Part of the following letter was printed in the first volume of the Arminian Magazine, p. 30, but, in the original manuscript, all allusions to John Wesley’s position and prospects are omitted. The subjoined is an exact and full copy:—
“Wroot, July 14, 1725.
“Dear Son,—It is not for want of affection that I am some letters in your debt; but because I could not yet answer them, so as to satisfy myself or you; though I hope still to do it in a few weeks.
“As for Thomas â Kempis, all the world are apt to strain for one or the other. And it is no wonder if contemplative men, especially when wrapt in a cowl, and the darkness of the sceptical divinity, and near akin, if I mistake not, to the obscure ages, when they observed the bulk of the world so mad for sensual pleasures, should run into the contrary extreme, and attempt to persuade us to have no senses at all, or that God made them to very little purpose. But for all that, mortification is still an indispensable Christian duty. The world is a syren, and we must have a care of her. And if the young man will ‘rejoice in his youth,’ yet it would not be amiss for him to take care that his joys be moderate and innocent; and, in order to this, sadly to remember ‘that for all these things God will bring him to judgment.’ I have only this to add of my friend and old companion, that, making a pretty man grains of allowance, he may be read to great advantage, and that, notwithstanding all his superstition and enthusiasm, it is almost impossible to peruse him seriously, without admiring, and, I think, in some measure imitating his heroic strains of humility, and piety, and devotion. But I reckon, you have before this received your mother’s, who has leisure to write, and can do so without pain, which I cannot.
“I will write to the Bishop of Lincoln again. You shall not want a black coat as soon as I have any white.
“You may transcribe any part of my letter to Mr Hoole, but not the whole, for your own private use; neither lend it; but any friend may read it in your chamber. Master St Chrysostom, and the Articles, and the Form of Ordination. Bear up stoutly against the world, &c. Keep a good, an honest, and a pious heart. Pray hard, and watch hard; and I am persuaded your quarantine is almost at an end, and all shall be well: however, nothing shall be wanting to make it so, that is in the power of, your loving father,
“Samuel Wesley.”
The following unpublished letter to his son John, after referring to a painful family occurrence, goes on to say:—
“Wroot, August 2, 1725.
“I was at Gainsborough last week, to wait on Sir J. Thorold, and shall again, by God’s leave, be there to-morrow, and endeavour to make way for you from that quarter.