So general was the evil in Wesley’s day, that not a few, even of the members of his own societies, were tainted with it. At St. Ives, in 1753, he ascertained that nearly the whole society “bought or sold uncustomed goods.” At Sunderland, in 1757, he had to tell the Methodists that, unless they would “part with all sin, particularly, robbing the king,” he should be obliged to part with them. “Carefully disperse the ‘Word to a Smuggler,’” said Wesley at the conference of 1767; “expel all who will not leave off smuggling; and silence every local preacher that defends it.”
2. “An Extract of the Rev. Mr. John Wesley’s Journal, from May 6, 1760, to October 28, 1762.” 12mo, 141 pages.
3. “Christian Letters, by Joseph Alleine.” 12mo, 88 pages.
4. “Extracts from the Letters of Mr. Samuel Rutherford.” 12mo. “The same piety, zeal, and confidence in God,” says Wesley, “shine through all the letters of Mr. Alleine that do in Mr. Samuel Rutherford’s; so that, in this respect, he may well be styled the English Rutherford. In piety and fervour of spirit, they are the same; but the fervour of the one more resembles that of St. Paul,—of the other, that of St. John. They were both men of intrepid courage; but in love Mr. Alleine has the preeminence.”
5. “The Repentance of Believers.” 12mo. This was a sermon for the times, peculiarly adapted to settle the inquiries of the Methodists respecting the subject of Christian perfection, and other points connected with it.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 158.
[2] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol ii., p. 130.
[3] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 310.
[4] Irish Evangelist, Aug. 1, 1860.