To Miss Bishop .

DCXCIX. — To the Same.

MY DEAR BROTHER, ATHLONE, April 18, 1789.

I AM glad to hear that there is so fine a prospect at Dalkeith. So is generally the way of our Lord, to try us first, and then to comfort. It is pity but James Ridley had thoroughly settled his affairs before he attempted to travel. If that had been done, there is no doubt but he would have been useful wheresoever he went. I wish, however, brother Dall may make a good conclusion with regard to the chapel at Dumfries. Peace be with you and yours!

I am, dear Zachary,

Your affectionate brother.

—————

DCC. — To Miss Bishop.

DEAR MISS BISHOP, 1767.

WE have had a society in Bath for about thirty years, sometimes larger and sometimes smaller. 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 the 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. 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 were as entirely devoted to God as Jenny Cooper was, you would never have cause to repent of your choice, either in time or in eternity. The more freely you write, the more agreeable it will be to

Your affectionate brother.

DCCI. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, November 22, 1769.

IT is exceedingly strange. I should really wonder (if I could wonder at any weakness of human nature) that so good a woman as ——, and one who particularly piques herself on her catholic spirit, should be guilty of such narrowness of spirit. Let us not vary in thought or word from the Methodist principle, “Whosoever doeth the will of my Father who 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 or in a shorter time. And I doubt not but he will give you favor in the eyes of your sisters. You have only to go on in simplicity, doings 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 Miss Owens. Encourage each other to he altogether Christians. Defy fashion and custom, and labor 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.

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; 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 and Glynn 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.

DCCII. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, November 5, 1770.

I AM glad you had such success in your labor of love: In all things you shall reap if you faint not. And the promise is, “They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” How does the little society prosper? Are you all united in love? And are you all aware of that bane of love, — tale-bearing and evil-speaking? Do you retain that little spark of faith? Are you going forward, and have you as strong a desire as ever “to increase with all the increase of God?”

See the Lord, thy stand

Omnipotently near!

Lo, He holds thee by thy hand,

And banishes thy fear!

O trust him, love him, and praise him!

I know not that you have anything to do with fear. Your continual prayer should be for faith and love. I admired a holy man in France, who, considering the state of one who was full of doubts and fears, forbad him to think of his sins at all, and ordered him to think only of the love of God in Christ. The fruit was, all his fears vanished away, and he lived and died in the triumph of faith.

Faith is sight; that is, spiritual sight: And it is light, and not darkness; so that the famous Popish phrase, “The darkness of faith,” is a contradiction in terms. O beware of all who talk in that unscriptural manner, or they will perplex, if not destroy, you! I cannot find in my Bible any such sin as legality. Truly, we have been often afraid where no fear was. I am not half legal enough, not enough under the law of love. Sometimes there is painful conviction of sin, preparatory to full sanctification; sometimes a conviction that has far more pleasure than pain, being mixed with joyful expectation. Always there should be a gradual growth in grace; which need never be intermitted from the time we are justified. Do not wait therefore for pain or anything else, but simply for all-conquering faith. The more freely you write, the more satisfaction you will give to

Your affectionate brother.

DCCIII. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, February 16, 1771.

YOU look inward too much, and upward too little.

Christ is ready to impart

Life to all, for life who sigh;

In thy mouth and in thy heart

The word is ever nigh.

Encourage yourself to trust in Him; that is your point; then he will do all things well. Legality, With most who use that term, really means tenderness of conscience. There is no propriety in the word, if one would take it for seeking justification by works. Considering, therefore, how hard it is to fix the meaning of that odd term, and how dreadfully it has been abused, I think it highly advisable for all the Methodists to lay it quite aside.

If Mr. S—— could find any other doctrine which he thought was peculiarly mine, he would be as angry at it as he is at Christian perfection. But it is all well: We are to go forward, whoever goes back or turns aside. I hope your class goes on well, and that you are not weary of well doing. The Lord is at hand. In praying with the children, you have only to ask for those things which you are sensible they want, and that in the most plain, artless, and simple language which you can devise.

