Page:The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield, M.A. (1771 Vol 1).djvu/263

 *fore I leave England. I should be glad to hear how you are as to worldly circumstances; if I can help you in any degree, freely command Your affectionate friend, brother, and servant in,  G. W.     LETTER CCLXVIII. To T K, at London.

On board the Minerva, Feb. 20, 1741.

My dear Brother K,

I Received your kind letter at Savannah, and though I hope to see you face to face soon after you receive this, yet love to your dear soul constrains me to write you an answer before I come on shore.

I find, since my departure, the brethren have fallen into errors. Dear Brother K will not be offended, if I say, "He, I fear, is one of them;" for his letter bewrayeth him. My dear Brother, you say, "You have been striving a long, long while, but to very little purpose, &c." By this, I suppose, you have left off the means, and fallen into stillness; expecting now, that will so work upon your heart, that you shall not feel the least stirring of indwelling corruption in your soul; in short, that you shall be completely perfect: This was pretty near my case about six years ago, and now I see why suffered me thus to be tempted, "that I might be more capable of succouring my brethren, now they are tempted." My dear Brother, let us reason together. "You have been striving (you say) a long while, but to very little purpose." And what then? must you be therefore still, and strive no more? forbid: No, you are yet to wait at the pool. "Constantly attend on ordinances;" and who knows but by-and-by the loving Saviour may pass by and visit your soul. Have you not, in some degree at least, felt his divine power in the use of the means? Why should not that encourage you to expect more in the same way? But you say, "I find all that is of self is sin." And do you expect ever to do any thing, or to offer up to one sacrifice, without a mixture of sin in it? If you do, indeed you are building a spiritual Babel. My dear Brother, even our most holy thoughts are