“Dear Brother,—We must, we must, you and I at least, be all devoted to God! Then wives, and sons, and daughters, and everything else, will be real, invaluable blessings. Eia age, rumpe moras! Let us this day use all the power we have! If we have enough, well; if not, let us this day expect a fresh supply. How long shall we drag on thus heavily, though God has called us to be the chief conductors of such a work? Alas! what conductors! If I am, in some sense, the head, and you the heart, of the work, may it not be said, ‘The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint’? Come, in the name of God, let us arise, and shake ourselves from the dust! Let us strengthen each other’s hands in God, and that without delay. Have senes sexagenarii time to lose? Let you and I, and our house, serve the Lord in good earnest. May His peace rest on you and yours! Adieu!
“John Wesley.”[667]
“Whitehaven, June 27, 1766.
“Dear Brother,—I think you and I have abundantly too little intercourse with each other. Are we not old acquaintance? Have we not known each other for half a century? and are we not jointly engaged in such a work as probably no two other men upon earth are? Why then do we keep at such a distance? It is a mere device of Satan. But surely, we ought not, at this time of day, to be ignorant of his devices. Let us, therefore, make full use of the little time that remains. We, at least, should think aloud, and use to the uttermost the light and grace on each bestowed, and insist everywhere on full redemption, receivable now by faith alone! consequently to be looked for now. You are made, as it were, for this very thing. Just here you are in your element. In connection I beat you; but in strong, short, pointed sentences, you beat me. Go on, in what God has peculiarly called you to. Press the instantaneous blessings; then I shall have more time for my peculiar calling, enforcing the gradual work.
“We must have a thorough reform of the preachers. I wish you would come to Leeds, with John Jones, in the machine. It comes in two days; and, after staying two days, you might return. I would willingly bear your expenses up and down. I believe it would help, not hurt, your health. My love to Sally.
“John Wesley.”[668]
Did Charles Wesley go to the conference at Leeds? It is probable he did; indeed, almost certain. Hence, in a letter to his wife at Bristol, written just about the date when the conference closed, he says: “My brother, I presume, will look upon you on Wednesday sennight, in his flight to the Land’s End. He is an astonishing youth! and may be saluted, like the eastern monarchs, ‘O king, live for ever!’”[669] It would thus seem, that Charles Wesley had seen his brother; and if so, it must have been at Leeds. The settling of this point is of considerable importance, inasmuch as at no conference did Wesley enter so elaborately into the three great questions of the day,—separation from the Church, his own administrative power, and what he calls, in the foregoing letter, “a thorough reform of the preachers.”
On the first of these points, the question is asked,—
“Are we not Dissenters? Answer.—We are irregular: 1. By calling sinners to repentance, in all places of God’s dominion. 2. By frequently using extemporary prayer. Yet we are not Dissenters in the only sense which our law acknowledges; namely, persons who believe it is sinful to attend the service of the Church; for we do attend it at all opportunities. We will not, dare not, separate from the Church, for the reasons given several years ago. We are not seceders, nor do we bear any resemblance to them. We set out upon quite opposite principles. The seceders laid the very foundation of their work, in judging and condemning others; we laid the foundation of our work, in judging and condemning ourselves. They begin everywhere, with showing their hearers, how fallen the Church and ministers are; we begin everywhere, with showing our hearers, how fallen they are themselves.
“And as we are not Dissenters from the Church now, so we will do nothing willingly, which tends to a separation from it. Therefore, let every assistant so order his circuit, that no preacher may be hindered from attending the church more than two Sundays in a month. Never make light of going to church, either by word or deed.