleven or twelve years ago, I think, by one Simpson. It is a thin octavo. You should have it if you have it not already. The Conference begins the second week in August. Immediately after it I hope to see you in Brecon.

To Mrs. Crosby Date: EDINBURGH, June 3, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I have received an excellent letter from Betsy Ritchie. Her experience seems to be exceeding clear. But her youth will expose her to many temptations within, and her circumstances to many from without. So that you have need tenderly and carefully to watch over her, lest she be moved from her steadfastness. I am persuaded our dear Sister Clapham will not rest until she is conformed in all things to our Head. I have been considering (as our friends so much desire it) whether I could not spend another night at Leeds. And I think I can consider it by taking a night from York. I purpose, God willing, to leave York on Wednesday, July 13; to dine at Leeds that day, and preach there at half-hour past six in the evening. So my horses may stay there till I come. If Wakefield be in the way to Doncaster, I could preach there at nine in the morning, on Thursday, July 14. Wherever the preachers simply and strongly insist upon full salvation, a blessing will attend their word. I was glad to observe a freer intercourse between Miss Bosanquet and you than formerly. If possible, Satan would keep you asunder. Be not ignorant of his devices. Pray speak freely to Duncan Wright. I am afraid he has suffered loss. Peace be with all your spirits!--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Elizabeth Ritchie Date: EDINBURGH, June 3, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--I shall much want to hear that you stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. It is absolutely certain that you never need lose anything of what God has wrought. He is able and He is willing to give you always what He has once given. He will do it, provided you watch unto prayer and stir up the gift of God which is in you. There is one invariable rule which God observes in all His dealings with the children of men: ' Unto him that hath,' uses what he hath, ' shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly.' When we are justified, He gives us one talent; to those that use this He gives more. When we are sanctified, He gives, as it were, five talents. And if you use the whole power which is then given, He will not only continue that power but increase it day by day. Meantime be not ignorant of Satan's devices: he will assault you on every side; he will cast temptations upon you Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the ground. But with every temptation there shall be a way to escape; and you shall be more than conqueror through Him that loves you. You can do, you can suffer His whole will. Go on in His name and in the power of His might; and fulfil the joy of Yours affectionately.

To his Wife Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, June 10, 1774. MY DEAR LOVE,--Last night Billy Smith gave me your letter. I had some time since had an account from John Pawson of what occurred in Bristol between him and you. Your behavior as to the money was admirable. You did yourself much honor thereby. You behaved like a woman of honor, sense, and conscience. O why shoed not you behave so in everything If it were possible for you to observe but one thing, 'Commit your cause unto the Lord, and speak nothing against me behind my back,' the people in general will love you. Till then they cannot.--I am, my dear Love, Your affectionate Husband. It is believed John Fenwick cannot last twelve hours

To Miss Lewin Date: WEARDALE, June 12, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--The word of our Lord to you just now is, ' Open thy mouth wide, and I will fit it.' Whereunto you have attained hold fast, and the residue of the promises is at hand. Mr. Saunderson is necessarily detained at Edinburgh, being to answer for himself on the 24th instant before the Lord's Justiciaries. I had the honor myself of being sent to the Tollbooth, and am only out upon bail. Billy Thompson, who travels with me in his stead, will speak to a few more of our friends. I think Miss Rhodes should try, together with constant riding, decoction of nettles every night and morning. In any wise the horses should be broke to go in a chaise. I wish you would send them to Leeds the day that I come. Peace be with your spirits! I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: SUNDERLAND, June 17, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--It is something strange that I should never hear of your illness till I hear of your recovery. Both the one and other were designed for blessings, and I doubt not have proved so to you. Since I saw you first I have not observed much reason for reproving. But we have all need of advice and exhortation, else we should soon be weary and faint in our minds. It is to be expected that above one half of those who not only profess great things, but actually enjoy the great salvation, deliverance from inbred sin, will nevertheless sooner or later be moved from their steadfastness. Some of them, indeed, will recover what they had lost; others will die in their sins. The observing this should incite us to double watchfulness lest we should fall after their example. The English tongue is derived from the German: in both, the imperfect tense in the indicative mood is generally the same or nearly the same with the participle, and to be distinguished from it by the preceding and following words.--I am, my dear sister, Yours affectionately.

There have undoubtedly been instances of real friendship among Jews, yea and among heathens, who were susceptible of it: but they were by no means wicked men; they were men fearing God and working righteousness according to the dispensation they were under. I apprehend wicked men, under whatever dispensation, to be absolutely incapable of true friendship. By wicked men I mean either men openly profane or men void of justice, mercy, and truth. There may be a shadow of friendship between those, whether of the same or of different sexes. But surely the substance is wanting; in all my experience I have found no exception to this rule. After an acquaintance of four-and-thirty years, I myself cannot have freedom with Miss Johnson. Yet I know not but you may. In most respects she judges truly, although her natural understanding is not strong. Miss Newman's is: the more you know her the more you will taste her spirit. The others you mention want a little more age and experience; then they might make companions for you.

To Hannah Ball Date: SUNDERLAND, June 19, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--It is next to impossible to retain salvation from sin without having a dear witness of it, especially in time of temptation; they who then lose the witness commonly lose the blessing itself. When you can spare a day or two to visit any of the neighboring Societies, it will be a labor well bestowed. You will always find it a blessing to your own soul, as it is a means of quickening and strengthening others Sometimes I have been a little afraid for my dear Ann Bolton. If she is more engaged than she used to be in temporal things and less in spiritual, she must be something more than human or she will suffer loss, her soul will be flattened thereby. I am afraid lest she should sink into that delicate species of spiritual sloth which some call 'ceasing from our own works.' I wish she would write more frequently either to me or to you. It might be profitable to her. She has been as a mother in Israel; pity she should ever be less useful. I left Mr. Saunderson behind me in Scotland, but expect to see him at the Conference.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Jonathan Pritchard Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, June 22, 1774. DEAR JONATHAN,--It appears to me that Mr. Oliver should in a mild and loving manner talk with T. Bennett, and tell him, 'Mr. W. will take it exceeding ill if he does not pay the money according to his promise.' If he urges any or all the complaints you mention, Mr. O. may readily make the same answers that you do. I can hardly think that T. Bennett has any design to wrong me; but he is stout, and stands upon his honor. Be not weary of well doing. Be glad if you can do a little for God. And do what you can till you can do what you would.--I am, dear Jonathan, Your affectionate brother. Mr. Jon. Pritchard, At Boughton, Near Chester.

To Elizabeth Ritchie Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, June 23, 1774. MY DEAR BETSY,--It gives me pleasure to find that you still stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free, and that in spite of various temptations. And these, indeed, you are still to expect; for Satan neither slumbers nor sleeps, and he will strive to torment if he cannot destroy. Nay, God Himself, as one observes, 'prepareth for thee occasions of fighting, that thou mayest conquer.' So that you are still called to fight the good fight of faith, and thus to lay hold on eternal life. One admirable help toward conquering all is for believers to keep close together, to walk hand in hand, and provoke one another to love and to good works. And one means of retaining the pure love of God is the exhorting others to press earnestly after it. When you meet on a Sunday morning, I doubt not but this will be the chief matter both of your prayers and conversation. You may then expect to be more and more abundantly endued with power from on high, witnessing that He is faithful and just both to forgive us our tins and also to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.--I remain Yours affectionately.

To Joseph Benson Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, June 28, 1774. DEAR JOSEPH,--You fell upon Hugh Saunderson without rhyme or reason for contriving to supplant you at Edinburgh; whereas his staying there was not his choice but his cross: he must be there from the 24th instant to the 5th of July. During that time you may make an excursion either north, west, or south. Afterwards you will be fight welcome at Edinburgh. And seeing the people desire it, I cheerfully consent to your staying in that circuit another year. The following year, if you and I live, you may spend in London. Your congregations in Edinburgh are large: Hugh Saunderson’s are larger still. Your preaching, and perhaps mine, has stirred up a sleepy people: his preaching has stirred them up still more. Our conversation has often quickened them: his has quickened them much more. 'But why does God work more by him that has far less sense than we' To stain the pride of our wisdom. And hence not 'five or six girls' but 'the generality of the congregation' prefer his preaching to either yours or mine. They feel therein more of the power of God, though it has less of the wisdom of man. Now, I see more than any single preacher can see, which of the preachers do most good, who have most fruit; and according to this, I form my estimate of them. Pray tell Sister Gow I have her letter, and that both Mr. Thompson and I wholly acquit her. She has neither done nor said anything amiss. Mr. Broadbent blamed her without cause.--I am, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately.

To Henry Brooke Date: HULL, July 8, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR HARRY,--When I read over in Ireland The Fool of Quality, I could not but observe the deign of it, to promote the religion of the heart, and that it was well calculated to answer that design; the same thing I observed a week or two ago concerning Juliet Grenville. Yet there seemed to me to be a few passages both in the one and the other which might be altered to the better; I do not mean so much with regard to the sentiments, which are generally very just, as with regard to the structure of the story, which seemed here and there to be not quite clear. I had at first a thought of writing to Mr. Brooke himself, but I did not know whether I might take the liberty. Few authors will thank you for imagining you are able to correct their works. But if he could bear it and thinks it would be of any use, I would give another reading to both these works, and send him my thoughts without reserve just as they occur. I admired Miss Brooke for her silence; her look spake, though not her tongue. If we should live to meet again, I should be glad to hear as well as see her--I am Yours.

To Francis Wolfe Date: YORK, July 10, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I had set you down for Bristol the next year. But last night I received a letter from John Murlin, and another from Tommy Lewis, desiring he might be there. Pray tell T. Lewis they will have him and two other new preachers, and that I am seeking for an housekeeper. Explicitly press the believers to go on to perfection!--I am, with love to Sister Wolfe, Your affectionate brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: LEEDS, July 13, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--At all hazards get an electric machine. It is your bounden duty. You are no more at liberty to throw away your health than to throw away your life. If you disperse the small tracts among the poor people round Finstock, it will continue and deepen their awakening. Your removal from Witney was sufficient to cause slackness among the people. I hope Brother Taylor will recover, if he be plainly and yet tenderly dealt with. You try me when you delay to write; it makes me almost fear your love is grown cold. It is on Monday, August 1, I have appointed to be at Worcester, on Tuesday at Broadmarston, on Thursday at Cheltenham, on Friday at Stroud, on Saturday at Bristol; and I know not how I can see you, unless at one of these places. My love to Neddy.--I am, my dear Nancy, Yours affectionately.

To his Wife Date: YORK, July 15, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR,--1. I think it needful to write one letter more in order to state the case between you and me from the beginning. I can’t, indeed, do this so exactly as I would, because I have not either those letters or those parts of my Journal which give a particular account of all circumstances just as they occurred. I have therefore only my memory to depend on; and that is not very retentive of evil. So that it is probable I shall omit abundance of things which might have thrown still more fight on the subject. However, I will do as well as I can, simply relating the fact to the best of my memory and judgement. 2. Before we married I saw you was a well-bred woman of great address and a middling understanding; at the same time I believed you to be of a mild, sweet, even temper. By conversing with you twenty days after we were married I was confirmed in the belief. Full of this, I wrote to you soon after our first parting in the openness and simplicity of my heart. And in this belief I continued after my return till we went down to Kingswood. 3. Here, as I came one morning into your room, I saw a sight which I little expected. You was all thunder and lightning: I stared and listened; said little, and retired. You quickly followed me into the other room, fell upon your knees, and asked my pardon. I desired you to think of it no more, saying, It is with me as if it had never been. In two or three weeks you relapsed again and again, and as often owned your fault, only with less and less concern. You first found we were both in fault, and then all the fault was on my side.

8. Some time after you took offence at my being so much with Mrs. Blackwell, and was 'sure she did me no good.' But this blew over, and you was often in a good humor for a week together, till October 1757. Sarah Ryan, the housekeeper at Bristol, then put a period to the quarrel between my brother and you. Meantime she asked me once and again, 'Sir, should I sit and hear Mrs. Wesley talk against you by the hour together' I said, 'Hear her, if you can thereby do her any good.' A while after, she came to me and said, 'Indeed, sir, I can bear it no longer. It would wound my own soul.' Immediately you was violently jealous of her, and required me not to speak or write to her. At the same time you insisted on the 'liberty of opening and reading all letters directed to me.' This you had often done before: but I still insisted on my own liberty of speaking and writing to whom I judged proper; and of seeing my own letters first, and letting you read only those I saw fit. 9. Sunday, February 25, 1758, you went into my study, opened my bureau, and took many of my letters and papers. But on your restoring most of them two days after, I said, 'Now, my dear, let all that is past be forgotten; and if either of us find any fresh ground of complaint, let us tell it to Mr. Blackwell, or Jo. Jones, or Tho. Walsh, but to no other person whatever.' You agreed; and on Monday, March 6, when I took my leave of you to set out for Ireland, I thought we had as tender a parting as we had had for several years.

To Joseph Benson Date: SHEFFIELD, July 26, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--Certainly an account of the Societies in the Edinburgh Circuit will be expected from you at the Conference. I will then propose the case of Greenock. I am glad you have sent Brother Ferguson the Appeals. I believe Billy Eels might come to you directly, if you wrote to him and to Joseph Cownley. At length I hope good may be done in Scotland, and I incline to prefer your scheme to Dr. Hamilton's. Three preachers may do better than two, provided they change regularly, according to the plan you lay down. I know not but you must make a private subscription and wire over the cupola. 'Be zealous and humble; but never be still!'--Dear Joseph, adieu!

To Elizabeth Ritchie Date: MADELEY, July 31, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--It gives me much pleasure to find that you stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. Trials you will have; but they will only be means of uniting you to Him more closely. While your eye is singly fixed on Him your whole body will be full of light. You will be enabled To trace His example, The world to disdain, And constantly trample On pleasure and pain. While you are doing this you will not find many doubts of the way wherein you should go. The unction of the Holy One will shine in your heart and shine upon your path; especially if you frequently consider the Directions for preserving Fervency of Spirit and the Father Thoughts upon Christian Perfection. If you should at any time be in doubt concerning any point either of doctrine or practice, use me as a friend; and speak freely to Yours affectionately.

To Hannah Ball Date: BRISTOL, August 12, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Your letters are always pleating to me, as is the writer of them. I hope Mr. Harmer's preaching in the church will have many good effects. He will prepare the way for Brother Wolfe and his two fellow laborers; all alive to God, simple of heart and of one heart and mind, without any jarring string. And I suppose, by the addition of a third preacher, you will have a traveling preacher every other Sunday. You will love Sister Wolfe: she is an amiable creature, and has done good to the children here. We have made a little beginning for poor Brother W[estrup], which I hope will be some encouragement for others. Walk in the narrowest path of the narrow way, and the Spirit of glory and of Christ shall rest upon you.--I am, my very dear sister, Yours affectionately.

To Penelope Newman Date: BRISTOL, August 12, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I am glad to hear that any of our dear friends are refreshed and strengthened. Surely He who loves us will withhold from us no manner of thing that is good! We have not any Minutes of the Conference here; but I have ordered some to be sent down from London. Now be active! Be Patient in bearing ill and doing well. You may improve by everything that occurs, especially by what is grievous to flesh and blood.--I am, my dear sister, Yours affectionately.

To John Bredin Date: BRISTOL, August 28, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I have deeply considered the state of Scotland, and have stationed the preachers thus: Edinburgh--Jos. Benson, Wm. Eels, John Bredin. Dundee--Thos. Rutherford, Jo. Wittam, P. Milne. Aberdeen--Robert Wilkinson, Jam. Watson. If the preachers sit still this year, as they have done hitherto, I will send no more of them into Scotland. I cannot do it with a clear conscience. It is destroying both their soul and body. I hope it will not be long before all the preachers stationed in Scotland reach their appointed places. The staying too long before they get into their circuits has been attended with many inconveniences. It is well that Jamey Watson is come to Aberdeen. Pray tell him, if we live till another Conference, we will repay what he is now obliged to borrow for necessaries. And I trust Brother Wilkinson and he will regularly attend the northern Societies. Then they will increase (perhaps more than any others) both in number and strength.--I am Yours affectionately.

To Mr. -------- Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- BRISTOL, August, 28, 1774. DEAR BILLY,--I beg of you to go without delay to the Isle of Purbeck for a week or two. You are to go to Mr. William Ingram's at Corfe; where, if you go soon, you will meet Brother Saunderson. He writes me word that a door is opened all over the island, although there are many adversaries, but the bridle is in their mouth. Perhaps it would be best for you to go by Salisbury, and to tell John Undrell I desire he would follow you. Take particular care of the little, weak infant Societies. And see what books they want--I am, dear Billy, Your affectionate brother.

To Mr. ------- Date: TAUNTON, August 29, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Very probably Mr. Bentley is gone abroad. If so, we shall hear of him among our Societies in America. His sister should take good care of his effects till she hears of him again. To Mrs. Pim you should speak strong words of consolation. Don't try to reason with her; but tell her flatly, 'The devil is a liar. God loves you. Christ loves you. He will help you. Look up, and He will help you now.' Then wrestle with Him in prayer for her. Faith will prevail. [There] is the same remedy and no other for the [person] you speak of. But this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. It is best for you to spend some time with me, Eternal Providence, exceeding thought, When none appears can make itself a way. Sometimes that drowsiness is not natural but diabolical; in that case it is commonly taken away in a moment. When it is natural, cold bathing is of use.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: BRISTOL, September 13, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--The difference between heaviness and darkness of soul (the wilderness state) should never be forgotten. Darkness (unless in the case of bodily disorder) seldom comes upon us but by our own fault. It is not so with respect to heaviness, which may be occasioned by a thousand circumstances, such as frequently neither our wisdom can foresee nor our power prevent. It seems your trial was of the latter kind; perhaps, too, it was partly owing to the body. But of whatsoever kind it was, you may profit thereby: it need not leave you as it found you. Remember the wise saying of Mr. Dodd, 'It is a great loss to lose an affliction.' If you are no better for it, you lose it. But you may gain thereby both humility, seriousness, and resignation. I think the seldom you hear the Moravians the better. I should have heard them two or three times in a year; and perhaps I might have done it without any hurt. But others would have been emboldened by my example to hear them. And if any of these had been destroyed thereby their blood would have been upon my head. Some have lately advised me to omit what relates to them in the present edition of my Journals. So I would if the evil were removed. But I have no reason to believe it is. I never found them acknowledge any one fault. And without this there can be no amendment. On Wednesday the 21st instant I hope to see you at Bath on my way to Bradford. I purpose preaching about noon, and dining at one with the person who lives opposite to Brother Hemmings.--I am, my dear sister, Yours affectionately.

To Captain Richard Williams Date: BRISTOL, September 13, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad to hear of the present prosperity of the work of God among you. Now let every one of you stir himself up before the Lord! And press his neighbor (friend or stranger) to rush on and grasp the prize! Fifty yards square (allowing five to a yard, which is the lowest computation) will contain twelve thousand five hundred persons But here they stood far beyond the edge of the pit on all sides. Future things belong unto the Lord. I know He will do all things well; and therein I rest. As to the things which I do not understand, I let them alone. Time will show.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Miss March Date: BRISTOL, September 16, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- I believe my displeasure at you is not likely to rise to any great height. It will hardly have time; for I should tell you very soon of anything which I did not like. You want more simplicity. I will give you the first instance that occurs of that simplicity which I mean. Some years since, a woman sitting by me fell into strong convulsions, and presently began to speak as in the name of God. Both her look, motions, and tone of voice were peculiarly shocking. Yet I found my mind as ready to receive what she said, as if she had spoken with the look, motion, and accent of Cicero. 'Unprofitable; far from edifying.' Nay; but this does not go to the bottom of the matter. Why is that unprofitable to me which is edifying to others Remember that remark in the Thoughts on Christian Perfection: If one grain of prejudice be in my mind, I can receive no profit from the preacher. Neither in this case can I form a fight judgement of anything a person says or does. And yet it is possible this prejudice may be innocent, as springing from the unavoidable weakness of human understanding. I doubt not Mr. Murlin will be of use to many. He has much sense and much grace, together with uncommon activity and patience; and wherever he goes the work of God prospers in his hand.

To Joseph Benson Date: BRISTOL, September 18, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--Your last proposal is incomparably the best: I approve of it entirely. Without consulting any at Dunbar (which would only puzzle the cause), immediately begin to put it in execution. Let the preacher go to Ormiston on Wednesday, Dunbar on the Thursday, and return to Edinburgh by Linton on Friday, every week. At present we sate them with preaching. It will be best to keep an horse; then both your health and your soul will prosper. If William Eels crawls in at last, send him directly to Aberdeen. And you should be preparing to change with John Bredin. I wish Dr. Hamilton would send me the receipt for extracting the opiate from sow-thistles, and give me some account of its effects.--I am, dear Joseph, Your ever affectionate friend and brother. PS.--I left ninety members in the Society; I hope there are not fewer now.

To Mrs. Crosby Date: BRISTOL, September 26, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I am glad you have been with James Oddie and Sister Merryweather I hope their souls will revive. It is of great importance that you should be upon as good terms as may be with the preachers in every place. And everywhere [tell them] to preach in the morning; else they will do little good either to themselves or others. A fortnight longer I stay here, and then move toward London. My disorder is no hindrance to me, only that my friends will not let me ride on horseback. Now and then I break through a little, where the roads are not convenient for wheels. You are called to do all you can, be it more or less. And the more we do the more we feel how little it is. While I was in Wales my best friend (as my brother terms her) went to London, and has hired part of an house in Hoxton, professing she would never more set foot in Bristol house or in the Foundery. Good is the will of the Lord! 'I cannot choose. He cannot err.' Your advice is good. I desire to follow it; and am, dear Sally, Your affectionate brother

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, October 16, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--I have written to Dr. Hamilton that Brother Eels must go to Aberdeen, and Edinburgh and Dunbar must be supplied by one preacher. They should have thought of preaching in the churchyard before. While I live itinerant preachers shall be itinerants; I mean, if they choose to remain in connection with us. The Society in Greenock are entirely at their own disposal: they may either have a preacher between them and Glasgow or none at all. But more than one between them they cannot have. I have too much regard both for the bodies and souls of our preachers to let them be confined to one place any more. I hope John Bredin will punctually observe your direction, spending either three days or a week at each place alternately. I have weighed the matter and will serve the Scots as we do the English or leave them. I wish you would write a letter to John Campbell and another to R. Mackie, and argue the case with them. If John Bredin does not go to Greenock, let him (or his successor) spend half his time at Dunbar; then a preacher may be constantly at Edinburgh. But give me only six days in a fortnight there, and I will visit all the Society from house to house.--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Hannah Ball Date: SHOREHAM, November 28, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--It gives me great pleasure whenever it is in my power to assist you in anything. I love you for your openness and simplicity and for your desire to do the whole will of God. I think there need be no reserve between Brother Wolfe and you. He is of a truly childlike spirit. And the more you labor the more blessing you will find. Go on; run, and never tire. I hear the good account of two young maidens who have lately joined the Society. I do not doubt but you will watch over them that they turn not again to folly. See that you warn every one and exhort every one that you may present every one perfect in Christ Jesus.--I am, my dear sister, Yours affectionately.

To Sarah James Date: SHOREHAM, November 29, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I do not love you because you are without faults, but because you are desirous of being delivered from them. And I trust you will now find a great deliverance in a little time. For you are now taken into God’s school, into the school of affliction. The continued weakness and distress of Mrs. James (nay, and I fear Mr. James is not much better) is designed to humble and meeken your soul, to keep you dead to all below, and to teach you that grand lesson to say in all things, 'Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.' Only carry this point, and then I am not solicitous whether you have joy or not. See, the Lord thy Keeper stand Omnipotently near! Lo! He holds thee by thy hand, And banishes thy fear. Thou, poor sinner stay not to be any better, but take Him just as you are. Trust Him, praise Him now! The Lord take you with His sweet force! and then you will not forget, my dear Sally, Yours affectionately.

To the Authors of the 'Monthly Review' Date: REIGATE, November 30, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- GENTLEMEN,--I can easily believe what your correspondent affirms (Review, October 1774), that there are some slave-holders who have a little humanity left, and that the Georgian laws sell the blood of one slave only to each master, and prescribe the instruments wherewith he is to torture the rest. What is still the general spirit of American slave-holders is observed in a letter from Philadelphia now before me. As a farther influence of the inhumanity with which the poor Negroes are treated, I will add two advertisements published in the public papers, one of Virginia, the other of North Carolina:-- From the Williamsburg Gazette 'Run away on the 10th instant, a lusty Negro, named Bob---.The said fellow is outlawed, and I will give ten pounds reward for his head severed from his body, and forty shillings if brought alive.' From one of the North Carolina newspapers. 'Ran away last November, from the subscriber, a Negro fellow, named Yeb; aged thirty-six. As he is outlawed, I will pay twenty pounds currency to any person who shall produce his head severed from his body, and five pounds if brought home alive. John Mosely.' --I am, gentlemen, Your very humble servant.

I think it will not be best for you to go out less than you ever did. Suppose you have more faith and more love (as I would fain think you have), you certainly ought to go out more. Otherwise your faith will insensibly die away. It is by works only that it can be made perfect. And the more the love of solitude is indulged the more it will increase. This is a temptation common to men. In every age and country Satan has whispered to those who began to taste the powers of the world to come (as well as to Gregory Lopez), 'Au desert!' Au desert! Most of our little flock at Oxford were tried with this, my brother and I in particular. Nay, but I say, 'To the Bible! To the Bible!' And there you will learn, 'as you have time, to do good unto all men': to warn every man, to exhort every man as you have opportunity; although the greatest part of your care and labor should be laid out on those that are of the household of faith. Certainly you may continually do good to others without any ways endangering the salvation of your own soul. What at present you much want is simplicity, in the Archbishop of Cambray's sense of the word: that grace 'whereby the soul casts off all unnecessary reflections upon itself.' I wish I could say of you, as I did of a young person many years ago, when I sent her his little book,-- In art, in nature, can we find Colors to picture thee Speak, Cambray’s pen, for Sally’s mind; She is simplicity. --I am, my dear Miss Bishop, Yours affectionately. Miss Bishop, Near the Cross Bath, In Bath.

To Philothea Briggs Date: REIGATE, November 30, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- It is certain God hath given you a talent; and I still think it ought to be used. I grant, indeed, to be hid and to be still is more agreeable to flesh and blood; but is it more agreeable to Him who left us an example that we might tread in His steps You have just now particular reason to remember His kingdom ruleth over all. Thou on the Lord rely, so safe shalt thou go on; Fix on His work thy steadfast eye, so shall thy work be done. No profit canst thou gain by self-consuming care;

Many people have clear conceptions of a few things, concerning which they judge and reason. But they have no clear ideas of other things. So, if they reason about them, they stumble at every step. None can have general good sense unless they have clear and determinate ideas of all things.

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON, December 3, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--The case of Liverpool house has puzzled us all. But I know you have a little common sense. Therefore I give you a carte blanche. Settle it how you please, and I will subscribe to it. I know no married preacher that [was] sent from Liverpool into the North of Ireland. I suppose Brother Sweeny is in the South; but on that express condition that neither his wife nor children shall be any expense to us at all. But still there will be growing families, unless we forbid to marry. Five-and-twenty years ago ten pounds a year was more than twelve now. We are really a company of poor gentlemen. But we have food and raiment and content.--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: SEVENOAKS, December 12, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--You know Dr. Hamilton imagined great good would be done by the preaching in the churchyard at Dunbar. If it does not answer ought not the Dunbar preacher to serve all the country places, that the Edinburgh preacher may have the more time to spend there, which is of far greater importance It is the Scots only whom, when they like a preacher, would choose to have him continue with them Not so; but the English and Irish also--yea, all the inhabitants of the earth. But we know our calling. The Methodists are not to continue in any one place under heaven. We are all called to be itinerants. Those who receive us must receive us as such. And if the Scots will not, others will. Brother Watkinson is welcome to those books, and any other which he thinks would be useful to him.--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Thomas Rutherford Date: LONDON, December 24, 1774. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1774) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--I think you acted exactly right with regard to Peter Mill. If we live till another Conference, I purpose transplanting him into England. I judge he will be an useful preacher. My new coachman is dead; so Joseph Bradford cannot persuade himself to leave me. And your Scots are such terrible critics that few of our preachers care to venture among them. I do not despair of Mrs. Greig yet. She is not incurable. I am glad you are gone to Aberdeen. Take care of the country Societies.--I am, dear Tommy, Yours affectionately.

To Martha Chapman Date: LUTON, January 11, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I hope with God's help to be at Newbury on, Thursday, March 2; and to have the pleasure of seeing you there, unless something unforeseen should hinder. You have lately had a wintry season at Watlington: now expect the return of spring. Beware you are not weary or faint in your mind! Even bodily weakness may you to this; especially when there appears to be no increase, but rather a decay, of the work of God. Yet I do you apprehend you are yet at liberty to remove from Watlington. Cannot Hannah Ball step over for two or three days and kindle a flame among you If she does not come, look for One greater than her. How soon It may be before you see another day.--I am, dear Patty, Yours affectionately.

To Elizabeth Ritchie Date: LONDON, January 17, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--I beg, if you love me, you will send me a minute account how you are both in body and mind. Some of the Mystic writers do not choose to speak plainly; some of them know not how. But, blessed be God, we do; and we know there is nothing deeper, there is nothing better in heaven or earth than love! There cannot be, unless there were something higher than the God of love! So that we see distinctly what we have to aim at. We see the prize and the way to it! Here is the height, here is the depth, of Christian experience! ‘God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.' Mr. Fletcher has given us a wonderful view of the different dispensations which we are under. I believe that difficult subject was never placed in so clear a light before. It seems God has raised him up for this very thing-- To vindicate eternal Providence And justify the ways of God to man. By confining yourself to those who write dearly your understanding will be opened and strengthened far more than by reading a multiplicity of authors; at the same time your heart will be enlarged, and, I trust, more and more united to Yours affectionately.

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON, February 1, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad to hear so good an account with regard to the preaching-houses at Liverpool and Warrington. Indeed, it may be doubted whether we should contribute toward those houses which are not settled according to our plan. It pleases God to continue my strength hitherto, and my disorder gives me little uneasiness. I expect to be at Stroud (from Bristol), Monday, March 13; Tuesday, 14, at Worcester; Thursday, 16, Birmingham; Friday, 17, Newcastle; Saturday, 18, Macclesfield; Monday, 20, Manchester; Tuesday, 21, Northwich. Whether it will be more advisable then to steer by Chester or Liverpool I do not see clearly. Let us work while the day is.--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother. Surely it cannot be that you should find in the house at Newcastle an account which John Fenwick sent me, and that you should send it back to him!

To Mary Bishop Date: LONDON, February 11, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--To be enabled to relieve those that are in want is one excellent fruit of this self-denial. But you must not imagine this will be the only one. No: you have a message from God to some of those to whom no one dare speak the plain truth; and He will confirm the word of His messenger, especially to those that are in weakness or pain or under any kind of affliction. At such a time greatness stands aloof, and they are as accessible as common persons. In religion as well as in all things else it is 'use that brings perfectness.' I have long labored under the same infirmity with you; and I find but one way to conquer. Take up your cross; when the occasion offers, break through: speak, though it is pain and grief unto you. And it will be easier and easier, till you resemble an eminent surgeon, who once told my brother, ' Mr. Wesley, you know I would not hurt a fly, I would not give pain to any living thing. But if it was necessary I could scrape all the flesh off of a man's bones and never turn my head aside.' A clear conviction of the superior advantages of a single life certainly implies a call from God to abide therein, supposing a person has received that gift from God. But we know all cannot receive this saying; and I think none ought to make any vows concerning it, because, although we know what we are and what we can do nova, yet we do not know what we shall be. The spiritual advantages of that state are set down in the little tract on that subject, together with the means which are proper to be used by those who desire to retain those advantages. If at any time Providence should seem to call any person to relinquish these advantages, I would earnestly advise her not to lean to her own understanding (less in this case than any other), but to consult one or more spiritual friends, and resolutely stand to their award. There is much good in Miss Bosanquet; and you may do her good, for she loves and will bear plain dealing.--I am, my dear Miss Bishop, Yours affectionately.

To Miss March Date: February 11, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- There seems to be in our excellent friend something too near akin to apathy. 'A clergyman,' said one (but I do not agree with him in this), 'ought to be all intellect, no passion.' She appears to be (I will not affirm she is) at no great distance from this. It is true by this means we might avoid much pain, but we should also lose much happiness. Therefore this is a state which I cannot desire. Rather give me the pleasure and pain too; rather let Plain life, with heightening passions rise, The boast or burthen of an hour. But who has attained this Who treads the middle path, equally remote from both extremes I will tell you one that did (although the remembrance of her still brings tears into my eyes), that lovely saint Jane Cooper! There was the due mixture of intellect and passion! I remember one of the last times I saw her, before her last illness, her look, her attitude, her words! My dear friend, be you a follower of her, as she was of Christ.

To Peter Bohler Date: LONDON, February 18, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--When I say, 'I hope I shall never be constrained to speak otherwise of them' (the Moravians), I do not mean that I have any expectation this will ever happen. Probably it never will. I never did speak but when I believed it was my duty so to do. And if they would calmly consider what I have spoken from March 10, 1736, and were open to conviction, they might be such Christians as are hardly in the world besides. I have not lost sight of you yet. Indeed, I cannot if you are 'a city set upon a hill.' Perhaps no one living is a greater lover of peace or has labored more for it than I, particularly among the children of God. I set out near fifty years ago with this principle, ' Whosoever doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother.' But there is no one living that has been more abused for his pains even to this day. But it is all well. By the grace of God I shall go on, following peace with all men, and loving your Brethren beyond any body of men upon earth except the Methodists. Wishing you every gospel blessing, I remain Your very affectionate brother.

