“I have had two printers at my heels, besides my common business, and this is enough to make me trespass upon the patience of my friends. I have published the first part of my ‘Scales,’ which has gone through a second edition in London, before I could get the second part printed in Salop, where it will be published in about six weeks. I have also published a creed for the Arminians, where you will see that, if I have not answered your critical remarks upon my Essay on Truth, I have improved by them, yea publicly recanted the two expressions you mentioned as improper.
“I am so tied up here, both by my parish duty and controversial writings, that I cannot hope to see you unless you come into these parts.[[319]] In the meantime, let us meet at the throne of grace. In Jesus, time and distance are lost. He is an universal, eternal life of righteousness, peace, and joy. I am glad you have some encouragement in Scotland. The Lord grant you more and more! Use yourself, however, to go against wind and tide, as I do; and take care that our wise dogmatical friends in the north do not rob you of your childlike simplicity. Remember that the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to babes. You may be afraid of being a fool, without being afraid of being a babe. You may be childlike without being childish. Simplicity of intention and purity of affection will go through the world, through hell itself. In the meantime, let us see that we do not so look at our little publications, or to other people, as to forget that Christ is our Object, our Sun, our Shield. To His inspiration, comfort, and protection, I earnestly recommend your soul; and the labours of your heart, tongue, and pen to His blessing.”[[320]]
At this period, Wesley was dangerously ill in Ireland. Charles Wesley had no hope of his brother’s recovery. The Methodists throughout the kingdom were in consternation. In a letter to Joseph Bradford, Wesley’s faithful companion, Charles Wesley wrote:—
“Bristol, June 29, 1775. Your letter has cut off all hope of my brother’s recovery. The people here, and in London, and every place, are swallowed up in sorrow. But sorrow and death will soon be swallowed up in life everlasting. You will be careful of my brother’s papers, etc., till you see his executors. God shall reward your fidelity and love. I seem scarce separated from him whom I shall so very soon overtake. We were united in our lives, and in our death not divided.”[[321]]
In his deep distress, Charles Wesley wrote to Fletcher, who replied as follows:—
“Madeley, July 2, 1775.
“My Very Dear Brother,—The same post which brought me yours, brought me a letter from Ireland, informing me of the danger of your dear brother, my dear father, and of his being very happy in, and resigned to, the will of God. What can you and I do? What, but stand still, and see the salvation of God? The nations are before Him but as the dust that cleaves to a balance; and the greatest instruments have been removed. Abraham is dead; the fathers are dead; and if John come first to the sepulchre, you and I will soon descend into it. The brightest, the most burning and shining lights, like the Baptist, Mr. Whitefield, and your brother, were kindled to make the people rejoice in them, ‘for a season,’ says our Lord. ‘For a season.’ The expression is worth our notice. It is just as if our Lord had said, ‘I give you inferior lights, that ye may rejoice in them for a season. But I reserve to myself the glory of shining for ever. The most burning lights shall fail on earth; but I, your Sun, will shine to all eternity.’
“Come, my dear brother, let the danger of our lights make us look to our Sun more steadily; and should God quench the light of our Jerusalem below, let us rejoice that it is to make it burn brighter in the Jerusalem which is above; and let us triumph in the inextinguishable light of our Sun, in the impenetrable strength of our Shield, and in the immovableness of our Rock.
“Amidst my concern for the Church in general, and for Mr. Wesley’s Societies in particular, I cannot but acknowledge the goodness of God in so wonderfully keeping him for so many years, and in preserving him to undergo such labours as would have killed you and me ten times over. The Lord may yet hear prayer and add a span to his useful life. But forasmuch as the immortality of the body does not belong to this state, and he has fulfilled the ordinary term of human life, in hoping the best, we must prepare ourselves for the worst. The God of all grace and power will strengthen you on the occasion.
“Should your brother fail on earth, you are called not only to bear up under the loss of so near a relative, but, for the sake of your common children in the Lord, you should endeavour to fill up the gap according to your strength. The Methodists will not expect from you your brother’s labours; but they have, I think, a right to expect that you will preside over them while God spares you in the land of the living. A committee of the oldest and steadiest preachers may help you to bear the burden and to keep up a proper discipline both among the people and the rest of the preachers; and if at any time you should want my mite of assistance, I hope I shall throw it into the treasury with the simplicity and readiness of the poor widow, who cheerfully offered her next to nothing. Do not faint. The Lord God of Israel will give you additional strength for the day; and His angels, yea, His praying people, will bear you up in their hands, that you hurt not your foot against a stone; yea, that if need be, you may leap over a wall.