Wesley Corpus

As I have little time, I must beg you to read and consider what I have already spoken upon this subject, in the First Part of the Farther Appeal, at the thirty-eighth and following pages Works, viii. 76-111; and then to let me know what kind of proof it is which you expect in a question of this nature, over and above that of Scripture, as interpreted by the writers of the earliest Christian Church. I have not studied the writings of the Quakers enough (having read few of them beside Robert Barclay See letter of Feb. 10, 1748.) to say precisely what they mean by perceptible inspiration, and whether their account of it be right or wrong. And I am not curious to know, since between me and them there is a great gulf fixed. The sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper keep us at a wide distance from each other; insomuch that, according to the view of things I have now, I should as soon commence Deist as Quaker. 'Smith' had said: 'The son of a Wesley and an Annesley is in no danger of lukewarmness, but ought to take great care on the side of impetuosity and zeal. The tempter will never make you a saunterer or a sluggard, but, if you are not upon your guard, may possibly, before you are aware, make you a Quaker.' I would just add that I regard even faith itself not as an end but a means only. The end of the commandment is love, of every command, of the whole Christian dispensation. Let this love be attained, by whatever means, and I am content; I desire no more. All is well, if we love the Lord our God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves.