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! DEAR SISTER, London, Feb. 20, 1767. YOUR letter was exceedingly acceptable to me, and the more so because I was almost afraid you had forgotten me. I am glad to find you have not forgotten the blessing which God gave you when at Newcastle, and the resolutions which you formed there; and I trust you never will, till God gives you the full enjoyment of the glorious liberty which you then tasted. Do not imagine that this is afar off; or that you must do and suffer a great deal before you attain it ;-I dare not affirm that.-Has not Christ done and suffered enough for you? The purchase is made; the price is paid already; you have only to believe and enter into rest; to take the purchased possession: all is ready and to-day is the day of salvation! Why should you not NOW be all LOVE? All devoted to him that loves you? Is it not the language of your heart, Henceforth may no profane delight Divide this consecrated soul; As LORD and MASTER of the whole.. You are to obey your parent in the Lord only, not in opposition to HIM. If, therefore, any means should offer whereby you might enjoy that full liberty of conscience, which every creature has a right to, I judge it would be not only lawful, but your bounden duty to accept of such an offer. Mrs. Wilberforce's charity is a good omen: what is it God will not do if we can trust him.-Only cast your whole care upon him, and he will do all things well: He will withhold from you no manner of thing that is good. O let him have all your heart. I am, dear Sister, &c. J. W. TO THE SAME. DEAR SISTER, Londonderry, April 20, 1767. CERTAINLY the point we should always have in view is, what is best for eternity? And I believe it would be best for you to change your condition, if a proper person offers. But I should scruple doing this without a parent's consent. If your mother is VOL. 10.-Z willing, I see no objection to your marrying one that fears God, and is seeking salvation through Christ. Such an one is not an unbeliever, in the sense wherein that word is taken, 2 Cor. vi. xiv. I love to think of you and hear from you. I want you to be always holy and happy. And why not? You have a strong Helper, and shall not his strength be made perfect in your weakness? Why then should you stop short of his whole promise. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.-Hold him to his word, and let not your hope be weakened by the subtile reasonings of men. the language of your heart be Big with earnest expectation Let me sit-at thy feet, As long as you are in this spirit you will not forget Still let Your's, &c. TO THE SAME. J. W. DEAR SISTER, Newcastle, Aug. 8, 1767. WE have many instances of this: persons cold and dull, and scarcely knowing how to believe their own words, have asserted as they could, the truths of the gospel, and enforced them upon others, and at that very time God has caused light and love to spring up in their own hearts. Therefore, however you feel in your own breast, speak as well as you can for GoD. Many times you will see some fruit upon others; if not, you shall have a recompense in your own bosom. In one sense, you do believe, That God is both able and willing to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, and to do it now. But not in that sense, wherein all things are possible to him that believeth. But what if he should give you this faith also? Yea, while you have this paper in your hand! To-day hear his voice! O listen! And heaven springs up in your heart. Among the hearers of Mr. Maden and Mr. Romaine (much more among those of Mr. Whitefield) there are many gracious souls, and some who have deep experience of the ways of God. Yet, the hearing them would not profit you; it would be apt to lead you into unprofitable reasonings, which would probably end in your giving up all hope of a full salvation from sin in this life. Therefore I advise you, check all curiosity of this kind, and keep quite out of the way of danger. Hannah Harrison is a blessed woman. I am glad you had an opportunity of conversing with her; and why should not you enjoy the same blessing? The Lord is at hand! I am, &c. J. W. DEAR SISTER, TO THE SAME. Oct. 14, 1767. AT length I get a little time (after having been some weeks almost in a perpetual motion) to write a few lines to one I sincerely love. Grow in grace every hour; the more the better. Use now, all the grace you have; this is certainly right: but also now expect all the grace you want! This is the secret of heart religion. At the present moment to work, and to believe. Here is Christ your Lord: the lover of your soul. Give yourself up to him without delay; and as you can, without reserve. And simply tell him all you desire, and all you want. What situation is it that hurries you? Is it not determined whether you shall change your condition or not? Be it either way, God sitteth on the throne, and ruleth all things well. I am, &c. JOHN WESLEY. TO MR. JOSEPH COWNLEY.* MY DEAR BRETHREN, Bristol, Sept. 20, 1746. AS many of you as have set your hands to the plough, see that you go on, and look not back. The prize and the crown are before you, and, in due time, you shall reap, if you faint not. Meantime, fight the good fight of faith, enduring the cross, and despising the shame. Beware that none of you return evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrary-wise, blessing. Show forth out of a loving heart, your good conversation, with meekness and wisdom. Avoid all disputes as you would avoid fire: so shall ye continue kindly affectionate one toward another. The God of peace be with you. I am, your affectionate Brother, JOHN WESLEY. TO THE SAME, AT NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. MY DEAR BROTHER, Dublin, April 12, 1750. more danger from honour, I always find there is most When the winds blow and I DOUBT you are in a great deal than from dishonour. So it is with me. hazard in sailing upon smooth water. the seas rage, even the sleepers will rise and call upon God. From Newcastle to