To Thomas Rankin Date: LONDON, March 1, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--I think the March packet will do as well as the April packet; so I answer you without delay. As soon as possible you must come to a full and clear explanation both with Brother Asbury (if he is recovered) and with Jemmy Dempster. But I advise Brother Asbury to return to England the first opportunity. There is now a probability that God will hear the prayer and turn the counsels of Ahithophel into foolishness. It is not unlikely that peace will be re-established between England and the Colonies. But certainly the present doubtful situation of affairs may be improved to the benefit of many. They may be strongly incited now ‘to break off their sins by repentance, if it may be a lengthening of their tranquillity.’--I am, my dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother. PS.--To-morrow I intend to set out for Ireland. I add a line to all the preachers:--- LONDON, March 1, 1775. MY DEAR BRETHREN,--You were never in your lives in so critical a situation as you are at this time. It is your part to be peace-makers, to be loving and tender to all, but to addict yourselves to no party. In spite of all solicitations, of rough or smooth words, say not one word against one or the other side. Keep yourselves pure, do all you can to help and soften all; but beware how you adopt another's jar. See that you act in full union with each other: this is of the utmost consequence. Not only let there be no bitterness or anger but no shyness or coldness between you. Mark all those that would set one of you against the other. Some such will never be wanting. But give them no countenance; rather ferret them out and drag them into open day. The conduct of T. Rankin has been suitable to the Methodist plan: I hope all of you tread in his steps. Let your eye be single. Be in peace with each other, and the God of peace will be with you.--I am, my dear brethren, Your affectionate brother. [Charles Wesley also wrote to Rankin.] March 1, 1775.

To Joseph Benson Date: BRISTOL, March 12, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--I can no more trust John Bredin in the North than in the South of Scotland. I see no way for him but to Ireland. He must return to his loom. I have had complaints from all quarters. He must no longer bring a reproach upon the gospel. You must make as good a shift as you can with Brother Watkinson till more help comes. You know what dreadful inconveniences have ensued from regarding private interest more than the public, from showing pet to particular persons at the expense of the general good. If this be done in the present instance, it will be at your door, not mine; for I do hereby give you full authority to send John Bredin back to his own home. I think the sooner this is done the better, For until he is thoroughly humbled he will only be an hinderer of the work of God and a stumbling-block to the people.--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate friend and brother. I hope to be in Manchester on the 20th instant, and soon after in Dublin.

To Martha Chapman Date: WORCESTER, March 15, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You only tell me in general that your health is declining; but you do not say in what manner or from what cause. When did you begin to feel any decay of health In what manner was you affected What did you imagine it was owing to How have you been since from time to time What means of recovery have you used, and with what effect Write to me as particularly as you can on these heads, directing to me in Dublin. It is our duty to take care of our bodily health; but what is this to an healthful mind Let your mind be All praise, all meekness, and all love. And for the rest 'tis equal all.--I am, dear Patty, Yours affectionately.

To Elizabeth Ritchie Date: NORTHWICH, March 23, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--I am glad you have had an opportunity of spending a little time at Leeds and with Miss Bosanquet. This, I doubt not, has been a blessed means of increasing your spiritual strength. And I trust you will find more and more opportunity of using whatever strength you have, even at Otley. Wherever the work of God revives, we are more particularly called to work together with Him. Now be instant in season and out of season! Redeem the time! Buy up every opportunity. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening slack not thy hand; and God will give the increase! In a day or two I expect to embark. Possibly in autumn we may meet again; and in the meantime I am persuaded you will not forget Yours affectionately.

To Thomas Rankin Date: PORTARLINGTON, April 2I, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--I am glad there is so good an understanding between Jemmy Dempster and you. He is an upright man, and, unless I am much mistaken, a friend both to the Methodist doctrine and discipline. I am sorry for poor T--- R---. It is certain God did lift up his head, and I hoped that his besetting sin would no more gain dominion over him. However, you must in no wise give him up. And he has much more need of comfort than of reproof. His great danger is despair. Brother Asbury has sent me a few lines, and I thank him for them. But I do not advise him to go to Antigua. Let him come home without delay. If one or two stout, healthy young men would willingly offer themselves to that service, I should have no objection; but none should go unless he was fully persuaded in his own mind. You are a bold man, Tommy, to commence author in these critical times. I wish the success may answer your expectation; there is a call for every help. I am afraid you will soon find a day of trial; the clouds are black both over England and America. It is well if this summer passes over without some showers of blood. And if the storm once begins in America, it will soon spread to Great Britain. I have a friendly letter from ---, who writes warmly against the ---. Pray remember my love to him and his wife. I am glad to find he is still walking in the good old way. He sends me word that one or two men of fortune are gone out to preach the gospel. If they are, I expect little from them. God hath chosen the weak to confound the strong. Go on, doing and suffering the will of our Lord!--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mary Bosanquet Date: CLONES, May 29, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I was particularly glad to hear from you at this time, as I wanted to know how you was going on and whether you was the person concerning whom one of our preachers warily asked my advice. Whether you should part with your house and things pertaining to it is a very important question. The answering of this depends upon many circumstances which I am not yet acquainted with. But necessity has no law. It must be done, if your income will not otherwise answer the expenses. The last day of June I hope to be in Dublin, and the end of July in England. If I have a ready passage, probably I may have an opportunity of hiding myself a day or two with you '; but I do not desire any of the preachers to come to me till I send for them. If they do, I shall run away. I will not be in a crowd. Probably you know whether Mr. Saunderson is at Knares-borough. If he is, pray take up a cross for me. Write to him in my name, and tell him I desire him without delay or excuse to return to Bristol; otherwise he will disoblige me for ever.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDONDERRY, June 2, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--I thought it strange that poor S. F. should leave me nine hundred pounds in debt. But it is stranger still that John Atlay should have paid sixteen hundred out of nine, and that I am an hundred and sixty pounds in debt notwithstanding! Mr. Wathen's method of radical cure I shall hardly try I am very easy, and that is enough. I am persuaded Billy Baynes's eye is single; therefore he will be useful. Our other friend should have known his own mind. We parted only for four pounds a year. I am exceeding glad that T. Rankin does not print till his papers have passed through our correction. I was afraid he would not have been so patient. Just what I thought at first, I think still of American affairs. If a blow is struck, I give America for lost, and perhaps England too. Our part is to continue instant in prayer. Sammy will not only be better but quite well if you do not kill him with kindness. Has my friend taken an house at Bristol Is Noah with her What are they doing Mr. Madan has behaved well. Res ipsa reduxit in gratiam. Preach as much as you can and no more than you can. You never will be much stronger till you add change of air to exercise, riding two or three hundred miles point blank forward. Now you have an opportunity. Meet me at Leeds with honest John Murlin. When you are tired, you may change places with him. You would return a stout, healthy man. I purpose writing to Mr. Fletcher shortly. I do not remember that he has touched the corner-stone of their hypothesis--‘the covenant of redemption.’ One would not wish to be easy without it. Just here we must stop reasoning or turn Calvinists. This is the very strength of their cause. Peace be with you and yours! Adieu!

To Miss March Date: CHARLEMONT, June 9, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- Very possibly, if I should live seven years longer, we should be acquainted with each other. I verily think your reserve wears off, though only by an hair's breadth at a time. Quicken your pace. What you do, do quickly. 'Scarce anything important enough to write upon'! Why, could you not say something about yourself And is there anything relating to your welfare which is not important to me Am not I concerned in everything which concerns you which either lessens or increases your happiness I want you to be as happy and (in order thereto) as holy as an angel, that you may do the will of God on earth as angels do in heaven. I am less careful about your increase in knowledge any farther than it tends to love. There is a danger of your laying more stress on this than sound reason requires. Otherwise you would reap much profit from sermons, which do not improve your knowledge--which do not apply to the understanding so directly as to the heart. I feel more want of heat than light. I value light; but it is nothing compared to love. Aim at this, my dear friend, in all public exercises, and then you will seldom be disappointed. Then you will not stop on the threshold of perfection (I trust you do not now), but will press on to the mark, to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, till you experimentally know all that love of God which passeth all (speculative) knowledge. The lengthening of your life and the restoring your health are invaluable blessings. But do you ask how you shall improve them to the glory of the Giver And are you willing to know Then I will tell you how. Go and see the poor and sick in their own poor little hovels. Take up your cross, woman! Remember the faith! Jesus went before you, and will go with you. Put off the gentlewoman; you bear an higher character. You are an heir of God and joint-heir with Christ ! Are you not going to meet Him in the air with ten thousand of His saints O be ready!

To William Alwood Date: ARMAGH, June 11, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BILLY,--I am not easy to have this thing hang any longer. I therefore desire that you will immediately fix a day and summon all the trustees, preachers, stewards, to meet you on that day at Chester, to determine that affair at once and to bring it to a final issue.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Thomas Rankin Date: CLONMAIN, NEAR ARMAGH, June 13, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--I am afraid our correspondence for the time to come will be more uncertain than ever, since the sword is drawn; and it is well if they have not on both sides thrown away the scabbard. What will the end of these things be either in Europe or America It seems, huge confusion and distress, such as neither we nor our fathers had known 1 But it is enough if all issues in glory to God and peace and goodwill among men. I am sorry for poor T--- R---. I well hoped God had thoroughly healed his backsliding, and so lifted up his head that he would have fallen no more. But the case is not desperate yet; you must in no wise give him up. I have scarcely ever known an habitual drunkard finally reclaimed before he had relapsed more than once or twice. Your point is, first save him from the occasions of sin, then incite him not to east away hope. Nothing but this, despair of conquering, can totally destroy him. As long as he keeps up the faintest hope he will strive against sin. My brother wrote me word that he had received a copy of the tract that you have written. Something of the kind may be very seasonable. Never had America such a call to repentance. For unless general reformation prevent general destruction, what a scene will soon be opened I Ruin and desolation must soon overspread the land and fair houses be turned into ruinous heaps. But what are those strange phenomena which you speak of Send me an account of just so much as you can depend upon. Should not you appoint in America (as we do in England and Ireland) one or more general days of fasting and prayer--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

But waiving this, waiving all considerations of right and wrong, I ask, Is it common sense to use force toward the Americans A letter now before me says, 'Four hundred of the Regulars and forty of the Militia were killed in the last skirmish.' What a disproportion! And this is the first essay of raw men against regular troops! You see, my Lord, whatever has been affirmed, these men will not be frightened. And it seems they will not be conquered so easily as was at first imagined. They will probably dispute every inch of ground, and, if they die, die sword in hand. Indeed, some of our valiant officers say, 'Two thousand men will clear America of these rebels.' No, nor twenty thousand, nor perhaps treble that number, be they rebels or not. They are as strong men as you; they are as valiant as you, if not abundantly more valiant. For they are one and all enthusiasts --enthusiasts for liberty. They are calm, deliberate enthusiasts. And we know how this principle Breathes into softest souls stem love of war, And thirst of vengeance, and contempt of death. We know men animated with this will leap into a fire or rush upon a cannon's mouth. 'But they have no experience of war.' And how much more have our troops How few of them ever saw a battle! 'But they have no discipline.' That is an entire mistake. Already they have near as much as our army. And they will learn more of it every day. So that in a short time they will understand it as well as their assailants.

I do not intend to enter upon the question whether the Americans are in the right or in the wrong. Here all my prejudices are against the Americans; for I am an High Churchman, the son of an High Churchman, bred up from my childhood in the highest notions of passive obedience and non-resistance. And yet, in spite of all my long-rooted prejudices, I cannot avoid thinking, if I think at all, these, an oppressed people, asked for nothing more than their legal rights, and that in the most modest and inoffensive manner that the nature of the thing would allow. But waiving this, waiving all considerations of right and wrong, I ask, Is it common sense to use force toward the Americans A letter now before me, which I received yesterday, says, 'Four hundred of the regulars and forty of the militia were killed in the late skirmish.' What a disproportion is this! And this is the first essay of raw men against regular troops! You see, my Lord, whatever has been affirmed, these men will not be frightened. And it seems they will not be conquered so easily as was at first imagined. They will probably dispute every inch of ground, and, if they die, die sword in hand. Indeed, some of our valiant officers say, ' Two thousand men will clear America of these rebels.' No, nor twenty thousand, be they rebels or not, nor perhaps treble that number. They are as strong men as you; they are as valiant as you, if not abundantly more valiant, for they are one and all enthusiasts--enthusiasts for liberty. They are calm, deliberate enthusiasts. And we know how this principle Breathes into softer souls stem love of war, And thirst of vengeance, and contempt of death. We know men animated with this spirit will leap into a fire or rush into a cannon's mouth.

'But they have no experience in war.' And how much more have our troops Very few of them ever saw a battle. 'But they have no discipline.' That is an entire mistake. Already they have near as much as our army. And they will learn more of it every day; so that in a short time, if the fatal occasion continue, they will understand it as well as their assailants. 'But they are divided amongst themselves.' So you are informed by various letters and memorials. So, doubt not, was poor Rehoboam informed concerning the ten tribes! So, nearer our own times, was Philip informed concerning the people of the Netherlands. No, my Lord, they are terribly united. Not in the Province of New England only, but down as low as the Jerseys and Pennsylvania. The bulk of the people are so united that to speak a word in favor of the present English measures would almost endanger a man's life. Those who informed me of this (one of whom was with me last week, lately come from Philadelphia) are no sycophants; they say nothing to curry favor; they have nothing to gain or lose by me. But they speak with sorrow of heart what they have seen with their own eyes and heard with their own ears. These men think, one and all, be it right or wrong, that they are contending pro aris et focis, for their wives, children, and liberty! What an advantage have they herein over many that fight only for pay, none of whom care a straw for the cause wherein they are engaged, most of whom strongly disapprove of it! Have they not another considerable advantage Is there occasion to recruit the troops Their supplies are at hand and all round about them: ours are three thousand miles off!

To Hannah Ball Date: LEEDS, July 28, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Undoubtedly that is our calling, to stand fast in glorious liberty, whatever God is pleased to give or take away. We may feel, and yet resign, like the Marquis De Renty when he apprehended his wife was dying. And this is a proof, not of want of affection, but of such an affection as is well pleasing to God. You will have need now to use double diligence to stir up the gift of God in those who have been hindered from attending His word, lest they should be faint in their mind.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To John King Date: NEAR LEEDS, July 28, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Always take advice or reproof as a favor; it is the surest mark of love. I advised you once, and you took it as an affront; nevertheless I will do it once more. Scream no more, at the peril of your soul. God now warns you by me, whom He has set over you. Speak as earnestly as you can, but do not scream. Speak with all your heart, but with a moderate voice. It was said of our Lord, ' He shall not cry'; the word properly means, He shall not scream. Herein be a follower of me, as I am of Christ. I often speak loud, often vehemently; but I never scream, I never strain myself. I dare not; I know it would be a sin against God and my own soul. Perhaps one reason why that good man Thomas Walsh, yea and John Manners too, were in such grievous darkness before they died was because they shortened their own lives. O John, pray for an advisable and teachable temper! By nature you are very far from it; you are stubborn and headstrong. Your last letter was written in a very wrong spirit. If you cannot take advice from others, surely you might take it from Your affectionate brother.

To Thomas Rankin Date: NEAR LEEDS, July 28, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--I rejoice to hear that the work of our Lord still prospers in your hands. If the temple is built even in troublous times, it is not by the power of man. I rejoice, too, over honest Francis Asbury, and hope he will no more enter into temptation. Do not despair of poor T---- R---- He is not out of God's reach yet. I know no reason why we should not print the names of the American preachers. You may print an edition of the Christian Pattern, and apply the profits of it to the payment of the debt. The Societies should pay the passage of the preachers. But you must not imagine that any more of them will come to America till these troubles are at an end. Certainly this is the point which we should insist upon in season and out of season. The universal corruption of all orders and degrees of men loudly calls for the vengeance of God; and inasmuch as all other nations are equally corrupt, it seems God will punish us by one another. What can prevent this but an universal, or at least a general, repentance Otherwise we have great reason to fear God will soon say, 'Sword, go through that land and destroy it.' Those clergymen should be lovingly advised not to hurt our preachers. I will pay your arrears. We have only to live to-day! God will take care of to-morrow.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Woodhouse Date: NEAR LEEDS, July 28, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I will talk with Lancelot Harrison at the Conference, and consider what is best to be done. A surgeon in London has lately published a treatise on A New Method of Curing Sore Legs, which I believe has never failed. I think Mr. Woodhouse will not die yet, unless it be by the help of physicians and surgeons. If Mr. Barnard chose to dissolve the partnership, Mr. Hutton could not help it. But he cannot expect to have so much custom at first as an old, well-known shop. Let us be ready to do and suffer all the will of God our Lord: then what can hurt us--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: NEAR LEEDS, July 30, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--God has done great things for us already. But we shall see greater things than these. We have reason to hope that there will be a larger shower of grace than any we have yet known. But we cannot tell whether the general blessing will be preceded by a general visitation. God has long been drawing us to our good and using every gentle means of reforming a sinful nation. But if this will not avail, He will take another way; He will send affliction to cure sin. If Miss Hurrell and you are separated for a season, it may be a means of making you more useful to each other when you are restored to each other. In the meantime you have a Friend who is able to supply all your wants, and from whom you never need be separated in time or in eternity. From the time that the fever burned I have been continually recovering strength, though by slow degrees. At present I am nearly the same as before my illness. And I ever am, my dear Nancy, Yours affectionately.

To Thomas Vasey Date: NEAR LEEDS, August 5, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I trust you will not turn again into folly, but watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. Mr. Wolfe, the assistant in Salisbury circuit, is a mild tender-hearted man. I hope he will be of service to you, and so may Mr. Undrell your other fellow laborer. You are now called more than ever to redeem the time, to walk humbly and closely with God; and to be a man of one business. One that have nothing to do but to save your own soul and those that hear you.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Damaris Perronet Date: NEAR LEEDS, August 6, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I believe my late illness has already answered many wise ends of Providence. It has been a blessing to me and to many others--a fresh proof that God doeth all things well. I doubt not but Brother Wood' and his fellow laborer will be still zealous and active for God; and if so, his work will surely increase at Sevenoaks and the Wells as well as other places. Nay, I do not despair of poor Canterbury; it is not out of God's reach. I dreamed last night that the Spaniards were come, and were searching all houses and putting men to the torture. But on a sudden they were vanished out of the land, I could not tell how. My Betsy should not think that I am ever so busy as not to have leisure to read and answer her letters. I think Philothea, too, since I am alive again, should have written to me either in verse or prose.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON, August 10, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--I would do everything to oblige those on either side, except speaking evil of the other. My route is this: Monday, August 14, Witney; Tuesday, 15, Gloucester; Wednesday, 16, The Hay; Thursday and Friday, Brecon; Saturday, Carmarthen (Deo vo/.); Monday, 28, Bristol. I sent your order to Sam. Heaton. I believe it will be best to accept of Mr. Castleman's invitation at Bristol, and to go straight to his house. I come back through Cardiff; if you could get thither, I could bring you home. It is not safe to live or die without love. Peace be with you all! Adieu. I wish Sammy Lewis would meet me on the 28th at the Old Passage.

To Thomas Rankin Date: LONDON, August 13, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--I do not give up T---- R---- yet; he is not out of God's reach. I am not sorry that Brother Asbury stays with you another year. In that time it will be seen what God will do with North America, and you will easily judge whether our preachers are called to remain any longer therein. If they are, God will make their way plain and give you favor even with the men that delight in war. Even in the Civil War of Rome Atticus stood firm in the esteem of both the contending parties. And so did the Archbishop of Cambray during the War in the Netherlands; not only the officers but the common soldiers, when they went by, treating him with love and regard. The clouds do indeed gather more and more, and it seems an heavy storm will follow; certainly it will, unless the prayers of the faithful obtain a longer reprieve. 'The preachers at the bottom of all this outcry' No, indeed; nor any of the Americans. They are only the tools of men on this side the water, who use them for deadly purposes. The scheme lies deep, and the wise men of the world imagine it cannot fail of success. But I trust One wiser than them will yet turn the counsel of Athithophel into foolishness. A few weeks ago I was at the gates of death in the North of Ireland. But the fever felt His touch and fled. And I am now just as I was before it came. You did well to remove the books into a place of safety, if any such can be found in America. It is no wonder that the spirits of the men that know not God are sharpened into madness, that human creatures become and commence lions and bears; this is the genuine fruit of war! Certainly, if they persecute in one city, you should flee into another. Peace be with your spirits.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: GLOUCESTER, August 15, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I have been thinking of you much to-day, and with a good deal of satisfaction. And yet there was one thought which was not pleasing: I thought you did not care for my company. You seemed almost studiously to avoid it. At other times, indeed, you have been encumbered with much company or hurried with preparing for them; but it was not so now. I therefore rather impute it (for I will not ascribe it to want of love) to your bodily disorder. Perhaps it was painful to you to talk. If so, this was reason good. I had rather not convene with you at all than increase your pain. I was therefore glad (although I felt your pain) that I did not see you this morning. It was fit for you to rise at so un-seasonable an hour. But you must make it up by writing and by telling me how you are in soul and body. I want you to [be] all a flame of holy love! I want you now to do His will as angels do in heaven! to be all life, all fire, all light in the Lord! and yet not quite to forget, my dear Nancy, Yours most affectionately.

Even where I was last, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, a tenant of Lord Dartmouth was telling me, ' Sir, our tradesmen are breaking all round me, so that I know not what the end will be.' Even in Leeds I had appointed to dine at a merchant's; but before I came the bailiffs were in possession of the house. Upon my saying, 'I thought Mr.---- had been in good circumstances,' I was answered, 'He was so; but the American war has ruined him.' When I began the enclosed, I designed to send it to Mr. Wharton, according to his desire. But upon reflection, I judged it not improbable that he might make a bad use of it; and thought it might be more advisable to send it directly to your Lordship.

To Alexander Hume Date: BRISTOL, September 22, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I rejoice to hear that God has made Mr. Crook's labor of love profitable to some of you, and cannot blame you for desiring to have him with you a little longer.' I will write to Mr. Mason, the Assistant at Whitehaven, that Mr. Crook is coming to be a third preacher in that circuit. The three preachers may then visit the Isle month by month; so that you will have Mr. Crook one month in three. They will all teach you that religion is holy tempers and holy lives, and that the sum of all is love.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To John Fletcher Date: LONDON, October 6, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--I came hither a quarter of an hour ago. Your answer to Mr. Shirley will, I trust, do great good. I cannot but hope it will be of service to himself; for, to say the truth, he does not seem to be sensible that he has done anything amiss. He does not appear to have the least conception of having injured me. I was going to print an edition of your letters here; but I will wait till your Sixth Letter comes, to which I think it will be exceeding proper to annex that you wrote to me. I shall now be here and hereabouts for some months. The Lord give you a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort--I am, dear sir, Yours most affectionately.

To Robert Costerdine Date: LONDON, October 20, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I am sorry for poor Jer. Cocker. Twice or thrice God has lifted him out of the mire. If he fall again, I doubt he will rise no more. It is the business of Tho. Hanson to remit that money to you. I know it was allowed at the Quarterly Meeting, for I was there myself. I wonder Tommy has not sent it to John Atlay. However, you may draw upon Brother Atlay for it. Visit all the Society from house to house, and you will soon see fruit of it.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Thomas Rankin Date: LONDON, October 20, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--The account given in our newspapers of my death was not wholly without foundation; for I was only not dead, my pulse being quite gone and 'the wheel at the cistern without motion.' But then our Lord stepped in, and The fever owned His touch, and fled. My strength returned by swift degrees; and I am now at least as well as before my illness. In the country places I believe you will have the largest harvest, where they know little and talk little about politics. Their hearts are engaged with something better, and they let the dead bury their dead. I am glad you are going into North Carolina; and why not into South Carolina too I apprehend those provinces would bear much fruit, as most parts of them are fresh, unbroken ground: And as the people are farther removed from the din of war, they may be more susceptible of the gospel of peace. A paper was sent to me lately, occasioned by the troubles in America; but it would not do good. It is abundantly too tart; and nothing of that kind will be of service now. All parties are already too much sharpened against each other; we must pour water, not oil, into the flame. I had written a little tract upon the subject before I knew the American ports were shut up. [A Calm Address to our American Colonies. ' The ports being just then shut up by the Americans, I could not send it abroad, as I designed. However, it was not lost; within a few months, fifty or perhaps an hundred thousand copies, in newspapers and otherwise, were dispersed throughout Great Britain and Ireland.’ See Green’s Bibliography, No. 305.] I think there is not one sharp word therein; I did not design there should. However, many are excessively angry, and would willingly burn me and it together. Indeed, it is provoking; I suppose above forty thousand of them have been printed in three weeks, and still the demand for them is as great as ever.

I was glad to receive yours by Captain Crawford. I am entirely of your mind. I am persuaded love and tender measures will do far more than violence. And if I should have an interview with a great man (which seems to be not unlikely), I will by the grace of God tell him so without any circumlocution. Our time is in God's hands; let us stand ready for all things!---I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Jasper Winscom Date: LONDON, October 20, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--I should have had no objection at all to Brother Skinner's going into Kent, but that it would interfere with our making a fair trial of the Isle of Wight. I would have this done without delay; and I much approve of the method you propose. We will help you out (as I said) with regard to the expense. I hope you will be able to procure the meetinghouse. Peace be with you and yours.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, October 30, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--John Fenwick has sent me a minute account of the manner how Miss Hurrell came to speak in the room at Sunderland; and Alexander Paterson has given me a particular narration of what occurred on Sunday the 22nd instant. It seems--thus much is plain at least--that she has no more place at Sunderland; and I doubt whether we may not add, nor at any place in the Newcastle Circuit. I am glad to hear that the word of God prospers in your hands. But you never will see the full fruit of your labors till you take up your cross and visit all the Society, rich and poor, from house to house.--I am, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately.

To Thomas Taylor Date: LONDON, October 30, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--At all hazards bring them into discipline; either mend them or end them. I think Mr. Cayley will do more good than harm. He is not now blameable with respect to his wife. She will not live with him. I shall have no objection to your mentioning Colne house if we live to see another Conference. It seems to be really a pressing case. I advise you: (1) Be electrified (if need be) eight or ten times. (2) Keep your body always open, and that by food (as baked, boiled, or roasted apples) rather than by physic. (3) Wash your head every morning with cold water, and rub it well with a coarse hempen towel. (4) I advise you and Sister Taylor to breakfast three or four weeks on nettle tea. Then you will find preaching, especially in the morning, one of the noblest medicines in the world.--I am, with love to Nanny, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To John Mason Date: LONDON, November 1, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--T. Wride aimed at discipline exceeding well for a raw beginner. But he could not have so much weight as an experienced preacher. You will therefore supply what was wanting in his, and Brother Linnell will more than supply the place of honest, dull David Evans. So that I expect there will be no inconsiderable increase in the Societies this year, particularly at Whitehaven and Carlisle. Everywhere fail not to declare to them the whole counsel of God, and that in the plainest manner you can devise; but, above all, visit from house to house.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To his Brother Charles Date: LONDON, November 3, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BROTHER,--The Proposals and Preface will be sent on Monday. In the Preface to the new edition of the Address (which I will send with the Proposals) there is, I think, a sufficient answer to Mr. Evan's letter. But Mr. Raikes is right: if it bears no name, it has no title to any answer. No man is a good judge in his own cause. I believe I am tolerably impartial; but you are not (at least, was not some time since) with regard to King Charles I. Come and see what I say. If the worst comes, we can agree to disagree. The History has been some time in the press. The first volume is nearly printed. The paper is good; so is the type; and, what is stranger, the execution too. So much for your first letter. Still I know not whom you mean by Dr. Smyth; unless it be the young clergyman in Ireland, who is a poet, but not of the first magnitude. 'Why were they not taxed for an hundred and fifty years ' How shockingly ignorant of the law are our lawyers! yea, and the whole body of the Lords and Commons into the bargain! to let Lord Chatham, Mr. Burke, &c. &c., so long triumph in this argumentum palmarium! Why, it is a blunder from top to bottom. They have been taxed over and over since the Restoration, by King Charles, King William, Queen Anne, and George II. I can now point out chapter and verse. I think Mr. Madan grows more and more loving. Res ipsa jam reduxit in gratiam. I shall be right glad to see him. I hear nothing from Cornwall; and no news, you know, is good news. Pray tell Brother Southcote I like his treatise well. I am writing something nearly on the subject. I am desired to preach at Bethnal Green Church on Sunday se'nnight, and purpose to print my sermon. You may guess a little of the tenor of it by the text: ' Lo, I have sinned and done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done ' I hope Sally is better. Peace be with you all! Adieu!

To James Rouquet Date: LONDON, November 8, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JEMMY,--I say, I remember nothing of that book, neither of title nor of the argument. But I will send to the bookseller's to-morrow for the book; and if I have read, I cannot but remember when I see it again. Afterwards you will hear more particularly from Your affectionate brother. But remember the merits of the cause do not turn upon this.

To James Rouquet Date: LONDON, November 12, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JAMES,--I will now simply tell you the thing as it is. As I was returning from the Leeds Conference, one gave me the tract which you refer to, part of which I read on my journey. The spirit of it I observed to be admirably good; and I then thought the arguments conclusive. In consequence of which, I suppose (though I do not remember it), I recommended it both to you and others; but I had so entirely forgotten it, that even when it was brought to me the other day I could not recollect that I had ever seen it.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bosanquet Date: WESTMINSTER, November 15, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I cannot immediately give an answer to your question, because we have not yet received an answer from the Committee for letting the City lands. If they grant our petition and allow us a piece of ground to build on (as it is most probable they will), there will be no time for any one to come to London in hope of procuring money for other buildings. Our friends will certainly give all that they can spare toward erecting a new Foundery, and all will be little enough. One great difference between the outward and inward work of God is, inward holiness is mostly instantaneous, given in a large degree at the moment when we are justified, or when we are sanctified or saved from inbred sin; but outward holiness is mostly gradual--wrought by little and little while we deny ourselves and take up our cross and work together with Him. I think you would do well to have a thorough consultation with two or three of our friends that understand the world. Certainly these might be found in or near Leeds. And whatever was then judged best should be speedily and rigorously put in execution.--I am, my dear sister, Your ever affectionate brother.

To Samuel Bardsley Date: NORWICH, November 27, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY,--Whenever you want anything, you should tell me without delay. If Tommy Colbeck will give you two guineas, it may be deducted out of the book money. I am glad you go again to Skipton, and hope to see it myself if I live till summer. At present I am better than I was before my fever; only it has stripped me of my hair. The more pains you take, the more blessing you will find, especially in preaching full salvation receivable now by faith.--I am, dear Sammy, Yours affectionately.

To Mrs. Crosby Date: NORWICH, November 29, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I believe many of our friends had a real impression from above that this sickness should not be unto death. So we have a new one, added to a thousand proofs, that God hears the prayers of them that fear Him. That observation does really hold in London--those who are the avowed enemies of Christian Perfection are in general the warmest enemies of King George and of all that are in authority under him; yet the counsel of the Lord shall stand, and He will turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. Betsy Hurrell will do no harm if she comes to Leeds again. I suppose it was for her sake chiefly that awful event was permitted. And it has had the effect which was designed. She was greatly humbled on the occasion. I believe Mr. Fletcher would take a letter well.--I am, dear Sally, Your affectionate brother.

Now, there is no possible way to put out this flame or hinder its rising higher and higher but to show that the Americans are not used either cruelly or unjustly; that they are not injured at all, seeing they are not contending for liberty (this they had even in its full extent, both civil and religious); neither for any legal privileges, for they enjoy all that their Charters grant. But what they contend for is the illegal privilege of being exempt from parliamentary taxation;--a privilege this which no charter ever gave to any American colony yet; which no charter can give, unless it be confirmed both by King, Lords, and Commons; which, in fact, our Colonies never had, which they never claimed till the present reign, and probably they would not have claimed it now had they not been incited thereto by letters from England. One of these was read, according to the desire of the writer, not only at the Continental Congress, but likewise in many congregations throughout the Combined Provinces. It advised them to seize upon all the King's officers; and exhorted them, 'Stand valiantly only for six months, and in that time there will be such commotions in England that you may have your own terms.' This being the real state of the question without any coloring or aggravation, what impartial man can either blame the King or commend the Americans With this view, to quench the fire, by laying the blame where it was due, the Calm Address was written--Sir, I am Your humble servant. As to reviewers, newswriters, London Magazines, and all that kind of gentlemen, they behave just as I expected they would. And let them lick up Mr. Toplady's spittle still, a champion worthy of their cause.

To Elizabeth Ritchie Date: NORWICH, November 29, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--' Temptations,' says one, ' and distinct deliverances from temptations avail much.' I do not doubt but you have found it so with regard to your late trials; although there are none which it is harder to withstand at your time of life. I am glad you were enabled to withstand that plausible temptation which few young women have power to resist, particularly when you had to encounter the persuasions of those you esteemed and loved. Mr. Cayley, I think, will do some good; and I am persuaded he will do no hurt. I am glad Mr. Tennant has given you a little more employment; and a glorious employment it is! to be' a fellow worker with God!' Oh may you be found faithful! Be zealous for God! Be diligent! Be patient! And never forget Yours affectionately.

