Page:The works of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., late fellow of Lincoln-College, Oxford (IA worksofrevjohnwe3wesl).pdf/175

 ever, if you are not convinced of this, act according to the light you have. I have no desire to dispute with you one moment, upon any of the preceding heads. Let all these smaller points stand aside. Let them never come into sight. If thine heart is as my heart, if thou lovest God and all mankind, I ask no more: ''give me thine hand''.

3. I mean, first, love me. And that not only as thou lovest all mankind; not only as thou lovest thine enemies, or the enemies of God, those that hate thee, that ''despitefully use thee and persecute thee'': not only as a stranger, as one of whom thou knowest neither good nor evil. I am not satisfied with this. No: ''If thine heart be right, as mine with thy heart'', then love me with a very tender affection, as a friend that is closer than a brother: as a brother in Christ, a fellow-citizen of the new Jerusalem, a fellow-soldier engaged in the same warfare, under the same captain of our salvation. Love me as a companion in the kingdom and patience of Jesus, and a joint-heir of his glory.

4. Love me (but in an higher degree, than thou dost the bulk of mankind) with the love that is long-suffering and kind, that is patient, if I am ignorant or out of the way, bearing and not increasing my burthen, and is tender, soft and compassionate still: that envieth not, if at any time it please God, to prosper me in this work even more than thee. Love me with the love