London, and from London to Bristol, God is every where reviving his work. I find it is so now in Dublin: although there has been great imprudence in some, whereby grievous wolves have lately crept in among us: not sparing the flock by whom some souls have been utterly destroyed, and others wounded, who are not yet recovered. Those who ought to have stood in the gap, did not. But I trust they will be wiser for the time to come. After a season, I think it will be highly expedient *This letter, directed to Mr. Cownley, at Leominster, in Herefordshire, appears to be intended chiefly for the Society in that place, where Mr. Cownley then resided. for you to labour in Ireland again. Mr. Lunell has been on the brink of the grave by a fever. Yesterday we had hopes of his recovery. I see a danger you are in, which, perhaps, you do not see yourself. Is it not most pleasing to me, as well as you, to be always preaching of the love of God? And is there not a time when we are peculiarly led thereto, and find a peculiar blessing therein ? Without doubt, so it is. But yet it would be utterly wrong and unscriptural to preach of nothing else. Let the Law always prepare for the Gospel. I scarcely ever spoke more earnestly here, of the love of God in Christ, than last night. But it was after I had been tearing the unawakened in pieces. Go thou and do likewise. It is true, the love of God in Christ, alone feeds his children. But even they are to be guided as well as fed. Yea, and often physiced too. And the bulk of our hearers must be purged before they are fed. Else we only feed the disease. Beware of all honey. It is the best extreme but it is an extreme. I am, your affectionate Brother, JOHN WESLEY. IN 1755, Mr. Cownley was afflicted, in consequence of a severe fever, with a violent pain in the head, which no medicine could remove. After consulting the most able physicians in Ireland, he stated his case to Mr. Wesley, and received the following an swer. TO THE SAME, AT CORK. MY DEAR BROTHER, London, Jan. 10, 1756. I HAVE no objection to any thing but the blister. If it does good, well. But if I had been at Cork, all the physicians in Ireland should not have put it upon your head. Remember poor Bishop Pearson. An apothecary, to cure a pain in his head covered it with a large blister. In an hour, he cried out, "O my head, my head!" and was a fool ever after to the day of his death. I believe cooling things (if any thing under heaven) would remove that violent irritation of your nerves, which probably occasions the pain. Moderate riding may be of use; I believe of more than the blister. Only do not take more labour upon you than you can bear. Do as much as you can, and no more. Let us make use of the present time. Every day is of importance. We know not how few days of peace remain. We join in love to you and yours: I am, dear Joseph, your affectionate Friend and Brother, JOHN WESLEY. SOME persons, not remarkable for being volunteers in faith, or for an excess of that charity which hopeth all things, have doubted whether the late Mr. Wesley was ever truly awakened, and brought from trusting in his own righteousness. Let such persons read the following letter, and then let them judge. REV. SIR, TO THE REV. WILLIAM LAW. May 14, 1738. IT is in obedience to what I think to be the call of God, that I, who have the sentence of death in my own soul, take upon me to write to you, of whom I have often desired to learn the first elements of the Gospel of Christ. If you are born of God, you will approve of the design though it may be but weakly executed. If not, I shall grieve for you, not for myself. For as I seek not the praise of men; so neither regard I the contempt either of you or of any other. For two years (more especially) I have been preaching after the model of your two practical treatises and all that heard, have allowed, that the law is great, wonderful, and holy. But no sooner did they attempt to fulfil it, but they found that it is too high for man: and that by doing the works of the law shall no flesh living be justified. To remedy this, I exhorted them, and stirred up myself to pray earnestly for the grace of God, and to use all the other means of obtaining that grace, which the all-wise God hath appointed. But still, both they and I were more and more convinced,-That this is a law by which a man cannot live: the law in our members continually warring against it, and bringing us into deeper captivity to the law of sin. Be Under this heavy yoke I might have groaned till death, had not a holy man, to whom God lately directed me, upon my complaining thereof, answered at once, "Believe, and thou shalt be saved. lieve in the Lord Jesus Christ with all thy heart, and nothing shall be impossible to thee. This faith, indeed, as well as the salvation it brings, is the free gift of God. But seek, and thou shalt find. Strip thyself naked of thy own works, and thy own righteousness, and flee to him. For whosoever cometh unto him, he will in nowise cast out." Now, Sir, suffer me to ask, How will you answer it to our common Lord, that you never gave me this advice? Did you never read the Acts of the Apostles, or the answer of Paul to him who said, "What must I do to be saved?" Or are you wiser than he? Why did I scarcely ever hear you name the name of Christ? Never so as to ground any thing upon faith in his blood? Who is this who is laying another foundation? If you say, you advised other things as preparatory to this. What is this but laying a foundation below the foundation? Is not Christ then the first as well as the last? If you say, you advised them, because you knew that I had faith already. Verily you knew nothing of me: you discerned not my spirit at all. I know that I had not faith unless the faith of a Devil, the faith of Judas, that speculative, notional, airy shadow, which lives in the head, not in the heart. But what is this to the living, justifying faith in the blood of Jesus? The faith that cleanseth from sin that gives us to have free access to the Father: to rejoice |