To Caleb Evans Date: LONDON, December 9, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- REVEREND SIR,--You affirm (1) that I once 'doubted whether the measures taken with respect to America could be defended either on the foot of law, equity, or prudence.' I did doubt of these five years, nay indeed five months ago. You affirm (2) that I 'declared' (last year) 'the Americans were an oppressed, injured people.' I do not remember that I did; but very possibly I might. You affirm (3) that I then' strongly recommended An Argument for the Exclusive Right of the Colonies to Tax Themselves.' I believe I did; but I am now of another mind. You affirm (4) 'You say in the Preface, I never saw that book.' I did say so. The plain case was, I had so entirely forgotten it that even when I saw it again I recollected nothing of it till I had read several pages. If I had, I might have observed that you borrowed more from Mr. Parker than I did from Dr. Johnson. Though I know not whether I should have observed it, as it does not affect the merits of the cause. You affirm (5) ' You say, But I really believe he was told so'; and add, ' Supposing what I asserted was false, it is not easy to conceive what reason you could have for believing I was told so.' My reason was, I believed you feared God, and therefore would not tell a willful untruth; so I made the best excuse for you which I thought the nature of the thing would admit of. Had you not some reasons to believe this of me, and therefore to say (at least), ' I hope he forgot it' 'But at this time I was perfectly unknown to you.' No, at this time I knew you wrote that tract; but, had I not, charity would have induced me to hope this even of an entire stranger. You now have my 'feeble reply'; and if you please to advance any new argument (personal reflections I let go), you may perhaps receive a farther reply from Your humble servant.

To Walter Churchey Date: LONDON, December 21, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--A few days ago my brother gave me a letter of yours dated November 24. I am surprised that one who has passed a winter in Scotland should complain of cold in Wales. It is not a good sign. I advise no one above twenty to think of learning Greek or Latin; he may employ his time abundantly better. But if John Broadbent has a turn for learning languages, by all means let him learn Welsh. This will turn to good account. And now is his time; you can direct and assist him herein. Meantime persuade him to refrain from screaming, and he will do well. I may speak in confidence to you; take care it do not transpire. Put no confidence either in T---- or his wife. I stand in doubt of them both. The printer is hastening on with the History; yet still I think him slow.--I am, with love to Sister Churchey, Your affectionate brother.

To the Society Pro Fide et Christianismo Date: LONDON, December 23, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- GENTLEMEN,--I was out of town when your favor of January last came to London; and its being through some mistake mislaid occasioned my not seeing it for a considerable time after my return. Otherwise I should have set all other business aside in order to acknowledge the favor. It gave me a particular satisfaction to observe the zeal with which you still prosecute the glorious mark you have undertaken. May the Author and Finisher of our Faith and of every good work give you to see abundant fruit of your labor. The large Dissertation upon Divine Providence will, I trust, be of great service, in particular to those who fear God and desire to acknowledge Him in all their ways. This is a subject the more needful to be explained and defended, because the wise men of this world explode everything of the kind, asserting that the race is always to the swift and the battle to the strong and success to men of understanding. Although it is rather to be desired than expected that the general plan of modern education may be amended, yet a treatise on that subject, which was printed in England some years since, has not been without success. A few have dared to go out of the common road and to educate their children in a Christian manner; and some tutors of the University have trained up them under their care in a manner not unworthy of the primitive Christians. We have hardly heard in our country of any such thing as a Mission into Lapland. If the common accounts of the Laplanders are true, they are some of the lowest of the human species, raised not many degrees either in understanding or manners above the beasts of the field. Whoever, therefore, they are that undertake to form these into men and into Christians, they will have need of more than common measure both of understanding, faith, and patience. But, still, there is nothing too hard for God; and nothing impossible to him that believe.

To the Earl of Dartmouth, Lord Privy Seal Date: LONDON, December 24, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY LORD,--The corrections made in Mr. Fletcher's papers which your Lordship was so kind as to make, as well as those made by the gentlemen who perused them, will prevent several objections. Having this occasion, I take the liberty to mention to your Lordship a thing of another nature. The nation is already involved in many troubles. And we know not how many more may follow. Are we able to extricate ourselves out of them all If we have so much wisdom and strength that we need no help from man, are we quite sure that we need no help from God I know your Lordship is not of that opinion. But if we need it, why are we ashamed to ask for it to ask for it in the manner our forefathers did, in solemn public fasting and prayer What if others fast for strife and contention! Is that any reason that we should not do it from a better motive Why may not the people of England as well as the people of Nineveh seek His help who hath all power in heaven and in earth

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON, December 26, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I see no possibility of accommodation. The one point is, Has the Supreme Power a right to tax or not If they have, they cannot, they ought not to give it up. But I say, as Dean Tucker, 'Let them drop.' Cut off all other connection with them than we have with Holland or Germany. Four-and-thirty millions they have cost us to support them since Queen Anne died. Let them cost us no more. Let them have their desire and support themselves. You sent Harry Brooke one book; but I left two, the larger of which was not sent. If it is lost, I must buy another. The disorder is universal throughout Great Britain and Ireland; but hitherto scarce any die of it in London; so God lightly afflicts us at first. It is well if the people will now hear the rod and Him that hath appointed it.--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Francis Wolfe Date: LONDON, December 26, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--So the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away! He hath done all things well. What a word was that of Mr. De Renty on a like occasion!--' I cannot say but my soul is greatly moved at the sense of so great a loss. Nevertheless I am so well satisfied that the will of the Lord rather than that of a vile sinner is done, that, were it not for offending others, I could shout and sing.' Now give yourself up more entirely and unreservedly to God. You have nothing else to care for but the things of the Lord, how you may please the Lord.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To the Printer of the 'Gazetteer' Date: LONDON, December 28, 1775. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1775) Author: John Wesley --- Between twenty and thirty editions of the Primitive Pysick, or, A Rational and easy Method of Curing most Diseases, have been published either in England or Ireland. In one or more of these editions stand these words: ' Give one or more drachms of verdigris.' I thank the gentleman who takes notice of this, though he might have done it in a more obliging manner. Could he possibly have been ignorant (had he not been willingly so) that this is a mere blunder of the printer that I wrote grains, not drachms However, it is highly proper to advertise the public of this; and I beg every one that has the book would take the trouble of altering that word with his pen. Yours, &c.

hardly come to a second impression,for these very obvious rea- sons:-1 . His language is generally rough and unpleasing ; frequently so obscure that one cannot pick out the meaning of a sentence, without reading it twice or thrice over : 2. His periods are intolerably long,beyond all sense and reason ; one period often containing ten or twenty, and sometimes thirty, lines : 3. When he makes a pertinent remark he knows not when to have done with it, but spins it out without any pity to the reader : 4. Many of his remarks, like those of his master, Mr. Hutchinson, are utterly strained and unnatural ; such as give pain to those who believe the Bible, and diversion to those whodonot. Mon. 22. I set out for Sussex, and found abundance of peoplewilling to hear the good word; at Rye in particular. And they domany things gladly: But they will not part with the accursed thing, smuggling. So I fear, with regard to these, our labour will be in vain. Monday, 29. I went to Gravesend ; on Tuesday, to Chat- ham; and on Wednesday, to Sheerness ; over that whimsical ferry, where footmen and horses pay nothing, but every carriage four shillings ! I was pleasing myself that I had seen one fair day at Sheerness! But that pleasure was soon over. Wehad rain enough in the evening. However, the House was crowded sufficiently. I spoke exceeding plain to the bigots on both sides. MayGod write it on their hearts ! Mon. DECEMBER 6.-I went to Canterbury in the stage- coach, and by the way read Lord Herbert's Life, written by himself; the author of the first system ofDeism that ever was published in England. Was there ever so wild a knight-errant as this ? Compared to him, Don Quixote was a sober man. Who can wonder, that a man of such a complexion should be an Infidel ? I returned to London, Friday, 10, with Captain Hinderson, of Chatham, who informed us,-" Being off the Kentish coast, on Wednesday morning last, I found my ship had been so damaged by the storm, which still continued, that she could not long keep above water ; so we got into the boat, twelve in all, though with little hope of making the shore. A ship passing by, we made all the signals we could; but they

God," as I have not heard since I came into the kingdom. Mon. 23. About ten, I preached to a considerable number ofplain, serious, country-people, at Rait, a little town in the middle of that lovely valley, called the Carse of Gowry. In riding on to Dundee, I was utterly amazed at reading and con- sidering a tract put into my hands, which gave a fuller account than I had ever seen of the famous Gowry conspiracy in 1600. AndIwasthroughlyconvinced,-1. Fromthe utterimprobability, if one should not rather say, absurdity, of the King's account, the greater part of which rests entirely on his own single word ; 2. From the many contradictions in the depositions which were made to confirm some parts of it ; and, 3. From the various collateral circumstances, related by contemporary writers, that the whole was a piece of king-craft ; the clumsy invention of a covetous and blood-thirsty tyrant, to destroy two innocent men, thathemightkillandalso take possession of their large fortunes. In the evening I preached at Dundee, and on Tuesday, 24, went on to Arbroath. In the way I read LordK-'s plausible "Essays on Morality andNatural Religion." Did everman take somuch pains to so little purpose, as he does in his Essay on Liberty and Necessity ? Cui bono ? What good would it do to mankind, if he could convince them that they are a mere piece of clock-work ? that they have no more share in directing their own actions, than in directing the sea or the north wind ? He owns, that " if men saw themselves in this light, all sense of moral obligation, ofright andwrong, of good or ill desert, would immediately cease." Well, my Lord sees himself in this light ; consequently, if his own doctrine is true, he has no " sense of moral obligation, of right and wrong, ofgood or ill desert." Is he not then excellently well-qualified for a Judge ? Will he condemn aman for not " holding the wind in his fist ? " Thehigh and piercing windmade it impracticable to preach abroad in the evening. But the House contained the people tolerably well, as plain and simple as those at Rait. I set out earlyinthemorning; but,not being able to ford the North-Esk, swollen with the late rains, was obliged to go round some miles. However, I reached Aberdeen in the evening.

that aman who admires him can admire the Bible ? Wed. JUNE 1.-I went on to Edinburgh, and the next day examined the society one by one. Iwas agreeably surprised. They have fairly profited since Iwas here last. Such a number ofpersons having sound Christian experience I never found in this society before. I preached in the evening to a very elegant June, 1774.] JOURNAL . 17 congregation, and yetwith great enlargement of heart. Satur- day, 4. I found uncommon liberty at Edinburgh in applying Ezekiel's vision of the Dry Bones. As I waswalking home, two men followed me, one ofwhom said, " Sir, you are my prisoner. Ihave awarrant from the Sheriff, to carryyou to the Tolbooth." At first I thought he jested ; but finding the thing was serious, When Idesired one or two of our friends to go up with me. we were safe lodged in a house adjoining to the Tolbooth, I desired the Officer to let me see his warrant. I found the prose- cutor was one George Sutherland, once a member of the society. He had deposed, " That Hugh Saunderson, one of John Wes- ley's Preachers, had taken from his wife one hundred pounds in money, and upwards of thirty pounds in goods ; and had, besides that, terrified her into madness ; sothat, through the want of her help, and the loss of business, he was damaged five hundred pounds." Before the Sheriff, Archibald Cockburn, Esq. , he had deposed, "That the said John Wesley and Hugh Saunderson, to evade her pursuit, were preparing to fly the country ; and therefore he desired his warrant to search for, seize, and incarcerate them in the Tolbooth, till they should find security for their appear- ance. " To this request the Sheriff had assented, and given his warrant for that purpose. But why does he incarcerate John Wesley ? Nothing is laid against him, less or more. Hugh Saunderson preaches in con- nexion with him. What then ? Wasnot the Sheriff strangely overseen ? Mr. Sutherland furiously insisted that the Officer should carry us to the Tolbooth without delay. However, he waited till two or three of our friends came, and gave a bond for our appearance on the 24th instant. Mr. S. did appear, the cause was heard, and the prosecutor fined one thousand pounds.

with decency. At six I preached at the end of our House in Barnard-Castle. I was faint and feverish when I began ; but the staying an hour in a cold bath (for the windwas very high and sharp) quite refreshed me ; so that all my faintness was gone, and I was perfectly well when I concluded. Wed. 15. I went on by Durham to Sunderland. Saturday, 18, I preached at Biddick. It was fair while I was preaching, but rained very hard both before and after. Sunday, 19. I preached at the east end of the town, I think, to the largest congregation I ever saw at Sunderland. Theraindid not begin till I had concluded. At two I preached at the Fell, at five in the Orphan-House. Mon. 20. About nine I set out for Horsley, with Mr. Hopper and Mr. Smith. I took Mrs. Smith and her two little girls, in the chaise with me. About two miles from the town just on the brow of the hill, on a sudden both the horses set [June, 1774. out, without any visible cause, and flew down the hill, like an arrow out of a bow. In a minute John fell off the coach-box. The horses then went on full speed, sometimes to the edge of the ditch on the right, sometimes on the left. A cart came up against them : They avoided it as exactly as if the man had been on the box. A narrow bridge was at the foot of the hill, They went directly over the middle of it. They ran up the next hill with the same speed ; manypersons meeting us, but getting out of theway. Near the top of the hill was agate, which led into a farmer's yard. It stood open. They turned short, and run through it, without touching the gate on one side, or the post on the other. I thought, " However, the gate which is on the other side of the yard, and is shut, will stop them : " But they rushed through it as if it had been a cobweb, and galloped on through the corn-field. The little girls cried out, " Grandpapa, save us ! " I told them, " Nothing will hurt you : Do not be afraid ;" feeling no more fear or care,

and another at eight, while I enforced those words on a nume- rous congregation, " How shall we escape, if we neglect so great alvation ? " While we were at church, a poor man would needs divert himself by swimming ; but he sunk, and rose no more. The Minister preached in the afternoon a sermon suited to the occa- sion, on, " Be ye likewise ready ; for ye know not the hour when the Son of Man cometh." At five I preached in the market-place, on, " Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels," &c., " and have not charity, I am nothing." I spoke exceeding plain, and the people were attentive : Yetfew of them, I doubt, understood what was spoken. The society, however, are well established, and adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour. Mon. 4. At eleven I preached in the little Square at Robin Hood's Bay. At six I preached to a numerous congregation, in the new House at Scarborough. It is plain ; andyet is one of the neatest and most elegant preaching-houses in England. Now let the people walk worthy of their calling, and there will be a good work in this place. Wed. 6.-I went on to Bridlington-Quay; and in the evening preached in the town, to as stupid and ill-mannered a congregation as I have seen for many years. Thursday, 7. I preached at Beverley and Hull, where the House would not near contain the congregation. How is this town changed since I preached on the Car ! Saturday, 9. I preached at Pocklington and York. Sun. 10. Some of Tadcaster informing me that the Minister was willing I should preach in the church, I went thither in the morning. But his mind was changed : So I preached in the street, to a listening multitude, from the Lesson for the day, on the righteousness which exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees ; in the morning and evening at York. Tuesday, 12, was the Quarterly Meeting. It was a busy, and yet a comfortable, day. Many were refreshed, both at the love-feast, and while I was describing the " hundred forty and . 23 July, 1774. ] JOURNAL four thousand," standing "with the Lamb on mount Sion." Who is ambitious to be of that number ?

bers, one hundred and seventy-four remained. And these points shall be carried, ifonly fifty remainin the society. Mon. 21.-1 examined the society at Loddon. There are near fifty ofthem, simple and teachable, all of one mind, and many of them able to rejoice in God their Saviour. Tuesday, 22. I took a solemn and affectionate leave of the society at Nor- wich. About twelve we took coach. About eight, Wednesday, 23, Mr. Dancer met me with a chaise, and carried me to Ely. Νοv. 1774.] 37 Owhat want of common sense ! Water covered the high-road for amile and a half. I asked, " How must foot-people come to the town ? " " Why, they must wade through ! " About two I preached in a house well filled with plain, lov- ing people. I then took awalk to the cathedral, one of the most beautiful I have seen. The western tower is exceeding grand; and the nave of an amazing height. Hence we went through a fruitful and pleasant country, though surrounded with fens, to Sutton. Here many peoplehad latelybeen stirred up: They had prepared a large barn. At six o'clock it was well filled ; and it seemed as ifGod sent a message to every soul. Thenextmorning and evening, though the weather was uncom- monly severe, the congregation increased rather than diminished. Fri. 25. I left them in much hope that they will continue in this earnest, simple love. I set out between eight and nine in aone-horse chaise, the wind being high and cold enough. Much snow lay on the ground, andmuch fell as we crept along over the fen-banks. Honest Mr. Tubbs would needs walk and lead the horse through water andmud up to his mid-leg, smiling and saying, "We fen-men do not mind a little dirt. " When we had gone about four miles, the road would not admit of a chaise. So I borrowed a horse and rode forward; but not far, for all the grounds were under water. Here therefore I procured a boat full twice as large as a kneading-trough. I was at one end, and aboy at the other,who paddled me safe to Erith. There Miss L-waited for me with another chaise, which brought me to St. Ives. No Methodist, I was told, had preached in this town : So I

liest place in the Circuit. Many here have been lately convinced of sin, andmany converted to God. Some have been made par- takers of the greatsalvation,and their love and zeal have stirred up others. So that the flame now spreads wider andwider. 0 let none be able to quench it ! In the evening I preached at Worcester. Here also the flame is gradually increasing. While I was here, there was a very extraordinary trial at the assizes. A boy being beaten by his master, ran away ; and wandering about till he was half starved, was then allowed to lie in the hay-loft ofan inn. In the night he stole into the room wheretwo gentlemen lay ; (probably not very sober ; ) and, without waking them, picked the money out ofboth their pockets ; though their breeches lay under their head. In themorning, having confessed the fact, he was committed to gaol. Hemade no defence : So one of the Counsellors rose up, and said, " My Lord, as there is none to plead for this poor boy, I will do it myself," He did so, and then added, “ My Lord, it may be this bad boymay make a good man. And I humbly April, 1775.1 41 conceive, it might bebest to send him back to his master. I will give him a guinea towards his expenses." "And I will give him another," said the Judge. Which he did, with a mild and serious reproof. Sohewas sent back full ofgood resolutions. Fri. 17. In the evening, though it was cold, I was obliged to preach abroad at Newcastle. One buffoon laboured much to interrupt. But as he was bawling, with his mouth wide open, some arch boys gave him such a mouthful of dirt as quite satis- fied him. On Saturday and Sunday I preached at Congleton andMac- clesfield ; Monday, 20, at Stockport and Manchester. Tuesday, 21. I preached at Knutsford ; but the house would by nomeans contain the congregation. The street too was filled ; and even those which could not hear were silent. This is uncommon ; especially in a town little accustomed to this strange way of preaching : Those who cannot hear themselves usually taking care to hinder others from hearing. In the evening I opened the new House at Northwich, which

and thence, through miserable roads, to Longford. A large number of people attended the preaching, both in the evening and at eight in the morning, being Good-Friday. But I found very little of the spirit which was here two years ago. About eleven I preached at Loughan, and in the evening at Athlone. On Easter-Day I would willingly have preached abroad; but the weather would not permit. Monday, 17. I preached at Aghrim ; and Tuesday-noon, at Eyre-Court. Afterwards I was desired to walk down to Lord Eyre's. I was a little surprised at the inscription over the door, " Welcome to the house of liberty." Does it mean liberty from sin ? It is a noble old house. The staircase is grand ; and so are two or three of the rooms. In the rest of the house, as well as in the ruinous outhouses, gardens, and fish-ponds, the owner seemed to say to every beholder,"All this profiteth me nothing !" I preached in the evening at Birr, with agood hope that God would at length revive his work. Wed. 19. About noon I preached in the market-place at Clara. It was the market-day; but that did not lessen the congregation. The poor people eagerly flockedfrom the market; and there was no buying or selling till I concluded. After preaching at Coolylough, Tullamore, and Portarlington, (still " unstable as water,") Saturday, 22, I found, at Mount- Mellick, a little company, who appeared to be better established. I spent Saturday and Sunday comfortably among them, building them up in ourmost holy faith. May,177 J 5.] Mon. 24. The Minister of Maryborough inviting me to preach in his church, I began reading Prayers about nine ; and afterwards preached to a numerous congregation. For the pre- sent, every one seemed affected. Will not some bring forth fruit with patience ? In the evening I was scandalized both at the smallness and deadness of the congregation at Kilkenny. The next evening it was a little mended, but not much. Of all the dull congrega- tions I have seen, this was the dullest. Wed. 26. I went on to Waterford, where the rain drove us into the preaching-house, the most foul, horrid, miserable hole which I have seen since I left England. The next day I got into the open air, and a large congregation attended. I had

ease to amultitude of people. Afterwards I was a good deal worse. However, the next day I went on a few miles to the Grange. The table was placed here in such a manner, that, all the time I was preaching, a strong and sharp wind blew full on the left side ofmy head; and it was not without a good deal ofdifficulty that I made an end of my sermon. I now found a deep obstruction inmy breast : My pulse was exceeding weak and low ; I shivered with cold, though the air was sultry hot ; only now and then burning for a few minutes. I went early to bed, drank a draught of treacle-and-water, and applied treacle to the soles of my feet. I lay till seven on Thursday, 15, and then felt considerably better. But I found near the same obstruction in my breast: I had alow, weak, pulse ; I burned and shivered by turns ; and, if I ventured to cough, it jarred my head exceedingly. In going on to Derry-Anvil, I wondered what was the matter, that I could not attend to what I was reading ; no, not for three minutes together ; but my thoughts were perpetually shifting. Yet, all the time I was preaching in the evening, (although I stood in the open air, with the wind whistling round my head,) my mindwas as composed as ever. Friday, 16. In going to Lurgan, I was again surprised that I could not fix my attention on what I read : Yet, while I was preaching in the evening, on the Parade, I found my mind perfectly composed ; although it rained agreat part of the time, which did not well agree with my head. Saturday, 17. I was persuaded to send for Dr. Laws, a sensible and skilful Physi- cian. He told me I was in a high fever, and advised me to lay by. But I told him that could not be done ; as I had appointed to preach at several places, and must preach as long as I could speak. He then prescribed a cooling draught, with a grain or two of camphor, as my nerves were universally agitated. This I took with me to Tanderagee : But when I came there, I was not able to preach ; my understanding being

quite confused, andmy strength entirely gone. Yet I breathed freely, and had not the least thirst, nor any pain, from head to foot. I was now at a full stand, whether to aim at Lisburn, or to push forward for Dublin. But my friends doubting whether I could bear so long a journey, I went straight to Derry-Aghy; a gentleman's seat, on the side of a hill, three miles beyond Lisburn. Here nature sunk, and I tookmy bed. But I could July, 1775.] no more turn myself therein, than a new-born child. My memory failed, as well as my strength, andwell nigh my under- standing. Only those words ran in my mind, when I saw Miss Gayer on one side of the bed, looking at her mother on the other:- She sat, like Patience on a monument, Smiling at grief. But still I had no thirst, no difficulty of breathing, no pain, from head to foot. I cangive no account ofwhat followed for two or three days, beingmore dead than alive. Only I remember it was difficult for me to speak, my throat being exceeding dry. But Joseph Bradford tells me I said on Wednesday, " It will be determined before this time to-morrow ; " that my tongue was much swollen, and as black as a coal ; that I was convulsed all over ; and that for some time my heart did not beat perceptibly, neither was any pulse discernible. In the night of Thursday, 22, Joseph Bradford came to me with a cup, and said, " Sir, you must take this." I thought, " I will, if I can swallow, to please him; for it will do me neither harm nor good." Immediately it set me a vomiting ; myheart began to beat and my pulse to play again ; and from that hour the extremity ofthe symptoms abated. The nextday I sat up several hours, and walked four or five times across the room. On Saturday I sat up all day, and walked across the room many times, without any weariness ; on Sunday, I came down stairs, and sat several hours in the parlour ; on Monday, I walked out before the house ; on Tuesday, I took an airing in the chaise, and on Wednesday, trusting in God, to the aston-

nation. And I see many pouring oil into the flame, by crying out, How unjustly, how cruelly, the King is using the poor Americans ; who are only contending for their liberty, and for their legal privileges ! ' 60 REV. J. WESLEY'S [Nov. 1775. "Now there is no possible way to put out this flame, or hinder its rising higher and higher, but to show that the Americans are not used either cruelly or unjustly ; that they are not injured at all, seeing they are not contending for liberty ; (this they had, even in its full extent, both civil and religious ;) neither for any legal privileges ; for they enjoy all that their charters grant. But what they contend for, is, the illegal privilege of being exempt from parliamentary taxation. A privilege this, which no charter ever gave to any American colony yet ; which no charter cangive, unless it be confirmed both by King, Lords, and Commons ; which, in fact, our colonies never had ; which they never claimed till the present reign : And probably they would not have claimed it now, had they not been incited thereto by letters from England. One of these was read, according to the desire of the writer, not only at the continental Congress, but likewise in many congregations throughout the Combined Provinces. It advised them to seize upon all the King's Officers ; and exhorted them, ' Stand valiantly, only for six months, and in that time there will be such commotions in England that you may have your own terms.' " This being the real state of the question, without any colouring or aggravation, what impartial man can either blame the King, or commend the Americans ? " With this view, to quench the fire, by laying the blame where it was due, the ' Calm Address' was written. I am, Sir, "Your humble servant, " As to reviewers, newswriters, London Magazines, and all that kind of gentlemen, they behave just as I expected they would. And let them lick up Mr. Toplady's spittle still : A champion worthy of their cause." Thur. 30.-I preached at Lowestoft at noon, and Yarmouth in the evening. Here a gentleman, who came with me from London, was taken ill (he informed me) of the bloody flux. This being stopped, I thought his head was disordered ; and

" You affirm, 2. That I declared,' (last year,) ' the Ameri- cans were an oppressed, injured people.' I do not remember that I did ; but very possibly I might. " You affirm, 3. That I then ' strongly recommended an argument for the exclusive right of the colonies to tax them- selves. ' I believe I did; but I am now of another mind. "You affirm, 4. You say in the Preface, I never saw that book.' I did say so. The plain case was, I had so entirely forgotten it, that evenwhen I saw it again, I recollected nothing of it, till I had read several pages. If I had, I might have observed that you borrowed more from Mr. P. than I did from Dec.1775.1 Dr. Johnson. Though I know not whether I should have observed it, as it does not affect the merits of the cause. "You affirm , 5. ' You say, But I really believe he was told 80; ' and add, ' Supposing what I asserted was false, it is not easy to conceive what reason you could have for believing I was told so.' My reason was, I believed you feared God, and therefore would not tell awilful untruth; so I made the best excuse for you which I thought the nature of the thing would admit of. Had you not some reasons to believe this of me ; and therefore to say, (at least,) ' I hope he forgot it ? ' " " But at this time I was perfectly unknown to you.' No, at this time I knew you wrote that tract ; but had I not, char- itywouldhave induced me to hope this, even ofan entire stranger. "You now have my ' feeble reply; and if you please to advance any new argument, (personal reflections I let go,) you may perhaps receive a farther reply from Your humble servant, " London, December 9 . " I did not see your letter till this morning." Mon. 11. I began a little journey into Kent. In the even- ing I preached at Chatham, the next evening at Canterbury. I know not that ever I saw such a congregation there before. Tuesday, 12. I preached at Dover. As many as could, squeezed into the House, and the rest went quietly away.

with Mr. Brown to Kingston. The large, old parsonage-house is pleasantly situated close to the church-yard, just fit for a contemplativeman. Here I found a Clergyman, Dr. Coke, late Gentleman Commoner of Jesus College in Oxford, who came twentymiles on purpose. I had much conversation with him ; and an union then began, which I trust shall never end. Wed. 14. I preached at Tiverton ; and on Thursday went on to Launceston. Here I found the plain reason why the work ofGod hadgained no ground in this Circuit all the year. The Preachers had given up the Methodist testimony. Either they did not speak of Perfection at all, (the peculiar doctrine committed to our trust,) or they spoke of it only in general terms, without urging the believers to " go on unto perfection," and to expect it every moment. And wherever this is not earnestly done, the work of God does not prosper. Fri. 16.-I was going to preachin the market-placeat Camel- ford, where a few are still alive to God, when a violent storm drove us into the House ; that is, as many as could squeeze in. The fire quickly kindled among them, and seemed to touch every heart. My text was, " What doest thou here, Elijah ?" AndGod himself made the application. Aflame was once more raised in this town : May it never more be put out ! In the evening I preached in Mr. Wood's yard, at Port- Isaac, to most of the inhabitants of the town. The same spirit was here as at Camelford, and seemed to move upon every heart. Andwehad all a good hope, that the days of faintness and weariness are over, and that the work of God will revive and flourish . Sat. 17. We found Mr. Hoskins, at Cubert, alive ; but just tottering over the grave. I preached in the evening, on 2 Cor. v. 1-4, probably the last sermon he will hear from me. I was afterwards inquiring, if that scandal of Cornwall, theplundering of wrecked vessels, still subsisted. He said, " As much as ever ; only the Methodists will have nothing to do with it. But three months since a vessel was wrecked on the south coast, and the tinners presently seized on all the goods; and even broke in pieces a new coach which was on board, and

We set out for Yarmouth. Here I knew not where to preach ; theMayor refusing me the use of the Town-Hall. But the Chamberlain gave me the use of a larger building, formerly a church. In this a numerous congregation soon assembled, to whom I describedthe " sect which is everywhere spoken against." I believe all that were attentive will be a little more candid for the time to come. Tues. 19. I opened the new preaching-house at Lowestoft, -a new and lightsome building. It was thoroughly filled with deeply attentive hearers. Surely some of them will bear fruit unto perfection. Wednesday, 20. Mr. Fletcher preached in the morning, and I at two in the afternoon. It then blew athorough storm, so that it washard to walk or stand, the wind being ready to take us off our feet. It drove one of the boats, which were on the strand, from its moorings out to sea. Three men were in it, who looked for nothing every moment but to be swallowed up. But presently five stout men put off in another open boat, and, rowing for life, overtook them, and brought them safe to land. [Dec. 1776. Thur. 21. I preached at Beccles. A duller place I have seldom seen. The people of the town were neither pleased nor vexed, as " caring for none of these things." Yet fifty or sixty came into the house, either to hear or see. The people of Loddon seemed in the evening of another spirit, resolved to " enter in at the strait gate." Friday, 21. We had a solemn parting with our friends at Norwich ; and on Saturday evening I brought Mr. Fletcher back to London, considerably better than when he set out. Fri. 29. We considered the several plans which were offered for the new chapel. Having agreed upon one, we desired a Surveyor to draw out the particulars, with an estimate of the expense. We then ordered proposals to be drawn up for those who were willing to undertake any part ofthe building . Mon. DECEMBER 2.-I set out for Bedford, in the diligence, and came thither at four in the afternoon. I found great freedom of speech in the evening, and perceived God was reviving his work in this people. Tues. 3.-I crossed over to St. Neot's, and had an hour's

at Warrington, and in the evening at Liverpool ; where many large ships are now laid up in the docks, which had been 96 REV. J. WESLEY'S [May, 1777. employed for many years in buying or stealing poor Africans, and selling them in America for slaves. The men-butchers have now nothing to do at this laudable occupation. Since the American war broke out, there is no demand for human cattle. So themen ofAfrica, as well as Europe, may enjoy their native liberty. Wed. 16.-About noon I preached at Wigan ; in the even- ing, at the new House in Bolton, crowded within and without, on the " wise man" who " built his house upon a rock." Many here are following his example, and continually increasing both in the knowledge and love of God. Thur. 17.-I called upon Mr. Barker, at Little-Leigh, just tottering over the great gulf. Being straitened for time, I rode from thence to Chester. I had not for some years rode so far on horseback, but it did me no hurt. After preaching, I took chaise, and came to Middlewich, a little before the Liver- pool coach, in which I went on to London. I have now finished Dr. Gell's " Essay toward an Amend- 'ment of the last Translation of the Bible." This part only takes in the Pentateuch ; but many other texts are occasionally explained. Surely hewas amanmighty in the Scriptures, and well acquainted with the work of God in the soul : And he plainly shows that the Antinomians and Anti-Perfectionists were just the same then, as they are now. Monday, 2, was the day appointed for laying the foundation of the new chapel. The rain befriended us much, by keeping away thousands who purposed to be there. But there were still such multitudes, that it was with great difficulty I got through them, to lay the first stone. Upon this was aplate of brass, (covered with another stone,) on which was engraved, " This was laid by Mr. John Wesley, on APRIL 1, 1777." Probably this will be seen no more, by any human eye ; but will remain there, till the earth and the works thereof are burned up. Sun. 27.-The sun breaking out, I snatched the opportunity of preaching to many thousands in Moorfields. All were still

life ; for presently man and beast were covered with a sheet of Aug. 1777.] 107 lightning; but as he was thoroughly wet, it did him no harm. In the evening I preached in Oldcastle church, near Bridge- End. Thur. 24. I preached to a large and serious congregation , in the Town-Hall as Cowbridge. Friday, 25. About eleven I read Prayers, and preached in Lantwyt church, to a very numerous congregation. I have not seen either so large or so handsome a church since I left England. It was sixty yards long ; but one end of it is now in ruins. I suppose it has been abundantly the most beautiful, as well as the most spacious, church in Wales. In the evening I preached at Mrs. Jones's house in Fonte- gary. For the present, even the genteel hearers seemed affected ; and God is able to continue the impression. Sat. 26. I breakfasted at Fonmon Castle, and found a melancholy pleasure in the remembrance of past times. About noon I preached at Penmark, and in the evening in that memo- rable old Castle at Cardiff. Sun. 27-. I preached in the Town-Hall ; and again in the afternoon, to a crowded audience, after preaching in a little church at Caerphilly. In the evening I preached in Mr. M's hall at Llandaff; andGod applied his word (I think) to every heart. Monday, 28. I preached at Newport, and in the evening reached Bristol. Wed. 30.-I spent an hour or two with Mr. Fletcher, restored to life in answer to manyprayers. How many providential ends have been answered by his illness ! And perhaps still greater will be answered by his recovery. Fri. AUGUST 1.-I desired asmany as could tojoin together in fasting and prayer, that God would restore the spirit of love and of a sound mind, to the poor deluded rebels in America. In the evening we had awatch-night at Kingswood ; and I was agreeably surprised to observe that hardly any one went away till the whole service was concluded. Tues. 5. Our yearly Conference began. I now particu- larly inquired (as that report had been spread far and wide) of every Assistant, " Haveyou reason to believe, from your own observation, that the Methodists are a fallen people ? Is there a decay or an increase in the work ofGod where you havebeen ?

