Wesley Corpus

588 A*vaxrute APPEAL, Part III. Yea, if he be in earnest to fave his soul, far sooner than you can conceive, And ini the mean time; neither is this an objeftion of any weight. Many when they, be. gin to hear us, may, without any fault of ours, be utter strangers to the whole of Religion. But this is no incurable disease. Vet a little while and they may be wise unto salvation. n | pu ls the ignorance you complain of among this people (you who object to the people more than to their Teachers) of another kind? Do not they “ know, how in meekness to reprove or instruct those that op- * themselves?” I believe what you say: all of them o not: they have not put on gentleness and long-suffermg. I wish they had : pray for them that they may ; that they may be mild and patient toward all men. But what if they are not! Sure you do not make this an argument that God hath not sent us? Our Lord came, and we come, not to call the righteous, but senners to repentance : passfonate sinners, (such as these whereof you complain) as well as those of every other kind. Nor can it be expected they should be wholly delivered from their fin, as soon as they begin to hear his word. | 27. A greater stumbling-block than this is laid before you, by those that say and do not. Such I take it for granted will be among us, although we purge them ont as fast as we can : persons that talk much of Religion, that commend the Preachers, perhaps are diligent in hearing them: it may be, read all their books, and sing their hymns; and yet no change is wrought in their Hearts, Were they of old time as lions in their houses ? They are the same still, Were they (in low life) slothful or intemperate? Were they tricking or dishonest ? over-reaching or oppreshve ? Or did they ule to borrow and not pay? The Ethiopian hath not changed his in. Were they (in high life) delicate, tender, self-