To the Rev. John Green (April 2, 1761)

I have no desire to dispute, least of all with one whom I believe to fear God and work righteousness . And I have no time to spare. Yet I think it my duty to write a few lines with regard to those you sent to Mr. Bennet.

You therein say: 'If you sent me the books to inform me of an error which I had publicly advanced, pardon me if I say I know numbers who call themselves Methodists assert their assurance of salvation at the very time they wallow in sins of the deepest dye.' Permit me, sir, to speak freely. I do not doubt the fact. But 1) those who are connected with me do not call themselves Methodists. Others call them by that nickname, and they cannot help it, but I continually warn them not to pin it upon themselves. 2) We rarely use that ambiguous expression of 'Christ's righteousness imputed to us'. 3) We believe a man may be a real Christian without being 'assured of his salvation.' 4) We know no man can be assured of salvation while he lives in any sin whatever. 5) The wretches who talk in that manner are neither Methodist nor Moravians, but followers of William Cudsworth, James Relly, and their associates, who abhor us as much as they do the pope, and ten times more than they do the devil. If you oppose those, then so do I, and have done privately and publicly for these twenty years.

But you say: 'Such as do not profess this doctrine will not be affected by my sermon.' Indeed they will, for the world (as you yourself did) lump all that are called Methodists together. Consequently whatever you then said of Methodists in general falls on us as well as them, and so we are condemned for those very principles which we totally detest and abhor. A small part of the Preservative

I quite agree we 'neither can be better men nor better Christians than by continuing members of the Church of England'. And not only her doctrines but many parts of her discipline I have adhered to at the hazard of my life. If in any point I have since varied therefrom, it was not by choice but by necessity. Judge, therefore, if they do well who throw me into the ditch, and then beat me because my clothes are dirty!