"All fevers are attended with thirst and vigilia." Nay, in two violent fevers I had no thirst at all, and slept rather more than when I was in health. Tues. 19.-I went forward to Taunton, with Dr. Coke, who, being dismissed from his Curacy,has bid adicu to his honourable name, and determined to cast in his lot with us. In the evening Oct. 1777.1 JOURNAL. 109 I endeavoured to guard all who love or fear God against that miserable bigotry which many of our mistaken brethren are advancing with all their might. Wed. 20. I preached at Tiverton ; Thursday, 21, at Laun- ceston ; Friday, 22, about ten, in Bodmin. Thence I went on to Cubert ; and found that venerable old man, Mr. Hoskins, calmly waiting for his discharge from the body, Saturday, 23. At noon, I preached in Redruth ; and in the evening, on the Cliff of St. Ives. In the following week I visited most of the western societies ; and on Saturday, 30, had the Quarterly Meeting. I now inquired particularly, whether the societies were increasing or decreasing. I could not hear of a decrease in any; but several were swiftly increasing ; particularly those of St. Just, Penzance, and Helstone. Sun. 31. I preached in the morning at St. Agnes ; in the evening to the huge congregation at Gwennap ; larger (it was supposed) by fifteen hundred or two thousand, than ever it had beenbefore. Sat. SEPTEMBER 27.-Having abundance of letters from Dublin, informing me that the society there was in the utmost confusion, by reason of some of the chief members, whom the Preachers had thought it needful to exclude from the society ; and finding all I could write was not sufficient to stop the grow- ing evil ; I saw but one way remaining, to go myself, and that as soon as possible. So the next day I took chaise with Mr. Goodwin, and made straight for Mr. Bowen's, at Llyngwair, in Pembrokeshire ; hoping to borrow his sloop, and so cross over to Dublin without delay. I came to Llyngwair on Tuesday, 30. The next day, OCTOBER 1, the Captain of a sloop at Fishgard, a small sea-port town, ten or twelve miles from Llyngwair, sent meword he would sail for Dublin in the evening ; but he did

any two-edged sword. Mon. 17.-I went to Norwich, and preached there in the evening. The House was far too small, the congregation being lately increased very considerably. But I place no dependence in this people; they wave to and fro, like the waves of the sea. Wed. 19. I went over to Loddon,and preached at one to a much more settled congregation. In the evening I preached at Norwich, and afterwards administered the Lord's Supper to the society ; and I was almost persuaded, that they will no longer be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. Thur. 20.-Abundance of people were present at five, and wehad a solemn parting. Iwent to Lynn the same day ; and Saturday, 22, taking chaise soon after twelve, reached London in the afternoon . Sun. 23. I preached in Lewisham church for the benefit of the Humane Society, instituted for the sake of those who seem to be drowned, strangled, or killed by any sudden stroke. It is a glorious design ; in consequence of which many have been recovered, that must otherwise have inevitably perished. Mon. 24.-I spent the afternoon at Mr. Blackwell's with the Bof His whole behaviour was worthy of a Chris Dec. 1777.1 JOURNAL. 113 tianBishop ; easy, affable, courteous ; and yet all his conversa- tion spoke the dignity which was suitable to his character. Having been many times desired, for near forty years, to publish a Magazine, I at length complied, and now began to collect materials for it. If it once begin, I incline to think it will not end but with my life. Mon. DECEMBER 1.-I spent some hours, both morning and afternoon, in visiting the sick at the west end of the town ; but I could not see them all. Wednesday, 3. I visited as many as I could on the north-east part of the town. Ispent the even- ing at Newington, with Mr. Fletcher, almost miraculously reco- vering from his consumption ; and on Thursday, 4, he set out with Mr. Ireland for the south of France. Tues. 9. I visited the chief societies in Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire, and returned by Hertford ; where (for once) I saw a quiet and serious congregation. Wehad a larger con- gregation at Barnet, in the evening, than ever , and a greater number of communicants. Will this poor, barren wilderness

company ofpious, sensible men. I rejoiced to find that peace and love prevailed through the whole Circuit. Those who styled themselves My Lady's Preachers, who screamed, and railed, and threatened to swallow us up, are vanished away. I cannot learn that they havemade one convert ;-a plain proof that God did not send them. One was mentioning to-day a wonderful oration, which Mr. Rowland H. had lately made. I thoughtMr. Toplady hadnot left behind him his fellow ; but see !- -Primo avulso, non deficit alter Aureus, et simili frondescit virga metallo.* Sat. 29. I found the venerable old man at Cubert pale, *The following is Dryden's translation of these lines :- The first thus rent, a second will arise : And the same metal the same room supplies. EDIT. Sept. 1778.1 thin, and scarce half alive. However, he made shift to go in a chaise to the preaching, and, deaf as he was, to hear almost every word. He had such a night's rest as he had not had for many months, and in the morning seemed hardly the same person. It may be God will give him a little longer life, for thegood ofmany. Sun. 30.-About five I preached in the amphitheatre at Gwennap, it was believed, to four-and-twenty thousand. After- wards I spent a solemn hourwith the society, and slept in peace. Mon. 31. About eleven I preached to a large and serious congregation, near the Town-Hall, in Bodmin ; and about six inthe evening at Launceston ; a town as little troubled with religion as most in Cornwall. Tues. SEPTEMBER 1.-I went to Tiverton. I was musing here onwhat I hearda good man say long since,---" Once in seven years I burn all my sermons ; for it is a shame if I can- not write better sermons now than I could seven years ago." Whatever others can do, I really cannot. I cannot write a better sermon on theGood Steward, thanI did seven years ago : I cannot write a better on the Great Assize, than I did twenty years ago : I cannot write a better on the Use of Money, than I did near thirty years ago: Nay, I know not that I can write a betteronthe Circumcision of the Heart, than Idid five-and-forty years ago. Perhaps, indeed Imay have read five or six hun-

and fifty odd places, just eight are possessed by Scotchmen ; and of the hundred and fifty-one places in the Royal House- hold, four are possessed by Scots, and no more. Ought not this to be echoed through the three kingdoms, to show the regard to truth these wretches have, who are constantly endeavouring to inflame the nation against their Sovereign, as well as their fellow-subjects ? Tues. 8. In the evening I stood on one side of the market- place at Frome, and declared to a very numerous congregation, "His commandments are not grievous." They stood as quiet as those at Bristol, a very few excepted ; most of whom were, by the courtesy of England, called Gentlemen. How much inferior to the keelmen and colliers ! On Wednesday and Thursday I made a little excursion into Dorsetshire, and on Saturday returned to Bristol. Sunday, 13. We had a comfortable opportunity at the Room in the morning, as well as at the Square in the afternoon ; where the congregation was considerably larger than the Sunday before : But on Sunday, 20, it was larger still. Now let the winter come : We have made our full use of the Michaelmas summer. Oct. 1778.] JOURNAL. 137 On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, on meeting the classes, I carefully examined whether there was any truth in the assertion, that above a hundred in our society were con- cerned in unlawful distilling. The result was, that I found two persons, and no more, that were concerned therein. I now procured a copy of part of Mr. Fletcher's late Letter to Mr. Ireland; which I think it my duty to publish, as a full answer to the lying accounts which have been published con- cerning that bad man :--" Mr. Voltaire, finding himself ill, sent for Dr. Fronchin, first Physician to the Duke of Orleans, one of his converts to infidelity, and said to him, ' Sir, I desire you will save my life. I will give you half my fortune, if you will lengthenout mydays only six months. If not, I shall go to the devil, and carry you with me. " Thur. 24. I read Prayers and preached in Midsummer- Norton church. Thence I went to Bradford, on a sultry hot day, such as were several days this month ; and preached on

loud thunder. It kept me awake half an hour; I then slept in peace. Fri. JANUARY 1, 1779.-At length we have a House capable of containing the whole society. We met there this evening to Feb. 1779.1 renew our covenant with God; and we never met on that solemn occasionwithout a peculiar blessing. Tues. 12. I dined anddrank teawith fourGerman Ministers. I could not but admire the wisdom of those that appointed them . They seem to consider not only the essential points, their sense and piety, but even those smaller things, the good breeding, the address, yea, the persons of those they send into foreign countries. Sun. 24. I visited ayoung woman in such terrible fits as I scarce ever saw before ; and she was hardly out of one, when she fell into another ; so that it seemed she must soon lose her reason, ifnot her life. But Dr. Wilson, in one or twodays' time, restored her to perfect health. Mon. FEBRUARY 8.-Finding many serious persons were much discouraged by prophets of evil, confidently foretelling veryheavy calamities,which were coming upon our nation, I endeavoured to lift up their hands, by opening and applying those comfortable words : (Psalm xliii. 5, 6:) " Why art thou so heavy, O my soul? And why art thou so disquieted within me? O put thy trust in God ; for I will yet give him thanks, which is the help ofmy countenance, and my God." Wednesday, 10, was a National Fast. So solemn a one I never saw before. From one end of the city to the other, there was scarce any one seen in the streets. All places ofpublic worship were crowded in an uncommondegree; and an unusual awe sat onmost faces. I preached on the words of God to Abraham, interceding for Sodom, " I will not destroy the city for his sake." Mon. 15. I went to Norwich in the stage-coach, with two very disagreeable companions, called a gentleman and gentle- woman, but equally ignorant, insolent, lewd, and profane. Wed. 17.-I went to Yarmouth, and preached to a large and serious congregation. Thursday, 18. I preached at Lowestoft, where is a great awakening, especiallyamongyouth and children ; several of whom, between twelve and sixteen years of age, are a pattern to all about them. Friday, 19. I preached at Loddon,

" Imposture and fanaticism still hang upon the skirts of religion. Weak minds were seduced by the delusions of a superstition, styled Methodism, raised upon the affectation of superior sanctity, and pretensions to divine illumination. Many thousands were infected with this enthusiasm bythe endeavours of a few obscure Preachers, such as Whitefield, and the two Wesleys, who found means to lay the whole kingdom under contribution." Poor Dr. Smollet ! Thus to transmit to all succeeding gene- rations a whole heap of notorious falsehoods ! " Imposture and fanaticism ! " Neither one nor the other had any share in the late revival of scriptural religion, which is no other than the love of God and man, gratitude to our Creator, and good-will to our fellow-creatures. Is this delusion and superstition ? No, it is real wisdom ; it is solid virtue. Does this fanaticism " hang upon the skirts of religion ? " Nay, it is the very essence of it. Does the Doctor call this enthusiasm ? Why ? Because he knows nothing about it. Who told him that these " obscure Preachers " made "pretensions to divine illumination ? " How often has that silly calumnybeen refuted to the satisfaction of all candidmen ? However, they " found means to lay the whole kingdom under contribution." So does this frontless man, blind and bold, stumble on without the least shadow of truth ! April, 1779.] JOURNAL. 149 Meantime, what faith can be given to his History ? What credit can anyman of reason give to any fact uponhis authority ? In travelling this week I looked over Baron Swedenborg's "Account of Heaven and Hell." Hewas aman of piety, of a strong understanding, and most lively imagination ; but he had a violent fever when he was five-and-fifty years old, which quite overturned his understanding. Nor did he ever recover it ; but it continued " majestic, though in ruins." From that time he was exactly in the state of that gentleman atArgos,- Qui se credebat miros audire tragædos, In vacuo lætus sessor plausorque theatro. Whowondrous tragedies was wont to hear, Sitting alone in the empty theatre. His words, therefore, from that time were ægri somnia, the dreams of a disordered imagination ; just as authentic as Quevedo's " Visions of Hell. " Of this work in particular I

he got one of his legs over the pole. Mr. Broadbentand I then came out of the chaise and walked forward. While the drivers 164 REV. J. WESLEY'S Aug. 1779. were setting the chaise right, the horses ran back almost to the town; so that we did not reach Llyngwair till between two and three o'clock. Mr. Bowen was not returned from a journey to Glasgow. However, I spent a very comfortable evening with Mrs. Bowen and the rest of the family. Wed. 18. I preached about ten in Newport church; and then we went on to Haverfordwest. Here we had a very differ- ent congregation, both as to number and spirit ; and we found the society striving together for the hope of the Gospel. Thurs- day, 19. We went over to Fracoon, one of the loveliest places in Great Britain. The house stands in a deep valley, sur- rounded with tall woods, and them with lofty mountains. But, as Admiral Vaughan was never married, this ancient family will soon come to an end. At two I preached in Newcastle church, and in the evening at Haverford. Fri. 20. Many of us met at noon, and spent a solemn hour in intercession for our King and country. In the evening the House was thoroughly filled with people of all denominations. I believe they all felt that God was there, and that he was no respecter of persons. Sat. 21.- I went to Pembroke. Understanding that a large number of American prisoners were here, in the evening I took my stand over against the place where they were confined ; so that they all could hear distinctly. Many of them seemed much affected. O that God may set their souls at liberty ! Sun. 22. Mr. Rees, a neighbouring Clergyman, assisting me, I began at St. Daniel's between nine and ten. The con- gregation came from many miles round ; and many of them were greatly refreshed. While we rode to Haverford after dinner, I think it wasfull as hot as it uses to be in Georgia ; till about five o'clock a violent shower exceedingly cooled the air ; but it ceased in halfan hour, and we had then such a congrega- tion as was scarce ever seen here before ; and though many of the Gentry were there, yet a solemn awe spread over the whole assembly.

a child told him they were at hand, and had only time to run and get into a hollow which was under the house. The maid clapped to the trap-door, and covered it over with flax. They searched the house from top to bottom,opened all the closets, turned up the beds, and, finding nothing, went away. He was scarce come out, when another party beset the house, and came so quick, that he had but just time to get in again ; and the maid, not having flax enough at hand, covered the door with foul linen. When these also had wearied themselves with searching, and went away, he put on his boots and great coat, took a gun and a rug, (it being asharp frost,) and crept into a little marsh near the house. Athird party came quickly, swearing he must be about the house, and they would have him if he was alive. Hearing this he stole away with full speed, and lay down near the sea-shore, between two hillocks, covering himselfwith seaweeds. They came so near that he heard one ofthem swear, " If I find him, Iwill hang him on the nexttree." Another answered, "Iwill not stay for that : I willshoot him the moment I see him." After some time, finding theywere gone, he lifted up his ! head, and heard a shrill whistle from aman fifty or sixty yards off. He soon knew him to be a deserter from the rebel army. He asked Mr. H. what he designed to do ; who answered, " Go in my boat to the English ships, which are four or five and twenty miles off." But the rebels had found and burnt the boat. So, knowing their life was gone if they stayed till the 1 morning, they got into a small canoe, (though liable to overset 1 with a puff ofwind,) and set off from shore. Having rowedtwo or three miles, they stopped at a little island, and made a fire, being almost perishedwith cold. But they werequickly alarmed, byaboat rowing toward the shore. Mr. Hatton, standing up, said, " We have a musket and a fusee. If you load one, as fast as I discharge the other, I will give a good account of them 174 [Feb. 1780. all. " He then stepped to the shore, and bade the rowers stop,

Thur. 17.-I preached at Dorking, and could not but reflect, in this room I lodged the first time I saw poor Mr. Ireland : Emphatically poor ! Poor beyond expression ;-though he left fourscore thousand pounds behind him ! Thur. 24-. I met the building Committee ; according to whose representation, our income at last nearly answers our expenses. If so, it will clear itselfin a few years. Mon. 28.-Taking the post-coach, I reached Newbury time enough to preach to a crowded audience. Tuesday, 29, and Wednesday, I preached at Bath, where brotherly love is now restored. Thursday, MARCH 2. I went into Bristol, and enjoyed much peace among a quiet, loving people. On Mon- day, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I examined the society, and had reason to rejoice over them. Mon. 13.-I set out for the north, andin the evening preached at Stroud, where is a considerable increase of the work of God. Tuesday, 14. I preached in the church at Pitchcomb ; but it would by no means contain the congregation. In the evening I preached at Tewkesbury,and onWednesday, 15, atWorcester, to a very serious congregation. Thursday, 16. About noon I began preaching at Bewdley, in an open space at the head of the town. The wind was high and exceeding sharp ; but no one seemed to regard it. Inthe middle of the sermon came a manbeating a drum ; but a gentleman of the town soon silenced him. Friday, 17. About noon I preached at Bengeworth church, to the largest congregation I ever saw there ; and in Pebworth church about six, to a larger congregation than I had seen there before. I found uncommon liberty in applying those words, (perhaps a last warning to the great man of the parish, Mr. Martin, ) " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Sat. 18.-Iwenton toBirmingham ; and,Sunday,19,preached at eight in the morning, and at half-past one in the afternoon ; in the evening, at Wednesbury. Monday, 20. I reached Con- gleton, and preached to a lively congregation on our Lord's words : " Lazarus, come forth ! " Tuesday, 21. I preached in the new chapel at Macclesfield ; Thursday, 23, at Stockport and Manchester. On Good-Friday I preached, at seven, in Manchester ; about one, in Oldham ; and in Manchester, at six. Saturday, 25. I

end of Radcliff-Parade. Great part of the immense congrega- tion had never heard this kind of preaching before ; yet they were deeply attentive, while I opened and applied those awful words, " I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God." Sun. 6.-We had the largest numbers of communicants that had ever met at the new Room ; and the largest congregation, at [Aug. 1780. five, that had ever met near King's Square. Wednesday, 9. We concluded the Conference in much peace and love. Fri. 11. The sultry heat continuing, I would not coop myself up in the chapel, but preached again near Radcliff- Parade, with much comfort and peace. Mon. 14. For fear of the violent heat,we set out for Corn- wall very early in the morning. But we feared where no fear was ; for that very day the heat was at an end, andamild rain began ; which, at intervals, followed us almost to the Land's End. After preaching at South-Brent, Taunton, and Collumpton, on Friday, 16, we came to Exeter. It is still a day of small things here, for want ofa convenient preaching-house. Thurs- day, 17. I went on to Plymouth. Here I expected little com- fort. A large preaching-house was built ; but who was to pay for it ? I preached in it at six, at five in the morning, and on Friday evening; and, from the number and spirit of the hearers, could not but hope that good will be done here also. Sat. 19. I snatched the opportunity of a fair evening, to preach in the Square at Plymouth-Dock. Sunday, 20. At seven in the morning, and at five in the evening. I preached at the Dock ; in the afternoon in Plymouth House. It was crowded sufficiently. After preaching I made a collection for the House, which amounted to above five-and-twenty pounds. When I had done, Mr. Jane said, " This is not all. We must have a weekly collection both here and at the Dock. Let as many as can subscribe sixpence a week for one year. I will subscribe five shillings a week. And let this be reserved for the payment of the debt." It was done : And by this simple method, the most pressing debts were soon paid. Mon. 21. I preached to alarge and quiet congregation in

the will of God I should go to Ireland at this time. Sowe went into the stage-coach without delay, and the next evening came to Chester. I now considered in what place I could spend a few days to the greatest advantage. I soon thought of the Isle of Man, and those parts of Wales which I could not well see in my ordi- nary course. I judged it would be best to beginwith the latter. So, after a day or two's rest, on Wednesday, 18, I set out for April, 1781.] Brecon, purposing to take Whitchurch (where I had not been formanyyears) and Shrewsbury in myway. Atnoon I preached in Whitchurch, to a numerous and very serious audience ; in the evening at Shrewsbury ; where, seeing the earnestness of the people, I agreed to stay another day. Here I read over Sir Richard Hill's Letter to Mr. Madan, on his Defence of Polygamy. I think it is home to the point ; and wish always to write (if I must write controversy) in just such a spirit. Not knowing the best way from hence to Brecon, I thought well to go round by Worcester. I took Broseley in myway, and thereby had aview of the iron bridge over the Severn : I sup- pose the first and the only one in Europe. It will not soon be imitated. In the evening I preached at Broseley; and on Saturday, 21, went on to Worcester. I found one of our Preachers, Joseph Cole, there ; but unable to preach through his ague. So that I could not have come more opportunely. Sunday, 22. I preached at seven in our own Room. At three the Service began at St. Andrew's. As no notice had been given of my preaching there, only aswe walked along the street, it was sup- posed the congregation would be small ; but it was far otherwise. High and low, rich and poor, flocked together from all parts of the city; and truly God spoke in his word; so that I believe most of them were almost persuaded to be Christians. Were it only for this hour alone, the pains of coming to Worcester would have been well bestowed. Mon. 23. Being informed it was fifty miles to Brecknock, we set out early : But, on trial, we found they were computed

The poor American, though not pretending to be a Christian, knew better than this. When the Indian was asked, " Why do July, 1781.1 JOURNAL. 211 you think the beloved ones take care of you ?" he answered, "When I was in the battle, the bullet went on this side, and on that side; and this man died, and that man died; and I am alive ! So I know, the beloved ones take care of me." It is true, the doctrine of a particular Providence (and any but a particular Providence is no Providence at all) is absolutely out of fashion in England: And a prudent author might write this to gain the favour ofhis gentle readers. Yet I will not say, this is real prudence ; because he may lose hereby more than hegains; as the majority, even of Britons, to this day, retain some sort of respect for the Bible. If it was worth while to mention a little thing, after things of so much greater importance, I would add, I was surprised that so sensible a writer, in enumerating so many reasons, why it is so much colder in the southern hemisphere than it is in the northern; why it is colder, for instance, at forty degrees south, than at fifty north latitude ; should forget the main, the primary reason, namely, the greater distance of the sun ! For is it not well known, that the sun (to speak with the vulgar) is longer on the north side the line than the south ? that he is longer in the six northern signs than the southern, so that there is a dif- ference (says Gravesande) ofnine days ? Now, if the northern hemisphere be obverted to the sun longer than the southern, does not this necessarily imply that the northern hemisphere will be warmer than the southern? And is not this the primary reason of its being so ? Sat. 7-. I designed to go from hence to Boston ; but a mes- sage from Mr. Pugh, desiring me to preach in his church on Sunday, mademe alter my design. So, procuring a guide, I set out for Rauceby. We rode through Tattershall, where there are large remains of a stately castle ; and there was in the chan- cel of the old church, the finest painted glass (so it was

and was concerned to find, that, for these two last years, the society has been continually decreasing. Thursday, 26, and the following days, I visited the rest of the country societies. For a day or two I was not well, but I went on with my work till Sunday, when I preached morning and evening at the new Room, and in the afternoon in Temple church. Tues. OCTOBER 1.-I read amongthe letters, in the evening, i the striking account ofRobert Roe's death ; a burning and a shining light while alive, but early numbered with the dead. Sa- turday, 5. I visited several that are yet in the body, but long- ! ing to depart and to be with Christ. But many have this year stepped before them. For forty years I do not know that so ! many have, in the space of one year, beenremoved to Abraham's bosom. Sun. 6-. I preached in Temple church, between our own morning and evening service ; and I now found how to speak here, so as to be heard by every one : Direct your voice to the middle of the pillar fronting the pulpit. Mon. 7.-I left Bristol with much satisfaction, firmly believ- ing that God will revive his work there. I preached at the Devizes about eleven ; and in the evening at Sarum ; Tuesday, 8, at Winchester, and at Portsmouth-Common. Wednesday, 9. We took a wherry for the Isle of Wight. There was sea enough, which now and then washed over our boat. However, in about an hour we landed safe, and walked on to Newport. This place seems now ripe for the Gospel : Opposition is at an end. Only let our Preachers be menof faith and love, and they i will see the fruit oftheir labours. Fri. 11. I returned to Portsmouth ; took chaise at two the next morning, and in the afternoon came to London. Oct. 1782.1 JOURNAL. 239 Mon. 14. I went to Wallingford. The House was filled in the evening with much-affected hearers. Shall all our labour herebe invain? Lord, thou knowest ! Tues. 15.-About noon I preached at Oxford. I have seen no such prospect here for many years. The congregation was large and still as night, although many gentlemen were among them. The next evening the House would not contain the

of the city. At eleven we drank coffee (the custom in Holland) at Mr. J's, a merchant, whose dining-room is covered, both walls and ceiling, with the most beautiful paintings. He and his lady walked with us in the afternoon to the Stadt-House; perhaps the grandest buildings of the kind in Europe. The great hall is a noble room indeed, near as large as that of Christ- Church in Oxford. But I have neither time nor inclination to describe particularly this amazing structure. At five in the evening we drank tea at another merchant's, Mr. G's, where I had a long conversation with Mr. de H.; one of the most learned as well as popular Ministers in the city ; " and (I believe, what is far more important) he is truly alive to God. He spoke Latin well, and seemed to be one of a strong understanding, as well as of an excellent spirit. In returning to our inn, we called at a stationer's ; and though we spent but a few minutes, it was enough to convince us of his strong affec tion, even to strangers. What a change does the grace of God make in the heart ! Shyness and stiffness are now no more ! Sat. 21. We breakfasted with avery extraordinary woman, who lamented that she could not talk to us but by an interpreter. ! However, she made us understand, that she had a little child some years since, three or four years old, that was praying con- tinually : That one morning, having just dressed her, she said, "Will you go kiss your sister ? " She said, " Yes, mamma; and I will kiss you too ;" and threw her arms about her mother's neck ; who said, " My dear, where willyou go now ? " She said, " I will go to Jesus ;" and died. At eleven I spent an hour with awoman of large fortune, who appeared to be as much devoted to God as her. Wewere immediately as well acquainted with each other, as if we had known each other for many years. Butindeed an easy good- breeding (such as I never expected to see here) runs through all the genteeler people of Amsterdam. And there is such a child-like simplicity in all that love God, as does honour to the religion they profess .

as never appeared in the world before, and, one would hope, never will again. O who, that is not himself out of his senses, cancompareAriosto with Tasso ! Mon. MARCH 1.-I went to Newbury, and preached in the evening to a large and deeply affected congregation. Tuesday, 2, and Wednesday, 3, I preached at Bath, and on Thursday, 4, went on to Bristol. Friday, 5. I talked at large with our Masters in Kingswood School, who arenow just such as I wished for. Atlength the Rules of the House are punctually observed, and the children are all in good order. Sat. 6.-I spent a few melancholy minutes at Mr. Hender- March, 1784.1 267 son's, with the lost Louisa. She is now in a far more deplorable case than ever. She used to be mild, though silly : But now she is quite furious. I doubt the poor machine cannot be repaired in this life. The next week I visited the classes at Bristol. Friday, 12, being at Samuel Rayner's, in Bradford, I was convinced of two vulgar errors ; the one, that nightingales will not live in cages ; the other that they only sing amonth or two in the year. He has now three nightingales in cages ; and they sing almost all day long, from November to August. Saturday, 13. About nine I preached at Trowbridge, where a large congregation quietly attended. Returning to Bristol, I lodged once more at E-J's, a genuine old Methodist. Godhas latelytaken awayher only brother, as well as her beloved sister. But she was still able to say, " It is the Lord : Let him do what seemeth him good." Mon. 15. Leaving Bristol after preaching at five, in the evening I preached at Stroud; where, to my surprise, I found the morning preaching was given up, as also in the neighbour- ing places. If this be the case while I am alive, what must it bewhen I am gone ? Give up this, and Methodism too will degenerate into a mere sect, only distinguished by some opinions and modes ofworship. Tues. 16. I preached in Painswick atnoon,and at Glou- cester in the evening. The Room was full at five in the morn- ing, andboth the Preachers and people promised to neglect the early preaching no more. Wednesday, 17. We went to Chel-

appeared to me ; that I fell at his feet, and he laid his headupon my right eye. Immediately I waked, and from that moment have seen as well with that eye as with the other." I applied, to a very large congregation, the case of the Rechab- ites . (Jer. xxxv.) I asked, 1. Does it appear that these owed to Jonadab more than the Methodists owe to me? 2. Are they as observant of my advices (although both scriptural and rational ; to instance only in dress and rising early) as the Rechabites were ofhis advices ? (Ofdrinking nowine, and living in tents ; which had neither Scripture nor reason to support them!) I think every member of the society at Bolton does take my advice, with respect to other things, as well as with respect to dress and rising early; in consequence of which they are con- tinually increasing in number as well as in grace. Fri. 16. I preached about ten at Wingate, a village five or six miles from Bolton. I was constrained, by the multitude of people, to preach abroad, though it was exceeding cold, on, "All things are ready; come unto the marriage." Truly the people were ready too. They drank in every word. In the evening we had a very uncommon congregation at Wigan. Only one gentlewoman behaved " as she used to do at church ; " (so several afterwards informed me;) talking all the time, though no one answered her ! But the rest were deeply attentive ; and, I trust, will not be forgetful hearers. I had designed to go from hence to Blackburn ; but hearing that April, 1784. ] 271 one of our society, near Preston, was at the point of death, I turned a little out of myway, to spend half an hour with her. I found Mrs. Nuttal, alovely, patient creature, praising God continually, though worn away with pining sickness and long- continued pain. Having paid the last office of friendship here, Iwent to Preston, and preached to a serious congregation. In the evening I preached at Blackburn, where also the society is lively, and continually increasing. Sun. 18. After preaching at five to a numerous congrega- tion, (but not one rich or well-dressed person among them, either morning or evening ! Poor Blackburn !) I hastened on

being too stormy to preach abroad, I preached in the Assembly- Room: All the hearers were serious and well-behaved. I trust some will bring forth fruit with patience. Afterwards I took a survey of the Danish mount near the town; the first I have seen, surrounded with a triple ditch ; but it is not either so high or so large as that near Dundee. Is it not strange, that the Irish, as well as the Scots, should so soon have driven out those merciless robbers who defied all the strength of England for so long a time ? Saturday, 14. I May, 1785.] JOURNAL. found a far greater curiosity, a large Druidical temple. I judged by my eye, that it was not less than a hundred yards in diameter ; and it was, if I remember right, full as entire as Stonehenge, or that at Stanton-Drew. How our ancestors could bring or even heave these enormous stones, what modern cancomprehend ? Inthe evening we found many of our old friends at Limerick were removed to Abraham's bosom. MAY 12. (Being Whit- sunday.) The Service at the cathedral began at eleven, and lasted till three. It concluded a little sooner, by myassisting at the Lord's Supper, at the request ofthe Clergymen. Between five and six, I took my stand near the Custom-House, amidst an innumerable multitude of people ; but they were Wild as the untaught Indian's brood. They made such a wonderful noise, that I judged it best to give them the ground, and retire to our own House. Monday, 16. I restored the select society, whichhad been quite neglected. In the evening I earnestly exhorted all our brethren to set out again in the good old way ; and to runwith patience the race that is set before them . Thur. 17.-In myway to Gort, Iwas met by some of our brethren of Killchrist, a village eight miles beyond it, givingme an invitation from Colonel Pearse, to lodge at his house. He sent me to Killchrist in one of his own carriages. There I found a large number of plain people, to whom I preached in the yard. Thence I returned to the Colonel's ; but the house being full of genteel company, I was as out of my element ; there being no room to talk uponthe only subject which deserves the attention of a rational creature.

gation ; but I have not seen a people less affected : They seemed to be mere stocks and stones. However, I have cast my bread upon the water : Possibly it may be found again after many days . On Friday evening we went into the mail-coach, and reached London at eight in the morning. Sun. 27. As soon as I had concluded my sermon at the new chapel, I hastened away to preach at St. Luke's, one ofthe largest parish churches in London. It was thoroughly filled, as it was seven years ago, when I preached there before. God enabled me to speak strong words on the Epistle for the day; and I believe some felt that it was now high " time to awake out ofsleep." Mon. 28. I went to Canterbury : The chapel was more than filled. On Tuesday I found at Dover also a considerable increase of the work of God. Wednesday, 30. I went on to Margate. Some years since we had asmall society here ; but a Local Preacher took them to himself: Only two or three remained, who from time to time pressed our Preachers to come again ; and, to remove the objection, that there was no place to preach in, with the help of a few friends they built a convenient preaching-house. Thursday, I opened it in the evening; the congregation was large, and perfectly well-behaved; and I can- not but hope, that, after all the stumbling-blocks, there will be a people here, who will uniformly adorn the Gospel of Christ. On Friday I returned to London. Monday, DECEMBER 5, and so the whole week, I spent every hour I could spare, in the unpleasing but necessary work of going through the town, and begging for the poor menwho had been employed in finishing the new chapel. It is true, I am not obliged to do this ; but if I do it not, nobody else will. Sun. 11.-I strongly enforced St. James's beautiful descrip- tion of " the wisdom from above." How hard is it to fix, even on serious hearers, a lasting sense of the nature of true religion ! Let it be right opinions, right modes of worship, or anything, rather than right tempers ! Thur. 22.-I preached at Highgate. Considering how magnificent a place this is, I do not wonder so little good has