Perhaps we may see a new accomplishment of Solomon’s words: “He that reproveth a man shall afterward find more favor than he who flattereth with his tongue.” But be that as it may, I have done my duty, I could no otherwise have delivered my own soul: And no offense at all would have been given thereby, had not pride stifled both religion and generosity. But my letter is now out of date: It is mentioned no more: There is a more plausible occasion found; namely, those eight terrible propositions which conclude the Minutes of our Conference. 2 At the instance of some who were sadly frightened thereby, I have revised them over and over; I have considered them in every point of view; and truly, the more I consider them, the more I like them; the more fully I am convinced, not only that they are true, agreeable both to Scripture and to sound experience, but that they contain truths of the deepest importance, and such as ought to be continually inculcated by those who would be pure from the blood of all men.

The imagination which Mr. —— borrowed from another good man, “that he is not a believer who has any sin remaining, in him,” is not only an error, but a very dangerous one, of which I have seen fatal effects. Herein we divided from the Germans near thirty years ago; and the falseness and absurdity of it is shown in my Second Journal, and in my sermon on that subject. Your experience reminds me of these lines: —

So many tender joy and woes

Have o’er my quiv’ring soul had power;

Plain life with height’ning passions rose,

The boast or burden of an hour.

They who feel less, certainly suffer less; but the more we suffer, the more we may improve; the more obedience, the more holiness, we may learn by the things we suffer. So that, upon the whole, I do not know if the insensible ones have the advantage over us.

If you wrote more than once in three months, it would not be amiss. Few are more tenderly concerned for you than

Your affectionate brother.

DCCIV. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, September 1, 1771.

CONCESSIONS made in the chapel at Bath would not quench the flame kindled over the three kingdoms. Mr. Fletcher’s Letters may do this in some measure; but the antidote cannot spread so fast as the poison. However, the Lord reigneth; and consequently all these things shall work together for the increase of his kingdom. Certainly simple faith is the very thing you want; that faith which live upon Christ from moment to moment. I believe that sermon, “The Scripture Way of Salvation,” might at this time be very useful to you. It is a great thing to seize and improve the very now. What a blessing you may receive at this instant! Behold the Lamb of God!

What, if even before this letter comes to your hands, the Lord should come to your heart! Is He not nigh? Is He not now knocking at the door? What do you say? “Come in, my Lord, come in.” Are you not ready? Are you not a mere sinner, and stripped of all? Therefore all is ready for you. Fear not; only believe, and enter into rest. How gracious is it in the kind Physician to humble you and prove you, and show you what is in your heart! Now let Christ and love alone be there.

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.

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, “that whoever attempt to teach 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 yon may ask and expect an increase of it. Our dear sisters at Publow 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 to be absolutely needful, the very next time 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 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.

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 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 concerning 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 labor. 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

Yours affectionately.

DCCV. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, June 12, 1773.

“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.

It has, in all ages, been allowed, that the communion of saints extends to those in paradise, as well as those upon earth; as they are all one body united under one Head. And

Can death’s interposing tide

Spirits one in Christ divide?

But it is difficult to say, either what kind or what degree of union may be between them. It is not improbable their fellowship with us is far more

sensible than ours with them. Suppose any of them are present, they are hid from our eyes, but we are not hid from their sight. They, no doubt, clearly discern all our words and actions, if not all our thoughts too. For it is hard to think these walls of flesh and blood can intercept the view of an angelic being. But we have, in general, only a faint and indistinct perception of their presence, unless in some peculiar instances, where it may answer some gracious ends of divine Providence. Then it may please God to permit that they should be perceptible, either by some of our outward senses, or by an internal sense, for which human language has not any name. But I suppose this is not a common blessing. I have known but few instances of it. To keep up constant and close communion with God is the most likely means to obtain this also.

Whatever designs a man has, whatever he is proposing to do, either for himself or his friends, when his spirit goes hence all is at an end. And it is in this sense only that “all our thoughts perish.” Otherwise, all our thoughts and designs, though not carried into execution, are noted in His book who accepts us according to our willing mind, and rewards intentions as well as actions. By aiming at Him in all things, by studying to please Him in all your thoughts, words, and actions, you are continually sowing to the Spirit, and of the Spirit you will reap life everlasting. I am

Your affectionate brother.

