Walter Sellon, a Methodist clergyman, was addressed as follows.
“London, December 1, 1757.
“My dear Brother,—Only prevail upon John Brandon to spend a month or two in London, or any other part of England, and I will immediately send another preacher to Leicester, Ashby, and the adjacent places; but, during the present scarcity of labourers, we cannot spare a second for that small circuit, till you spare us the first.
“It is surprising that, from one end of the land to the other, so little good is done in a regular way. What have you to do, but to follow that way which the providence of God points out? When they drive you from Smithsby, you know where to have both employment and the things needful for the body. I think, also, it will be highly profitable for your soul, to be near those who have more experience in the ways of God.
“I am your affectionate brother,
“John Wesley.”[309]
The following letter was written, to a friend, on “public worship”; but has an important bearing on the question of the Methodists continuing to exist as a distinct society.
“September 20, 1757.
“Dear Sir,—The longer I am absent from London, and the more I attend the service of the Church in other places, the more I am convinced of the unspeakable advantage which the Methodists enjoy—I mean, even with regard to public worship, particularly on the Lord’s day. The church where they assemble is not gay or splendid; which might be a hindrance on the one hand: nor sordid or dirty; which might give distaste on the other: but plain as well as clean. The persons who assemble there, are not a gay, giddy crowd, who come chiefly to see and be seen; nor a company of goodly, formal, outside Christians, whose religion lies in a dull round of duties; but a people most of whom know, and the rest earnestly seek, to worship God in spirit and in truth. Accordingly, they do not spend their time there in bowing and curtseying, or in staring about them; but in looking upward and looking inward, in hearkening to the voice of God, and pouring out their hearts before Him.
“It is also no small advantage, that the person who reads prayers, though not always the same, yet is always one whose life is no reproach to his profession; and one who performs that solemn part of Divine service, not in a careless, hurrying, slovenly manner; but seriously and slowly, as becomes him who is transacting so high an affair between God and man.