Sun. 26. I took a solemn leave of the congregation at the new chapel, at West-Street, and at Brentford. Monday, 27. Wewent on to Newbury, with little interruption from the snow ; and I had a comfortable opportunity, with a large and serious congregation. But I have not passed such a night forthese forty years, my lodging-room being just as cold as the outward air. I could not sleep at all till three in the morning. I rose at four, and set out at five. But the snow which fell in the night lay so deep, it was with much difficulty we reached Chip- penham. Taking fresh horses there, we pushed on to Bath ; and found a larger congregation than could well be expected. March, 1786.] 327 Wed. MARCH 1.-I had appointed to preach in Trowbridge at noon. But we could not get thither till half an hour after. I then preachedwithout delay ; and in the evening in Bristol, on, "O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? " Afterwards I visited one who could say with Mr. De Renty, " I bear with me an experimental verity, and aplenitude ofthe presence of the ever-blessed Trinity." In the afternoon I went over to Kingswood, and found the school in excellent order. Sunday, 5. I read Prayers and preached, and administered the sacrament to about five hundred communicants. At three I preached in Temple church ; at five in the new Room. On Friday, I baptized a young Negro,who appeared to be deeply serious andmuch affected; as indeed did the whole congregation. Saturday, 11. I rode over to Churchill, about twelve miles from Bristol ; whereDr. Barry read Prayers, and I preached to a serious congregation. Mon. 13.-I left Bristol, taking Mr. Bradburn with me ; as Ijudged a change ofplace and of objects would be a means of calming his mind, deeply affected with the loss of a beloved wife. In the evening I preached at Stroud ; Tuesday, 14, at noon in Painswick,with uncommon liberty ; and in the evening at Gloucester. I preached in the old church (now vanished away) belonging to St. Bartholomew's Hospital ; which I think was very considerably larger than the new chapel in London. Wed. 15.-Much snow fell in the night, and quite blocked up the road. Yet with some difficulty we got through to

tongue. I preached near the market-place to a very large con- gregation ; and I believe the word sunk into many hearts : They seemed to drink in every word. Surely God will have a people in this place. Sat. JULY 1.-I went on to Bramley, about four miles from Sheffield, where agentleman has built a neat preaching-house for the poor people, at his own expense. As the notice was short, I hadno need to preach abroad. The congregation was deeply serious, while I explained what it was to build upon a rock, and what to build upon the sand. In the evening I spoke very plain to a crowded audience at Sheffield, on, " Now it is high time to awake out of sleep." One of the hearers wrote me *This part of Mr. Wesley's Journal was not transcribed and published by him- self, but by those persons who had access to his papers after his decease. They apologize for the imperfect form in which it appears, by saying, at the conclusion, "We are not sure that Mr. Wesley carried onhis Journal any farther ; but ifany more ofit should be found, it will be published in due time. There are unavoid- able chasms in this Journal, owing to some parts being mislaid ; and it is proba- blethatmany ofthe proper names of persons and places are not properly spelled ; as the whole of the manuscript was so ill written as to be scarcely legible." It should also be stated, that this part of the Journal contains some passages which it is probable Mr. Wesley would never have committed to the press, and for the publication ofwhich he should not be made responsible.-EDIT. [July, 1786, a nameless letter upon it. But he could remembernothing ofthe sermonbut only, that " the rising earlywas good for the nerves !" Sun. 2-. I read Prayers, preached, and administered the sacrament to six or seven hundred hearers : It was a solemn season . Ipreached soon after five in the evening, on, " There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." Afterwards I gave an account of the rise of Methodism, (that is, old scriptural Christianity,) to the whole congregation ; as truth will bear the light, and loves to appear in the face of the sun. Mon. 3. We had our Quarterly Meeting, followed by a

but in elegance and variety, I verily believe it equals, if not exceeds, any place of the size in Europe. In the evening I expounded to a select company of very honourable ladies, Matt. vii. 24 ; Miss Loten interpreting for me sentence by sentence : And I know not but God might bless this poorway of preaching to the Dutch, as he did that to the Indians by David Brainerd. Sat. 26. I had a long conversation with a gentlemanwhom almost all the religious world take for a madman. I do not know that I have found one of so deep experience since I left London. I have no doubt of his being perfected in love : He has aclear witness of it, and has had many years, without any interruption. I had now an opportunity of being throughly informed concerning the University of Utrecht. As the young gentlemen are scattered over this town, and live without the least control, they do anything, or nothing, as they please ; and as they have no tutors, they have none to check them. Most of them lounge from morning to night, doing nothing, or 348 REV. J. WESLEY'S [Sept. 1786. doing worse. Well,bad as they are, Oxford and Cambridge are not Utrecht yet. Sun. 27. I attended the Service at the English church ; where about thirty persons were present. At five in the even- ing I believe I had eighty or ninety hearers ; and I hadmuch liberty of speech among them. I cannot doubt but some ofthem found the word of God tobe sharper than a two-edged sword. After Service I went once more to Mr. Loten's. Both Mrs. Loten and he came to town on purpose to see me ; otherwise, he could find little comfort there, during the present state of affairs. The Burghers have all agreed to depose their Burgo- masters, and elect new ones in their stead ; who are to-morrow to take an oath on a scaffold erected in the open market-place, not to the Prince of Orange, but to the city of Utrecht. To this end, theyhad displaced all the Prince's Guards, and placed Burghers at all the gates. It is thought the example will spread ; and it will not be strange if all Holland should soon be a field of blood.

hour, four o'clock. The wind being again quite contrary, we were obliged to tack continually ; but about nine were brought safe to Harwich. After resting about anhour, we took chaise, and about one came to Colchester ; where, Mr. Brackenbury being exceedingweak, we thoughtit best to stay till the morning. In the evening the House was throughly filled ; andmany received the truth in the love thereof; so that I did not at all regret my stopping here. Setting out early in the morning, Tuesday, 5, I reached London before one o'clock, and trans- acted most ofmy business in the afternoon. In the evening I preached on Psalm xxix. 9, 10 ; and the voice of the Lord was indeed with power. Wednesday, 6. I answered my letters ; and on Thursday, 7, set out for Bristol. In the evening I preached at Newbury. It rained and blew vehemently ; yet the Housewas throughly filled ; and I found uncommon liberty in pushing the inquiry, "Who of you are building on the sand, and who upon a rock ? " Friday, 8. In the evening I preached at Bath, to a more numerous congrega- tion than I expected ; and more serious, for I do not find there were any careless or inattentive hearers. Saturday, 9. We had agood congregation at five ; although the weather continued stormy. Afterward I searched to the bottom a story I had heardinpart ; and found it another tale of real woe :-Two of our society had lived together in uncommon harmony ; when onewho met in Band with E. F., to whom she had mentioned that she had found atemptation toward Dr. F., went and told her husband she was in love with him ; and that she had it from her own mouth. The spirit of jealousy seized him in a 350 REV. J. WESLEY'S [Sept. 1786. moment, and utterly took awayhis reason ; and some one telling him his wife was at Dr. F.'s, (on whom she hadcalledthat after- noon,) he took a great stick, and ran away ; andmeeting her in the street, called out, " Strumpet, strumpet !" and struck her twice or thrice. He is now throughly convinced ofher innocence ; but the water cannot be gathered up again ! He sticks there, " I do throughly forgive you ; but I can neverloveyou more."

eighteen of these fits ; in every one of which she imagined her- self to be preaching in one or another congregation. She then cried out, " Lord, I will obey thee ; I will call sinners torepent- ance." She has done so occasionally from that time ; and her fits returned no more. I preached at one to as many as the House could contain, of people that seemed ready prepared for the Lord. In the even- ingthe hearts ofthe whole congregation at Norwich seemed to be bowed as the heart of one man. I scarce ever saw them so moved. Surely Godwill revive his work in this place, andwe shall not always find it so cold and comfortless as it has long been. Tues. 5. In the afternoon I took coach again, and returned to London at eight on Wednesday morning. All the time I could save to the end of the week I spent in transcribing the society ; a dull, but necessary, work, which I have taken upon myself once a year for near these fifty years. Wed. 13. I retired to Peckham, where, the next evening, I Jan. 1787. ] preached to as many as the house would well contain, and found much liberty of spirit in enforcing upon them, the glorying only in the cross of Christ. Saturday, 16. I returned to London. Sun. 17. We had, as usual, a very solemn and comfortable season at Spitalfields. Wednesday, 20. I retired to Highbury- Place ; but how changed! Where are the three amiable sisters ? One is returned to her father ; one deprived ofher reason ; and one in Abraham's bosom ! Sat. 23. By great importunity I was induced (having little hope of doing good) to visit two of the felons in Newgate, who lay under sentence of death. They appeared serious ; but I can lay little stress on appearances of this kind. However, I wrote in their behalf to agreat man ; and perhaps it was in conse- quence of this that they had a reprieve. Sun. 24. I was desired to preach at the Old Jewry. But the church was cold, and so was the congregation. We had a congregation of another kind the next day, Christmas-Day, at four in the morning, as well as five in the evening at the new chapel, and at West-Street chapel about noon.

Sun. 31. From those words of Isaiah to Hezekiah, “ Set thy house in order," I strongly exhorted all who had not done it already, to settle their temporal affairs without delay. It is a strange madness which still possesses many, that are in other respects men of understanding, who put this off from day to day, till death comes in an hour when they looked not for it. Mon. JANUARY 1, 1787.-We began the service at four in the morning, to an unusually large congregation. We had another comfortable opportunity at the new chapel at the usual hour, and a third in the evening at West-Street. Tuesday, 2. Iwent over to Deptford; but it seemed, I was got into a den of lions. Most of the leading men of the society were mad for separating from the Church. I endeavoured to reason withthem, but in vain ; they had neither sense nor even good manners left. At length, after meeting the whole society, I told them, " If you are resolved, you may have your service in church-hours ; ” but, remember, from that time you will see my face no more. This struck deep; and from that hour I have heard no more of separating from the Church. Friday, 5, and in the vacant hours of the following days, I read Dr. Hunter's Lectures. They are very lively and ingenious. The language is good, and the thoughts generally just. 358 REV. J. WESLEY'S [Feb. 1787. But they do not at all suit my taste. I do not admire that florid way ofwriting. Good sense does not need to be so studiously adorned. I love St. John's style, as well as matter. Sun. 7-. At the desire ofmany of our friends, we began that : solemn work of renewing our covenant with God at three in the afternoon, two hours earlier than usual. Monday, 8, and the four following days, I went a begging for the poor. I hoped to be able to provide food and raiment for those of the society whowere in pressingwant,yet hadnoweekly allowance : These were about two hundred: But I was much disappointed. Six or seven, indeed, of our brethren, gave ten pounds apiece. If forty or fifty had done this, I could have carried my design into execution. However, much good was done with two hundred pounds, and many sorrowful hearts madeglad.

Sun. 21.-I preached at St. Swithin's church, to a numerous and serious congregation. Thursday, 25. I went to Dorking, and found a lively and well-established people. Saturday, 27. I began theheavy work ofmeeting the classes in London. Fri. FEBRUARY 2.-I endeavoured to reconcile two of our brethren that were at variance ; and one of them was very will- ing ; but the other raged like a bear bereaved of her whelps. Sun. 4.-While I applied the parable of the Sower at the new chapel, God was with us of a truth. The stout-hearted trem- bled; as they did, likewise, in the evening, while I applied, "Many are called, but few are chosen." : Wed. 7.-I preached at Brentford; and in the morning ; Thursday evening atLambeth. Atboth places I foundmany who promise not to be forgetful hearers, but doers of the word. Being earnestly desired by our brethren at Newark, one hundred and twenty-four miles from London,to come and open their new House, I took the mail-coach, Friday, 9, in the evening, and reached Newark the next day about four in the afternoon. But having a great cold, and being so hoarse that I could not preach, I desired Mr. Mather to supplymy place, till I had recovered my voice. Sun. 11. Having partly recovered my voice, I preached in the new House at nine,-a lightsome, cheerful building, and gave notice of preaching at five in the afternoon. But itwas not long before I received a message from the Mayor, to desire me to begin preaching a little later, that himselfand several of Feb. 1787.1 359 the Aldermen might the more conveniently attend. They all came at half an hour past five, and as many people as could possibly squeeze in ; and God opened mymouth to speak strong words, and the hearts of many to receive them. Surely God will have a people in this place, that will adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour. Mon. 12. There being no places to be had in the York coach, Mr. Broadbent and I went across the country to Hinck- ley. I now inquired concerning the poorwretch, who, when I was here last, while he was praying to God to damn his eyes, was in the instant struck blind. So, it seems, he continued for some time. But as soon as he recovered his sight, he wasjust

uponthem ; and I believe few of them will forget that hour, till their spirits return to God. Fri. 15.-About eight I preached at Rich-Hill, to a deeply serious congregation. At eleven I preached in the Castle-yard, at Charlemount, to alarge congregation, gathered from all parts ; it being the Quarterly Meeting. Immediately followed the love-feast. But the preaching-house would not contain one half of the people : So we borrowed the Green in the fort, and let the people through the wicket, one by one. They then sat down on the grass, being full as private as in the House ; and many spoke their experience quite freely. But the rain obliged us to break off our meeting sooner thanwe intended. It began in the even- ing, before I had finished the hymn, but stopped in two or three minutes, and left us a fair and tolerably pleasant evening. Sat. 16. I went on to Dungannon; but the town seemed to be in an uproar. One would have thought Bedlam had broke loose. The cause was this :-A cock-fight was at hand. A gentleman asked the Presbyterian Minister for the use of his meeting-house ; but he gave a reason for his denial, viz. , that Mr. Hall, one of the society, had said he had played at cards all [June, 1787. night ; (which, it seems, was true;) and therefore he could not allow him to come into his meeting-house. So we removed all the benches out of our own ; and it contained most of the con- gregation. I preached there again in the evening, and then held a love-feast ; at which many were greatly comforted. Sun. 17. We knew not what to do at Armagh : The rain : would not suffer us to preach in the avenue; and our House would not contain half of the congregation, many of whom came from far. The best shift we could make was to squeeze into the House as many as possible, and keep both the windows ! and doors open; by which means many more could hear. In the evening the Seceders (who would think it ?) freely gave me the use of their large meeting-house. It was filled from end to end: But awise young gentleman observed, that I had quite mistook my subject ; my sermon being calculated for

the vulgar, not for gentlefolks . I permitted as many as our House would contain to stay at the meeting of the society ; and gave them aplain account of the Methodists, both as to their rise, principles, and practice. Mon. 18. Many seemed not a little moved, while I enforced the words of Eliphaz, (it seems, the eldest and most honourable of Job's three friends,) "Acquaint now thyselfwith him, and be at peace." Afterwards we took a view of the Primate's lodge and chapel, elegant in the highest degree ; and of the domain surrounding them, which is laid out and planted in the most beautiful manner. And what hath the owner thereof? Not so much as the beholding thereof with his eyes. Probably he will behold it nomore. He is fully taken up in building a large seat near Dublin, at above eighty years of age ! Tu secanda marmora Locas sub ipsum funus, et sepulchri Immemor struis domos ! * In the evening I preached once more in Mr. M'Gough's avenue, and a listening multitude seriously attended. Surely there will be a harvest here also by and by, although hitherto we see but little fruit. Tues. 19. We went on through horrible roads to Newry. I wonder any should be so stupid as to prefer the Irish roads to the English . The huge unbroken stones, of which they are • For a translation of these lines see p. 311, of this volume.-EDIT. June J generally made, are enough to break any carriage in pieces. No, there is nothing equal to good English gravel, both for horses, carriages, and travellers. In the evening I preached to a numerous congregation in the large meeting-house. I believe many felt the edge of the word sharper than a two-edged sword : One consequence of which was, that our new Room would not contain the congregation even at five in the morning, but many were constrained to stand without. Between nine and ten I preached in the market-house at Dundalk. We expected a tumult; but there was none at all : Avery large congregation ofrich and poor behaved with the utmostdecency, while I enforced, "Now is theaccepted time ; now is theday of salvation." At six in the evening I preached in the Court-House at Drogheda to a crowded congregation, on, “ I saw

parts of ancient history to be : And no wonder, considering how allegories and poetic fables have been mistaken for real histories. After preaching at Rochdale, I was agreeably surprised by a young womanthat called upon me. Several years, a girl thirteen or fourteen years old was remarkable for piety ; but a year or two after, when I called upon her with great expectation, she had not the least savour of it left. She came on purpose to inform me that God had restored her ; and she was now deter- mined to live and die to Him. God grant she may ! She will either be an abandoned apostate, or a shining Christian. Fri. 27. The House was well filled at five. I have not seen so large a morning congregation, in proportion to the size of the town, since I returned to England. I was invited to breakfast at Bury, by Mr. Peel, acalico-printer ; who, a few years ago, began with five hundred pounds, and is now supposed to have gained fifty thousand pounds. O what a miracle if he lose not his soul ! Thence we went on to Bolton. Here are eight hundred poor children taught in our Sunday-schools, by about eighty masters, who receive no paybut what they are to receive from their Great Master. About ahundred of them (part boys and part girls) are taught to sing ; and they sang so true, that, all singing together, there seemed to be but one voice. The House was throughly filled, while I explained and applied the first com- mandment. What is all morality or religion without this ? A mere castle in the air. In the evening, many of the children still hovering round the House, I desired forty or fifty to come inand sing, Vital spark of heavenly flame. Although some of them were silent,not being able to sing for tears, yet theharmonywas such as I believe could not be equalled in the King's chapel. Sun. AUGUST 5.-In the morning I met the select society ; alovelycompany ofhumble, simple Christians. Several of them appeared to have sound and deep experience of the things of God, and to stand steadfast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free. The House was at ten full and warm enough. Mr. Horne read Prayers, and read them well. I preached on

genteel a family. Before we reached Malmsbury, one of my horses fell lame ; so I sent my own chaise and horses directly to Bristol, and took post-chaises the rest of the day. About half-hour after four we came to Salisbury, designing to go straight forward to Southampton ; but, to our great sur- prise, there was not a post-chaise to be hired in the town. After Aug. 1787.] JOURNAL . 391 waiting some time, we were informed that noticehad been given of my preaching in the evening. I then saw the providential reason why we could not leave Sarum. The House was full enough in the evening, and great was the power of God in the midst of them . Thur. 9.-Desiring to be at Southampton as soon as possible, we took chaise at four in the morning, and (making but a short stay atRomsey) came thither between eight and nine. We found two sloops nearly ready to sail. The Captain of one promised to sail the next morning ; so we sat down content. At seven in the evening I preached in Mr. Fay's school-room, to a small, but deeply serious, congregation, on, " It is appointed unto men once to die." I believe some of these will not be forgetful hearers, but will bring forth fruit with patience. Fri. 10. At six I preached to nearly the same number, on Heb. iv. 14. In the afternoon I went with agentleman (Mr. Taylor) to hear thefamous musician that plays upon the glasses. By my appearing there, (as I had foreseen,) anheap of Gentry attended in the evening ; and I believe several of them, as well as Mr. T. himself, did not come in vain. Sat. 11.-We went on board the Queen, a small sloop, and sailed eight or nine leagues with atolerable wind. But it then grew foul, and blew a storm ; so that we were all glad to put in at Yarmouth harbour. About six Dr. Coke preached in the market-house, to a quiet and tolerably attentive congregation. The storm continuing, at eight in the morning, Sunday, 12, I preached to a much larger congregation. I had uncommon liberty of speech, and I believe some of them felt that Godwas there. At eleven we went to church. There was a tolerable congregation, and all remarkably well-behaved. The Minister

day, 15. I began a little tour through Oxfordshire. I preached at Wallingford in the evening, with much enlargement of heart. Mr. Pentycross called upon me in the morning. Tuesday, 16. Calvinism and bitterness are fled away together, and we will- ingly gave each other the right hand of fellowship. About one I preached at Oxford, to a very quiet, deeply serious congrega- tion. The House at Witney would nothing near contain the people in the evening : It was well filled at five on Wednesday morning. I dearly love this people ; they are so simple of heart, and so much alive to God. After dinner we returned to Oxford. Half an hour before thehour ofpreaching, aheavy rain began ; by this means the House was filled, and not overfilled. I found great liberty of speech in enforcing the first and great command- ment; and could not but hope there will be a great work ofGod here, notwithstanding all the wisdom ofthe world. Thur. 18.-We went on to High-Wycomb. The work of God is so considerably increased here, that although three 402 REV. J. WESLEY'S [Oct. 1787. galleries are added to the preaching-house, it would scarce con- tain the people. Even at five in the morning, Friday, 19, it was throughly filled. Neverbefore was there so fair a prospect ofdoing good at this place. I dined in London. Sun. 21. I preached in the morning at Spitalfields, with the usual success ; in the afternoon at the new chapel, on the remarkable answer of Balaam to Balak's question. (Micah vi. 8.) How clear light had Balaam at that time ! But he soon turned back, and " loved darkness rather than light." Mon. 22.-I went to Canterbury, and preached in the even- ing on the first and great commandment ; in the morning, Tues- day, 23, on the second. We then went on to Dover. In the evening I strongly applied the parable of the Sower toa crowded audience. Wednesday, 24. I spoke equally plain in the morn- ing. About noon (after an intermission of fifteen years) I preached at Sandwich, to more than the House contained, on Luke ix. 62. God applied his word to manyhearts, so that I have at length a hope for Sandwich also. In the evening I preached at Margate. The word was quick and powerful. So

years ago there was but one house here; now there are two or three streets ; and, as the trade swiftly increases, it will probably grow into aconsiderable town. A few years since Mr. Cowell largely contributed to the building ofa preaching-house here, in which both Calvinists and Arminians might preach : But when it was finished, the Arminian Preachers were totally excluded. Rather than go to law, Mr. Cowell built another House, both larger and more convenient. I preached there at noon to a large congregation, but to amuch largerin the evening. Several [March,1788. Clergymen were present, and were as attentive as any of the people. Probably there will be a deep work of God at this place. Sat. 22.-I breakfasted at Mr. Lister's, in Kidderminster, with a few very serious and pious friends. In the evening we had a Sunday congregation at Birmingham . Here there is a glorious increase of the work of God. The society is risen to above eight hundred; so that it is at pre- sent inferior to none inEngland, except those in London and Bristol . Sun. 23.-We were greatly straitened for room, manybeing obliged to go away. But I believe all that could squeeze in found it good to be there ; for, both in the morning and after- noon, the power ofGod was present to heal. And so indeed it was on the two following days; particularly on Tuesday even- ing, while I explained, " Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect ? " Wed. 26. I went on to Wednesbury, the mother-society of Staffordshire. But few of the old standers are left : I think but three, out of three hundred and fifteen. However, anew gene- ration is sprung up, though hardly equal to the former. Thur. 27.-About noon I preached at Dudley, and with much liberty of spirit ; but with far more at Wolverhampton in the evening ; the new House being sufficiently crowded. What aden of lions was this town for manyyears ! Butnow, itseems, the last will be first. Friday, 28. We came to our dearfriends at Madeley. Mrs. Fletcher's health is surprisingly mended ; and one might take her nephew for a believer of seven years' standing ; he seems so well established in the faith ofthe Gospel. The congregation was surprisingly large in the even-

together to sing and pray by themselves; sometimes thirty or forty ; and are so earnestly engaged, alternately singing, praying, and crying, that they know not how to part. You children that hear this, why should not you go and do likewise ? Is not God here as well as at Bolton ? Let God arise and maintain his own cause, even "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings ! " Mon. 21. I went on, through miserable roads, to Blackburn ; where, notwithstanding the continued rain,the new preaching- house was throughly filled with serious, well-behaved people. Tuesday, 22. Through equally good roads we got on to Padiham. I preached at eleven to as quiet a congregation, though not so lively, as that at Bolton. From hence we went in the afternoon, through still morewonderful roads, toHasling- den. They were sufficient to lame any horses, and shake any carriage in pieces. N.B. I will never attempt to travel these roads again, till they are effectually mended ! Agentleman, no way connected with us, has built us a neat preaching-house here, desiring only three per cent. for what he has laid out, (about eight hundred pounds,) provided the seats let for so much, of which there is little doubt. Itwaswell filled in the evening with serious people, lying in the midst of many societies. Wednesday, 23. We hobbled on to Bury, through roads equally deplorable ; but we met a lively congregation, May, 1788.1 whichmade us forget our labour. In the evening I preached to another lively congregation at Rochdale. Formerly we had much trouble here : But it is past ; and theynow hold the unity of the Spirit in the bond ofpeace. Thur. 24.-About tenwe began the Service in the church at Todmorden, crowded sufficiently. I found uncommon liberty among these poor mountaineers. We had a pleasant road from hence to Burnley, where a multitude of people were waiting; but wehad no house that could contain them. Just then the rain ceased : So we went into the inn-yard, which contained them well ; and itwas an acceptable season, as indeed it was both the times before when I preached at Bury. Fri. 25. In the evening I preached at Colne. This is the fifth rainy daywe have had. However, the House was pretty well filled ; and I strongly exhorted them that had left their first

she wasnot only sincere,but deep in grace ; and therefore incap- able of deceit. I was convinced likewise, that she had frequent intercourse with a spirit that appeared in the form of an angel . I know not how tojudge of the rest. Her account was :-" For above a year, I have seen this angel, whose face is exceeding beautiful; her raiment," so she speaks, "white as snow, and glis- tering like silver; her voice unspeakably soft and musical. She tells me many things before they come to pass. She foretold, I should be ill at such atime, in such a manner, and well at such an hour ; and it was so exactly. She has said, such a per- son shall die at such a time; and he did so. Above two months ago, she told me, your brother was dead; (I did not know you hadabrother;) and that he was in heaven. And some time since she told me,you will die in less than ayear. But what she has most earnestly and frequently toldme, is, that God will in a short time be avenged of obstinate sinners,and will destroy them with fire from heaven." Whether this will be so or no, I cannot tell ; but when we were alone, there was a wonderful power in her words; and as the Indian said to David Brainerd, "They did good to my heart." It is above a year since this girl was first visited in this man- June, 1788. ner, being then between fourteen and fifteen years old. But she was then quite awomanish girl,andofunblamable behaviour. Suppose that which appeared to her was really an angel ; yet from the face, the voice, and the apparel, she might easily mis- take him for a female; and this mistake is of little consequence. Much good has already resulted from this odd event ; and is likely to ensue ; provided those who believe, and those who dis- believe, her report,havebut patience with each other. We had a love-feast in the evening, at which several spoke deep experience in a plain, artless manner ; and many were greatly comforted, and stirred up more intensely to hunger and thirst after righteousness . Wed. 11. About noon I preached at Stockton ; but the House would not contain the congregation ; nor indeed at

High Church, I explained (what occurred in the Service of the day)what it is to build our house upon the rock ; andapplied it as strongly as I could. I dined at the Vicarage with Mr. Clark; afriendly, sensible man; and, I believe, truly fearing God. And such, by the peculiar providence of God, are all the three stated Ministers in Hull. He said he never saw the church so full before. However, it was still fuller in the afternoon; when, at the desire of Mr. Clark, I preached on St. James's beautiful account of the wisdom which is from above. Atsix in the even- ing I preached in our own House, to as many as could get in, (but abundance ofpeople went away,) on Gal. vi. 14. Mon. 23. About eight we reached Mr. Stillingfleet's, at Hotham; one of the pleasantest places I have seen. Atnine he read Prayers, and I preached to alarge and serious congre- gation. At eleven I preached, with much enlargement of heart, in the new chapel at Market-Weighton; and at half an hourafter one, in Pocklington: But the House was like an oven. Between six and seven I began at York, on Rom. xiii. 12. The word was as fire ; and all that heard it seemed to feel the power thereof. Tues. 24.-Having no other opportunity, I went over to Thirsk, and preached in the evening on 1 Pet. i. 24. All the congregation were serious, but two young gentlewomen, who laughed and talked incessantly, till I turnedand spoke expressly to them. They then seemed to be ashamed. Wed. 25. Believing the little flock there wanted encourage- ment, I took Ripon in myway to York, and gave them a strong discourse on the story of Dives and Lazarus. Many strangers seemed greatly astonished; and I believe they will not soon forget what they heard ; for God applied it to their hearts : As he did also the parable of the Sower at York, I will hope, to most of the congregation. Thur. 26. The Vicar of Selby having sentme word that I was welcome to preach in his church, I went that way. But before I came he had changed his mind : So I preached in our own chapel ; and notwithout ablessing. In the evening I June, 1788.1 427 preached at Thorne, to a larger congregation than ever I saw

five feet high. The lower part contains, I believe, near a hundred places for the bodies of the Pelham family. (Owhat a comfort to the departed spirits, that their carcases shall rot above ground! ) Over this is to be a chapel. It is computed the whole building will cost sixty thousand pounds. About five we came to Grimsby ; and, the Vicar reading Prayers, I preached on the Psalm for the day, "He healeth them that are broken in heart, and giveth medicine to heal their sickness. " I think the church is near as large as that at Hull; July, 1788.] and it has not been so well filled in the memory of manbefore. Allwere seriously attentive ; many received the word with joy ; and some doubtless will bring forth fruit to perfection. Tues. JULY 1.-The Vicar again read Prayers at eleven ; and Ipreached on those words in the Second Lesson, " Lord, are there few that be saved ? " I spoke as plain as possibly I could ; butGod only can speak to the heart. The gentleman at whose house I was to lodge coming from Louth to meet me, his headstrong horse crushed his leg against agate, with such force, that both the bones were broke and came through his boot. The horse stood byhim till some countrymen came, put him into a cart, and brought him home. It is doubtful whether he will recover ; but death is no terror tohim. I preached in Louth at six, in the preaching-house ; but per- haps I had better have been in the market-place. At five in the morning the Roomwas filled ; and I spoke, as doubting whether I should see them any more. At eleven I preached at that lovely spot, Langham-Row. Although Mr. Robinson has made the chapel twice as large as itwas, yet it would hardly contain the congregation ; and most of these are in earnest to save their souls ; as well as himself, and his wife, and his sixteen children. Thur. 3.-I was going to preach at Alford, near the end of the town ; but the Gentry sent and desired me to preach in the market-place ; which I accordinglydid, to a large and attentive congregation, on, " It is appointed unto men once to die."

