MAY 4
A smoky room, a cold morning, a rainy day, the dullness or perverseness of those we are with: these, and innumerable little crosses, will help us onward to the Kingdom.
Letter, 2nd December, 1778
Of all gossiping, religious gossiping is the worst; it adds hypocrisy to uncharitableness [sic], and effectually does the work of the devil in the name of the Lord. The leaders in every Society may do much towards driving it out from among the Methodists. Let them in the band or class observe: (1) ‘Now we are to talk of no absent persons, but simply of God and our own souls;’ (2) ‘Let the rule of our conversation here be the rule of all our conversation. Let us observe it (unless in some necessarily exempt cases) at all times and in all places.’ If this be frequently inculcated, it will have an excellent effect.
to Philothea Briggs, 1772