DCCVI. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, September 19, 1773.

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 did not give a clear, a steady, or a uniform light. That wise and good man, Professor Franck, 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 expedience the standard of religion.

Madam Guion 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 with out 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 not. And many times while we are so doing, the fire will fall from heaven, and we shall know our labor was not in vain.

There is, upon the whole, nothing new under the sun; but the spirit which you speak of; as manifesting itself among your young people, 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 as 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 law the whole affair before Messrs. Pawson and Allen. They are candid and impartial judges, prejudiced neither on one side nor the other; and I believe they will be able to judge, on any emergency, 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 were almost 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.

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 lies to present them faultless before the throne.

I do not know whether there is any 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 today? I am

Yours affectionately.

DCCVII. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, June 17,1774.

IT is something strange, that I should never hear of your sickness, till I hear of your recovery. Both the one and the other were designed for blessings, and I doubt not but they have proved so to you. Since I saw you first, I have not observed much occasion 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, will, nevertheless, be sooner or later moved from their steadfastness. Some of them will indeed recover what they had lost; others will die in their sins. The observing this should incite us to double our diligence, lest we should fall after their example.

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.

We so become all things to all, as not to hurt our own souls, when we first secure a single eye, A steady design to please all for their good to edification; and then take care that our discourse be always good to the use of edifying, and such as may minister grace to the hearers. But in order to this, we have need of power from on high, and of the wisdom that sitteth by the throne. This alone can give us to order our conversation aright, so as to profit both others and ourselves. Before yon can do this effectually, you must conquer your natural reserve, and exercise it only to those of whom you know nothing at all, or of whom you know nothing good. Perhaps there is one occasion more on which it will be highly expedient, if not necessary; namely, when good persons (at least in some measure so) sink beneath their character, trifle away time, or indulge themselves in a conversation which has no tendency to improve either the speaker or the hearer.

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 me. In every age and country Satan has whispered to those who began to taste the powers of the world to come, “To the desert!” “To the wilderness!” Most of our little flock at Oxford were tried with this; my brother and I in particular. Any, 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 do good to others, without anyways endangering your own salvation. 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.”

To be enabled to relieve those who are in want is one excellent part of self-denial. But you must not imagine that this will be the only one. No; you have a message from God to some of those, to whom no one almost dare speak the plain truth; and He will confirm the word of his messenger, especially to those who 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 said to my brother, “Mr. Wesley, you know I would not hurt a fly; I would not give pain to any living thing. But if it were necessary, I would scrape all the flesh off 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 now, yet we do not know what we shall be. The principal 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 a person to relinquish those 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.

Although I am thoroughly persuaded that those reasonings are, in a great measure, from a preternatural cause, and therefore chiefly to be resisted, by continuing instant in prayer; yet I think Christian prudence not only permits, but requires, you to add other means to this. That which I would especially recommend is reading; particularly Pascal’s “Thoughts,” (in the “Christian Library,”) and the two first tracts in the “Preservative against Unsettled Notions in Religion.” These temptations are permitted to give you a deep and lasting conviction of the littleness and weakness of your own understanding, and to show you the absolute need wherein you stand of continual light, as well as of power from on high.

That the regulation of social life is the one end of religion, is a strange position indeed. I never imagined any but a Deist would: affirm this. If that good man, Dr. D——, did, I suppose it must be a slip of the pen; for he could not but know that the love, without which, St. Paul affirms, all we do profits us nothing, is that humble, meek, patient love of our neighbor, which supposes and flows from the love of God.

A degree of reasoning you certainly may and ought to use, only joined with humility and prayer. But what you more immediately want, is faith. Believe, and thou shalt be saved into perfect peace.

I am

Yours affectionately.

DCCVIII. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, April 17, 1776.

MR. JONE’S book on the Trinity is both more clear and more strong, than any I ever saw on that subject if anything is wanting, it is the application, lest it should appear to be a merely speculative doctrine, which has no influence on our hearts or lives; but this is abundantly supplied by my brother’s Hymns.

