To the Rev. James Hervey (November 29, 1758)

https://wesleyworks.ecdsdev.org/letters/1758-11-29-ToJamesHarvey

To the Rev. James Hervey

1On James Hervey, see 13:321–22 & 25:581 in this edn.

London,
November 29, 1758

Dear Sir,

A week or two ago, in my return from Norwich, I met with Mr. Pierce of Bury, who informed me of a conversation which he had had a few days before. Mr. Cudworth, he said, then told him 'that he had prevailed on Mr. Hervey to write against me,

2James Hervey was drafting a set of letters in reply to Wesley. But his health was declining fast (he died on Dec. 25), and perhaps persuaded by this letter, he decided not to make them public (entrusting them to the care of his brother William). The letters were known, however, among some of Hervey's associates and in 1764 one of these associates published them surreptitiously. Thus in Nov. 1764 Wesley wrote one more (posthumous) response to Hervey; see 13:377–90 in this edn.

who likewise, in what he had written, referred to the book which he (Mr. Cudworth) had lately published'.

3William Cudworth, a staunch Calvinist, had recently published A Preservative in Perilous Times (London, 1758), which included extended critiques of two publications by JW.

Every one is welcome to write what he pleases concerning me. But would it not be well for you to remember that before I published anything concerning you I sent it to you in a private letter; that I waited for an answer for several months, but was not favoured with one line; that when at length I published part of what I had sent you, I did it in the most inoffensive manner possible—in the latter end of a larger work, purely designed to preserve those in connexion with me from being tossed to and fro by various doctrines?

4Wesley's letter was sent privately to Hervey in Oct. 1756, and not published until June 1758 in A Preservative against Unsettled Notions in Religion; see 13:323–44 in this edn.

What, therefore, I may fairly expect from my friend is to mete to me with the same measure, to send to me first in a private manner any complaint he has against me, to wait as many months as I did, and if I give you none or no satisfactory answer, then to lay the matter before the world, if you judge it will be to the glory of God.

But, whatever you do in this respect, one thing I request of you. Give no countenance to that insolent, scurrilous, virulent libel which bears the name of William Cudworth. Indeed, how you can converse with a man of his spirit I cannot comprehend. O leave not your old, well-tried friends! The new is not comparable to them. I speak not this because I am afraid of what any one can say or do to me. But I am really concerned for you. An evil man has gained the ascendant over you, and has persuaded a dying man, who had shunned it all his life, to enter into controversy as he is stepping into eternity! Put off your armour, my brother! You and I have no moments to spare. Let us employ them all in promoting peace and goodwill among men. And may the peace of God keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus !

5See Phil. 4:7 .

So prays,

Your affectionate brother and servant,
J. Wesley

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