the former part of Rev. xiv. I came to Epworth before the church Service began ; and was glad to observe the seriousness with which Mr. Gibson read Prayers, andpreachedaplain useful : sermon ; but was sorry to see scarce twenty communicants, half ofwhom came on my account. I was informed likewise, that scarce fifty persons used to attend the Sunday service. What can be done to remedy this sore evil ? } Ifain would prevent the members here from leaving the church ; but I cannot do it. As Mr. G. is not a pious man, but rather an enemy to piety, who frequently preaches against the truth, and those that hold and love it, I cannot with allmy influence persuade them either to hear him, or to attend the sacrament administered by him. If I cannot carry this point even while I live, who then can do it when I die? And the i case ofEpworth is the case of every church, where the Minister neither loves nor preaches the Gospel. The Methodists will not attend his ministrations. What then is to be done ? At four I preached in the market-place, on Rom. vi. 23 ; and vehemently exhorted i the listening multitude to choose the bet- terpart. Mon. 7.-Having taken leave of this affectionate people, proJuly, 1788. ] bably for the last time, I went over to Finningley ; and preached at eleven, on that verse in the Second Lesson, Luke xix. 42. After dinnerwewalked over Mr. H.'s domain, the like to which I never saw in so small a compass. It contains a rabbit-warren, deer, swans, pheasants in abundance, besides a fish-pond and an elegant garden. Variety indeed ! But is there no danger that such amultitude of things should divert the mind from the " one thing needful ?” In the evening I preached at Doncaster. I never before saw this House so filled, much less crowded ; and it was, in aman- ner I never knew before, filled with the presence of God, while I earnestly enforced that advice, "Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace." One fruit of this was, that the congre- gation at five in the morning was larger than it ever was before in the evening ; and God again made bare his arm, and uttered

his voice, yea, and that a mighty voice. Surely those who now heard will be without excuse, if they do not know the day of their visitation ! Weweremuch distressed at Rotherham for wantofroom, the raindriving us into the House. However, we stowed in it as many as we possibly could; andGod bore witness to his word. Wednesday, 9. After dining with that lovely old man, Mr. Sparrow, I went on to Sheffield. The House was much crowded, though one ofthe largest in England; but all could hear distinctly. In the morning, Thursday, 10, at five we had an evening congregation ; and the people seemed to devour the word. Here and at Hull are the two largest morning congre- gations which I have seen in the kingdom. Fri. 11. We set out early for Derby. About nine, within about a mile of the Peacock, suddenly the axletree ofmychaise snapped asunder, and the carriage overturned. The horses stood still till Jenny Smith and I crept out at the fore-windows . The broken glass cut one of my gloves a little, but did us no other damage. I soon procured another chaise, and went on to Derby, where I preached in the evening ; and at five in the morning on Saturday, 12; and then went on to Nottingham. Sun. 13. I beganthe service at ten; but Iknew not how I should get to the end, being almost exhausted when I had finished my sermon ; when Mr. Dodwell came,who, though very weak through the ague, assisted me in administering the Lord's After supper to a very large number of communicants . [Aug. 1788. preaching in the evening, I made a collection for Kingswood School . To-day Ihadjust as much work as I could do. Mon. 14. The mail-coach being full, I crossed over to Newark, and had the satisfaction of seeing in the evening, not only a numerous, but likewise a serious and deeply attentive congregation. Wed. 16. I consulted with a few friends concerningthe state of things ; which was better than I expected. The society is increased, and the ordinary hearers in all parts of the town not diminished. Meantime there is reason to hope the work ofGod goes on, though by slow degrees. On the following days I looked over my books and papers, and set them in order as far

as I never found them so much alive before. On Friday, 3, I set out for Norwich, in the coach oddly called the Expedition. Going through Dereham about noon, I was desired to preach, which I willingly did, on Isaiah xxxvii. 3 ; and in the evening, to a huge congregation at Norwich, on the parable of the Sower. Sunday, 5, was a comfortable day, especially at seven in the morning, when I administered the Lord's Supper ; and at two in the afternoon and six in the evening, when I preached to very serious congregations. Monday, 6. I preached at Loddon, North-Cove, and Lowestoft. When Fcame into the town, it blew a storm ; and many cried out, " So it always does when Oct. 1788. ] 439 he comes." But it fell as suddenly as it rose ; for God heard theprayer. Wed. 8.-I preached at Caston about noon, and at Yarmouth in the evening. Thursday, 9. I returned to Norwich ; and, after preaching in the afternoon, took coach for London. Fri. 10.-1 appointed aCommitteefor auditing my accounts, and superintending the business of the Book-room ; which, I doubt not, will be managed in a very different manner from what it has been hitherto. Sun. 12.-I preached in the morning at the new chapel ; in the afternoon, at West-Street. Monday, 13. I went to Walling- ford, and preached to a serious and, it seemed, much-affected audience. Tuesday, 14. I preached at Witney, which I gene- rally find a very comfortable place. I think much of the impres- sion which was made on the people here, at the time of the great storm, remains still. Wednesday, 15. I preached at Oxford, on Gen. i. 27. Wewanted only a larger Room. Many young gentlemen were there, and behaved well. I hope some of them did not come in vain. Thursday, 16. We went on to High- Wycomb. Mr. Murlin's settling here has been of great use. Here is now a steady and understanding people ; to whom I preached, as usual, evening and morning, with a good deal of satisfaction . Friday, 17. We returned to London. Sun. 19. We had, as usual, a comfortable time at Spital- fields. Monday, 20. I set out for Northamptonshire. In the evening I preached to the lovely congregation at Whittlebury, standing fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them

free. Wednesday, 22. I made one more trial of poor Towcester, if haply God might yet breathe on the dry bones, by opening and strongly applying these words, " I will heal their backsliding ; Iwill love them freely." In the evening, and on Thursday morning, I preached at Northampton, in the new Presbyterian meeting-house, a large and elegant building, I think not without effect; and then returned to London. Tues. 28. I took the stage-coach for Rye ; which promised to be there by six in the evening : But the coachman lingered so, that in the afternoon I found they did not intend to be there tillnear eight : So at Hawkhurst I took a post-chaise, which, with much ado, reached it soon after six. Being informed the service was begun, I did not stay to eat or drink, but went directly to the preaching-house, which was sufficiently crowded ; and, as [Nov. 1788. soon as I could get through the people, I began with solemn prayer ; and then explained and applied that glorious truth, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." We had another happy opportunity at five in the morning. Know- ing there was no depending on the coach, I took chaise ; and by that means came early to Sevenoaks ; where, in the evening, I found uncommon liberty of spirit in exhorting the audience to worship God in spirit and in truth . Sat. NOVEMBER 1.-(Being All- Saints' Day. ) I preached at Snowsfields, on Rev. xiv. 1 ; a comfortable subject ; and I always find this a comfortable day. Monday, 3. I began visiting the classes ; a work which usually takes up about a fortnight. Sun- day, 9. I preached at West-Street, and found uncommon liberty in enforcing that caution, " Quench not the Spirit." On Wed- nesday, 12, and the following days, I visited the country soci- eties ; some of which, that of Mitcham inparticular, are swiftly increasing in the grace ofGod. Mon. 17.-I set out for Hertfordshire. In the evening I preached at Hinxworth, to a deeply serious congregation ; the next evening, in the church at Wrestlingworth, to the largest congregation I have seen there these twenty years. Wednesday,

to observe that I did not see things quite so clear with my left eye as with my right ; all objects appeared a little browner to that eye. I began next to find some difficulty in reading asmall printby candle-light. Ayear after, I found it in reading such a print by day-light. In winter, 1786, I could notwell read our four-shilling hymn-book, unless with a large candle ; the next year I could not read letters, if wrote with a small or bad hand. Last winter a pearl appeared on my left eye, the sight of which grew exceeding dim. The right eye seems unaltered ; only I am agreat deal nearer-sighted than ever I was. Thus are " those that look out at the windows darkened ; " one of the marks of old age. But I bless God," the grashopper is " not " aburden." I am still capable of travelling ; and mymemory is much the same as ever it was ; and so, I think, is my understanding. This week I dedicated to the reading over my brother's works. They are short poems on the Psalms, the four Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles. Some are bad ; some mean ; some most excellently good: They give the true sense of Scripture, always in good English, generally in good verse ; many of them are equal to most, if not to any, he ever wrote ; but some still savour ofthat poisonous mysticism,with which we were both not a little tainted before we went to America. This gave a gloomy cast, first to his mind, and thentomany of his verses : This made him frequently describe religion as a melancholy thing : This so Jan. 1789. | often sounded in his ears, " To the desert ! " and strongly per- suaded in favour of solitude. Thur. 25.-(Being Christmas-Day.) We began the service, as usual, at four in the new chapel. Notwithstanding the severe frost which had now lasted a month, the congregation wasuncom- monly large. I preached here again in the evening ; about eleven, in the chapel at West-Street. This was a comfortable day, aswere also the two following. Sun. 28. I preached at Allhallows church, on those words in the Service, " His commandments are not grievous." The congregation was exceeding large, and seemed to taste the good word.

Tues. 30. The frost continued severe ; yet the congregation wasuncommonly large in the evening, and God warmed many hearts. Wed. 31.-A numerous company concluded the old yearwith a very solemnwatch-night. Hitherto God hath helped us, andwe neither see nor feel any of those terrible judgments which it was saidGod would pour out upon the nation about the conclu- sion of the year. For near seventy years I have observed, that, before any war or public calamity, England abounds with prophets, who confi- dently foretel many terrible things. They generally believe themselves, but are carried away by avain imagination. And they are seldom undeceived, even by the failure of their predic- tions ; but still believe they will be fulfilled some time or other. Thur. JANUARY 1, 1789. If this is to be the last year of my life, according to some ofthose prophecies, I hope it will be the best. I am not careful about it, but heartily receive the advice of the angel in Milton,一 "How well is thine : How long permit to Heaven." Sun. 4. Although the extreme severity of the weather kept many tender people away ; yet we had alarge congregation in the evening to renew their covenant with God; and we always find, when we avouch Him to be our God, he avouches us to behis people. Mon. 5.-At the earnest desire of Mrs. T-, I once more sat for my picture. Mr. Romney is a painter indeed. He struck off an exact likeness at once ; and did more in one hour than Sir Joshua did in ten. Tuesday, 6. I retired to Highbury 444 REV. J. WESLEY'S [Jan. 1789. Place, and on Thursday, 8, to Peckham. Here, in the even- ing, I preached to a very serious congregation, although many of them were of the better rank. But rich and poor seemed equally determined to work out their own salvation. Fri. 9. I left nomoney to any one inmy Will, because I had none. But now considering, that, whenever I am removed, money will soon arise by sale of books, I added a few legacies by a codicil, to be paid as soon as maybe. But I would fain do a little good while I live ; for who can tell what will come after him ? Sun. 11.-I again warned the congregation, as strongly as I

could, againstconformity tothe world. But who will [take thewarn- ing] ? Ifhardly one in ten, yet is myrecordwith the MostHigh. Tues. 13. I spent aday or two with my good old friends at Newington. Thursday, 15. I retired to Camberwell, and car- ried on my Journal, probably as far as I shall live to write it. On Thursday I preached once more at Peckham; and did not withhold from them that had ears to hear, the whole counsel ofGod. Fri. 16. I looked over the finest picture of atheistical religion that ever I saw, in the account that Captain Wilson gives of Thule, King of Pelew. But how utterly needless is either the knowledge [or the grace] of God, (consequently, how idle a book is the Bible,) if aman be all-accomplished, that has no more knowledge of God than a horse, and no more of his grace than a sparrow ! Tues. 20.-I retired in order to finish myyear's accounts. If possible, I must be a better economist ; for instead of having anything beforehand, I am now considerably in debt ; but this I do not like. I would fain settle even my accounts before I die. Sun. 25. Much of the power of Godwas in the congrega- tion, both morning and afternoon ; as also onMonday evening ; which gave me a good hope that God will carry on his own work. Atthe earnest importunity of our friends, on Wednesday, 28, I went to open the new preaching-house at Rye. It is a noble building, much loftier than most of our Houses, and finely situated at the headof the town. Itwas throughly filled. Such acongregation I never saw atRye before ; and their behaviour was as remarkable as their number ; which, added to the peace- able, loving spirit they are now in, gives reason to hope there will be such a work here as has not been heretofore. Feb. 1789. ] Thur. 29.-I went over to Winchelsea ; once a large, flourish- ing city ; but ever since it was burnt by the Danes, a little, incon- siderable town, though finely situated on the top of a range of hills. The new preaching-house was well filled with decent, serious hearers,who seemed to receive the truth in the love of it. I returned to Rye in the afternoon ; and in the evening

a little to recollect them. What I should be afraid of, is, if I : took thought for the morrow, that my body should weigh down mymind ; and create either stubbornness, by the decrease ofmy understanding ; or peevishness, by the increase ofbodily infirmi- ties: But Thou shalt answer for me, O Lord myGod. Fri. JULY 3. Our little Conference began in Dublin, and ended Tuesday, 7. On this I observe, 1. I never had between forty and fifty such Preachers together in Ireland before ; all of them, we had reason to hope, alive to God, and earnestly devoted to his service : 2. I never saw such anumber of Preach- ers before, so unanimous in all points, particularly as to leaving the Church ; which none of them had the least thought of. It is no wonder, that there has been this year so large an increase of the society. Sun. 5. I desired as many as chose it of our society, to go to St. Patrick's, being the first Sunday in the month. The Dean preached a serious, useful sermon ; and we had such a company of communicants as, I suppose, had scarce been seen there together for above a hundred years. Our House would not contain them that came in the evening ; many ofwhom being little awakened, I preached on, " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." On Monday and Tues- day we settled the rest of our business ; and on Wednesday morning we parted in the same love that we met. Ihad much satisfaction in this Conference ; in which, convers- ! ing with between forty and fifty Travelling Preachers, I found such a body ofmen as I hardly believed could have been found together in Ireland ; men of so sound experience, so deep piety, and so strong understanding. I am convinced, they are noway inferior to the English Conference, except it be in number. Friday, 10, we observed as a day of fasting and prayer, chiefly for the increase of the work of God. This was concluded with a very solemn watch-night, wherein the hearts ofmany were greatly comforted. Sun. 12.-At seven I preached in Marlborough-Street, where (though it rained all the morning) we had afullcongregation of July, 1789. ] JOUR 4

were risen with him to set their affections on the things above. May, 1790.1 Here I met with one ofthe most extraordinary phenomena that I ever saw, or heard of:-Mr. Sellers hasin his yard a large New- foundland dog, and an old raven. These have fallen deeply in love with each other, and never desire to be apart. The bird has learned the bark of the dog, so that few can distinguish them. She is inconsolable when he goes out ; and, if he stays out a day or two, she will get up all the bones and scraps she can, and hoard them up for him till he comes back. Wed. 7.-About eleven I preached at Warrington. The chapel was well filled with serious hearers ; but the great con- gregationwas at Liverpool. If those without were added to those within, I believe it would have exceeded even that at Manchester ; and surely the power of God was present with them also. Thur. 8. Such another congregation we had on Thursday, among whom were many that had never been there before. They seemed utterly amazed when I explained, “ Now faith is the evidence of things unseen." I believe many were then con- vinced ; but, alas, how soon will that conviction die away ! Fri. 9. We went to Wigan, for many years proverbially called, wicked Wigan : But it is not now what it was : The inha- bitants in general have taken a softer mould. The House in the evening was more than filled ; and all that could get in seemed to be greatly affected, while I strongly applied our Lord's words , " I will ; be thou clean." Saturday, 10. I crossed over to North- wich, and again found the wisdom ofjudging nothing before the time. The removal, which I used to ascribe to caprice, I find was the effect of necessity. Awretched man, who had persuaded his father-in-law to give the staff out of his own hands, now abridges him of half his five hundred ayear ; and has the con- science to take fifty pounds a year out of the remainder, for the board of his son, apprenticed to him. In the evening I preached in the lovely House at Bolton, to one of the loveliest congrega- tions in England; who, by patient continuance in well-doing,

have turned scorn and hatred into general esteem and good-will. [Part of the manuscript having been lost, causes a chasm here'] Mon. MAY 24.-We set out at four, and reached Forglen about noon. The face of the country is much changed for the better since I was here before. Agriculture increases on every side ; so do manufactories, industry, and cleanliness. [June, 1790. But I found poor Lady B. (one of the most amiablewomen in the kingdom) exceeding ill ; and I doubt whether she will be much better till she removes to her own country. I spent a very agreeable afternoon with the lovely family, and preached to a serious congregation in the evening. Tuesday, 25. We returned to Aberdeen ; and I took a solemn farewell of a crowded audience. If I should be permitted to seethem again, well; if not, I have delivered my own soul. Wed. 26. Taking the midland road,we spent an hour at Lawrence-Kirk; which, from an inconsiderable village, is, by the care and power of Lord Gordon, soon sprung up into a pleasant, neat, and flourishing town. His Lordship has also erected a little library here, adjoining to a handsome and well- furnished inn. The country from hence to Brechin is as plea- sant as a garden : Happy would Scotland be, if it hadmany such gentlemen andnoblemen. In the evening I began preach- ing at Brechin, in the Freeman's Lodge ; but Iwas so faint and ill, that I was obliged to shorten mydiscourse. Thursday, 27. Wewent on through Forfar (now a handsome and almost a new town) and Cupar to Auchterarder. Herewe expected poor accommodations, but were agreeably disappointed. Food, beds, and everything else, were as neat and clean as at Aberdeen or Edinburgh. Friday, 28. We travelled through a delightful country, by Stirling and Kilsythe, to Glasgow. The congrega- tion was miserably small ; verifying what I had often heard before, that the Scots dearly love the word of the Lord-on the Lord's day. If I live to come again, I will take care to spend only the Lord's day at Glasgow. Mon. 31. We set out at two, and came to Moffat soon after three in the afternoon. Taking fresh horses, we reached Dum- fries between six and seven, and found the congregationwaiting: So after a few minutes, I preached on Mark iii. 35 : "Whoso-

ever shall do the will ofGod, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." Tues. JUNE 1.-Mr. Mather had agoodcongregation at five. In theday I conversed with manyofthe people; acandid,humane, well-behaved people ; unlike most that I have found in Scotland. In the evening the Housewas filled; and trulyGod preached to their hearts. Surely God will have a considerable people here. Wed. 2.-We set out early, and reached Carlisle about noon. The work a little increases here : A small handful of people June, 1790.] 487 stand firm ; and those that opposed are broken to pieces. Our House would not near contain the congregation ; and the word of Godwas with power. Thursday, 3. We rode to Hexham, through one of the pleasantest countries that I have lately seen. The road lay (from Haisle) on the side of a fruitful mountain, shaded with trees, and sloping down to a clear river ; which ran between ours and another fruitful mountain, well wooded and improved. At Hexham they have lately built a convenient preaching-house; but it is too small already. Here is a loving people, much alive to God, and consequently increasing daily. Friday, 4. We reached Newcastle. In this and Kingswood house, were I to do my own will, I should choose to spend the short remainder ofmy days. But it cannot be; this is not my rest. This and the next evening we had a numerous congrega- tion ; and the people seemed much alive. Sun. 6.-I was invited to preach in Lemsley church, on the side of Gateshead-Fell ; but some hours after, the Minister changed his mind. So I preached in our own preaching-house, which contained the greater part of the congregation tolerably well ; among whom were Sir Henry Lyddal and his Lady, with agreat number of his servants. The chapel was hot as a stove ; but neither high nor low seemed to regard it: For God was there ! The Orphan-House was equally crowded in the evening ; but the rain would not suffer me to preach abroad. Mon. 7.-I transcribed the Stations of the Preachers. Tues- day, 8. I wrote a form for settling the preaching-houses, without any superfluous words, which shall be used for the time to come, verbatim, for all the Houses to which I contribute anything. I will no more encourage that villanous tautology of lawyers, which

call there, (it being but about thirty miles out of the way,) I set out early, to prevent the heat of the day. Calling at Pickering, some of the society soon found me out, with whom I went to the preaching-house ; whichwas full enough in a few minutes' time. So was the House at Malton,in the evening; where I found the society more loving and united together than they had been for many years. Tues. 22.-I crossed over to Scarborough. The congregation in the evening was unusually small, being notyet recovered from the blessed fruits of the election. This was the hottest day we have had this year : And about one in the afternoon, the thun- der, which had long lain at adistance, came near, with thick flashes of lightning,and impetuous rain: The thunder continued in one roll, for an hour and a quarter. I never heard the like before, since my return from America. Thursday, 24. The DissentingMinister offering me the use of his chapel in Bridling- ton, twice as large as ourown, (the wind being too high for me to stand abroad,) I willingly accepted his offer. Friday, 25. About noon I preached at Beverley, to a serious, well-behaved congregation ; and in the evening to one equally serious, and far more numerous, at Hull. ! July, 1790. Saturday, 26, was aday of satisfaction. I preached at seven inthe morning, and at six in the evening, to as many as our House could contain ; the ground being too wet for the congre- gation to stand abroad. Monday, 28. This day I enter intomy eighty-eighth year. For above eighty-six years, I found none of the infirmities of old age ; my eyes did not wax dim, neither was my natural strength abated : But last August I found almost a sudden change. My eyes were so dim, that no glasses would help me. My strength likewise now quite forsook me ; and probably will not return in this world. But I feel no pain from head to foot ; only it seems nature is exhausted ; and, humanly speaking, will sink more and more, till Theweary springs of life stand still at last. Tues. 29.-I crossed over through Epworth toOwstone, and passed a comfortable day with many of the Preachers. This, which was one of the last societies in the Circuit, is now become

and seemed quite ready to receive instruction. But here neither could we procure any post-horses ; so that we were obliged to take a single-horse chaise. The wind, with mizzling rain, came full in our faces ; and we had nothing to screen us from it; so that Iwas throughly chilled from head to foot before I came to Lynn. But I soon forgot this little inconvenience ; for which the earnestness of the congregation made me large amends. Tues. 19. In the evening all the Clergymen in the town, except one who was lame, were present at the preaching. They are all prejudiced in favour ofthe Methodists ; as indeed are most of the townsmen ; who give a fair proof by contributing so much to our Sunday-schools ; so that there is near twenty pounds in hand. Wednesday, 20. I had appointed to preach at Diss ; a town near Scoleton ; but the difficulty was,where I could preach. The Minister was willing I should preach in the church ; but feared offending the Bishop, who, going up to London, was within a few miles of the town. But a gentleman asking the Bishop whether he had any objection to it, was answered, "None at all. " I think this church is one of the largest in this county. I suppose it has not been so filled these hundred years. This evening and the next I preached at Bury, to a deeply attentive congregation, many ofwhom know in whom they have believed. So that here we have not lost all our labour. Friday, 22. We returned to London. Oct. 1790.] 499 Sun. 24. I explained, to a numerous congregation in Spital- fields church, " the whole armour of God." St. Paul's, Shad- well, was still more crowded in the afternoon, while I enforced that important truth, " One thing is needful ;" and I hope many, even then, resolved to choose the better part. In the name of God, Amen. I, JOHN WESLEY, Clerk, some time Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, revoking all others, appoint this to be my last Will and Testament. I give all my books, now on sale, and the copies of them, (only subject to a rent-charge of eighty-five pounds a year, to the widow and children of my brother,) to my faithful friends, JohnHorton, Merchant; George Wolff, Merchant ; and William

And whereas I am empowered, by a late Deed, to name the persons who are to preach in the new chapel, at London, (the Clergymen for a continuance,) and by another Deed, to name a Committee for appointing Preachers, in the new chapel, at Bath, I do hereby appoint John Richardson, Thomas Coke, James Creighton, Peard Dickenson, Clerks ; Alexander Mather, William Thompson, Henry Moore, Andrew Blair,John Valton, Joseph Bradford, James Rogers, and William Myles, to preach in the new chapel at London, and to be the Committee for appointing Preachers in the new chapel at Bath. I likewise appoint Henry Brooke, Painter ; Arthur Keene, Gent.; and William Whitestone, Stationer, all of Dublin, to receive the annuity of five pounds, (English,) left to Kingswood School, by the late Roger Shiel, Esq. I give six pounds to be divided among the six poor men, named by the Assistant, who shall carrymy body to the grave ; for I particularly desire there may be no hearse, no coach, no escutcheon, no pomp, except the tears of them that loved me, and are following me to Abraham's bosom. I solemnly adjure my Executors, in the name of God, punctually to observe this. Lastly, I give to each of those Travelling Preachers who shall remain in the Connexion six months after my decease, as a little token of my love, the eight volumes of sermons. I appoint John Horton, George Wolff, and William Marriott, aforesaid, to be Executors of this my last Will and Testament ; for which trouble they will receive no recompence till the resurrection of the just. Witness myhand and seal, the 20th day of February, 1789.* JOHN WESLEY. (Seal.) Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the said Testator, as and for his last Will and Testament, in the presence of us, Should there be any part of my personal estate undisposed of by this my last Will, I give the same untomy two nieces, E. Ellison and S. Collet, equally. Feb. 25, 1789. I give my types, printing-presses, and every thing pertaining thereto, to Mr. Thomas Rankin, and Mr. George Whitfield, in trust, for the use of the Conference. *"Above a yearand ahalf after making this Will, Mr. Wesleyexecuted aDeed, inwhich he appointed seven gentlemen, viz., Dr. Thomas Coke, Messrs. Alexander Mather, Peard Dickenson, John Valton,James Rogers, Joseph Taylor, andAdam

Clarke, Trustees for all his books, pamphlets, and copyrights, for carrying on the work of God by Itinerant Preachers, according to the Deed of Declarationenrolled in the High Court of Chancery : But Dr. Coke being inAmerica at the time of Mr. Wesley's death, the Deed was suffered to lie dormant till his return. Thethree Executors then took the advice of two of the most eminent Counsellors in the king- dom, who informedthem, that the Deed was of a testamentarynature, andtherefore superseded the Will, with respect to the books, &c. The Deed wasthenpresented to the Judge of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, who received it as the third Codicil of Mr. Wesley's Will ; on which the three Executors delivered up their general Probate, and received a new one, limited to those particulars which were not mentioned in the Deed. At the same time a Probate was granted by the Court to the seven Trustees, constituting them Executors for all the books, pam- phlets, and copyrights, of which Mr. Wesley died possessed ; and empowering them to pay all his debts and legacies. "-EDIT. To all to whom these Presents shall come, JOHN WESLEY, late of Lincoln College, Oxford, but now of the City-Road, London, Clerk, sendeth greeting :- Whereas divers buildings, commonly called chapels, with a mes- suage and dwelling- house, or other appurtenances, to each of the same belonging, situate in various parts of Great Britain, have been given and conveyed, from time to time, by the said John Wesley, to certain persons and their heirs, in each of the said gifts and conveyances named ; which are enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery, upon the acknow- ledgment of the said John Wesley (pursuant to the Act of Parliament in thatcase made and provided) ; upon trust, that the Trustees in the said several Deeds respectively named, and the survivors of them, and their heirs and assigns, and the Trustees for the time being, to be elected as in the said Deeds is appointed, should permit and suffer the said John Wesley, and such other person and persons as he should for that purpose from time to time nominate and appoint, at all times during his life, at his will and pleasure to have and enjoy the free use and benefit of the said premises, that he

To George Gidley Date: LONDON, January 18, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad to hear that you are ordered to Exeter: there seems to be a particular providence in this. We have a small Society there, which is but lately formed, and stands in need of every help; so that I doubt not your settling among them will be an advantage to them. See that you be not ashamed of a good Master nor of the least of His servants. --I am Your affectionate brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: LONDON, January 25, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--The ignorance of Christians (so called) is indeed greater than can well be conceived. English Christians in general know no more of Christian salvation than Mahometans or heathens. Let us impart to them all the light we can. It will not all be lost labor. You have already seen some fruit; you will see more. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand. Mr. Valton is indeed a faithful laborer, willing to spend and be spent for his Master. In the house I know you have exercise enough. But I am afraid You are not enough in the open air. It is true you cannot be much abroad in this severe weather; but you must catch all the opportunities you can. I long for you to have more opportunities of exercising yourself in the noblest way! But good is the will of the Lord! To Him I tenderly commend you. --I am, my dear Nancy, Your ever affectionate.

To Christopher Hopper Date: LONDON, February 7, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--One sin is wanting to fill up the measure. The English in general have not persecuted the Gospel. Therefore we have still reason to hope that God will interpose, when all human help fails. If we build a New Foundery this Summer, I shall spend most of it in London, and only just make a flying journey through England, and look at our friends in the capital places. Possibly I may touch at Edinburgh or Aberdeen. You 'received but one book.' True: but I desired you to enquire after the other, which is far more valuable. It must be either at Bolton or Liverpool. I am, with love to Sister Hopper. Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Miss March Date: LONDON, February 7, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- I have found some of the uneducated poor who have exquisite taste and sentiment; and many, very many, of the rich who have scarcely any at all. But I do not speak of this: I want you to converse more, abundantly more, with the poorest of the people, who, if they have not taste, have souls, which you may forward in their way to heaven. And they have (many of them) faith and the love of God in a larger measure than any persons I know. Creep in among these in spite of dirt and an hundred disgusting circumstances, and thus put off the gentlewoman. Do not confine your conversation to genteel and elegant people. I should like this as well as you do; but I cannot discover a precedent for it in the life of our Lord or any of His Apostles. My dear friend, let you and I walk as He walked. I now understand you with regard to the Perronets; but I fear in this you are too delicate. It is certain their preaching is attended with the power of God to the hearts of many; and why not to yours Is it not owing to a want of simplicity 'Are you going to hear Mr. Wesley' said a friend to Mr. Blackwell. ' No,' he answered, ' I am going to hear God: I listen to Him, whoever preaches; otherwise I lose all my labor.' 'You will only be content to convert worlds. You shall hew wood or carry brick and mortar; and when you do this in obedience to the order of Providence, it shall be more profitable to your own soul than the other.' You may remember Mr. De Renty's other remark: ' I then saw that a well-instructed Christian is never hindered by any person or thing. For whatever prevents his doing good works gives him a fresh opportunity of submitting his will to the will of God; which at that time is more pleasing to God and more profitable to his soul than anything else which he could possibly do.'

To Joseph Benson Date: NEAR LONDON, February 22, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--We must threaten no longer, but perform. In November last I told the London Society, ' Our rule is to meet a class once a week, not once in two or three. I now give you warning: I will give tickets to none in February but those that have done this.' I have stood to my word. Go you and do likewise wherever you visit the classes. Begin, if need be, at Newcastle, and go on at Sunderland. Promises to meet are now out of date. Those that have not met seven times in the quarter exclude. Read their names in the Society, and inform them all you will the next quarter exclude all that have not met twelve times--that is, unless they were hindered by distance, sickness, or by some unavoidable business. And I pray without fear or favor remove the leaders, whether of classes or bands, who do not watch over the souls committed to their care ' as those that must give account.'--I am, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately.

To Miss March Date: LONDON, February 26, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- What I advise you to is, not to contract a friendship or even acquaintance with poor, inelegant, uneducated persons, but frequently, nay constantly, to visit the poor, the widow, the sick, the fatherless in their affliction; and this, although they should have nothing to recommend them but that they are bought with the blood of Christ. It is true this is not pleasing to flesh and blood. There are a thousand circumstances usually attending it which shock the delicacy of our nature, or rather of our education. But yet the blessing which follows this labor of love will more than balance the cross, 'To be uneasy under obligations which we cannot repay' is certainly a fruit of diabolical generosity; and therefore Milton with great propriety ascribes it to the devil, and makes him speak quite in character when he says concerning his obligations to God Himself-- So burthensome, still paying, still to owe. I am quite of another mind; I entirely agree with you that the more sensible we are of such obligations the more happy we are. Surely this yoke is easy and this burthen is light. Perhaps, if you give another reading to Thoughts upon Dress, you will clearly see that both reason and religion are more deeply concerned than we are apt to imagine even in the trifling article of dress--trifling if compared with the weightier matters of the law, yet in itself of no small importance; and that, whether you consider yourself as an individual or as a member of a Christian society. Certainly Dr. Young can only mean, ' None is happy unless he thinks himself so'; and truly this is no great discovery. Is it any more than, ' None is happy unless he is so' If he means more than this, he means wrong, for we know the best man is the happiest; but if I thought myself the best man in the world, I should be very proud, and consequently not happy at all.

To Thomas Rutherford Date: LONDON, March 3, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--I am glad you have a convenient lodging at Edinburgh. You should try all the little places round Glasgow as soon as you can preach abroad. Rd. Watkinson is as much called to preach as you or I. But is it any wonder his mouth should be shut when he is worn down with weakness and pain and the unkind censures of those he is among Some of the Calvinists stumbled in lately while I was preaching. 'Ay,' said one of them, 'poor man! He has quite lost his gift! ' Perhaps your Greenock critics might do the same. So they said of Hugh Saunderson. Those who will not conform to the Rules of our Society are no members of it. Therefore I require John Campbell, John Laird, and Peter Ferguson to take their choice one way or the other. If they will meet their class weekly, they are with us. If they will not, they put themselves from us. And if the rest of the Society cannot or will not bear the expense, our preachers shall trouble Greenock no more. But show them the reason of the thing in The Plain Account of the People called Methodists. After they have considered this, let them either join with us upon these terms or be our friends at a distance. I think what you propose concerning Brother Watkinson is the best thing that can be done. As soon as possible he should drink decoction of nettles or of burdock morning and evening. If need be, I will send him another little bill. Possibly I may see you in May.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mrs. Woodhouse Date: LONDON, March 3, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--We are endeavoring to procure a piece of ground on which we think of building a new Foundery, as the old one with all the adjacent houses is shortly to be pulled down. If we build, it will necessarily detain me in London a great part of the summer.' Both George Shadford and T. Rankin were well when they wrote last. They were threatened unless they would declare in favor of the Republicans; but the matter went no farther than words. I am not sorry that James Kershaw is going to settle at Gainsborough. He may be exceeding useful there. He is more than a match for Mr. Glascot and an hundred Predestinarians beside. There is but one thing to do--let us live and die unto Him that died for us!--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Alexander Knox Date: CONGLETON, April 1, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR ALLECK,--I am fully persuaded all your disorders depend upon a deep scurvy. What influence the bark may have upon this I cannot tell; however, I have no objection to a decoction or infusion of it. I object only to your taking it in specie; because I can never reconcile to common sense the introducing ounce after ounce of powdered post into an human stomach. But I really think you rather want anti-scorbutic medicines, such as watercress’s or decoction of nettles or burdock. This accounts for your almost continual depression of spirits, which is a bodily as well as spiritual malady. And it is permitted to repress the fire of youth and to wean you from the desire of earthly things, to teach you that happy lesson-- Wealth, honor, pleasure, and what else This short-enduring world can give; Tempt as ye will, my heart repels--

No, my dear friend, no! it is no selfishness to be pleased when you give pleasure. It proves that your mind was antecedently in a right state; and then God' answers you in the joy of your heart.' So be more and more athirst for that holiness; and thereby give more and more pleasure to Yours affectionately.

To Mrs. Hall Date: OTLEY, April 24, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR PATTY,--Since I recovered my strength after my late fever, I have scarcely known what pain or weakness or weariness meant. My health is far better and more uninterrupted than it was when I was five-and-twenty. I was then much troubled with a shaking hand. But all that is over. I am glad Peter Hare has a little care for his mother. You may call upon Mr. Atlay, and desire him to give you two guineas for her. And whatever her son will allow her quarterly, I will allow her the same. I much approve of her being with you.' It may prove a great blessing to her. It is not improbable a voyage will save Betty Appleton's life. I think it will either kill or cure. Let us live to-day!--I am, dear Patty, Your affectionate friend and Brother.

I am glad you wrote to Miss Yates, and hope you will write to Miss Ritchie. As to health, they are both nearly as you are; only Miss Ritchie is a little strengthened by a late journey. I never conversed with her so much before. I can give you her character in one line: she is ' all praise, all meekness, and all love.' If it will not hurt you, I desire you will write often to, my dear Hetty, Yours affectionately.

To Ann Bolton Date: EDINBURGH, May 28, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I had the pleasure of yours last night at my return from the North. Indeed, I was in pain for you; I was afraid of your being quite laid up. If you drank a cup of beef-tea twice or thrice a day, I believe it would strengthen you. I desire Mr. Valton or one of the other preachers will be so kind as to go to the Foundery and bring my grey horse down to Witney. Till the middle of June I am to be in or near New-castle-upon-Tyne; afterwards I shall be at York. Everywhere I am, with the tenderest regard, my dear Nancy, Your affectionate brother. If possible, you should ride every day.