After all the noise that has been made about mysteries, and the trouble we have given ourselves upon that head, nothing is more certain than that no child of man is required to believe any mystery at all. With regard to the Trinity, for instance; what am I required to believe? Not the manner, wherein the mystery lies. This is not the object of my faith; but the plain matter of fact, “These Three are One.” This I believe, and only this. Faith is given according to our present need. You have now such faith as is necessary for your living unto God. As yet you are not called to die. When you are, you shall have faith for this also. To day improve the faith you now have, and trust God with tomorrow.

Some writers make a distinction, which seems not improper. They speak of the essential part of heaven, and the necessary parts. A man without any learning is naturally led into the same distinction. So the poor dying peasant, in Frederica: “To be sure, heaven is n fine place, a very fine place; but I do not care for that: I want to see God, and to be with him.” I do not know whether the usual question be well stated, “Is heaven a state, or a place?” There is no opposition between these two: It is both the one and the other. It is the place where God more immediately dwells with those

saints who are in a glorified state. Homer could only conceive of the place, that it was paved with brass. Milton, in one place, makes heaven’s pavement beaten gold; in another, he defines it more sublimely, “the house of God, star-paved.” As full an account of this house of God as it can yet enter into our hearts to conceive is given us in various parts of the Revelation. There we have n fair prospect into the holiest, where are, first, “He that sitteth upon the throne;” then the “four living creatures;” next, the “twenty-four elders;” afterwards, the “great multitude, which no man can number;” and, surrounding them all, the various “myriads of angels,” whom God hath constituted in a wonderful order.

But what is the essential part of heaven? Undoubtedly it is to see God, to know God, to love God. We shall then know both His nature, and His works of creation and providence, and of redemption. Even in paradise, in the intermediate state between death and the resurrection, we shall learn more concerning these in an hour, than we could in an age, during our stay in the body. We cannot tell indeed how we shall then exist, or what kind of organs we shall have: The soul will not be encumbered with flesh and blood; but probably it will have some sort of ethereal vehicle, even before God clothes us “with our nobler house of empyrean light.” 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 Your affectionate friend.

DCCIX. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, December 26, 1776.

EITHER that text in Ezekiel 33:8 is to be understood 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 working out their own salvation with fear and trembling. Whatever other ends are answered by prayer, this is one, and it seems a 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 apology. 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!

But the most decisive of all proofs is the scripture: “Go to my servant Job, and he shall pray for you; for him will I accept.” It was not a temporal blessing which was here in question, but a spiritual, — the forgiveness of their sin. So when St. Paul said, “Brethren, pray for us;” he did not desire this on a temporal account only, that “he might be delivered out of the mouth of the lion;” but on a spiritual, “that he might speak boldly, as he ought to speak.” But the instances of this are innumerable. In proof of the general truth, that God gives us both temporal and spiritual blessings, in answer to each other’s prayers, I need only remind you of one scripture more: “Let them pray over him; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” The promise in the following verse is still more comprehensive: “Pray one for another, and ye shall be healed” of whatsoever you have confessed to each other.

I lament over every pious young woman who is not as active as possible; seeing every one shall receive his own reward, according to his own labor. O, lose no time. Buy up every opportunity of doing good. It does not appear to me that you ought, on any consideration, to give up the privileges you mention. Nether do I apprehend that you would be more useful in a boarding-school than you are in your present station. I cannot, therefore, advise you to relinquish it. You have now a large field of action: You have employment enough, both temporal and spiritual; and you have

ease enough. Abide in your calling. The pious young woman, whom I particularly lament over, does not live at Bath, but Bristol. But I cannot help her: She allows premises, but holds fast her own conclusion. O, who can bear riches! Who can gain money, without, in some measure, losing grace! I verily believe, if she were as poor as you, she would be as advisable.

Our Church Catechism is utterly improper for children of six or seven years old. Certainly you ought not to teach it them against your own judgment. I should imagine it would be far better to teach them the short Catechism prefixed to the “Instructions for Children.” I am

Your affectionate friend.

DCCX. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER., BRISTOL, March 15, 1777.

THE sea breezes may be of service to you, if you have 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 word 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.

