I must beg you, Sir, in your third part to inform your reader, that whenever any solecism or mangled sentences, appear in the quotations from my writings, they are not chargeable upon _me_: that if the sense be mine (which is not always; sometimes you do me too much honour, even in this:) yet I lay no claim to the manner of expression: the _English_ is all your own.
14. ¹_Corporal severities or mortification by tormenting the flesh_, is the next thing you charge upon me. Almost two sentences you bring in proof of this. The one, “_Our bed being wet_ (it was in a storm at sea) _I laid me down on the floor, and slept sound till morning: and I believe I shall not find it needful to go to bed, as ’tis called, any more_.” But whether I do or not, how will you prove, that my motive is, To _gain a reputation for sanctity_? I desire (if it be not too great a favour) a little evidence for this.
¹ Page 31.
The other fragment of a sentence speaks, ¹_of bearing cold on the naked head, rain and wind, frost and snow_.” True; but not as matter of _mortification, by tormenting the flesh_. Nothing less. These things are not spoken of there, as voluntary instances of _mortification_: (you yourself know perfectly well, they are not; only you _make free_ with your friend:) but as some of the unavoidable inconveniences, which attend preaching in the open air.
¹ Page 32.
Therefore you need not be so ¹_sure that the apostle condemns that_ ἀφειδία σώματος, _not sparing the body, as useless and superstitious, and that it_ is _a false shew of humility. Humility_ is entirely out of the question, as well as _chastity_; in the case of hardships endured (but not properly chosen) out of _love_ to the souls for which Christ died.
¹ Page 33.
15. You add a _word or two_ of my _ardent desire of going to hell_, which you think, I ¹_adopted from the Jesuit_ Nieremberg. Sir, I know not the man. I am wholly a stranger both to his person and to his doctrine. But if this is his doctrine, I disclaim it from my heart. I ardently desire, that both you and I may go to heaven.
¹ Page 34.
But _Mr._ Wesley _says_, “¹_A poor old man decided the question of disinterested love.――――He said, I do not care what place I am in. Let_ God _put me where he will, or do with me what he will, so I may set forth his honour and glory._”
¹ Page 35.
He did so. And what then? Do these words imply, _an ardent desire of going to hell_? I do not suppose the _going to hell_ ever entered into his thoughts. Nor has it any place in my notion of _disinterested love_. How you may understand that term, I know not.
But you will prove, I have this desire, whether I will or no. You are sure, this was my ¹_original meaning_, in the words cited by Mr. _Church_,
“Doom if thou canst to endless pain, Or drive me from thy face;”
God’s _power or justice_, you say, _must be intended; because he speaks of God’s love in the very next lines_,
“But if thy stronger love constrains, Let me be sav’d by grace.”
¹ Page 36.
Sir, I will tell you a secret. Those lines are not mine. However, I will once more venture to defend them, and to aver, that your consequence is good for nothing, “If this love is spoken of in the latter lines, then it is not in the former.” No! Why not? I take it to be spoken of in both. The plain meaning of which is, “If thou art not love, I am content to perish. But if thou art, let me find the effects thereof: let me be saved by grace.”
16. You next accuse me of maintaining _a stoical insensibility_. This objection also you borrow from Mr. _Church_. You ought likewise to have taken notice, that I had answered it, and openly disowned that doctrine: I mean, according to the rules of common justice. But that is not your failing.
17. Part of your thirty-ninth page runs thus: _with respect to all this patient enduring hardships_, &c. _it has been remarked by_ learned _authors_, “_That some persons by_ constitutional temper, _have been fond of bearing the worst that could befall them: that others from_ a sturdy humour, _and the force of_ education, _have made light of the most exquisite tortures: that when_ enthusiasm _comes in, in aid of this natural ♦or acquired_ sturdiness, _and men fancy they are upon_ God’s work, _and intituled to his_ rewards, _they are immediately all on fire, for rushing into sufferings and pain_.”
♦ added the word “or” per Errata
I take knowledge of your having faithfully abridged, your own book shall I say? Or the _learned_ Dr. _Middleton_’s? But what is it you are endeavouring to prove?
_Quorsum hæc tam putida tendunt?_
The paragraph _seems_ to point at me. But the plain, natural tendency of it, is to invalidate that great argument for Christianity, which is drawn from the constancy of the martyrs. Have you not here also spoken a little too plain? Had you not better have kept the mask on a little longer?