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To the Rev. Thomas Goodday (July 6, 1759)
To the Rev. Thomas
Goodday
July 6, 1759
Rev. and Dear Sir,
Your affectionate brother,
John Wesley
1Thomas Goodday (1705–1768) matriculated at Queen's College,
Oxford, but never graduated. He was perpetual curate of
Monkwearmouth from 1744 to his
death. He became a close friend of JW, allowing him to preach in his church and hold services in a
building next to his home; see JW, Journal, May 31,
1761, 21:326 in this edn. The transcriber of this letter mistakenly
identifies it as to 'John'
Goodday.
YarmJuly 6, 1759
Rev. and Dear Sir,
167The few minutes I had the pleasure of spending with Mrs. Goodday and you made me desirous of your farther acquaintance.
2Wesley would have passed through Monkwearmouth
as he rode north from Sunderland to South
Shields on June 23–24,
1759 (Journal, 21:203 in this edn.).This appears to
be his first contact with Goodday.
I believe you will have no great taste for your
former acquaintance, any farther than you find profitable for their souls. Indeed if you
did not help them, they would hurt you,
and the more if they were civil and good natured. 'Harmless men', so called,
are the most mischievous of all. God deliver you and me out of their hands!
I have been often afraid lest you should light on another kind of mischievous creatures, called pre-deist
3The transcriber marks this as a questionable
reading.
men. These are continually palming upon us the wisdom of the world,
under the notion of Christian wisdom, hereby damping our zeal for God and destroying the
childlike simplicity of faith. These, if we hearken to them,168 will soon
bring us again into bondage to worldly shame and the fear of man. And I know few
clergymen in England, except Mr. Grimshaw, who are not touched with it more or less.
O sir, regard not man but God! Let his Spirit be your constant guide! When he convinces
you that this or that would be to his glory,
confer not with flesh and blood
.5
Gal. 1:16
.
It is enough that God is on your side.
To him I commend you and yours. I am, dear sir,Your affectionate brother,
John Wesley
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Entry Title: To the Rev. Thomas Goodday (July 6, 1759)
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