It seems, the best way to profit by that retirement which results from your present weakness, is, to divide your time between reading, meditation, and prayer, intermixed with serious conversation. And when your strength will permit, you must endeavor to do a little good; only take care at first, not to go too far. Some years since, we had a little society at Southampton: Perhaps you may find some fragments of it remaining. May the God of all grace, after you have suffered awhile, made you perfect, stablish, strengthen, and settle you!

I am

Your ever affectionate brother.

DCCXI. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, February 7, 1778.

IT is no great matter whether those doubts arose in your mind by conversing with Mr. H., by reading Mr. Law’s later works, or by your own reasoning. But, doubtless, what you mention is a point of the last importance, and deserves our most serious consideration: The rather, because the strange account given of it by some has induced others to deny the doctrine of atonement; although this is the distinguishing point between Deism and Christianity. “The morality of the Bible” (said Lord Huntingdon to me) “I admire; but the doctrine of atonement I cannot comprehend.” Here, then, we divide. Give up the atonement, and we are all agreed.

This point, therefore, deserves to be largely considered; But that my time will not permit. And it is the less needful, 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 not. But it is true, I can no more comprehend it than his Lordship: Perhaps I might say, than the angels of God; the highest created understanding. If we attempt to expatiate in this field, we “shall 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 shorter method of converting Deists, than Mr. Leslie’s! Although, therefore, I do not term God, as Mr. Law supposes, “a wrathful Being,” which conveys a wrong idea; yet I firmly believe be 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. But he is just, as well as merciful.

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. However, let us hold it fast in our heart; as well as in our understanding; and we shall find by happy experience, that this is to us the wisdom of God and the power of God.

I am

Your affectionate friend and brother.

DCCXII. — To the Same,

MY DEAR SISTER, LONDON, October 18, 1778.

I AM not unwilling to write to you, even upon a tender subject, because you will weigh the matter fairly. And if you have a little prepossession, (which who has not?) yet you are willing to give it up to reason. The original Methodists were all of the Church of England; and the more awakened they were, the more zealously they adhered to it, in every point, both of doctrine and discipline. Hence we inserted in the very first Rules of our Society, “They that leave the Church, leave us.” And this we did, not as a point of prudence, but a point of conscience. We believed it unlawful to separate from the Church, unless sinful terms of communion were imposed. Just as did Mr. Philip Henry, and most of those holy men that were contemporary with him.

“But the Ministers of it do not preach the Gospel.” — Neither do some of the Independent or Anabaptist Ministers. Calvinism is not the Gospel: Nay, it is farther from it, them most of the sermons I hear at the Church. These are very frequently unevangelical, but they are not anti-evangelical. They are (to say no more) equally wrong; and they are far more dangerously wrong. Few of the Methodists are now in danger of imbibing error from the Church Ministers; but they are in great danger of imbibing the grand error, Calvinism, from some of the Dissenting Ministers. Perhaps thousands have done it already; most of whom have drawn back to perdition. I see more instances of this than any one else can do; and on this ground also, exhort all who would keep to the Methodists, and from Calvinism, to go to the church, and not to the meeting.

But to speak freely. I myself find more life in the Church Prayers, than in any formal extemporary prayers of Dissenters. Nay, I find more profit in sermons on either good tempers, or good works, than in what are vulgarly called Gospel sermons. That term has now become a mere cant word: I wish none of our society would use it. It has no determinate meaning. Let but a pert, self-sufficient animal, that has neither sense nor grace, bawl out something about Christ, or his blood, or justification by faith, and his hearers cry out, “What a fine Gospel sermon!” Surely the Methodists have not so learned Christ! We know no Gospel without salvation from sin. There is a Romish error which many Protestants swallow unawares. It is an avowed doctrine of the Romish Church; that the “pure intention of the Minister is essential to the validity of the sacraments.” If so, we ought not to attend the ministrations of an unholy man. But in flat opposition to this, our Church teaches, in the Twenty-eighth Article, that “the unworthiness of the Minister does not hinder the validity of the sacraments.” Although, therefore, there are many disagreeable circumstances, yet I advise all our friends to keep to the Church. God has surely raised us up for the Church chiefly, that a little leaven may leaven the whole lump. I wish you would seriously consider that little tract,

“Reasons against a Separation from the Church of England.” Those reasons were never yet answered, and, I believe, they never will. I am glad you have undertaken that labor of love, and trust it will increase both your spiritual and bodily strength.

