4. ¹_A stoical insensibility_, you add, _is the next error I have to charge you with. You say, “The servants of_ God _suffer nothing,” and suppose, that we ought to be here so free, as in the strongest pain, not once to desire to have a moment’s ease_.
¹ Remarks, page 58.
_At the end of one of your hymns, you seem to carry this notion to the very height of extravagance and presumption. You say_,
“Doom, if thou canst, to endless pains, And drive me from thy face.”
_A stoical insensibility is the next error I have to charge you with_――――And how do you support the charge? Why thus――――_You say ¹“The servants of_ God _suffer nothing_.” And can you possibly misunderstand these words, if you read those that immediately follow? “His body was well nigh torn asunder with pain. But God made all his bed in his sickness. So that he was continually giving thanks to God, and making his boast of his praise.”
¹ Journal, page 59.
_You suppose, we ought to be so free, as in the strongest pain, not once to desire to have a moment’s ease_――――O Sir, with what eyes did you read those words?
¹“I dined with one who told me in all simplicity, Sir, I thought last week, there could be no such rest as you describe; none in this world, wherein we should be so free, as not to desire ease in pain. But God has taught me better: for on _Friday_ and _Saturday_, when I was in the strongest pain, I never once had one moment’s desire of ease, but only that the will of God might be done.” Do I say here, that _we ought not, in the strongest pain, once to desire to have a moment’s ease_?――――What a frightful distortion of my words is this? What I say is, “A serious person affirmed to me, that God kept her for two days in such a state.” And why not? Where is the absurdity?
¹ Page 51.
_At the end of one of your hymns, you seem to carry this notion, to the very height of extravagancy and presumption. You say_,
“Doom, if thou canst, to endless pains, And drive me from thy face.”
“If thou canst”――――i. e. _If thou canst_ deny thyself, _if thou canst_ forget to be gracious, _if thou canst_ cease to be truth and love. So the lines both preceding and following fix the sense. I see nothing of _stoical insensibility_, neither of _extravagancy_ or _presumption_ in this.
5. Your last charge is, that I am _guilty of enthusiasm to the highest degree. ¹Enthusiasm_ (you say) _is a false persuasion of an extraordinary divine assistance, which leads men on to such conduct as is only to be justified by the supposition of such assistance ――――An enthusiast is then sincere, but mistaken. His intentions are good――――but his actions most abominable. Instead of making the word of_ God _the rule of his actions, he follows only that secret impulse which is owing to a warm imagination――――Instead of judging of his spiritual estate by the improvement of his heart, he rests only on extacies, &c. He is very liable to err, as not considering things coolly and carefully. He is very difficult to be convinced, by reason and argument, as he acts upon a supposed principle superior to it, the directions of_ God’s _Spirit. Whoever opposes him is charged with ♦resisting the Spirit. His own dreams must be regarded as oracles.――――Whatever he does, is to be accounted the work of_ God. _Hence he talks in the stile of inspired persons: and applies scripture phrases to himself, without attending to their original meaning, or once considering the difference of times and circumstances._
¹ Remarks, pages 60, 61.
♦ “rejecting” replaced with “resisting” per Errata
You have drawn, Sir, (in the main) a true picture of an _enthusiast_. But it is no more like _me_, than I am like a centaur. Yet you say _they are these very things which have been charged upon you, and which you could never yet disprove_: I will try for once; and to that end, will go over these articles, one by one.
Enthusiasm _is, a false persuasion of an extraordinary divine assistance, which leads men on to such conduct as is only to be justified by the supposition of such assistance_――――Before this touches _me_, you are to prove (which I conceive you have not done yet) that _my_ conduct is such, as is only to be justified by the supposition of an extraordinary divine assistance. _An enthusiast is then sincere, but mistaken_, that I am _mistaken_ remains also to be proved――――_His intentions are good; but his actions most abominable._ Sometimes they are; yet not _always_. For there may be _innocent_ madmen. But what actions of mine are _most abominable_? I wait to learn. _Instead of making the word of_ God _the rule of his actions, he follows only his secret impulse_.――――In the whole compass of language, there is not a proposition which less belongs to me than this. I have declared again and again, that I make the word of God the rule of all my actions: and that I no more follow any _secret impulse_ instead thereof, than I follow _Mahomet_ or _Confucius_.