"MY DEAR BRETHREN,--I thank you for your kind letters and invitations to visit you, and the brethren about you. I have often found an attraction in Yorkshire. My desire was indeed a little selfish; I wanted to improve by the conversation of my unknown brethren. If God bids me be strong again, I shall be glad to try if He will be pleased to comfort us by the mutual faith both of you and me. My desire is that Christ may be glorified both in my life and death. If I have any desire to live at any time, it is principally to be a witness, in word and deed, of the dispensation of _power from on high_; and to point out that kingdom which does not consist in word, but in _power_, even in _righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost_, the _Spirit of power_. I am writing an essay upon that important part of the Christian doctrine. "Should I be spared to visit you, the keep of a horse, and the poor rider, will be all the burden I should lay on you; and that will be more than my Heavenly Master indulged Himself in. I am just setting out for Norwich with Mr. Wesley, whose renewed strength and immense labours astonish me. What a pattern for preachers! His redeeming the time is, if I mistake not, matchless. "Should I never have the pleasure of thanking you in person for your brotherly regard, I beg you will endeavour to meet me in the Kingdom of our Father, where distance of time and place is lost in the fulness of Him who is _all in all_. The way ye know--the penitential way of a heart-felt faith working by obedient love." * * * * * IN THE BALANCES. _To Mr._ IRELAND: "NEWINGTON, _January 29th_, 1777. "Thanks be to God, and to my dear friend, for favours upon favours, for undeserved love and the most endearing tokens of it! "I have received your obliging letters, full of kind offers; and your jar, full of excellent grapes. May God open to you the book of life, and seal upon your heart all the offers and promises it contains! May the treasures of Christ's love, and all the fruits of the Spirit, be open to my dear friend, and unwearied benefactor! "Last Sunday, Providence sent me Dr. Turner, who, under God, saved my life, twenty-three years ago, in a dangerous illness; and I am inclined to try what _his_ method will do. He orders me asses' milk, chicken, etc.; forbids me riding, and recommends the greatest quietness. He prohibits the use of Bristol water; advises some water of a purgative nature; and tries to promote expectoration by a method that so far answers, though I spit by it more blood than before.