To Lady Maxwell MANCHESTER, July IO, 1764. MY DEAR LADY, Till I had the pleasure of receiving yours, I was almost in doubt whether you would think it worth your while to write or not. So much the more I rejoiced when that doubt was removed, and removed in so agreeable a manner. I cannot but think of you often: I seem to see you just by me, panting after God, under the heavy pressure of bodily weakness and faintness, bereaved of your dearest relatives, convinced that you are a sinner, a debtor that has nothing to pay, and just ready to cry out, Jesu, now I have lost my all, Let me upon Thy bosom fall. Amen, Lord Jesus! Speak; for Thy servant heareth! Speak Thyself into her heart! Lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees. Let her see Thee full of grace and truth, and make her glad with the light of Thy countenance. Do not stop, my dear Lady, one moment 'because you have not felt sorrow enough.' Your Friend above has felt enough of it for you. O Lamb of God, was ever pain, Was ever love like Thine! Look, look unto Him, and be thou saved! He is not a God afar off; He is now hovering over you with eyes of tenderness and love! Only believe! Then He turns your heaviness into joy. Do not think you are not humble enough, not contrite enough, not earnest enough. You are nothing; but Christ is all, and He is yours. The Lord God write it upon your heart, and take you for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

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.

The ordinary objections to such an union are of little weight with you. You are not afraid of the expense. You already give unto the Lord as much as you need do then; and you are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, even in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Perhaps you will say, 'I am joined in affection.' True; but not to so good effect. This joining half-way, this being a friend to but not a member of the Society is by no means so open a confession of the work and servants of God. Many go thus far who dare not go farther, who are ashamed to bear the reproach of an entire union. Either you are ashamed or you are not. If you are, break through at once; if you are not, come into the light and do what those well-meaning cowards dare not do. This imperfect union is not so encouraging to the people, not so strengthening to the preachers. Rather it is weakening their hands, hindering their work, and laying a stumblingblock in the way of others; for what can any man think who knows you are so well acquainted with them and yet do not join in their Society What can he think but that you know them too well to come any nearer to them, that you know that kind of union to be useless, if not hurtful And yet by this very union is the whole (external) work of God upheld throughout the nation, besides all the spiritual good which accrues to each member. O delay no longer, for the sake of the work, for the sake of the world, for the sake of your brethren! Join them inwardly and outwardly, heart and hand, for the sake of your own soul. There is something not easily explained in the fellowship of the Spirit which we enjoy with a society of living Christians. You have no need to give up your share therein and in the various blessings that result from it. You have no need to exclude yourself from the benefit of the advice and exhortations given from time to time. These are by no means to be despised, even supposing you have yourself more understanding than him that gives them. You need not lose the benefit of those prayers which experience shows are attended with a peculiar blessing.

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.