I am, my dear sister,

Yours very affectionately.

DCCXIII. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, WARRINGTON, May 17,

1781.

I HAVE written to Mr. Pawson, and am in hopes that Keyusham will be no more neglected. I did not expect you would meet with any trial of this kind; but it is well to be prepared for all,

When Molly Maddern taught a few children at Kingswood, I saw a truly Christian school. To make the children Christians was her first care; afterwards they were taught what women need to learn. I saw another Christian school at Leytonstone, under the care of Miss Bosanquet. I do not remember I discovered any defect, either in the former or the latter: I observed nothing done which I wished to be omitted; nothing omitted which I wished to have done. May I speak without reserve? I verily think I may. I hoped to see a third Christian school at ——; and I did so for a season. But I cannot say, that for some years it has quite answered my expectations. “What then was the matter?” I can hardly tell. I do not know how to express it. I did not see the simplicity which I saw at first. More of the world seemed to be crept in. Good breeding I love; but how difficult is it to keep it quite clear of affectation, and of a something which does not well agree with that mind which was in Christ!

I want your children to be trained up quite in the manner that Miss Bosanquet’s were. Although they were very genteel, yet there was something in their whole manner which told you they belonged to another

world. Mrs. Castleman was one of Molly Maddern’s scholars. She is genteel; yet she is a Christian.

Make Christians, my dear sister, make Christians! Let this be your leading view. Make such Christians as Miranda, as Miss ——; such as Miss M. was! Let everything else which you teach be subordinate to this. Mind one thing in all! Let it be said of the young women you educate, — “Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye,

In all her gestures sanctity and love:”

But what power do you want to execute this! Ask, and it shall be given you! May you not have the earnest of it this moment?

I am, my dear sister,

Your affectionate friend and brother.

DCCXIV.-To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, Near LEEDS, July 17, 1781.

WHEN the school began at ——, it was in all respects a school after my own heart; conducted exactly on the same principles as that of Miss Bosanquet, at Leytonstone. But it declined from its original simplicity, I know not how, by slow degrees; indeed so insensibly, that I hardly know what to blame, and so know not how to cure it.

If I have to meet the society at Bristol again, I shall kill or cure those unwise and unkind parents who make their children finer than themselves. I believe I shall make their ears tingle. As to you, I advise you, first, to be a Bible Christian yourself, inwardly and outwardly. Be not a hair’s breadth more conformable to the fashions of the world than you were when I last saw you. Then train up your children in the self-same way. Say to them, with all mildness and firmness, “Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ.” Whoever is pleased or displeased, keep to this; to Christian, primitive simplicity. Perhaps at first you will lose some

scholars thereby; but regard not that: God will provide you more. And be assured, nothing shall be wanting that is in the power of, My dear sister,

Your affectionate friend and brother.

DCCXV. — To the Same.

MY DEAR SISTER, HAVERFORDWEST, August 18, 1784

FROM the time I heard you were rejected by, I have had a tender regard for you, and a strong hope that without regard to the wisdom, or spirit, or customs of the world, you would (as those at —— did once) Square your useful life below

By reason and by grace

Hitherto; you have not at all deceived my hope; and I am persuaded you never will. In some of the young ones you will undoubtedly find your labor has not been in vain. What they will be one cannot judge yet; therefore Solomon’s advice is good: “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper.”

It seems God himself has already decided the question concerning dancing. He hath shown his approbation of your conduct, by sending those children to you again. If dancing be not evil in itself; yet it leads young women to numberless evils. And the hazard of these on the one side, seems far to overbalance the little inconveniences on the other. Therefore thus much may certainly be said, You have chosen the more excellent way. I would recommend very few novels to young persons, for fear they should be too desirous of more. Mr. Brooke wrote one more, (besides the “Earl of Moreland,”) “The History of the Human Heart.” I think it is well worth reading; though it is not equal to his former production. The want of novels may be supplied by well-chosen histories; such as, “The Concise History of England,” “The Concise History of the Church,” Rollin’s