To Christopher Hopper Date: EDINBURGH, May 28, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--You did exceeding well in writing to the Mayor. I believe he will not burn his fingers again. I have found one that I think would serve Mrs. Wagner as an upper secant. But she is not willing to engage till she knows what she is expected to do. Send me word to Newcastle. Pray tell Michael Fenwick that I am to be at Sheffield not on the 23rd but the 19th of July.--I am, with love to Sister Hopper, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Miss J. C. March Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- ALNWICK, [May 30, 1776]. Sometimes I have been afraid lest you should sustain loss for want of some reproach or disgrace. Your being young and a woman of fortune, and not wanting in understanding, were circumstances which, according to the ordinary course of Providence, keep reproach at a distance. However, you shall not escape it if our blessed Lord sees it to be the best means of purifying your soul. You shall have it just in due measure and in due time; for He will withhold from you no manner of thing that is good. There is one with me here who seems as yet to be under a peculiar dispensation--to be wholly screened from the reproach of Christ. There is something in the natural temper, the understanding, the person, and the behavior of Lady Maxwell which has hitherto prevented reproach, although she is much devoted to God and in many things quite singular. But she is not careful about it; being wining, whenever He shall see it best', and in whatever measure He shall choose, to share the portion of her Lord. The knowledge of ourselves is true humility; and without this we cannot be freed from vanity, a desire of praise being inseparably connected with every degree of pride. Continual watchfulness is absolutely necessary to hinder this from stealing in upon us. But as long as we steadily watch and pray we shall not enter into temptation. It may and will assault us on every side; but it cannot prevail.

To John Fletcher Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, June 1, 1776. DEAR SIR,--Your answer to Dr. Price will not interfere with mine. But Mr. Collinson is a more able antagonist than him. However, if he does not publish his tract, you need not take any other notice of it than to fortify your arguments against his plausible objections. If you can't overtake me at York (July 2) or at any other part of Yorkshire, I hope you will at least plan your business so as to meet me at the Conference. It would be highly expedient that my brother and you and I should then meet together. I have letters from two clergymen in Ireland, one or both of whom will probably be with us before that time. The generality of believers in our Church (yea, and in the Church of Corinth, Ephesus, and the rest, even in the Apostolic age) are certainly no more than babes in Christ; not young men, and much less fathers. But we have some, and we should certainly pray and expect that our Pentecost may fully come. In many places we have good ground for this expectation. In many parts even in Scotland the work of God spreads wider and wider, and likewise sinks deeper--a very probable sign that God will yet be entreated for a guilty land.--I am, dear sir, Ever yours.

To Mrs. Hall Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, July 5, 1776. MY DEAR PATTY,--It is not wisdom to impute either our health or any other blessing we enjoy merely to natural causes. It is far better to ascribe all to Him whose kingdom ruleth over all. And whether we have more or less bodily strength is of little concern so we are strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. He gives strength when it is wanted. The week before last, when I was in the North of Scotland where wheels could not go, the going on horseback (though I should not have chosen it) an hundred miles did me no harm at all. By all means let Suky Hare be with you. Show this to Mr. Atlay, and he will give you two guineas for her; and I will help her farther when I come to London. A little longer, and pain will be no more!--I am, dear Patty, Your affectionate brother.

To William Severn Date: WHITBY, June 23, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BILLY,--I had some thoughts of your remaining another year in Bristol, where I know your labor has not been in vain; but first one, then a second, and afterwards a third preacher desired to be stationed there, and each of them gave such reasons for desiring it as appeared to be of weight. You judge right concerning George Snowden: he is ' a sensible and upright man,' ' and you justly observe the Wiltshire circuits are not so convenient for him. I agree with you, too, that Gloucestershire will suit him well--it will be a comfortable situation for him, provided you will bear him company; for you will go hand in hand. Next year, if we live and you desire it, you may be in Nottinghamshire. But I must lay one burthen more upon you (if a labor of love may be termed so); observe, I speak in your ear! Sister Snowden is good-natured, but is a consummate slut: explain with her largely on this head; convince her that it is both a sin and a shame. She came into a clean house at Stroud; let her take care to keep it clean for the honor of God--for the honor of her husband--for the honor of her country!--I am, dear Billy, Your affectionate brother. If Christopher Walker is willing to go into Gloucestershire, you may take his place in Nottinghamshire.

To James Barry Date: WHITBY, June 24, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JAMES,--The writer (I forget his name) does not say the local preachers talked blasphemy, but that several of them talk nonsense and that some of them speak against perfection. This must not be suffered. Fix a regular plan for the local preachers, and see that they keep it. You cannot be too exact in this and every other part of discipline.' This, however, I expect. You will see the fruit of your labor.--I am, with love to Sister Barry, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: SHOREHAM, July 31, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--I think of Joseph Fothergill, and just as you do; and shall willingly propose him at the Conference. I believe he has considerable gifts and is truly alive to God. You are in the right. We must beware of distressing the poor. Our substantial brethren are well able to bear the burthen. I shall write a letter for each Assistant before the Conference is over. If they are in earnest, all will go well. If the asserters of the decrees are quiet and peaceable, troubling no one with their opinions, reason is that we should bear with them. But if they will not be quiet, if they trouble others, we cannot keep them. Do all you can for God!--I am, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately. Pray tell Joseph Thompson I have set him down for Leeds.

To Mrs. Downes (Dorothy Furly) Date: LONDON, August 2, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I know not that you differ from me at all. You are certainly in your place at present; and it seems one providential reason of your ill-health was to drive you thither. Now use all the ability which God giveth, and He will give more. Unto him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly; it is the hand of the diligent that maketh rich. If you can persuade honest Alice Brammah to be cleanly as well as gentle, she will be tenfold more useful; and so will Billy Brammah, if he will be teachable and advisable; otherwise there is a fly in the pot of ointment. You are sent to Leeds chiefly for the sake of those that enjoy or thirst after perfect love. Redeem the time! Go on in His name! And let the world and the devil fall under your feet!--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Mrs. Dickinson Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- LONDON, Monday, August 5, 1776. Although I hope to see you to-morrow se'nnight, yet I cannot but write a few lines. None that are in the Excise incur any danger by being a member of our Society; but several officers have been made supervisors, and Mr. Ball is now a collector. So that Mr. Dickinson has nothing to fear from any quarter, but may just do as he is persuaded in his own [mind]. When I was at Taunton' I was much pleased with the account I heard of you, and should have been glad to talk with you myself. If you have leisure, I can talk with you a little after dinner in Mrs. Pond's chamber. I hope you will never be weary or faint in your mind, nor ever be ashamed when it concerns your soul. If you have God on your side, nothing can hurt you. O consecrate your early days to Him! To His care I commit you; and am, my dear Suky, Yours affectionately.

To Dr. Ford Date: LONDON, August 10, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--I am a little surprised that so odd a design should enter into the head of any of our preachers without having consulted either me or the Assistant. It was a kind Providence that interposed. I believe there is no danger that any other of our preachers should make such attempt any more than Mr. Peacock, who is now removed into another circuit. I have frequently observed that, when prejudice has arisen in a place to such an height that it seemed nothing could withstand it, it has swiftly subsided, almost without any visible means. And this was a fresh proof that the hearts of all men are in the hands of God, and that He turneth them as the rivers of water. Although you do not immediately see the fruit of your labor, this is no reason for being discouraged. Our Lord may permit this, to convince you the more thoroughly that the help which is done upon earth He doeth it Himself. Perhaps when there is least appearance a flame will suddenly break out, and you shall see the day of His power. Commending Mrs. Ford and you to His tender care, I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Elizabeth Ritchie Date: LONDON, August 12, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--To talk of ' thinking without ideas' is stark nonsense. Whatever is presented to your mind is an idea; so that to be without ideas is not to think at all. Seeing, feeling, joy, grief, pleasure, pain are ideas. Therefore to be without ideas is to be without either sense or reason. Mr.---- certainly does not understand the word; he mistakes it for images. O desire nothing different in nature from love! There is nothing higher in earth or heaven. Whatever he speaks of which seems to be higher is either natural or preternatural enthusiasm. Desire none of those extraordinaries. Such a desire might be an inlet to a thousand delusions. I wish your desires may all center in that: I want the witness, Lord, That all I do is right! According to Thy will and word, Well pleasing in Thy sight! I ask no higher state, Indulge me but in this! And soon, or later, then translate To my eternal bliss. You say Satan had laid a snare for you. What snare was that I am concerned in whatever concerns you. 0 continue to remember in all your prayers Yours most affectionately.

To Thomas Carlill Date: BRISTOL, September 8, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--Whatever these poor self-deceivers do, it is our part to go straight forward; and we know the counsel of the Lord that shall stand--the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. There is a blessed seed in Wales, and particularly in Brecknockshire. And if you will take the pains when you are in any town to call upon our poor people at their own houses, religion will deepen in their hearts and you will see the fruit of your labor. Begin this as soon as possible.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother. PS.--I hope you wrote to George Mowatt.

To Hester Ann Roe Date: BRISTOL, September 16, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR HETTY,--As I did not receive yours of August 28 before my return from Cornwall, I was beginning to grow a little apprehensive lest your love was growing cold. But you have sweetly dispelled all my apprehensions of that sort, and I take knowledge that you are still the same. The happy change wrought in Miss Peggy Roe as well as in Miss Bradock may encourage you to catch every opportunity of speaking a word for a good Master. Sometimes you see present fruit. But if not, your labor is not lost; it may spring up' after many days.' I hope, though your cousins are tried, they will not be discouraged; then all these things will 'work together for good.' Probably, if they stand firm, religion will in a while leaven the whole family. But they will have need of much patience and gentleness as well as much resolution. If any particular place is proposed for their residence, you would' [do] well to send me word immediately. They should not abruptly refuse to go; but it would be matter of prayer and consideration. Boarders at Kingswood pay twenty pounds a year. There is no entrance-money or farther expense of any kind. The masters are men of sense, learning, and piety. They are all a family of love.

I am not sorry that you have met with a little blame in the affair; and I hope it was not undeserved. Happy are they that suffer for well doing! I was almost afraid all men would speak well of you. Do you feel no intermission of your happiness in Him Does He ' bid you even in sleep go on’ What do you usually dream of Do you never find any lowness of spirits Is there never any time that hangs upon your hands How is your health Are you entirely free of your cough and the pain in your side You see how inquisitive I am, because everything relating to you nearly concerns me. I once thought I could not be well acquainted with any one till many years had elapsed. And yet I am as well acquainted with you as if I had known you from your infancy. Away with that thought, ' I shall not have you long.' Let our Lord see to that. Let us enjoy to-day. You are now my comfort and joy! And I hope to be far longer than this little span of life, my dear Hetty, Yours in tender affection.

To Elizabeth Ritchie Date: PUBLOW, September 20, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--Some time since, you certainly were in danger of exchanging the plain religion of the Bible for the refined one of Mysticism, a danger which few can judge of but those that feel it. This my brother and I did for several years. This scheme, especially as Madame Guyon has polished and improved it, gives a delicate satisfaction to whatever of curiosity and self-esteem lies hid in the heart. It was particularly liable to make an impression upon you, as it came recommended by one you had a friendship for, whom you knew to be upright and sincere, and who had both sense and a pleasing address. At the same time that subtle enemy ' who beguiled Eve by his subtilty' would not fail to enforce the temptation. The more reason you have to bless God that you are delivered out of the snare of the fowler. 'He that followeth Me,' says our Lord, ' walketh not in darkness.' Nothing can be more certain. Closely follow Him, and you will never come into any darkness of soul. On the contrary, your light shall shine more and more unto the perfect day. Nothing but sin can bring you into confusion; and this, I trust, God has bruised under your feet. Surely, then, you have no need of ever losing the least part of what God has given you. But you may ' stand fast in glorious liberty' till your spirit returns to God.--I remain Yours affectionately.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, October 22, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--I apprehend Joseph Fothergill was not designedly omitted. I take him to be a good man and a good preacher. You did right in excluding from our Society so notorious an offender. And you have now a providential call to stand in the .gap between the living and the dead. Fear nothing. Begin m the name of God and go through with the work. If only six will promise you to sin no more, leave only six in the Society. But my belief is an hundred and fifty are now clear of blame; and if you are steady, an hundred more will amend. You must at all events tear up this evil by the roots. The Word to a Smuggler should be read and dispersed. And secure your fellow laborers, that you may all speak one thing. Go on, for God is with you!--I am, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately.

To Mrs. Johnston, Annandale, Lisleen Date: LONDON, October 22, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--If I live over the winter, I shall have a work upon my hands which will detain me in London great part of the year. This is the building in the room of the Foundery, which must shortly be pulled down. We have agreed with the City of London for the ground, and propose beginning the work early in the spring. This will allow me little time for journeys, as my presence will be necessary on many accounts. Perhaps I may have time to step over to Dublin, and probably that is all I shall be able to do. It is suitable to the wisdom of God, now that He is sending a general call to these kingdoms, to send preachers of every sort, that some or other of them may be adapted to every class of hearer. Mr. Mill is adapted to plain, uneducated men, and some of them have much profited by him. Mr. Hem and Boardman are adapted to an higher class, men of taste and education; and a few even of these in almost every place are persuaded to choose the better part. I think my dear Sidney could no more be idle at Longford than at Lisleen. She would certainly aim at being useful to those that were round about her. Many of our Society there would receive her with joy and profit by her conversation. But she would not, I am persuaded, confine herself to those, seeing we are debtors to all men, and happy are they that can speak a word for the comfort or strengthening of any soul for which Christ died. It gives me pleasure to hear your soul is more established in the faith that works by love. Undoubtedly, if thou canst believe, all things are possible. It is possible for you to be all praise, all meekness, and all love; and what God gives once He is willing to give always. Whereunto you have attained hold fast, and look for all the residue of the promise.--I am, my dear sister, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, November 7, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--Not only the Assistant but every preacher is concerned to see all our Rules observed. I desire Brother Rhodes will give no tickets either to those who have not constantly met their classes or to any that do not solemnly promise to deal in stolen goods no more. He and you together may put a stop to this crying sin. I wish Edward Jackson would go into the Dales. But here is a great difficulty: Robert Wilkinson, you know, is married; therefore he cannot live (though he may starve) in the Dundee Circuit. I designed that he and Brother Lumley should change places. But what can be done now Consider the matter, and advise, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately.

To Elizabeth Ritchie Date: LONDON, November 12, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--I love you for your freedom and openness. At all times it is of use to have a friend to whom you can pour out your heart without any disguise or reserve. But it will be of peculiar use if you should ever meet with heavy temptation. Then you will find how true that word is, 'A friend is made for adversity.' You have exceeding great reason to praise God for what He has already done for your soul. Take heed lest any one beguile you of your blessing by a voluntary humility. Never deny, never conceal, never speak doubtfully of what God hath wrought, but declare it before the children of God with all plainness and simplicity. Do you set the Lord always before you Do you always see Him that is invisible Are you constantly sensible of His loving presence And is your heart praying without ceasing Have you power in everything to give Him thanks Does He bid you even in sleep go on What do you commonly dream of While you sleep, is your heart awake to Him Just when you have time and opportunity, send an answer to, my dear Betsy, Yours affectionately.

To John Mason Date: LONDON, November 21, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--One of Mr. Fletcher's Checks considers at large the Calvinist supposition ' that a natural man is as dead as a stone '; and shows the utter falseness and absurdity of it, seeing no man living is without some preventing grace, and every degree of grace is a degree of life. That, 'by the offence of one, judgement came upon all men' (all born into the world) ' unto condemnation,' is an undoubted truth, and affects every infant as well as every adult person. But it is equally true that, ' by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men' (all born into the world, infant or adult) ‘unto justification.' Therefore no infant ever was or ever will be ' sent to hell for the guilt of Adam's sin,' seeing it is cancelled by the righteousness of Christ as soon as they are sent into the world. Labor on, especially by visiting from house to house, and you will see the fruit of your labor.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Thomas Carlill Date: CHATHAM, November 25, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- TOMMY,--Be of good courage! Play the man! You have God on your side. If you do not immediately see the fruit of your labors, yet in due time you shall reap if you faint not. Preach Christian perfection, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, and sooner or later God will bless His own word. Regard not those pert lads of my Lady's Charity School. In our own Societies be exact in discipline. Truth is great and will prevail. The books send to Bristol.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: CHATHAM, November 26, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--If any leader oppose, you see your remedy, --put another in his place: nay, if he does not join heart and hand; for ' he that gathereth not with you scattereth.' The Word to a Smuggler is plain and home, and has done much good in these parts Taking opium is full as bad as taking drams. It equally hurts the understanding, and is if possible more pernicious to the health than even rum or brandy. None should touch it if they have the least regard either for their souls or bodies. I really think you are in the right. It is better to help Robert Wilkinson where he is than to burthen the Dales with an additional weight. But then what shall we do We have no supernumerary preachers. See if you can do anything with Edward Jackson.--I am, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately.

To Penelope Newman Date: LONDON, December 13, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You do well in giving me as particular an account as you can of the blessed work in and about Stroud.' And surely the very same work, if the preachers are zealous, will spread through the whole circuit; especially if they are diligent in visiting from house to house, and so watering the seed that has been sown in public. But do you not see what a temptation you have been under Who is it that told you poor Cheltenham would be forgotten Tell him, ' Thou art a liar from the beginning. I will not hearken to thee. I will hearken what the Lord Will say concerning me.' How soon can He make Cheltenham as Stroud, and Mr. Wells as Mr. Valton Look up, Prizzy, look up! Is not the cloud bursting--I am, my dear friend, Yours affectionately.

To Joseph Benson Date: NEAR LONDON, December 24, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--The total suppression of that vile practice will doubtless be a difficult task: but it is worth all the labor; yea, though you should be obliged to cut off some of our oldest members. For you must absolutely go through with your work, leave neither root nor branch; else the reformation will be but for a season, and then the evil will sprout up again. The case of John Reed is one of the most remarkable which has fallen under my notice. From the beginning it was my judgement that the disorder was more than natural. I wish he would take opportunities of writing down as many particulars as he can recollect, and send me as circumstantial an account as he can. You may much assist him herein.--I am, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately.

To Mary Bishop Date: LONDON, December 26, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--You are certainly clear concerning Miss Mahon. You have done all that was in your power; and if she will not any longer accept of your services, her blood is upon her own head. But I will not give her up yet. I have wrote to Mr. Valton at Oxford, and desired him to talk with Mrs. Mahon. Perhaps a letter from her may be of service. But I expect to hear no good of her daughter while she is ashamed to attend the preaching. Either that text in Ezekiel xxxiii. 8 means literally or it has no meaning at all. And nothing is more certain, in fact, than that thousands perish through the neglect of others. And yet God is fully justified therein, because the principal cause of their destruction is their own neglect; their not taking care to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. Whatever other ends are answered by prayer, this is one, and it seems the primary one, that we may have the petitions which we ask of Him. Asking is the appointed means of receiving, and that for others as well as for ourselves; as we may learn partly from reason itself, but more fully from our own experience, and more clearly still from revelation. Reason teaches us to argue from analogy. If you (because you have a regard for me) would do more for a third person at my request than otherwise you would have done, how much more will God at the request of His beloved children give blessings to those they pray for which otherwise He would not have given! And how does all experience confirm this! How many times have the petitions of others been answered to our advantage, and ours on the behalf of others.

To Robert Costerdine Date: LONDON, December 27, 1776. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1776) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I think, as soon as you conveniently can, you should have full explanation with Thomas Warwick in the presence of two or three witnesses. Show him that his proceedings have been contrary to reason as well as to brotherly love. If you can convince him of this, all that is past should die and be forgotten. If not, you cannot give him another ticket.--I am, dear Robert, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Francis Wolfe Date: LONDON, January 14, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Let James Perfect immediately change places with Rd. Whatcoat. There must be no delay. You cannot make a better choice. She is an excellent woman. O beware of Calvinism and everything that has the least tendency thereto. Let a burnt child dread the fire!--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Thomas Wride Date: LONDON, January 17, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--If your fellow laborers and you are zealous and active, you will give me a good account of the circuit. I found it in a flourishing state. So will you before you leave it. Robert Empringham has done exactly right as to the sacrament. I advise you to tread in his steps. I wish you would inquire at what price I could have some kind of vessel to carry me from Whitehaven by the isle to Dublin.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother. I take no horses with me.

To Samuel Bardsley Date: LONDON, February 14, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY,--It is uncertain yet where I shall be this summer. If we do not build, [See letter of Feb. 1.] I shall go to Ireland; if we do, I must reside chiefly in London. Only I would endeavor to make a little excursion into the North. I have not promised to open the house at Halifax in April or May, although it is probable I shall in my journey to or from Newcastle. But my time will be very short, because I can never be absent from the building but about two or three weeks at a time. I am glad you have found a way to Lancaster. Be zealous, be active, and conquer all things!--I am, dear Sammy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, February 15, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--If we build (as I expect we shall) this spring, I shall probably call upon you in May. Now is the time, before you say anything of the new chapel, to procure what subscribers you can to the Philosophy. [The third, enlarged edition of A Survery of the Wisdom of God in the Creatin was published in 1777. See Green’s Bibliography, No 325; and letter of Jan. 15 1778.] I have included all that is material in Dr. Goldsmith's eight large volumes. Speak earnestly, and you will succeed. Simple Michl. Fenwick has procured twelve subscribers in two days! James Kershaw is stark staring mad. He was so, they tell me, some years ago.[ See letters of Feb. 1 and March 16.] Hasten John Reed in his account, [See letters of Jan. 11 and March 5.] and hasten yourself in extirpating smuggling. I am glad to hear Sister Denton meets again. She is a letter in my debt.--I am, dear Joseph, Yours affectionately.

To Mrs. Johnston, Annandale, Lisleen Date: LONDON, February 16, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--The persons with whom we have to do are so dilatory that I know not when we shall begin to build. Perhaps not this year; and if so, I shall with God's help go through Ireland as usual. But if we build, I can only visit Dublin, I suppose, about the middle of June. If it will suit your convenience, I shall hope for the pleasure of seeing you then. If any other of the preachers exceed their time (about an hour in the whole service), I hope you will always put them in mind what is the Methodist rule. People imagine the longer the sermon is the more good it will do. This is a grand mistake. The help done on earth God doth it Himself; and He doth not need that we should use many words. According to the account which you give I cannot blame you for keeping the preachers at your house. In such circumstances you did well to detain them. It would have been cruelty to let them go. How wonderfully different from this was the account from Whisby, merely by the omission of a few little circumstances--so little can we depend upon any relation which is given by one whose passions are raging. That none of your little company should have drawn back is more than one could have expected. It is well if a third part of those that at first set their hands to the plough endure to the end. May you and all yours be of that happy number, but particularly my dear Sidney. I commend you all to Him that hath loved you; and am, my dear sister, Your ever affectionate brother.

To Robert Costerdine Date: LONDON, February 18, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--Mr. Wesley bids me tell you that there is to be but one subscription and collection this year (except for Kingswood School), out of which must be taken a sufficient sum for contingent expenses. He expects, therefore, that the Assistants and preachers will exert their whole strength and influence. The Natural Philosophy, now printing, includes the substance of the three former volumes, but with great variations and improvements and in a new mode, most of the notes of the former impression being grafted into the text and new notes added. The letter is quite new and the paper exceeding good. He seems determined to spare no pains to render it complete. It is likely to have a great run among the clergy and gentry. As the new building will go forwards as soon as we can lay the foundation, Mr. Wesley will be obliged to spend most of the summer in London, and only take occasional journeys to some of the more important places. He is exceeding well; I think I never saw him better in my life. Mr. Fletcher is exceeding weak; I think he will not recover. Excuse haste; we are in the midst of the visitation of the classes. That God may abundantly bless and prosper your soul and labors is the prayer of Your affectionate friend and brother, PETER JACO [Jaco was Assistant in London.]

To Mrs. Barton Date: LONDON, February 29, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I am glad to hear that your little Society prospers. If they increase in grace, they will increase in number; of which I can have no doubt if you watch against all jealousies and continue open and loving to each other. There will be nothing wanting, I am persuaded, on the part of the preachers. [The Hull preachers were George Story (afterwards editor of the Magazine) and William Dufton.] Whenever they speak, they will speak as the oracles of God, with sound speech, which cannot be reproved. And, what is more, the whole tenor of their life is agreeable to their doctrine. Whatever they preach you will experience. What you have received is a pledge of what you will receive; for He that loves you will withhold from you no manner of thing that is good.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Samuel Bradburn Date: LONDON, February 22, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY,--If George Brown is likely to be an useful preacher, it is no wonder he should be so tempted. If he will forsake the work, there is a young man at Cork, John Howe, who may take his place; so I have wrote to John Watson. I do not remember, I have had a line from John Hampson since Christmas. It will be a difficult thing to keep Mr. Smyth [Wesley met Mr. And Mrs. Smyth in the Isle of Man in June. See Tyerman’s Wesley, iii. 241-2 and letters of May 27, 1776 and June 1 1778.] from running into extremes. He surely will be prosecuted if he publishes anything which the law can lay hold on. And it is easier to prevent the evil than to redress it.

To Hannah Ball Date: BRISTOL, March 13, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--It seems the time is come that you are to have a more commodious preaching-house at High Wycombe. I will give you a plan of the building myself; and employ whom you please to build. But I hope to see you on Wednesday the 26th instant, and to preach about six in the evening [His Journal shows that he preached at Wycombe on the 26th.] after preaching at noon in Oxford. Peace be with your spirit!--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Alexander Knox Date: BRISTOL, March 19, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SIR,--If the returns of your disorder are more and more gentle, there is reason to hope it will be at length totally removed. Very probably, if you live to five- or six-and-twenty, your constitution will take a new turn. But it is certainly the design of Him that loves you to heal both body and soul; and possibly He delays the healing of the former that the cure of the latter may keep pace with it. As ' it is a great loss to lose an affliction,' He would not have you lose what you have suffered. I trust it will not be lost, but will be for your profit, that you may be partaker of His holiness. It is a blessing that He has given you that fear which is the beginning of wisdom; and it is a pledge of greater things to come. How soon? Perhaps to-day.... If I could spare time, I would gladly accept of your invitation; but I doubt whether I can get any farther than Dublin. [He spent Oct. 3-13 in Dublin.] Peace be with all your spirits!--I am, my dear Alleck, Yours most affectionately.

To Mrs. Johnston, Annandale, Lisleen Date: LONDON, March 28, 1777. (Good Friday.) Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Surely this is a token for good. If we acknowledge God, He will acknowledge us. In the memory of man never was Good Friday observed in London with such solemnity as this has been, in consequence of a message which the Archbishop of Canterbury sent to the Lord Mayor some days since, incited thereto (it is supposed) by an intimation from His Majesty. I expect the foundation of our new chapel will be laid the latter end of next week. From that day so many things will need to be considered that I must not be long out of town at a time. However, I hope, if my life is spared so long, to step over to Dublin about midsummer; but it will be doubtful whether I can get any farther, though I should not think much of my labor. I will by the grace of God use my strength while I can; the night cometh when no man can work. I am glad you are still of the same mind. While we have time let us do good to all men, but especially to those that are of the household of faith. It gives me pleasure to hear so good an account of Brother Boyle. He has leisure, and he is wise in employing it to good purpose. But I am sorry poor Hugh Brown is so discouraged as to depart from the work. Just so did James Morgan many years ago; but he could not rest till he returned. Those who have labored with him (H. Brown) cannot but be judges whether God has owned his labors. If He has, he cannot lie still and be guiltless; and none is a better judge of this than John Pritchard. I commend you and yours to Him that loves you; and am, my dear sister, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: NEAR LONDON, April 24, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Your state of mind for some time has been that which the Papists very improperly term a state of Desertion; wherein they suppose God deserts or forsakes the soul only for His own will and pleasure ! But this is absolutely impossible: I deny that such a state ever existed under the sun. As I observed before, the trouble you feel is in the very root and ground of it, a natural effect of disordered liver, of the corruptible body pressing down the soul. But you must likewise take into the account preternatural influence. For you may be assured your grand adversary will not be forgetful to avail himself of the opportunity, sometimes by plausible suggestions, sometimes by horrid and grievous injections. But blessed is the soul that endureth temptation. The Lord shall deliver you out of his hand. Doth not He know the way wherein you go? And when you have been tried you shall come forth as gold! I feel much sympathy with you in your troubles, which endear you to me exceedingly. But though I grieve with you, [I joy] over you; for I can easily see ' the end of the Lord.' The fire your graces shall refine, Till, molded from above, You bear the character divine, The stamp of perfect love I I am glad you are to spend a few days with my dear friends at Publow. And when you are happy in each other, do not forget, my dear Nancy, Yours most affectionately.

To Penelope Newman Date: LONDON, April 24, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--If I had gone over into Ireland, as I proposed, it would have been scarce possible for me to visit Gloucestershire. But I think the time I had allotted for that journey may be more profitably bestowed in England. Therefore if I live till June, I purpose pay a short visit to Stroud, Tewkesbury, Gloucester, and a few other places. I laid the foundation of our new chapel here on Monday, with an immense concourse of people. Work your work betimes; and in due time He will give you a full reward.--I am, my dear sister, Yours affectionately.

To Thomas Carlill Date: HULL, May 13, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--I commend you for letting none but the members of the Society stay when the Society meets, and more particularly at the lovefeasts. You cannot give a ticket to any who robs the King by selling or buying uncustomed goods. You say true. You have been useful wherever you have been; and so you will be still. But those little circuits I reserve for invalids. You and I (blessed be God) are not invalids yet.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Elizabeth Ritchie Date: WAKEFIELD, June 16, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--I write a few lines, on condition that you will not write if it does you hurt; it certainly will, if you lean upon your breast or if you write much at a time. But perhaps (of which you yourself must be the judge) you might write a few lines now and then. Do you still find your will wholly given up? Have you no choice as to life or death? and have you no choice as to the manner of your death ? Are you not afraid of the pain of dissolution? Can you freely part with all your friends here? And to an unknown somewhere wing away? Do you never lose your consciousness of the presence of the Three-One God? And is your testimony of His Spirit that you are saved from inward sin never obscured? Are you always happy? Do you always enjoy an hope full of immortality? I ask many questions, that you may have an opportunity of being a witness for God, whether you live or die. I think in life or death you will not forget Yours affectionately.

To Walter Churchey Date: LONDON, June 25, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BRTHER,--At present I am very safe; for I am a good many pounds, if not scores of pounds, worse than nothing. In my Will I bequeath no money but what may happen to be in my pocket when I die. It is my religion which obliges me 'to 'put men in mind to be subject to principalities and powers.' Loyalty is with me an essential branch of religion, and which I am sorry any Methodist should forget. There is the closest connection, therefore, between my religious and my political conduct; the selfsame authority enjoining me to 'fear God' and to 'honor the King.' Dr. Coke promises fair, and gives us reason to hope that he will bring forth not only blossoms but fruit. He has hitherto behaved exceeding well, and seems to be aware of his grand enemy, applause. He will likewise be in danger from offence. If you are acquainted with him, a friendly letter might be of use, and would be taken kindly. He now stands on slippery ground, and is in need of every help. I expect to be at Monmouth (coming from Worcester) on Wednesday, July the 9th, and at Brecon on the 10th.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: NEAR LONDON, June 26, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--Blessed be God that He hath hitherto helped you and lifted you up from the gates of death ! It is not probable that you will be able to teach school any more, as it implies breathing so long in a confined air and speaking several hours in a day. But I make no doubt of your being able to meet a class, perhaps in a month's time. Neither need you ever relapse into your disorder, if you take the precautions which common sense will prescribe. Yesterday I spent some time with Dr. Dodd, and spoke very freely to him. He seems to be in the very temper which one would wish, calmly resigned to the will of God. I hope Miss March is recovering her strength as well as you; and am, my dear sister, Your affectionate brother.

To Mr. ---- Date: WORCESTER, July 7, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I advise all that will take my advice to abide where they are called, and not to 'heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.' [2 Tim. iv. 3. ] So I advise all that were brought up in the Church to continue in the Church. [See letter of Oct 1, 1778] It never entered my thoughts to advise them to hear none but Methodists.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To John Bredin Date: HAVERFORDWEST, July 17, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--John Floyd, who is in Dublin, comes over to the Conference, [Floyd was stationedin Bristol in 1776 and Leeds in 1777.] and will bring your accounts and money to Bristol. Push out wherever you can into new places. I think you need go no farther than Cork and Brandon next year. Meantime do, not so much or so much, but all you can for God.-- I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Elizabeth Ritchie Date: BRISTOL, August 2, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--It is with great pleasure I learn that God has been pleased to lift you up from the gates of death, and that your strength is considerably increased, although you are far from being out of danger. When and in what manner was this change wrought? Can you impute it to any outward circumstance? How did you feel your mind affected when you found a return of strength? Did you rejoice or grieve? or calmly desire, ' Let the will of the Lord be done’? In what respects are you better than when I saw you? In what respects are you the same or worse? Give me as particular an account as you can. Do you find your soul as much alive to God as ever? Does not the corruptible body press down the soul? Do you feel faith's abiding impression, realizing things to come? Do you live in eternity and walk in eternity? And do you still (as Mr. De Renty says) ' carry about with you an experimental verity and a fullness of the presence of the ever-blessed Trinity'?--I remain Yours affectionately.

To George Robinson Date: BRISTOL, August 4, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--You will have but one family this year; so that if the Societies increase you will soon be able to lift up your head, especially as I will desire our brethren to allow Brother Brown the seven pounds. Although the number of your children may incite you to it, yet I hope you will not be in haste to make a second choice. Let it be a matter of much prayer and deliberation. Many women will doubtless be offered. But let piety be your first consideration and fortune only the last.--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Elizabeth Ritchie Date: ST. IVES, August 24, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BETSY,--Ever since I was informed that it has pleased God in some measure to restore your strength I have lived in hope that He will yet be entreated and will give you back to our prayers. Do you still find the same consciousness of the presence of the ever-blessed Trinity? [See letter of Aug 2.] Do you find it day and night? In the midst of trials does it remain the same? But one would be ready to ask, excepting a weak body, what trials can you have? Secluded from the world, and all its care, Hast thou to joy or grieve, to hope or fear? Unless it be for this,--You long to please all for their good, but you cannot succeed. You would fain give them satisfaction, but they will not be satisfied. This may be a dose trial. Send as particular an account as you can of the state both of your body and mind to Yours affectionately.

To his Great-niece Patience Ellison Date: BRISTOL, September 7, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR PATTY,--Only go on as you have begun. Labor to be not almost but altogether a Christian; and not only an outside but an inside Christian, the same in heart and in life. Then you will receive more and more blessings from Him who watches over you for good, and that observes the faintest motions of your heart towards Him, and is ever ready to bring every good design into effect. In order to your improvement in every respect, serious company will be of admirable use, and you will have need to keep your mouth as with a bridle when you are among triflers. But let them do as they please. You have one thing to do-- to work out your own salvation. I will send you the volume of poems. The more you read (only a little at a time) the more you will love reading. And to assist you in anything will always be a pleasure to, my dear Patty, Your affectionate Uncle.

To Alexander Clark Date: BRISTOL, September 8, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--If we live till spring, I hope to reconcile most of the contending parties. In the meantime, that something may be done at the present, I have wrote to Mr. Boardman at Cork and desired him to come to Dublin immediately. Mr. Bradburn is to supply his place at Cork. In every place the Assistant chooses the leaders. But any leader or any other person does well to appeal to me if he thinks himself hardly used. When Mr. Boardman comes, I wish you would speak to him; and whatever he determines will be agreeable to Your affectionate brother.

To Alexander Clark Date: BRISTOL, September 11, I777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--I received your last letter this afternoon, and one at the same time wherein are these words: Last Sunday morning the two Clarks in a very indecent and unbecoming manner persisted to meet their classes, and peremptorily refused to admit the appointed leader, who it is said with all Christian meekness endeavored to reason with them. But they were inflamed, and had so kindled and irritated the spirits of their classes that with a mob-like anarchy they declared they would have none else to meet them. What could be done? Was it not necessary to disband such unsubdued and inflammatory spirits? In the most tender, gentle, awful, and affecting manner Mr. Hampson at the Society last night showed the consequences of such proceedings and the necessity of order and good government, and then declared the two Clarks to be no longer members of this Society. This is not wrote or dictated by either of the preachers, but by (I believe an impartial) bystander. I am sorry both for the thing and for the occasion of it. But in very deed I know not what to say or do. For many years I have had a particular regard for Alexander Clark, and I have so still. I love him as a plain, honest man that wishes to do all things well. But what can I advise you to in the present case? in this trying hour? I would really advise you to sit still for a little while. Very soon you may expect to see Mr. Boardman. And as he will be the Assistant, he will be able, if anything is wrong, to set it right. Commending you and our brethren to the God of peace and love, I remain Your affectionate brother.

To Samuel Wells Date: BRISTOL, September 11, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--You may remember it was observed at the Quarterly Meeting that the present contributions cannot support four preachers; and it was considered, What can be done either to increase the contributions or to lessen the expenses? The easiest way, we thought, to increase the contributions was this: Let our ablest Societies advance quarterly according to their abilities. £ s. d. Coleford has agreed to advance . . 1 0 0 Motcomb . . . . 10 6 Corsley . . . . 10 6 Frome . . . . 6 6 Is not Braford Society able to advance. . 1 0 0 Freshford . . . . 10 6 Shaftesbury . . . . 8 0 Seand . . . . 7 6 Catbench . . . . 4 6 Oakhill . . . . . 2 6 If they can and will do this, nothing will be wanting. In order to lessen the expenses, the Motcomb Society has engaged to furnish the Quarterly Dinner every Midsummer, the Coleford Society every Michaelmas, the Societies of Frome and Corsley every Christmas. If the Bradford Society chooses to furnish it at Lady Day, it is well. If not, Motcomb will do this too. By this means several pounds in the year will be saved and many uncomfortable complaints prevented. One thing more I desire. I request all the Wiltshire Societies to do as they do in other circuits, to pay their quarterly collection when they receive their tickets. And it is then I hope persons of property will advance their subscriptions according to their ability. Out of this serve the other preachers first, and yourself last. [Wells was Assistant in North Wilts Circuit.]--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: BRISTOL, September 15, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR MISS BISHOP,--There is seldom much heat in the preaching-house at Bradford: at least, it is not caused by the largeness of the congregation; although I think it was larger last week than I have seen it for several years. We have reason to be thankful that none of our friends at Bristol have been hurt by Mr. Hilton's change. [See letters of Aug. 6 and Oct. 22 (to Miss Bishop).] They seem to be grieved but not hurt, rather the more established in the truth. Of Miss Flower I have heard something not so agreeable. But I can say nothing yet. In a day or two I hope to have an opportunity of talking with her, and then I shall know how to judge. If she will copy after my dear Miss Yerbury, I shall have no more pain about her. The sea breezes may be of service to you, if you have an opportunity of using constant exercise. This has brought many from the gates of death. It is beyond all medicine whatever. I am in great hopes this sickness will not be unto death, but that the glory of the Lord may be revealed. Kempis's rule admits of many exceptions. Whatever was the case then, we have now abundant proof that very 'many are made better by sickness'; unless one would rather say ‘in sickness.’ This is one of the grand means which God employs for that purpose. In sickness many are convinced of sin, many converted to God, and still more confirmed in the ways of God and brought onward to perfection. His gracious design in yours seems to be chiefly this--to wean you yet more from created things, to make and keep you dead to all below. To this end you are in a manner cut off from everything that you may find your all in Him. If He should see good to restore you, you will be an instrument fit for the Master's use.

To Ann Bolton Date: BRISTOL, September 15, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,---You know how nearly I am concerned in whatever relates to you. My regard for you has been invariable ever since you was with me in London. I then set you-down for my inalienable friend, and such I trust you will always be, until the union of our spirits will be complete where our bodies part no more. Why, then, should I not speak (as I have done hitherto) in all simplicity. Why should I not tell you just what rises in my heart even on the most delicate occasion! I cannot once suppose you will take it amiss. I speak plainly because I love you. God has lately delivered you out of imminent danger, that of being unequally yoked with an unbeliever. That he is so now will admit of no dispute. And it is not plain that ever he was otherwise. It is highly probable that he never was: that he either wore the appearance of religion for a time, or deceived himself as well as others by mistaking good desires, transient desires for good tempers, whether those desires were real----. But it is certain they were not deep; and as they were chiefly from love to you, it is scarce possible they could have been lasting.

To Ann Bolton Date: BRISTOL, September 27, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- Shall not I speak to my dear friend all that is in my heart? I know no reason why I should not. I have done so from the time I knew you first, and more especially from the time you was with me in London. Then I took more intimate knowledge of you: I tasted of your spirit. I observed all your tempers, and marked you down as the ' sister of my choice.' As such I have looked upon you ever since without any intermission or variation. And sometimes you have been free and open to me; but at other times you have been more shy and distant. My Nancy, let that time of distance and reserve return no more! Be to me always (if you can) what I am to you, a faithful and tender-hearted friend. Undoubtedly Satan, who well understands the manner how the mind is influenced by the body, can, by means of those parts in the animal machine which are more immediately subservient to thinking, raise a thousand perceptions and emotions in the mind, so far as God is pleased to permit. I doubt not but he was the chief agent in your late painful exercises. [See letter of Sept. 15 to her.] And you gave him advantage by reasoning with him--that is, fighting him at his own weapons; instead of simply looking up and saying, 'Thou shalt answer for me, O Lord, my God.' You undoubtedly want more thankfulness. And you want more simplicity; that grace, Cambray says, 'which cuts the soul off from all unnecessary reflections upon itself.' You are encompassed with ten thousand mercies; and the greatest of all is, ' Christ in a pure and spotless heart! ' Beware of ever admitting any doubt or reasoning concerning this! Whereunto you have attained hold fast! And use all the grace you have received. Warn every one, and exhort every one, especially those who groan after full salvation. I cannot on any account pass an whole day without commending you to God in prayer. I thank you for writing to me so soon. Continue to love and pray for, my dear Nancy, Yours most affectionately.

You certainly did right in casting in your lot among the people of God. But it is no wonder that you are tempted concerning it. However, that matter may be made easy. Agree upon a time when Sister King may meet Mrs. Blachford, Mrs. Shiels, and you by yourselves. I believe you will then find no difficulty in speaking. And it will be a blessing to your soul. You have set your hand to the plough: see that you look not back; neither you nor my dear Mr. Smyth. Go on; run, and never tire, till we meet in our Father's house.--I am, my dear sister, Yours in tender affection.

To Walter Churchey Date: LONDON, October 18, I777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER,--You see how 'good wits jump.' We agree that no politics shall have a place in the Arminian Magazine. But poetry will; only my brother and I are the judges what pieces shall be admitted. It may be some will think us too nice in our choice; but that we cannot help. As to a review of religious books, it might be well; but I have two objections: (1) I scruple my own sufficiency for the work; (2) I would not at any price be bound to read over all the present religious productions of the press. Peace be with you and yours, young and old!--I am Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: NEAR OXFORD, October 22, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR MISS BISHOP,--By long experience I am convinced that natural strength of understanding is no defense against the most absurd errors; more especially if we lean to it ever so little, if we are not deeply conscious of our own weakness. I am therefore jealous of you also: I am afraid lest you too 'fall where many mightier have been slain.' Indeed, some have not scrupled to say already, 'Oh, Miss Bishop will soon be enlightened as well as Miss Flower. [ See letters of Sept. 15 (to her) and Nov. 16.] She has such a regard for Mr. Hilton, that he will soon open her eyes.' As yet I cannot believe he will; yet I do not say there is no danger. Has he opened the cause? Has he spoke o wrote to you upon the favorite subject? Has he talked you about 'being still, ceasing from your own works, and from crying, Lo here and lo there'? If he has, what impression did that smooth and plausible conversation make upon your mind Was you almost persuaded it was right? or did you stand unmoved? If you was moved, if you too should leave 'the fallen Methodists,' and join 'the Friends, the only living people in the world '; still, I do not find myself inclined to bring am heavy indictment against you. I should not be angry; though I should grieve, for I cannot easily part with those I love. I am inclined to think your friend of Bath made a mistake with regard to the person. I did receive ' a letter which I knew-not what to make of.' But it was from Miss Flower, not Miss Bishop. I do not remember that ever I received a letter from you which I did not understand. I know few people who write or speak more intelligibly than you do; and I hope you will soon give a fresh proof of it to, my dear Miss Bishop, Yours affectionately

To the Assistant Preachers Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- [October 1777.] MY DEAR BROTHER, About March you may begin to make the subscription for the new chapel. Till then I will beg you with all possible diligence to procure subscriptions for the Philosophy. [See letter of Feb. 15.] Spare no pains. It will be the most complete thing in its kind of any in the English tongue. But it is well if I procure as many subscribers as will pay the expense of the edition.--I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Mr. ----- Date: LONDON, November 9, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- I have not time to write to you so full and so plain upon the point as I have written in the sermons that are printed. I have a thousand other things to do, and I have said all I can say. Here is a precipice on each side. To say every man can believe to justification or sanctification when he will is contrary to plain matter of fact. Every one can confute it by his own experience. And yet if you deny that every man can believe if he will, you run full into absolute decrees. How will you untie this knot? I apprehend very easily. That every man may believe if he will I earnestly maintain, and yet that he can believe when he will I totally deny. But there will be always something in the matter which we cannot well comprehend or explain.--I am, &c.

To William Ripley Date: WESTMINSTER, November 13, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR BILLY,--It is well if the houses both at Driffield and Guisborough be not too small. Mr. Atlay will send you a complete set of my Works. If you increase in substance, you are in great danger of decreasing in grace. Treacle-plasters would very probably prevent that crackling of the joints. To prevent worldly-mindedness be as much employed in the work of God as you possibly can. Peace be with you and yours!--I am, dear Billy, Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bishop Date: LONDON, November 16, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR MISS BISHOP,--You have entirely taken away my fear (indeed, not a vehement one) of your following the example of poor Miss Flower and connecting yourself with the Quakers. [See letters of Oct. 22, 1777, and May 15, 1778, to her.] I am glad you are not tossed to and fro even by those you love well, and hope you will always say, ' I am a friend to Socrates and to Plato, but much more to truth.' 'To be faithful to the teaching of the Spirit of God,' you have been exhorted ever since you joined the Methodists. This sentiment is not peculiar to Mr. Hilton [See letter of Feb. 7, 1778.]; nor, I believe, any scriptural sentiment. What I have lamented in him for some years is an aptness to condemn and to despise his brethren. There is no failing more infectious than this; 'tis much if you did not catch a little of it from him. For otherwise you would hardly pass that sentence, ' that the body of Methodists are degenerated.' You cannot possibly judge whether they are or no. Perhaps you converse with one or two hundred of them. Now, allowing two-thirds of these to be degenerated, can you infer the same concerning thirty or forty thousand? Yet thus much I will allow. Two-thirds of those who are grown rich are greatly degenerated. They do not, will not save all they can in order to give all they can. And without doing this they cannot grow in grace; nay, they continually grieve the Holy Spirit of God. It gives me pleasure to hear that you are recovering your strength of body. That you may continually increase in spiritual strength also is the constant wish of, my dear Miss Bishop, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Thomas Rutherford Date: LONDON, November 22, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--You send me a pleasing account of the isle; just such an one as I expected. For I did not doubt but the work of God would prosper in your hands. They talk, but they can do nothing. If the Act of Toleration does not extend to the isle, neither does the Conventicle Act. So they have no ground to stand upon. It is soon enough to take the oaths when you are required so to do. If any one actually molests you, then apply to the Governor, telling him, ' I desired you so to do.' He will likewise do you justice in case of riots.--I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate friend and brother. My kind love to Mr. Corlett. [See heading to letter of Jan. 17.] You may sell many of the penny tracts, and they will do much good.

To the Reader of the ' Arminian Magazine' Date: LEWISHAM, November 24, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- It is usual, I am informed, for the compilers of magazines to employ the outside covers in acquainting the courteous reader with the beauties and excellencies of what he will find within. I beg him to excuse me from this trouble: from writing panegyric upon myself. Neither can I desire my friends to do it for me in their recommendatory letters. I am content this Magazine should stand or fall by its own intrinsic value. If it is a compound of falsehood, ribaldry, and nonsense, let it sink into oblivion. If it contains only the words of truth and soberness, then let it meet with a favorable reception. It is usual likewise with magazine writers to speak of themselves in the plural number: ' We will do this.' And, indeed, it is the general custom of great men so to do. But I am a little one. Let me, then, be excused in this also, and permitted to speak as I am accustomed to do.

To Mrs. Crosby Date: LONDON, December 2, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER,--I hope you will always have your time much filled up. You will, unless you grow weary of well doing. For is not the harvest plenteous still? Had we ever a larger field of action? And shall we stand all or any part of the day idle? Then we should wrong both our neighbor and our own souls. For the sake of retrenching her expenses, I thought it quite needful for Miss Bosanquet to go from home. And I was likewise persuaded (as she was herself) that God had something for her to do in Bath and Kingswood; perhaps in Bristol too, although I do not think she will be called to speak there in public. The difference between us and the Quakers in this respect is manifest. They flatly deny the rule itself, although it stands clear in the Bible. We allow the rule; only we believe it admits of some exceptions. At present I know of those, and no more, in the whole Methodist Connection. You should send word of what our Lord is doing where you go to, dear Sally, Yours affectionately.

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, December 8, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--Undoubtedly Bishop Newton's book on the Prophecies is well written. [Thomas Newton, Bishop of Bristol 1761-82, Dean of St. Paul's 1768, See letter of March 10, 1763.] And he is certainly a man of sense and of considerable learning. This he has shown in what he writes on the Revelation. But with regard to the passage you mention I cannot agree with him at all. I believe the Romish antichrist is already so fallen that he will not again lift up his head in any considerable degree. The Bishop of Rome has little more power now than any other of the Italian Princes. I therefore concur with you in believing his tyranny is past never to return. But there is no comparison, either as to sense, learning, or piety, between Bishop Newton and Bengelius. The former is a mere child to the latter. I advise you to give another serious and careful reading .to that extract from his comment on the Revelation which concludes the Notes. There you have one uniform consistent [view] far beyond any I ever saw. And I verily believe the more deeply you consider it the more you will admire it. Does any one deny that a kite is bigger than a lark, or that Ogilvie has written a larger book than Virgil? And certainly there are larger magazines than ours; but it does not follow that they are better. Ours is reduced to half the price, and will contain forty-eight pages, which is the usual number for sixpence. We are called to propagate Bible religion through the land--that is, faith working by love, holy tempers and holy lives. Let us do it with our might!--I am, dear Joseph, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Thomas Rutherford Date: LONDON, December 20, 1777. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1777) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY,--You gave me an agreeable account of the progress of the work of God in the island. I apprehend you will meet with no hindrance from men in power. They know the mind of the King. You cannot with a good conscience receive that froward man either as a leader or a member of the Society unless he acknowledges his fault. Otherwise he would do more hurt in the Society than out of it.--I am, dear Tommy, Yours affectionately. I fix no journeys till after Christmas.

To Thomas Taylor Date: LONDON, January 15, 1778. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1778) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY, - I am glad you have seen Mr. Pugh. The Philosophy is finished, [See letter of Feb. 15, 1777.] and will be sent down next month. I spoke briefly before; but since you urge me to it, I will now come full upon your subject. As to Preaching, you ought not to preach against that unscriptural, blasphemous, mischievous doctrine constantly - no, nor very frequently. But you ought now and then to bear a full, strong, express testimony against it; otherwise you are a sinner against God and your people and your own soul. I have done this too seldom, scarce once in fifty sermons: ought to have done it once in fifteen or ten.

As to Writing and Publishing, the deadly poison has for many years been spread through England, chiefly by means of those pestilent declamations the Gospel and the Spiritual Magazine. Whatever is designed for an antidote to this poison must be spread in the same manner. Thousands have been thereby poisoned already, and are now twice dead. To guard those who are not poisoned yet (not to get money), I fight them at their own weapons. I oppose magazine to magazine, though of a totally different kind. But it seems you know nothing at all of the matter. You do not appear to have even read the Proposals. This Magazine not only contains no railing, but (properly speaking) no controversy. It proves one point: 'God willeth all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.' It goes straight forward, taking notice of no opponent, but invariably pursuing the one point. And this is the only way to preserve Methodists and to make the Calvinists quiet. Meantime the Letters and the Lives, which will make a considerable part of every number, contain the marrow of experimental and practical religion; so that nothing of the kind has appeared before. Therefore a magazine of this kind is a new thing in the land; and those who formerly spoke against magazines may with a good grace recommend this as being quite another thing and published upon other motives. I do not desire any Calvinist to read it. I publish it not to convince but preserve. I know by long experience they will never bend but when the war is carried into their own quarters. This I will do, as long as God spares my life, in love and in meekness of wisdom. This is the way, and the only way, to establish a lasting peace. But is it not odd that a Methodist preacher, an Assistant, should be the only one who sees my brother and me, and the bulk of the preachers, and the body of the people to be wrong Tommy, distrust yourself. Do not lean much to your own understanding. 'Tis possible they may be right and you wrong. You do not at all understand the affair. We are well rid of those turbulent men. With love to Nancy, Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Ann Bolton Date: LONDON, January 24, 1778. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1778) Author: John Wesley --- It is surely a wise and gracious Providence which has detained you so long at Withey. You was sent thither and still remain there for the good of the poor people. I wish you could meet all the women of the Society either in band or class. Lay yourself out among them as much as ever your strength and leisure will permit. You was formerly the nursing mother of the Society; they grew and prospered under your hand, and they have not prospered since. They have pined away like poor orphans ever since you was removed from them. [See letter of Jan. 11, 1775, to Francis Woffe.] Possibly now they may spring up and flourish again; and then you will not think much of your labor. It would undoubtedly be of use if a few of you were to meet together for this very purpose, to improve one another in Christian knowledge as well as in love. And you cannot insist too much on that point - that, whatever our past experience has been, we are now more or less acceptable to God as we more or less improve the present moment. But it is no wonder that many are so angry at this assertion, for it strikes at the very root of Calvinism. That you are tempted to peevishness, to discontent, or to anything else will be no loss as long as you are conqueror over all, yea more than conqueror through Him that loveth you. And so, I doubt not, you will always be; because your trust is not in yourself but in Him. - My dear Nancy, Yours most affectionately.

To Mary Bishop Date: LONDON, February 7, 1778. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1778) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER, - It is no great matter whether those doubts arose in your mind by conversing with Mr. Hilton, [See letter of Nov. 16, 1777.] by reading (his oracle) Mr. Law's later works, or by your own reasoning. But certainly the subject is of the last importance, and deserves our most serious consideration. Indeed, nothing in the Christian system is of greater consequence than the doctrine of Atonement. It is properly the distinguishing point between Deism and Christianity. 'The scriptural scheme of morality,' said Lord Huntingdon, [Francis, Earl of Huntingdon, son of Lady Huntingdon, was a freethinker.] 'is what every one must admire; but the doctrine of Atonement I cannot comprehend.' Here, then, we divide. Give up the Atonement, and the Deists are agreed with us. This point, therefore, deserves to be more largely considered than my time will permit. But it is the less needful now because I have done it already in my letter to Mr. Law; to which I beg you will give a serious reading, whether you have read it before or no. It is in the nineteenth volume of the Works. [See letter of Jan. 6, 1756, sect. II. 2, 3, to William Law.] But it is true I can no more comprehend it than his lordship; perhaps I might say than the angels of God, than the highest created understanding. Our reason is here quickly bewildered. If we attempt to expatiate in this field, we 'find no end, in wandering mazes lost.' But the question is (the only question with me; I regard nothing else), What saith the Scripture It says, 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself'; that 'He made Him, who knew no sin, to be a sin-offering for us.' It says, 'He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.' It says, 'We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the atonement for our sins.'

But it is certain, had God never been angry, He could never have been reconciled. So that, in affirming this, Mr. Law strikes at the very root of the Atonement, and finds a very short method of converting Deists. [He is evidently thinking of Charles Leslie (1650-1722), Nonjuror and his A Short and Easy Method with the Deists.] Although, therefore, I do not term God, as Mr. Law supposes, ' a wrathful Being,' which conveys a wrong idea; yet I firmly believe He was angry with all mankind, and that He was reconciled to them by the death of His Son. And I know He was angry with me till I believed in the Son of His love; and yet this is no impeachment to His mercy, that He is just as well as merciful. But undoubtedly, as long as the world stands, there will be a thousand objections to this scriptural doctrine. For still the preaching of Christ crucified will be foolishness to the wise men of the world. Hovever let us hold the precious truth fast in our hearts as well as in our understanding; and we shall find by happy experience that this is to us the wisdom of God and power of God. I do not doubt but your health will be so far re-established that you may either teach school or live in Bath. But I do not know whether you will be able to do both together, to teach school in Bath. A little time will determine. And meanwhile we know that will be which is best. - I am Your affectionate friend and brother.

To Duncan McAllum Date: LONDON, February 11, 1778. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1778) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR BROTHER, - You do not write too often. When I think your letters troublesome, I will tell you. I leave it to your choice how you should divide your time between Perth and Inverness. [See letter of Jan. 17.] It seems to me you should spend at least a month in the North before the Conference. If you have not money for the journey, I will help you. I shall hardly see Scotland this year. About the end of next month I expect to be in Dublin. If Brother Ellis is angry at you, be not you angry at him. A soft answer turneth away wrath. - Dear Duncan, Your affectionate brother.

To Samuel Bardsley Date: LONDON, February 14, 1778. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1778) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY, - So your mother is at rest! We shall go to her, though she will not return to us. I am glad you are so agreeably situated, and that you already see some fruit of your labor. About the 27th of March I expect to be at Chester. If a ship be ready at Parkgate, I purpose to embark directly; if not, I shall pay you a visit at Liverpool. [He sailed from Liverpool on March 31.] I fix upon nothing: let the Lord do as seemeth Him good. - I am, dear Sammy, Your affectionate brother.

To Mary Bosanquet Date: LONDON, February 23, 1778. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1778) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER, - Although I hope to see you next week, I cannot but write a few lines. Who knows but the illness of Miss Bishop might be permitted for this very thing-that you might have a more clear and open way to help the women at Bath forward What you have to do at Bristol does not yet appear; Providence will open itself by-and-by. I am glad Philly Cousins retains her confidence. See that she has something to do. ['Brother Cousins was restored to the love of God' a few days after Miss Bosanquet reached Bath in December. See letters of Dec. 2, 1777, and Nov. 1, 1778.] I had not heard anything of Tommy Westall's daughter; and am glad she is so well disposed of. Let Brother Taylor and Nancy Tripp do all they can for God. [Richard Taylor, her business man at Cross Hall. Ann Tripp (1745-1823) was governess to the orphans at Leytonstone, and lived with Miss Bosanquet in Yorkshire. For Thomas Westall, see letter of Dec. 20, 1746.] This is an acceptable time. I hope to see you on Tuesday afternoon [He was at Bath on March 3.]; and am, my dear sister, Yours very affectionately.

To Alexander Knox Date: LONDON, February 26, 1778. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1778) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR ALLECK, - In the latter end of March I hope to be in Dublin, and about the 28th of May in Londonderry. [preached on May 28 in Londonderry, and stayed till June 4.] It is a place I always loved; but I shall love it more than ever if I have the pleasure of lodging with you. With regard to your health, both of body and mind, if you could take one advice it would have a surprising effect. It is this: 'Take no thought for the morrow.' You know not how much even your body suffers by this. To-day only is yours. Look up, and He will bless you all to-day. - I am, my dear Alleck, Very affectionately yours.

To Kitty Warren Date: BRISTOL, March 5, 1778. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1778) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SISTER WARREN, - I believe your sister saw me several times, though I saw her but once. It was only a few hours before we set out that I had any thoughts of visiting Ireland. And when I came to Llyngwair, I was in hopes of leaving it immediately. But we were providentially detained a little and a little and a little longer, and I believe not in vain. I am not at all sorry that you are not called to remove from Haverford. You seem to me to be just in your place. You have many opportunities of personal improvement, such as you could not have had in a country village and in an hurry of various business, and you have now a sufficient sphere of action wherein you may employ whatever talents you have received. Now live for eternity! Be a good steward of the manifold gifts of God. Be equally ready to do and to suffer His whole will, and aspire after all His promises! You send me a pleasing account of the work of God among you. God will bless those that serve Him with a single eye. Only cure Brother Broadbent [John Broadbent, the Assistant at Pembroke, 'frequently so exhausted himself in preaching that he was ready to drop down when he concluded his sermon.' See letters of Dec. 21, 1775, and Oct. 31, 1778 (to Miss Warren).] of screaming, and you will do him a real kindness. It is strange that so many good men are guilty of self-murder. You see, upon reading your postscript, I have mended my address. I am willing to amend any fault you will tell me of. Indeed, I do not desire there should be any ceremony between us; but as much love as you please. The more I converse with you, the more near you are to, my dear Kitty, Yours affectionately. My love and service attend Mrs. Vaughan and your mother.

To Thomas Wride Date: NEAR MARYBOROUGH, April 20, 1778. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1778) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR TOMMY, - I do not remember J. Woodcock. But if the accout you give of her be just (and I have no reason to believe the contras), I cannot see any objection to your choosing her; although you do well not to depend upon her brother, for his humor may easily change. Whatever you do should be done with much prayer, as the matter is of no small importance. - I am, dear Tommy, Your affectionate brother. I hope the 'Sword-drawer' is not a preacher.

To Mary Bishop Date: CASTLEBAR, May 15, 1778. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1778) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR MISS BISHOP, - When I received Miss Flower's last letter, I was utterly astonished. [See letters of Nov. 16, 1777, and Aug. 20, 1778.] It was a civil (shall I say, or uncivil) discharge from writing to her any more, and seemed to me to express every passion which I thought she ought not to feel. I was therefore at a full stand, not knowing whether it was advisable to write again or not. After pausing a while, I thought it would not be amiss to write one letter more. I did so, writing in as plain and sincere a manner as I could, and yet mildly and affectionately. I believe this was about a month ago. I have not had a line from her since. I cannot therefore write again; it would be quite out of character. Yet I am greatly concerned for her, and was thinking but yesterday, 'What can I do farther Is there no prudent and affectionate friend, for whom she has still a respect, and whom I might desire to interpose on this delicate occasion, and if possible to remove this misunderstanding' You are the woman! As soon as ever I read your letter I saw it clear as the day. She loves you still; and you have an affection for her. Use, therefore, the privilege of friendship. I am afraid she has one with her that does her no good - that, instead of laboring to remove any prejudice, would endeavor to increase it, and gradually to wean her from all her friends. If you pay her a visit, you will easily perceive whether my fears are just or no. And you will soon discover whether any one has taken pains to increase rather than heal this little breach. Go in God's name, and add this to the other instances of friendship which you have on all occasions shown either to her, or to, my dear Miss Bishop, Yours affectionately.

To Mrs. Johnston, Annandale, Lisleen Date: LONDONDERRY, June 1, 1778. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1778) Author: John Wesley --- MY DEAR SISTER, - My little complaint left me almost as soon as I left Lisleen, and has not returned since. It is well that our life and all things pertaining to it are in His hands. He orders all things well; and being assured of this, we need be careful for nothing: it is enough that in all things we may make our requests with thanksgiving. I make no doubt but He will hear the prayers on behalf of your whole family; but the time and manner of answering our prayers He reserves in His own power. And He has given you a token for good, - already you have one if not more children that love and fear Him; and the rest are not such enemies of the gospel as persons of their rank usually are. You have reason to thank God for what He has done, and to expect all that He has promised. Mr. Abraham is beset on every side; but hitherto he stands like a rock. He seems fixed in his resolution to give up all things that he may win Christ. I believe he will set out with me on Thursday for Coleraine, and then I trust we shall part no more. Mr. Smyth was unable to meet us here, but hopes to do so at Ballymena. [See letters of Feb. 22, 1777, and July 12, 1778.] If I live a year or two longer, there islittle doubt but that I shall see the North of Ireland again. I commend you and all our dear friends that are with you to Him that has loved us and given Himself for us; and am, my dear sister, Yours very affectionately.

To Samuel Bradburn Date: LONDONDERRY, June 4, 1778. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1778) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR SAMMY, - I have wrote this morning to Mrs. Karr, and suppose she will answer me either to Belfast or Lisburn. It is now your part to be instant in prayer that God may order all things well. I hope to be at the Man of War [A small decayed hamlet in co. Dublin. Bradburn went there to meet Wesley on June 26, and slept there. Wesley married him on the 28th to Betsy Nangle.] on the 26th instant at five or six in the evening; at Dublin on the 27th. On Monday and Tuesday I may meet the classes; so the Conference will begin on Tuesday, July the 7th. - I am, dear Sammy, Your affectionate brother. To a Friend LONDONDERRY, June 5, 1778. DEAR SIR, - I have a long letter from an anonymous correspondent respecting the Arminian Magazine. It appears to be wrote with a friendly design and in an excellent spirit. The objections mentioned therein seem to be partly his own, partly repeated from others. The first is: 'It is too short; some other magazines are almost as long again. It is true there are as many pages as in others; but there are not so many lines in a page, not so many by ten or twelve, as in the Spiritual Magazine.' I answer by confessing the charge. It is undeniably true that it does not contain so many lines either in prose or verse as the Spiritual Magazine. And Tonson, who is himself a wit, Weighs writers' merits by the sheet. [Prior's Epistle to F. Shephard.] So do thousands besides; but I do not write for these. I write for those who judge of books not by the quantity but by the quality of them, who ask not how long but how good they are. I spare both my reader's time and my own by couching my sense in as few words as I can. Those who prefer the dealers in many words may find them on every side. And from these they may have not only as much more but ten times as much for their money.

A second objection is: 'Here is not variety enough.' I answer, Here is all the variety I promised: I promised the bulk of the Magazine (as the very title implies) should treat of Universal Redemption. And hence you had reason to expect that the greatest part of every number would turn on that single point. Do you blame me for keeping close to my point for not rambling from my subject It is not my manner; I do not aim at it. Whether in speaking or writing, I endeavor to avoid this kind of variety, and to keep one thing always in view. 'But there is not variety in the historical part.' What do you mean Would you have me insert bits and scraps of history or give in each number part of the life of one man and part of that of another I never proposed this: I think it is far better to select a few of the best lives I know, and to go entirely through one before I enter upon another. In the letters there is certainly as much variety as any reasonable man can expect. Indeed, they are all serious. And they all relate to one thing, the work of God in the heart. But this also was what I promised at first, what I proposed from the beginning. 'But would it not be advisable to procure and print letters from various correspondents' Yes, if I could hope for better than I have already; but I have no hope of this. I believe very many of those that now lie by me will not easily be excelled, either in point of sentiment or expression, by any other I can receive. 'But would not many of your correspondents propose objections, and thereby occasion more variety 'They would; but that is a kind of variety which I peculiarly dislike. I have studiously avoided it from the beginning, and shall to the end of the work. I design going straight on in proving my point without turning aside to the right hand or the left.

'But you have no pictures or other decorations or embellishments which other magazines have.' It is true. But I will tell you what I have (if you cannot find it out without telling) - such paper as no magazine in England was ever printed upon before. Consider l this one single article costs more than all their fine embellishments put together. Permit me to say once for all: to men of taste, men of sense, and men of piety I am in hopes this Magazine will recommend itself without any but its own intrinsic ornaments. But if any of these will inform me how it may be improved, consistently with my first design, the favor will be thankfully acknowledged by, dear sir, Your affectionate servant.